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1969 Chevrolet CST10: Part Deux
The gist of the build so far for those who are new to the site:
Quote:
The Dash Pad Gauges Now it's blingin' inside! Drive drive drive, come last thursday night, a hidious grinding appears. It's like rocks being chewed up by the rear end. But for the life of me I couldn't figure it out while driving. Not the diff, it drives fine. Lugs are all tight... Drive shaft has no play... Trans shifts fine. It hits again, and once more, nothing appears wrong. I get home, double check everything, nothing's apparently wrong, and goto bed. Next morning, drive into work, no problem. Birthday night, on the way out into Houston for some shenanigans, and the violent rock crushing sound reappears, this time with much more frequency. Enough to make the truck pull left when it grinds... WHEEL BEARING SHYTE! In theory, a wheel bearing on these older axles is a pretty **** simple job. Pull diff cover, unscrew the lock screw for the spider gears' shaft, remove shaft spider gears, pull axle clips, slide axles out, and knock out bearings. So, get to the diff... Look for the lock screw... ****. It's been broken off, and someone has already tried drilling it out. Sonuva*****! The entire axle is locked together by this simple screw. So in effect, my uber badass indestructable Dana 60 is scrap iron due to a $15 wheel bearing and a broken screw. Not to mention it's one of the rarest axles on this generation of truck, the 6-lug Dana 60. Having no choice, after breaking more drill bits and even stripping out easy out bits (it's a hardened steel screw I might add), I have no choice but to pick up another axle. On to the GM Coporate 12 bolt! One of the strongest GM axles at the time, but no where near as beefy as the Dana 60 (Once I pull the 60, you'll see). Thankfully it's in **** solid shape inside, and came apart with no problem... Besides that the bolt that holds in the spider gear shaft also was broken! But, it was sheared at a 45* angle, so it was able to thread out almost all of the way, and I was able to get it out. Perfect fit in the back of the Jimmy! FUUUUUUUUUU- One of those times where it would be nice to have a cop light and siren. And the new GM 12 bolt, 3.73 open diff axle. It's not all bad, I was wanting to put 3.73s into the truck later anyways to help with freeway cruising (80% of my driving where I live), and it's an excellent balance of power and economy, even better when I swap in an OD trans later on. Nice and clean, even if it isn't as monsterous as the Dana 60, it'll get any job done I'll ever need. And in under 30 minutes I had both axles out, and both axle bearings out. See how god **** easy this would have been if someone else hadn't ****ed up their job when they replaced the ring and pinion on my axle? Oh well, the surprises you find in a 40 year old truck. The plan is to keep the D60 around and tinker with it. It's the OG axle and a very rare one for the 60-72 Chevy/GMC trucks, so it has some value compared to your dime-a-dozen GM axle. Maybe one day I'll have the heart to just torch it apart, but don't have the time or tools for that now. Tomorrow it's suppose to rain sleet and be generally ****ty, so I'll rebuild the axle and paint it, and hopefully friday swap them out. Maybe now my speedometer will count right too!
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You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna get myself a 1967 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, hot pink, with whale
skin hubcaps and all leather cow interior and big brown baby seal eyes for headlights. Yeah! And I'm gonna drive around in that baby at 115 miles an hour, getting 1 mile per gallon. I may be king of the idiots, but my kingdom is vast and my subjects are everywhere |
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