'88 K5 - Running Down A Dream

[ZooMad75]

Pretty easy to remove one at a time, flip and retorque. The crossmember won't move and the holes stay lined up.

At least you didn't use the spacers to shim the crossmember down like some do, so you did ok.

 

[jimmyleetn]

Pretty easy to remove one at a time, flip and retorque. The crossmember won't move and the holes stay lined up.

At least you didn't use the spacers to shim the crossmember down like some do, so you did ok.

Check out the other pictures where the bonehead before me did a homemade tcase drop. That's the whole reason I went in there and messed with it. It felt good to get it back to the factory location. Switching those bolts out one at a time should be a snap. I went ahead and got the OE skid plate off eBay the other night. Once I get a new seal for the tail housing and get the leak stopped I'll probably bolt it up too. The specs for it are in the service manual.

 

[jimmyleetn]

So after some life changes, I'm back! My daughter was born a little over three weeks ago so my shop time has slowed. I have been working some on the Blazer when she sleeps this week. Been running into some huge problems however. First, my front axle shaft and stub on the driver's side were wore flat out. Finally got both shafts in, Dana Spicers, but forgot about the oil slinger/deflector/dust shield. Ordered one of those, it came in and for the life of me I can't hardly get it on. Destroyed the one I've ordered and the one on the old stub so now I'm waiting five days for another one. I went ahead and ordered four. I've come up with a better way to put them on but it's definitely slowed me down. While I waited I decided to hook the front axle back up under the truck and work on the passenger side since the axle shafts are good and have fresh new u-joints. Went to put on the steering knuckle and ran into another giant problem. The stupid pinch nut that came with the lower moog ball joints was crossthreaded out of the box and I could not get the ball joint to tighten with a socket and it inadvertently destroyed the ball joint when I went to tighten it down. It threaded fine by hand initially which lured me into this mistake. Apparently, this is a common problem from what I read online. I saved the old nuts so I clean them up and check them to make sure they weren't damaged and I am now reusing them. I decided to move to the driver's side and put that steering knuckle on and followed Moog's instructions to a T as far as torque specs and order of operations and it is super tight. I put a digital luggage scale on it I've got about 30lbs of pull to move it. So, if you're reading along, I guess my question is should I remove the steering knuckle and ditch the Moog instructions and follow the instructions in the service manual? The biggest discrepancy is the order of operations and the preload for the adjusting ring. Moog calls for 70ftlbs, but GM calls for 50ftlbs. I have read that a lot of other people in the Ford and Dodge forums have had issues with these ball joints being so stiff that memory steer is a problem. I'm getting frustrated at this point, I just want this part to be done and I can't get anything to go together. Any sage advice about ball joints would be great. I ordered two more ball joints for that side. I had thought about switching to Spicers but I also read that since the moog ball joints are splined that they wallow out the steering knuckle. I decided to check today and confirmed that the old ball joints I removed now will fall all the way through. I can literally push the old ball joints through the knuckle now. The Moogs are still tight. I took one out and tried to put it back in by hand and it will not go. Looks like I'm stuck with Moog unless I buy new steering knuckles which I am most assuredly do not want to do.

 

[82355]

That sucks.

Martin

 

[1300obo]

So after some life changes, I'm back! My daughter was born a little over three weeks ago so my shop time has slowed. I have been working some on the Blazer when she sleeps this week. Been running into some huge problems however. First, my front axle shaft and stub on the driver's side were wore flat out. Finally got both shafts in, Dana Spicers, but forgot about the oil slinger/deflector/dust shield. Ordered one of those, it came in and for the life of me I can't hardly get it on. Destroyed the one I've ordered and the one on the old stub so now I'm waiting five days for another one. I went ahead and ordered four. I've come up with a better way to put them on but it's definitely slowed me down. While I waited I decided to hook the front axle back up under the truck and work on the passenger side since the axle shafts are good and have fresh new u-joints. Went to put on the steering knuckle and ran into another giant problem. The stupid pinch nut that came with the lower moog ball joints was crossthreaded out of the box and I could not get the ball joint to tighten with a socket and it inadvertently destroyed the ball joint when I went to tighten it down. It threaded fine by hand initially which lured me into this mistake. Apparently, this is a common problem from what I read online. I saved the old nuts so I clean them up and check them to make sure they weren't damaged and I am now reusing them. I decided to move to the driver's side and put that steering knuckle on and followed Moog's instructions to a T as far as torque specs and order of operations and it is super tight. I put a digital luggage scale on it I've got about 30lbs of pull to move it. So, if you're reading along, I guess my question is should I remove the steering knuckle and ditch the Moog instructions and follow the instructions in the service manual? The biggest discrepancy is the order of operations and the preload for the adjusting ring. Moog calls for 70ftlbs, but GM calls for 50ftlbs. I have read that a lot of other people in the Ford and Dodge forums have had issues with these ball joints being so stiff that memory steer is a problem. I'm getting frustrated at this point, I just want this part to be done and I can't get anything to go together. Any sage advice about ball joints would be great. I ordered two more ball joints for that side. I had thought about switching to Spicers but I also read that since the moog ball joints are splined that they wallow out the steering knuckle. I decided to check today and confirmed that the old ball joints I removed now will fall all the way through. I can literally push the old ball joints through the knuckle now. The Moogs are still tight. I took one out and tried to put it back in by hand and it will not go. Looks like I'm stuck with Moog unless I buy new steering knuckles which I am most assuredly do not want to do.

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Are you talking about the dust shield that goes on the axle shaft? A picture might help. As far as the ball joints, I torqued the bottom nut first, then the adjuster sleeve but only got to around 50 before the preload became a problem, then the castle nut. Haven't driven it so dont know how it turned out yet. Sucks about that crossthread, those ball joints ain't cheap

 

[jimmyleetn]

Are you talking about the dust shield that goes on the axle shaft? A picture might help. As far as the ball joints, I torqued the bottom nut first, then the adjuster sleeve but only got to around 50 before the preload became a problem, then the castle nut. Haven't driven it so dont know how it turned out yet. Sucks about that crossthread, those ball joints ain't cheap

Here's a picture of the slinger/shield.

 

[1300obo]

Here's a picture of the slinger/shield.

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Dont remember that one during my reassembly but mines quite a bit older, I guess they're different

 

[jimmyleetn]

Dont remember that one during my reassembly but mines quite a bit older, I guess they're different

Guarantee yours has it. For whatever reason if you buy a replacement stub like the one in the second picture (the slinger is just setting on it) they do not put that slinger on there. I guess they assume you'll use your old one. They are found on every standard rotation Dana 44 front and GM 10 bolt front axle. The third picture is from an LMC catalog for reference. I'm surprised at how much I suck at putting them on, maybe this will justify a press from HF . Currently using a bench vise and it's precarious at best. The other stub was so wore out I could push the u-joint cap all the way through it which is how I made it here.

 

[1300obo]

Guarantee yours has it. For whatever reason if you buy a replacement stub like the one in the second picture (the slinger is just setting on it) they do not put that slinger on there. I guess they assume you'll use your old one. They are found on every standard rotation Dana 44 front and GM 10 bolt front axle. The third picture is from an LMC catalog for reference. I'm surprised at how much I suck at putting them on, maybe this will justify a press from HF . Currently using a bench vise and it's precarious at best. The other stub was so wore out I could push the u-joint cap all the way through it which is how I made it here.

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Ok, yeah. That's why I didn't recognize it because I never took mine off since I didn't replace an axle. Sorry, its been awhile since I had mine apart
Hope things go well with the ball joints. They can be a pain

 

[jimmyleetn]

I'm dreading the ball joints. They're supposed to come in tomorrow. I'm going to follow my GM service manual this time and hope they're not stupid tight. If I get new knuckles I'll never buy Moog ball joints again. Their other stuff seems fine.

 

[jimmyleetn]

Well after some anxiety I went for it and followed the GM service manual for installation of my newest set of ball joints. These Moog ball joints are garbage. I took a picture of the tension (it was awkward to do by myself). You'll notice in the picture as well that the top nut isn't on the ball joint. I'll also add that the lower ball joint is only torqued at 30 lb and the adjusting ring is torqued to 50 lb. It's got to be all in these ball joints. Factory specs are less than 25 lb pull and I'm nearly 15 pounds over that on both sides before they actually move. There is grease in the driver's side there is not in the passenger side that is in the picture but clearly having grease doesn't matter. The driver side was at about 39lbs. You'll probably see this post over in the garage section. I'm at a standstill on what to do next.

 

[ZooMad75]

I'd start by backing off the adjustment nut/sleeve and rechecking.

According to my info I have from ProDemand the threaded adjuster sleeve should be installed so two threads are exposed above the yoke of the axle as a starting point.



I'd look and see if you have the sleeve installed to the right starting depth. Set it there if it isn't. Recheck Turning torque.

 

[jimmyleetn]

I'd start by backing off the adjustment nut/sleeve and rechecking.

According to my info I have from ProDemand the threaded adjuster sleeve should be installed so two threads are exposed above the yoke of the axle as a starting point.



I'd look and see if you have the sleeve installed to the right starting depth. Set it there if it isn't. Recheck Turning torque.

Unfortunately that is how I started. I put the adjusting ring in with two threads showing to guide the upper ball joint in. I then torqued the lower to 30 and then put the 50 lb torque on the adjuster.

 

[jimmyleetn]

I did it!!!!! I don't know how or why it worked but when I tightened the upper ball joint it released the pressure. I plan on regearing this truck in another week or so since I found out I have 3.08 gears but I can promise you I'm not taking this knuckle off again.

 

[jimmyleetn]

The ball joint fiasco is over thank goodness. I did the driver's side today and it was 5.5lbs pull. That's roughly a 7.5lb difference from the left (13lbs) but in the big scheme of things I don't think that'll be felt in the steering wheel or will affect my steering. I think the big takeaway is it just take the Moog instructions and throw them in the trash. In other news, my Yukon oil slinger came into today. USPS lost both my Spicers... Fortunately, I think the Yukon will work. I got out my digital calipers and the I.D. is maybe 2 thousandths of inch different from one of the Spicers I destroyed. Crazy the difference it makes. Anyways, I actually am happy with the loose Yukon one. Instead of figuring out how to beat a Dana Spicer one on without damaging it, or waiting until I buy a press, I can put two small tack welds on the Yukon to hold it in place. It's under no real pressure, it's more of mating surface for the three spindle seals.

 

[jimmyleetn]

Save me from myself! I had this front axle assembly bolted to the leaves and the shocks. I decided to clean out the old diff cover gasket and prepare the mating surface for my lubelocker gasket and behold!!! I discovered I had 3.08 gears. The PO swore it had 3.73s and for whatever reason, I believed him. Don't know why I didn't check a month ago but here we are. Initially, I thought about just buttoning it up and worrying about regearing later, but it just makes since to go ahead and do it now while it's easily accessible and I have the time. So today, I drug the silly thing back out. Made one setup bearing today too. Gonna start taking it apart tomorrow. I've been reading, watching videos, and buying parts tools (HF shop press included) for a week and I'm ready. 4.11 Motive Gears with all new Timken bearings, races and seals. Crush sleeve eliminator from Yukon.

Side bar: buyer beware if you buy Yukon Gears from Amazon. The price is too good to be true, they're reboxed gears. One was from China and neither had checking distances so I sent them both back. I wound up buying Motive Gears from Summit.

 

[Jeds88]

I jumped into work on this thing pretty quick. Apparently my brake lights on both sides and turn signal on the passenger's side did not work. My wife followed me home and told me first thing the day I bought it. I dove into it with voltage meter. The previous owner told me it had been rewired. Check out some of the photos below. This thing is a complete hack job. Turns out the owner's son had wired speaker wires into the hot wire going into the brake switch. I fixed that and got power to the driver's side but still had not brake lights on the passenger's side. I started from the back tail light with the volt meter looking for a short. The weirdness began from here and didn't stop. Turns out there was an extra brake light socket wired in and taped shut. No clue why they did that. I cut all that junk out but still no brake lights. I followed the brake wires all the way to the frame where they go by the gas tank and still now power to the passenger side. There were some nicks in the wires from the previous wire job or the factory that if fixed. I also took the socket assembly and swapped it to driver's side and it worked so I know it's in the wire. Finally, I traced it to the steering column. No power there either. Then it happened. Like magic I started getting power. I am assuming what happened was there was some crud in the switch located under the steering column and I knocked it loose enough to get a connection when I plugged in the volt meter. Both brake lights work now. Guess I should have just started from there. The steering column is complete trash on this thing but I probably do need to replace that switch. I'm holding out because I want to get columns galore to rebuild it towards the end of this build. Downside to this: dimmers don't work, turn signals work but don't cancel, cruise doesn't work, wipers don't work, the ignition cylinder come out when I pull the key out, so we'll see how long I last. Just hate to sink money into something I know I'm going to completely replace down the road. On the upside, the previous owner left a steering wheel puller in the console. I should probably add a fire extinguisher into that console based on how some of this wiring looks. Check out the mess coming out of the firewall in the photos below.

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Wow I really hope my blazer is easier than yours

 

[82355]

That sucks about the gears. I've had that happen to me before, so I rarely believe what gears are in an axle unless I see them.

Martin

 

[jimmyleetn]

Lesson learned for sure. On the bright side, I found an excuse to get a shop press and I'll be way happier with new gear ratio. I compared the two with http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html

I'm kinda excited about driving it... more than I already was of course.

 

[jimmyleetn]

I got the differential carrier out. It took a 5lb slide hammer with a two jaw attachment to do it. We tried hoisting it out but picked the whole axle up. I tried the rag trick but that only got one side loose. I'd say the side bearings had plenty of preload. I labeled and measured the shims and caps so I can put them back properly. Really praying that I don't have to change anything to get the same backlash. I measured 0.008-0.009 before removal.

I'm going after the inner seals tomorrow. They look fine but from all the mud in that diff, they must be worn unless it came in through the vent but I don't see how it could. I'm hoping it's not an ordeal.