New truck in the drive

[JohnnyPopper]

10 bucks says bd's right!

[Dr_Snooz]

Well, it is a wore out mess inside the tailgate, but it works just fine when I short the wires. The controller box has a ground screw that I didn't connect, like the instructions say I should. When I connected it, the motor stopped pulsing. Unfortunately, it went very slowly, and only in one direction: Up. It seems to lack the gumption to go down. I'm grounding to one of the bolts holding the regulator in place. There are 12 ohms between it and battery ground. I guess that's too much? Not sure how to do it any better though. I have self tappers but am reluctant to drill holes unless I'm sure it will be a good ground.

[Dr_Snooz]

I've put almost 1,000 miles on the axle and it's running well. There are no leaks. It runs smooth, and the gear whine coming from the rear has quieted to the point that I'm the only one who hears it. Of course, when I changed the fluid at 500 miles as directed, it was unnerving to see so much metal in the fluid.

I replaced the front shocks last night.



Next on deck is a front brake refresh. It will be a good chance to retake the pics in this thread (http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=31594.msg266242#msg266242) before Photobucket deletes them, and to see how much damage I did to the wheel bearings by not packing them properly.

After that I have a dreadful leak coming from the pan gasket on the trans (I think) that needs fixing. The front of the engine is also very wet, which looks like the timing cover seal I replaced not long ago.

There's always something to do.

[JohnnyPopper]

The link to the repacking of bearings was a hoot! Especially the vacuum packing-I've got to try that!

The Monroe Mags made me say ouch...She's my daily and they are too stiff. Especially here in San Diego where the local self servants take the money earmarked for 'road maintenance'.

[Shifty]

The Monroe Mags made me say ouch...She's my daily and they are too stiff. Especially here in San Diego where the local self servants take the money earmarked for 'road maintenance'.

Mine were on for about a month, when my kidneys held an intervention, demanding something a tad kinder...(Bilstein).

[Dr_Snooz]

I guess that's why getting out of my driveway throws me around a lot more than it used to lol. The big difference I've noticed is that I can actually keep the truck on the roadway now. It was a handful before.

I'm flummoxed by this trans fluid leak. It's an absolute horror show under the truck. There's oil everywhere, dripping off the case, off the front driveline, slung up onto the body underside. It's thick with dirt, shiny wet and coming out at a rate of 1 qt per month. The pan bolts kept coming loose. I Loctited them and over torqued them by 5 lbs. That stopped the loosening, but not the drips. I inspected the other case seals but didn't find much. The kickdown wire plug was loose in the case. I don't want to open the trans to fix it, so I smeared around it with RTV. It's a hillbilly fix, but the real mess is on the other side of the trans. I replaced the vacuum modulator today. The old oring seemed fine, but there weren't any drips dangling off the case after my test drive. I don't know. We'll see.

[Dr_Snooz]

Oh yeah. I did a compression test too.

#   PSI   Cranks
1   177   12
2   172   12
3   174   12
4   173   12
5   180   12
6   169   12
7   177   12
8   172   12

I guess I won't be swapping in a crate engine any time soon.

[JohnnyPopper]

Those are pretty good numbers as far as variation.

It's amazing what bad shocks will do when you don't realize they are shot-out. Pitching left/right bouncing etc. If I off roaded my K10 I would keep the Mags on.

You described my undercarriage to a tee. Mine turned out to be the P/S reservoir had a drip that spread everywhere. 

[87ChevyR10]

10 bucks says bd's right!

Usually is, lol

[Dr_Snooz]

I figured out part of my surging problem. I don't think my relatively new gas tank is baffled very well. When I get below 1/2 tank, the surging starts, and worsens as the tank level declines. I installed this tank in 2015. It was the cheapest Dorman I could find and it's not very good.

It split open on the top recently, dragging my mileage down into single digits.



You can see there's no indication of any stress other than the crimp from the factory forming press. The sheet metal is so thin it failed from normal expansion and contraction. I should have drilled holes at either end of the split to prevent it worsening, but that would have been a much bigger job. If it continues to split, I guess I'll replace it with a 40 gal tank from a different manufacturer.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[Mr Diesel]

I stopped buying anything made by Dorman years ago. Literally everything they make is garbage, even their little generic crimp electrical connectors.
I bought four new 20 gallon tanks off an Ebay vendor this year and all were made in Taiwan so I'm confident whatever brand they are they are well made.

[Dr_Snooz]

I only wanted to replace this ground up rotor.



Unfortunately, the deeper I dug, the worse it got. The wheel bearings were shot.



The knuckle seals had failed...



...causing a lot of rust inside the wheel bearing cavity.



The axle seals inside the diff had failed, leaving a thin coating of diff oil and grime on the axle shafts.



That's the point you have to check the diff bearings, which were also worn out.





I was surprised by this since the front axle sees, what, maybe 1/10th the miles that the rear axle sees?

[Dr_Snooz]

So it's deja vu all over again.



That's right. We're building another axle. I'm going with an LSD again, since an open diff just doesn't seem right to me.

I had a really positive experience with East Coast Gear on my last build, so I ordered everything from them. We talked over diff options and I opted for an LSD over a Torsen diff. The Torsen, or lunchbox locker, locks up when you accelerate. That will be a huge problem for me on windy, snowy roads. Also, if an LSD wears out, it will behave like an open diff. When a Torsen diff wears out, it causes all kinds of headaches. I don't like headaches, or ticking money bombs.

Suffice it to say that the Suburban had a very Merry Christmas.   Everyone else kinda got stiffed.

[Dr_Snooz]

You may notice that the pic above was taken in the dark. It's been an unusually dark winter here. I clock out at 4:30 each day (I work from home), which gives me maybe 15 minutes before I have to put my headlight on. It's been like this since November. I can do the disassembly in the dark, but prep and painting require good light. I need a shop real bad, but don't have anywhere to put it on my property. For the time being, I've moved my start time forward an hour. That lets me clock out at 3:30 so at least I get an hour of light.

They have these plastic wire wheels now.



They claim to be better, last longer, jump higher, make you more attractive to women, blah blah blah. I tried one and was really impressed, actually. I'm putting a gloss paint on the diff cover, so all the old undercoat, rust, etc, had to come off for a smooth finish. The plastic wheel had no problem removing everything right down to the bare metal. In truth, it removed the rubbery undercoat much better than the steel wheel. It didn't stab me with errant wires either.



Nor did it leave any gouges like a steel wheel. And it lasts pretty well too.





I'm really pleased with the results.

This is far from the right weather for painting. The temps are too low, humidity too high, light too limited, and I'm dodging rain showers. I spent an evening wire-wheeling the axle housing clean. Came out the next day to find it covered in rust again. I have a paint can in one hand and a blow dryer in the other. There's a space heater inside the Suburban creating a makeshift paint booth. I should put a vid on YT so people can laugh at me.









You can see that this is a full front-end refresh. Brakes, bushings, diff, everything. It was all worn out. I still have to prep and paint one knuckle (gotta get creative to remove that last ball joint), the hubs, the axle shafts and a bunch of bolt hardware. I haven't removed the leaf springs yet because I can't get one of the bolts out, but I plan to paint those and replace bushings also. I'm considering doing some painting on the frame too, since everything is out right now. We'll see.

Stay tuned for more updates when I find time to post again. It's hard because my nephew is rebuilding the 4L80 in his new-to-him truck and I'm helping him with that too.

[Dr_Snooz]

I found this interesting. I got my Christmas bonus from work in the form of an Amazon gift card. I'm no fan of Amazon for a lot of reasons. Still this gift card comes each year, so I hold my nose and wade in. I figured I'd buy some headers for the Suburban this year.



I put them in my cart only to get a notice in red letters that they couldn't deliver them to my address. I tried my brother-in-law's address. He gets Amazon all the time. Same notice. I entered my work address where they deliver several times a week. Same thing. I entered my brother's address in Texas and the notice vanished.

I called them and got several different "would you believe...?" responses before they settled on blaming our Prop 65. Except Prop 65 has been on the books for 30+ years and has never prevented me from getting anything. It mandates a sticker on the item, and nothing more. There's no point arguing with an Indian call center though.

The only thing I can figure is that someone at Amazon is assuming the headers aren't smog legal here. Only problem is that they are. And Amazon is too dysfunctional to admit its error, or even to offer a plausible explanation. Throw it on the pile of reasons not to give that weirdo screwball my money, I guess.