Battle Ax - GMC Suburban

[Dan Barlow]

This is a little tongue in cheek but it did take awhile to pull it off and it did require a lot of skill to not render the button useless . I rebuilt the volume button on the stereo . The whole front part of the rectangular button was gone only leaving the outer edge . I got some model car glue and slowly filled it in .

[Dan Barlow]

Sorry this gave out on you but it's good that there was no other damage. Miss you guys at the track!

Dan

Yeah , we really want to get down there .

[DanStokes]

Sorry this gave out on you but it's good that there was no other damage. Miss you guys at the track!

Dan

[Dan Barlow]

It's amazing those bearing sets last as long as they do, especially with heavier/bigger-offset tires, they can loosen up a little over time but when they really start to go, they go fast. In Jeeps (2/3rds the weight of the Sub or less) they seem to be good for about 200K, then watch out. You might wanna pick a weekend to do a pre-emptive on the other side...? You can feel when they're getting worn just by giving a good shake. Parts are pricey but less than the tow...

Yeah , I'm planning on doing the drivers side in about 3 weeks that way I shouldn't have to do a axle / half shaft. Figure I'll do both upper ball joints at the same time . Those should be a price of cake since they aren't original . Just a unbolt deal .

[Dan Barlow]

I rolled the tire to the bumper , it wouldn't go .

[Deaf Bob]

Getting heavy tires in a high rig... Roll it.. Lift and roll.. Roll it right up the bumper..
Derby tires are doubled and tubed and many times have a 3/8" center welded in.. Usually roll them onto the trailer then over the tongue..

[Loren]

It's amazing those bearing sets last as long as they do, especially with heavier/bigger-offset tires, they can loosen up a little over time but when they really start to go, they go fast. In Jeeps (2/3rds the weight of the Sub or less) they seem to be good for about 200K, then watch out. You might wanna pick a weekend to do a pre-emptive on the other side...? You can feel when they're getting worn just by giving a good shake. Parts are pricey but less than the tow...

[Dan Barlow]

Oh and by the way , I had been estimating the trucks weight at 6000 pounds , guess what the rollback had built in scales . I couldn't hardly believe it. Guess how much it weighed exactly. Yep 6000lbs.

[Dan Barlow]

Pic of finished repair

[Dan Barlow]

I put a new axle in after failing to get the old c/v joint apart to get the new boot on . It was only 30 buck mor than the 30 dollar boot . I did notice that the upper ball joint needs replaced but didn't have time for it . Maybe after my checking account has had a time to heal .

[Dan Barlow]

Saturday fix it day

[Dan Barlow]

Update - rear axle still doing fine from the yoke replacement . Had a failure of the right front hub / bearing . It may be the Micky Thompson MTZ tires or the exhaust that has gotten loud again but I never got a warning that it was going out till about a minute before it did . Then I got a couple quick jerks of the wheel about a minute apart . I tried to nurse it back to work but only got to a grocery store just short of work . By that tire the tire was laying over so far that the fortunately smooth tubular A arm of the rough country lift and wore a 1/4 inch deep groove into the knobs on the inside of the tire . And the hub had gotten so hot the the C/V boot had melted half off the big end of the axle . I went back up with tools and Jack's but when the Craftsman socket broke that I was using to get the hub loose from the spindle I threw in the towel and called a tow truck to take it home for 175 bucks . Before the the roll back showed up I went to put the wheel / tire in the back . Oh my , there was no way I could lift that 35 by 12.50 with steel wheel up in the back that is3 feet off the ground . But I got some pics off how I got it in and of the whole experience and repair once home .

[Dan Barlow]

I had it running less than one day . The kid's vette is down for a clutch job I'll try to start tomorrow so Friday we let him have Paul's acura tl drive to work . So we took the 'burn to a town about 30 miles away to go to a mom and pop restaurant and see a movie . Truck died and wouldn't restart after eating . I took the air cleaner off and since it has the next best thing to a carburetor, I had the wife crank it while I watched for it to spray fuel . I was suspecting the fuel pump went out but , it was spraying fuel . Had no tools or a spare spark plug so I couldn't check for spark . Walked across the street watched the movie and got towed home . So now I suspected it was the coil . After charging the battery back up I had Paula crank it while I stuck a spare plug in a wire and watched for spark . No spark . And while I had another cool off the 94 truck engine we put in the kid's vette , I didn't just want to guess and throw parts at it even though they were basically free . So , I got schooled how to test a not in the cap coil and yeah , it was dead . Put the new coil on and the battle axe fired right up .

[Loren]

I'm pretty sure they were using the heavy duty dust cover on the 4x4s before the 700 came along. They need the extra support

I've had Blazers with both 700R4 and TH350, both had a substantial dust cover casting with a place to bolt a strut to. I also, in my junk pile, had the cast-iron adaptor part from between a manual trans and transfer case that had been used without a strut and had a big ol' crack in it because of that. That whole engine/trans/adaptor/t-case set gets pretty long and definitely needs the help.

My truck that fried had a nice 4L80E and t-case and I had a stand-alone controller sitting in a box too...all sold or given away now. Certainly that trans was the best part of the truck, any time I ever thought it was time to shift it seemed to be reading my mind and it never did the "hunting" thing modern auto transmissions seem to.

[Dan Barlow]

I replaced the yoke on the rear axle . It sounds like everything is ok . The trans works great as my coworker said it did . Happy , happy , happy !