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Loose bolts

eric67camino said:
I had a similar situation years ago that drove me nuts. 78 K5, 350 small block, th350 transmission, np203 transfer case, add-a-leafs on front, 3" blocks on rear, 33's. Kept having the bellhousing bolts back off. Also had it breaking the bellhousing on the trans. Tried lockwashers and loctite. Couldn't figure it out.

Ended up being a combination of trans mounts and drive shaft. The transmission mounts were oil soaked and spongy soft. The drive shaft was getting worn. Because of the lift (and the fact that i was a broke college kid who didn't extend the driveshaft), the driveshaft splines didn't have a lot of engagement.

The result was that driveshaft was moving in and elliptical kinda of wobble. And this was causing the transfer case to shake on the soft mounts. And this was breaking the bellhousing/loosening the bolts.

The driveshaft got rebuilt. Replaced transmission mounts. Never did it again, but the truck got parked not long after, so can't be 100% sure.
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How did you determine that this was happening? What led you to this conclusion?
 
Magikal said:
ORD is so overpriced.
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Ahh, well I had a case for a customer who needed it quickly, it needed hard parts, they had the stuff to me quickly. Customer was pleased, so I didn't mind spending more money with the vendor who feeds me great food once a year at Blazer Bash.
 
I’ve bought several rebuild kits from ORD. Shipping is always fast, especially since I’m in Colorado. There kits are very complete and seem to have some of the small parts that others don’t include. Even if it does cost me a little extra the support and service they give us is well worth it.
 
Magikal said:
How did you determine that this was happening? What led you to this conclusion?
Click to expand...

There were several things wrong at once. Seemed to start after adding the lift.

I had noticed the transmission mounts being oil soaked and super soft/spongy a while before, but had been unable to find replacements, so they were still in use.

I don't recall how many times the bellhousing broke, but it was several. I know that we had it welded at least once. And I replaced the housing several times.

One of the many times I was under the truck, I pushed or pulled on the driveshaft and it moved sideways in the middle, near the splines/ slip-joint part. Was able to shift it side to side or up and down. Or, if pulling in the middle, you could sorta make an elliptical type motion. I'm not sure how to explain it, but kinda like the driveshaft were a jump rope. Fixed positions on the ends, but moving in the middle. Not a whole lot, but the splines weren't tight.

The last time I replaced the transmission housing, we found new mounts and installed them. Also, having found the driveshaft in poor condition, I had it rebuilt and lengthened. This combination seemed to do the trick, as I didn't break anymore housings.
 
But they have the stuff we need and it’s supporting an American company.
just do it shia GIF
 
eric67camino said:
There were several things wrong at once. Seemed to start after adding the lift.

I had noticed the transmission mounts being oil soaked and super soft/spongy a while before, but had been unable to find replacements, so they were still in use.

I don't recall how many times the bellhousing broke, but it was several. I know that we had it welded at least once. And I replaced the housing several times.

One of the many times I was under the truck, I pushed or pulled on the driveshaft and it moved sideways in the middle, near the splines/ slip-joint part. Was able to shift it side to side or up and down. Or, if pulling in the middle, you could sorta make an elliptical type motion. I'm not sure how to explain it, but kinda like the driveshaft were a jump rope. Fixed positions on the ends, but moving in the middle. Not a whole lot, but the splines weren't tight.

The last time I replaced the transmission housing, we found new mounts and installed them. Also, having found the driveshaft in poor condition, I had it rebuilt and lengthened. This combination seemed to do the trick, as I didn't break anymore housings.
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I understand what you are saying. I think the word you are looking for is runout. My stuff isn't nearly that bad. Rear mount, soft yes. Driveline is tight. Im running a double cardan joint and plenty of connection on the slip, even at full droop. I went through all that when i four linked the rear and 18in coil overs.

Thinking i may also switch all the mounts, engine and transfer case/ tranny to poly bushings instead.

I was reading the link above about washers and the engineers and somewhere in there it said that side to side forces in the bolts will cause them to come loose. That got my gears turning thinking that maybe the soft mounts are letting the whole assembly twist on hard acceleration and obviously twist back afterwards. Perhaps this is causing the issue. I haven't sheared any bolts, i just lose them.

My 240 welder can fix it as a last resort.....lol. it's a woods machine, not a show toy. Built for function from nothing.

20210312_153610.jpg

20210312_153542.jpg
 
Amazon and ebay are the same crap. They just dont have idler shims.
Bk205gdm4 is the big bearing kit.
 
What’s overpriced for good quality parts ? Plus your supporting the brethren . Sounds like that’s the way to go I had to completely re-drill a new case .
 
Update. Got the doubler out today. Holes were definitely wallowed out. One bolt had been sheared off. Drilled and tapped the holes to a 7/16-20 size. Couldn't find any hardened bolts, all thread, or studs in that size. I did manage to find a set of ARP wheel studs so i ordered those. I'll just cut the ends off and to length.

The 205 seems pretty tight still so i think I'll order a basic seal kit and should be good to go. Hurry up and wait now...
 
Update again. Arp bolts arrived yesterday, got them installed and doubler back together on the bench today. Now to install it tomorrow hopefully. It all went together well. Here's what my final product ended up as. Existing holes drilled and tapped to 7/16-20. Hardened arp studs installed in them using red loctite. Other end I used generic nuts with blue loctite on them with a lock nut above them also. No washers. Each stud has about 1/4in of thread above the nuts still. Anyone see anything wrong with this setup? I thought I grabbed the flange nuts with the serrated underside but apparently i didn't.

We'll see... it snowed 4 inches today on top of the 2ft deep mud and ruts that constitute my driveway right now. What a mess. :saweet:
 
Magikal said:
Update again. Arp bolts arrived yesterday, got them installed and doubler back together on the bench today. Now to install it tomorrow hopefully. It all went together well. Here's what my final product ended up as. Existing holes drilled and tapped to 7/16-20. Hardened arp studs installed in them using red loctite. Other end I used generic nuts with blue loctite on them with a lock nut above them also. No washers. Each stud has about 1/4in of thread above the nuts still. Anyone see anything wrong with this setup? I thought I grabbed the flange nuts with the serrated underside but apparently i didn't.

We'll see... it snowed 4 inches today on top of the 2ft deep mud and ruts that constitute my driveway right now. What a mess. :saweet:
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Sounds good I personally red locktite everything I beat the crap out of my truck it was the only way they would stay !
 
I'm in a little late, but if you weren't gonna go w/ studs the safety wire or some of the locking systems like stage8 may do the trick also.
 
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