Looking for a little more info. To get this home we will be using a car caddy (dolly) or whatever you want to call them, with the front wheels on the dolly and the back wheels on the pavement. We would like to bring a couple good mounted tires with us for the trip home. The tires on it are holding air, but can't be trusted to make it over 800 miles back to my place. So I need to know what size tires and rims to get. In other words, what other rims will fit besides Buick?
I know the DynaFlow has a rear oil pump in it, but I don't think it's recommended that it be towed with the rear wheels on the ground for 800 miles. I feel that if the trans. is good now it most surely won't be after 800 miles.
Tom is right. You might be better, to put the rear wheels on the dolly. Is 1961 Torque tube? Maybe you need a trailer... so, all four wheels are off the ground
Is it, a drive shaft or torque tube? If you didn't know, Torque tube disconnection, is a bit more work than disconnecting a drive shaft. And, does 1961 Buick wheels have cap bolts? and, pilot studs? as, 1955 has? If, so you'll need a set of wheels with pilot stud holes for your towing.
Just pull the driveshaft - it'll be fine. You'll need to unbolt the two bolts that hold the center carrier bearing in place in the center of the frame before you remove it. Then it should slide right out. The stock wheels were 15x6 wth roughly 3.375" of backspacing, and a 5x5in bolt pattern. However, the center bore diameter of the wheels are abnormally large because of the massive hubs/drums these cars had. So, keep that in mind. The slot mags on my car originally came off a Chevy truck, and the hubs just barely make it thru the wheels.
According to everything I've read, and that is a lot, the torque tube was 6 discontinued in 1961. Here it is from Hemmings Motor News: Missing, shockingly, from the 1961 design was the torque tube driveline, which had been installed in Buicks since 1907. This change in the driveline necessitated a redesign of the rear suspension. Coil springs were now mounted on the lower trailing arms, while upper control arms were added for better lateral stability, and tube shocks were mounted aft of the rear axle. I read it other places as well, so I feel pretty confident that it is a standard 2 piece drive shaft w/carrier bearing. Thanks for that tip, the wheels we are taking along are from a 1991 Chevy Caprice wagon and we are bringing a set from a Chevy truck also. If nothing else we can always take the rims on the Buick and have the tires switched. Our plan is to leave the drive shaft and duct tape the end so as not to lose any needle bearings from the u joint, then strap the shaft to something to keep it immobile and out of the way.
If the rims are 15in, you can't run more than the factory backspacing w/o running into clearence problems with the drums. Swapping tires might be your best bet. And '60 WAS the last year for the torque tube.
May have to do that, but I hope not. I have several tire places mapped out near where we will pick up the car, but I doubt they will be open on Sunday. We will be spending the night before the trip back so if we have to we can get them switched on Monday. This is my first experience traveling this far to get an old car, but my brother-in-law (Jim) once towed a '39 Buick from NY to Lexington, KY using a Jeep Liberty as the tow vehicle! He said that was a wild ride.
That's the great thing about this board; I learn something about the new Buicks every visit to the board.
Got the car home early this morning, about 3:30 AM local time, have not had a chance to do much of anything yet, but I can say I am thoroughly happy with this car! It was in even better shape that I previously thought possible. We installed a battery in the car to see what worked and what didn't before starting home and most of the lights work, the radio works, and I accidentally hit the starter and the motor turned over. Can't wait to get started on this project, but most likely will have to wait for the weekend as I have to go back to work tomorrow. As they say in the Mickey D commercials, "I'm Lovin' It!"
I think I found a guy in the Buick club here in WA that has hood hinges, I talked to him tonight. He is parting out a 61 Lesabre 4 door and will check. send me your email address and I will connect the two of you. He may also have other parts that you need!
Thanks Chris, he can reach me at: postman@writeme.com I left all the doors open for awhile tonight to get some of the musty smell out of it. The passenger side front carpet was wet. Most likely due to the window on that door being off the track. Just another little thing that needs fixing!
I have a '61 LeSabre 4dr. sedan in black just like yours I'm parting out. I do have a good left hinge. The right I'm not sure about. Car has many good parts left. A also own a '61 LeSabre 4dr. hdtp. that is an A/C delete car. 10.25-1 compression, 2bbl. carb. that has just over 50K on it. For a cruiser it's GREAT!!!!! If you can keep your foot out of it I can get 20+MPG. Have fun with it they are great cruisers. Keep the bands adjusted & the fluid clean. Don't shift from low to drive with you foot pressing on the gas pedal or worse yet at WOT. It will destroy the front pump plate in short order.
My first day to do anything at all to the car, I was able to remove the hood and hood hinges. Also discovered the possible reason why the carpet was wet on the passenger side front, the heater core has been bypassed, so I'm sure it probably leaked. Left the doors open all day to air it out. Towards the end of the day my friend who was helping me talked me into pouring some gas in the carb to see if it would fire. It didn't, but the battery was not very hot and it didn't crank much before it was dead. May charge the battery and try again tomorrow or at least to see if it is getting spark.
Forgot to mention it earlier, but we took the first video of the car and I posted it on YouTube. If you want you can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFTdP19DRcw Not much to see but it's a complete walk around of the car.
I have another question, what is the best way to replace blown bulbs for the instrument panel? One for the right turn signal and oil pressure are out.
Very Nice! The sun beat up the top of the back seat. But, the front seat tells the story, that is a nice car! :TU:
Thanks, I've sent the money order for the hood hinges, and I've been playing around trying to start the old girl, but I think it's not getting any fire. I pulled the coil wire and it was very corroded, so I will be replacing the coil and wires next. Some other things that need to be done is to take off the passenger side front door panel and fix the window so it will go up and down as it should. Right now you can move the crank handle and the window just falls down all the way. I also need to replace the heater core, anyone know if this will come out from the firewall side or does it come out from the inside? I ordered one of those CD's with the complete service manuals, but it hasn't arrived yet.
