The Green Grendel

[campfire]

The temperature dropped a bunch today. And we even had the tiniest dusting of white stuff this morning. And the promised wind storm finally materialized. I'm not sure why I'm so wussy, but I've spent a lot of today inside instead of outside. Today's small truck-related accomplishment was setting up rear axle backlash. I wasn't able to install the cover because, aside from the 2 bolts that have been holding it on all summer, I have managed to lose the other 12.



Here are the second cheapest shocks that money can buy. Ready to go on the back end, if I can talk myself into spending today's last free hour outside instead of inside. The stud came with one of them, but the other one stayed on the truck (as it should have). I have new studs coming, but they're not here yet. So I guess I can only install one of them right now.



I've also decided that I really like the front stance now that I have the 31" rubber on there.



I haven't taken the 33s off of the back yet, so it has a bit of lean to it, but that will be corrected in due time.



Here is the front wheel well height, on stock 3-leaf springs.



It's ~2.5" taller than what I get with the same tire on the front of the Suburban. Stock 2-leaf springs. This confirms my hunch that the Suburban sits a good bit lower than where it should be. And Big Blue sits lower yet. I can barely get one finger between the bump stop and the spring plate on that rig. On the Suburban I can get 2 fingers, and the Blazer gives me several more fingers. Not great measuring accuracy, but it's enough to capture the essence of the problem.



Other side.



And this is what the Suburban looks like with my one white wheel. I hope it looks better once I get the caps on there, because at this point I think I like the newer van wheels better. Maybe I should add some beauty rings?



Note that this is a 32" tire, and it shows less clearance than the Blazer does on 31s.

 

[78K30]

Blazer is looking good!

You'll love the steels with caps look once it's on. I've got those Ford wheels free to you so you can use the caps also. I verified cap fitment last week also

 

[campfire]

Blazer is looking good!

You'll love the steels with caps look once it's on. I've got those Ford wheels free to you so you can use the caps also. I verified cap fitment last week also

Awesome. We'll be heading South soon. I'll be in touch as soon as I can get that D44 cover cracked open.

I need to buy 2 more 285/75R16 tires before I can get the white rims rocking, but there's an ever-growing list of things to be done before that truck will be on the road again.

Hopefully this one will be drivable sometime soon, the list is steadily getting shorter.

That left rear wheel currently on the Blazer is actually another dog dish rim painted up in GMT400 silver (pulled off of a newer truck). I'm not sure what beauty rings were originally used on the dog dish rims, but the GMT400 ring looks quite at home.

 

[big dan]

Man it's been a long time but I'll try and remember. I know I replaced ring and pinion bearings, used solid spacer in place of crush sleeve and both inner axle seals with national (I think) bearings and seals. Rotors, brakes and all the wheel bearings and seals were new. Seems like I replaced the inner spindle bearings and seals.

Ball joints and axle joints had been replaced with moog/precision joints but i can't remember how long ago. If they are in need of replacement they should be lifetime warranty from oreillys. If you've got one near you I don't see why they couldn't warranty them for you.

 

[big dan]

I just remembered ball joints were not moog, I got them from rock auto and don't remember the brand. Axle joints are precisions though.

 

[campfire]

Man it's been a long time but I'll try and remember. I know I replaced ring and pinion bearings, used solid spacer in place of crush sleeve and both inner axle seals with national (I think) bearings and seals. Rotors, brakes and all the wheel bearings and seals were new. Seems like I replaced the inner spindle bearings and seals.

Ball joints and axle joints had been replaced with moog/precision joints but i can't remember how long ago. If they are in need of replacement they should be lifetime warranty from oreillys. If you've got one near you I don't see why they couldn't warranty them for you.

Awesome! Now that is real customer service.

I only found one ball joint loose enough for me to feel it without a tire mounted. It's not high on my list of issues to fix right now, but I will be taking notes after I do a few shakedown runs. I don't think I can cash in a warranty claim on parts that someone else bought.

 

[campfire]

Am I the only one who thinks that the inner axle shaft shouldn't be loosely rattling like that?

 

[big dan]

I don't recall it ever alarming me about axles being able to move around. There is no outer bearing or seal on a 10 bolt inner shaft so the only support is at the differential and the stub. So if the stub axle is loose the inner shaft will wiggle around.

 

[big dan]

And if it was worth the trouble I would not be opposed to you sending me the axle joints and I would warranty and send you new ones back.

Since I can't remember the brand on the ball joints I don't know about warranty on them and I doubt I have any of the paperwork that came with them.

 

[campfire]

I don't recall it ever alarming me about axles being able to move around. There is no outer bearing or seal on a 10 bolt inner shaft so the only support is at the differential and the stub. So if the stub axle is loose the inner shaft will wiggle around.

Hmm. I didn't realize there was no outer support (I haven't worked on the inside of a front 10-bolt yet). What keeps the shaft from sliding in and out if there is no external snap ring? Or do we just not care if it's sliding around the hole? I'm gonna hafta think about this.

It does sound like there's no reason to wait on sealing up the pumpkin, though.

 

[campfire]

And if it was worth the trouble I would not be opposed to you sending me the axle joints and I would warranty and send you new ones back.

Since I can't remember the brand on the ball joints I don't know about warranty on them and I doubt I have any of the paperwork that came with them.

Definitely not worth the headache. And with shipping I don't even think it would make financial sense, either. I'll replace the loose ball joint(s) whenever I get to it, it's not something that I'm worried about. And I'll get wifey to turn the wheel back and forth while I'm watching, it shouldn't be hard to spot whatever is binding.

 

[big dan]

Outer snap ring is the only thing that keeps it from sliding around. I've heard differing opinions as to whether or not it's needed, axle can't really go anywhere, and I've ran them both with and without and never seemed to have a problem. I do think that running the snap ring keeps the seal tight against the inner spindle bearing which would keep it sealed better.

As far as the axle joints go, I've decided precisions are junk anyways. Spicer is your best bet for replacement. Didn't know if it would be worth it to ship em but I thought I'd offer anyways.

 

[campfire]

Outer snap ring is the only thing that keeps it from sliding around. I've heard differing opinions as to whether or not it's needed, axle can't really go anywhere, and I've ran them both with and without and never seemed to have a problem. I do think that running the snap ring keeps the seal tight against the inner spindle bearing which would keep it sealed better.

As far as the axle joints go, I've decided precisions are junk anyways. Spicer is your best bet for replacement. Didn't know if it would be worth it to ship em but I thought I'd offer anyways.

Thanks for the offer.

I didn't see any stub shaft snap rings in the box of lockout parts, so I wound up not using any, reasoning that it's no worse than the Suburban (which can't use snap rings on the stub shafts). I may look around and source some whenever I have the hubs apart again (which, given the loose ball joint, may be somewhat soon).

 

[campfire]

Tonight's update:

Sealed up rear axle (diff. cover and installed axle shafts). The Lubelocker gasket is neat and saves time & mess, even for a single use. Not necessarily worth the price if you're only using it once, but it is nice to throw it on there dry and just be done.

Sealed up the front diff. cover. Despite being smaller, this cover was quite a bit heavier than the 14BFF cover that I had installed minutes before. Didn't have a fancy gold-plated gasket for this one, so it got plain ol' RTV.

While working in there I found a chipped tooth that I had missed previously. Note to self, you need to do a better job checking ALL sides of things.




Not sure whether to be concerned or not. I didn't find any large pieces in what was left of the oil, nor was there much glitter in there. It looked pretty clean to me. But it is still missing a chunk.


And then I came inside because, once again, the 20* cold is kicking my tail. I have no idea why I've felt so cold this week. It makes no sense to me, as we aren't even into cold weather yet.

After the RTV has set up I may go back out there and fill the axles.

 

[ZooMad75]

Campy I have to admire your tenacity. Getting stuff done outside in the cold is tough. You got a lot done! If I didn't know any better stuffing 8 luggers under the M1008 has all the earmarks of making a wheeler. Keep up the good work!

 

[78K30]

I have a Lube locker in the front axle of my F150 with a DIY4x diff cover and love it. Makes popping the cover off and back on quick and easy. The cold does suck though, it was taking its toll on me earlier this morning also.

 

[campfire]

Campy I have to admire your tenacity. Getting stuff done outside in the cold is tough. You got a lot done!

Thanks for the kind words, they mean a lot. In fact, they mean so much that I went back out and spent 2 more hours out there, just because of that encouragement.

 

[campfire]

If I didn't know any better stuffing 8 luggers under the M1008 has all the earmarks of making a wheeler.

I'm afraid you've lost me here. What are you saying?

 

[campfire]

I have a Lube locker in the front axle of my F150 with a DIY4x diff cover and love it. Makes popping the cover off and back on quick and easy. The cold does suck though, it was taking its toll on me earlier this morning also.

Yeah, that's the purpose of the dry gasket. I love the concept, which is why I decided to try it out.

The weird thing about this build is that nearly every part that has been installed is something that I bought months or years ago (including the supergasket). I've had the parts sitting there, I just haven't had the motivation to actually put them on. This week I have the motivation of knowing that snow is coming and that it's really going to be miserable outside at that point. Plus I'm also running out of construction projects, at least for this moment.

 

[campfire]

Tonight's second update:

The rear end is wet. Finally, finally. The truck came to me with a half-swapped mismatching rear end that had no lube. I have worked on it a number of times, but it has stayed dry this entire time. So filling the diff. tonight feels like a big step forward. I also filled the front diff, so we are doubly closer to getting this thing on the road. We're getting close enough that I actually started thinking about where to fit the license plate on the back (the stock location is already occupied). Drivetrain-wise, I just need to clean up the driveshaft, install it with a new slip yoke seal, and then to fill up the NV4500 and NP208 and bleed the hydraulics properly. And then it's piddly stuff. We are getting closer, one piece at a time.