Gas, tires, oil.

Regarding my soon swap of a 14 bolt into the suburban, Mike writes: Did you have to change the length of the rear driveshaft?? I need to know ASAP b/c I am considering the same swap in my 1986 K10 truck. What do you think of using a FF vs a SF rear end? I could really use some advice as I am considering making the purchase this week.

I haven’t done it yet (this weekend hopefully, finished the front axle last weekend, many post to come), but the driveshaft should be fine. The length looks the same within an inch (from the center of the axle to the u-joint) and I think the u-joint is the same (if not you can get an adaptor u-joint).
Now, full-float vs. semi-float (K5 has a lot of info). Full float is stronger, but semi is OK unless you have a big block and large tires and a lead foot. Full-float is only availible in 8 lug, whereas it is possible to find a 6 lug semi-float 14 bolt (however, only in ~’90 up heavy half/light 3/4 trucks and the spring perches will have to be moved to fit the older trucks). If you are going to install a locker, it is many times cheaper for a full-float (you don’t have to replace the carrier, unless it already has posi, so check first). The full float does use larger u-joints, so be prepared to buy the adaptor. The full float doesn’t have c-clips so if you break an axle you can drive on it. The full float is larger and heavier and will have less ground clearance. More on FF here.
I went with the SF because I just wanted bigger brakes and better towing capacity than the stock 10 bolt, and I could keep the stock rims.

I’ve shown the disassembly of the dana 44 w/ detroit locker that I’m going to swap in for the 10 bolt. I had hoped to have it completely ready beforehand so I only had to switch the axles, but the spindles didn’t look so good. I decided to check the rotors on the 10 bolt to so if they could be turned. So saturday night, I pulled the wheel off and discovered that the brakes were down to the metal. I decided I had to fix this right away, so I started to pull the axle that night.

I took it apart down to the spindle, to make sure they were OK. Here’s axle out.

I needed the steering arm, and couldn’t get it loose, so I pulled the knuckle apart, so I could work on it separately. To get the ball joints loose, I turned the axle over, rested the knuckle on a block of wood then smacked the axle with a hammer.

The reassembly is where everything went to hell, but that’s for next time.

I put a new fan belt the suburban today, the old one wasn’t broken, so I put it in the box the new one came in and tucked it inside the front fender.

There’s a surprising amount of space inside a fender, I’ve tucked old radiator hoses, tuneup parts, belts, whatever fits. And they’ve come in handy. One time, I hit a really big pothole up the the national forest, hidden by snow, that cause the fan to slice the upper radiator hose. Luckily, I had an old one in the fender, other wise it would have been a long cold walk (20 miles of deep snow). And the box? It has the part # on it, so when I need a new one I can be sure they give me the right one.

The front end on my wife’s ‘82 diesel 4x4 suburban needed some work. The brake pads are good, but one rotor is really grooved. The axle shaft on one side needs a new u-joint also. And, probably, bearings, seals and ball joints wouldn’t be a bad idea. Unfortunatly, its got a wimpy 10 bolt axle and I hate to put any money in it. So as part of the deal where I got the 6 lug 14 bolt for the rear, I also got a dana 44 front. Now the dana 44 isn’t really much stronger, but this one had new brakes, ball joints and a detroit locker. It also need an axle u-joint, so my plan was to put bearings and seals in the axle and then just do a swap one weekend. First I pulled off the locking hubs by removing the allen screws.

Then you remove the snap rings.

And pull out the splined insert.

The bearing locknuts take a special socket (sometimes called a cold steel chisel).

The hub and rotor can then be slid off (there’s 2 bearing locknuts and washer between them). Six nuts hold on the spindle and brake backing plate.

You can then pull the axle shafts. Unfortunatly, the needle bearing has gone bad chewed up the surface on the outer axle shaft (you can see the metal shavings on seal). I can steal the outer shaft from the 10 axle though (the inner has different splines)

This tool is made to pull nails that have their heads below the surface of the wood, but it also makes a great seal remover.

Below you can see that this axle has had a hard life, it looks like both bearing have spun at some time.

And check out those chisel marks in the bearing locknut. I think I will try to either find some other spindles or use the one off the current 10 bolt. That would mean I couldn’t have the axle ready to just swap, but it’s still should be doable in a week end (as long as nothing else goes wrong).

I picked up a couple axles on craigslist a week ago. My ‘82 suburban has 10 bolt axles right now and since I’m towing a camper, I’d like a heavier axle and larger brakes. I got a 6 lug 14 bolt rear (with a gov-lock) and a dana 44 front (with a detroit locker). They put 6 lug 14 bolt semi-float axles in 90’s heavy half and light 3/4 ton chevys (this one came out of a ‘90). The rear axle had been modified so it is locked up all the time but the guy I bought it from didn’t know why. So this last weekend I put it up on jackstands and pulled the cover. Turns out the flyweights on the govenor had been welded in the out position:

It’s an interesting mod, it’s locked up until the high speed flyweight opens it up at 25 mph. I wanted it to work in the stock mode so I cut the rivets and broke off the welded weights.

Now I just need a new govenor, but mean while I can run it as an open rear.

I found a pic of the platform I attached to my floor jack for removing the trans/transfercase.

I just counter sunk a bolt into a 2x12 piece of scrap. The cup that normally sits there just has a 1″ stem that sits in a hole, so I just picked it up off and ran the bolt through the hole.
The 2x4 on the front is there to make it level, the rear trans mount sticks down below the pan.

Here it is after the old trans has been lowered. I had to push the trans off the jack and then drag it out from under the suburban because I didn’t have the clearance to just pull it out on the jack.

My wife’s ‘82 Suburban has been a good vehicle, I only paid $1000 for it and it gets 20+ mpg. With the third row seat it’ll seat 9, its got overdrive so cruising at 75 mph is no problem and it’s 4 wheel drive. But the trans went bad, it wouldn’t go into 2nd gear. Give it enough throttle and it would skip to 3rd. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was so I bought a rebuilt trans ($825 from a guy in salinas who’s shop is a storage unit). First, I had to pull the old trans, I like to put vehicle up on old bare rims instead of jack stands.

I removed all the bolts and linkage and wires, then put a small jack under the transfercase and took off the crossmember. I don’t have a transmission jack, so I bolted a large piece of wood to my floor jack.

More next time.

The brake master cylinder on my wife’s ‘82 4x4 diesel suburban was starting to go bad. The brake pedal would sometimes slowly sink down when you were stopped at a light. I like to stopper the lines when I disconnect them (to keep out dirt and air), in the pic below I have used some plugs that are actually made for transmission cooler lines, but work well here.

Here’s the new one (not rebuilt, new was only $10 more) bolted on.

The instructions always say to “bench bleed” the master cylinder in vise, using a screwdriver for a plunger. I say, the hell with that, just bolt it up and run the hoses back into the resevoir. Then you can work the air out by pumping the pedal (slowly). By the way, the plastic adaptors and hoses didn’t come with the new master cylinder, I had saved them from a previous one (in fact, the last one I bought didn’t have them either, a disapointing trend).