Prages
10-25-2010, 10:33 AM
Didn't get many pics, since we were trying to get it done so Jeff could work on getting a wood burning stove installed in his living room.
Anyway, got the truck to his garage around noon on Sunday.
Jacked it up, took off the rear wheels. Used Jeff's air wrench to remove all the bolts, which were in surprisingly good shape to be 10 years old. 4 nuts on each side for the springs, one bolt on each side for the shocks, and 2 bolts on each side for the torsion bar. Then we unplugged the speed sensor, disconnected the parking brake cable and the hydraulic line at the split. Dropped the old unit out, put the "new" unit in, reconnected everything, bled the brakes, filled the diff case with gear oil, bled the brakes, and that was it. I also replaced the shocks while I had the rear end off.
Just a couple of pics with the old rear end in place.
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Truck/Jack.jpg
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Truck/Jack2.jpg
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Truck/Jack3.jpg
Two major 'mishaps' happened.
1: We dropped the truck off of the jack stands. :facepalm: Luckily, neither of us was under it. It was on the jack stands and we needed to raise it up a little more, so Jeff was at the side, and I was at the rear working the jack. I cranked it a little, and the truck rolled forward and off the jack and jack stands. We'd forgotten to chock the front wheels. :facepalm: Took us about 1/2 hour to figure out how to get it lifted back up where it needed to be, since the big jack wouldn't fit under the rear end anymore. I ended up putting the jack on a cross beam toward the rear of the cab and was able to get the back end lifted back up. Of course, we chocked the front wheels this time.
2: The junkyard drained the oil out of the case. I knew they had, so we filled it up. Once it was together, I took it for a short drive. The rear gasket was leaking like crazy. Turns out, they just opened the case to drain it and didn't tighten the bolts back down. After tightening the bolts, it seems the leak has stopped.
The axle doesn't appear to be bent. The truck drives just fine, and no longer sounds like it has a handful of gravel in the rear end. :D
Anyway, got the truck to his garage around noon on Sunday.
Jacked it up, took off the rear wheels. Used Jeff's air wrench to remove all the bolts, which were in surprisingly good shape to be 10 years old. 4 nuts on each side for the springs, one bolt on each side for the shocks, and 2 bolts on each side for the torsion bar. Then we unplugged the speed sensor, disconnected the parking brake cable and the hydraulic line at the split. Dropped the old unit out, put the "new" unit in, reconnected everything, bled the brakes, filled the diff case with gear oil, bled the brakes, and that was it. I also replaced the shocks while I had the rear end off.
Just a couple of pics with the old rear end in place.
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Truck/Jack.jpg
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Truck/Jack2.jpg
http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Truck/Jack3.jpg
Two major 'mishaps' happened.
1: We dropped the truck off of the jack stands. :facepalm: Luckily, neither of us was under it. It was on the jack stands and we needed to raise it up a little more, so Jeff was at the side, and I was at the rear working the jack. I cranked it a little, and the truck rolled forward and off the jack and jack stands. We'd forgotten to chock the front wheels. :facepalm: Took us about 1/2 hour to figure out how to get it lifted back up where it needed to be, since the big jack wouldn't fit under the rear end anymore. I ended up putting the jack on a cross beam toward the rear of the cab and was able to get the back end lifted back up. Of course, we chocked the front wheels this time.
2: The junkyard drained the oil out of the case. I knew they had, so we filled it up. Once it was together, I took it for a short drive. The rear gasket was leaking like crazy. Turns out, they just opened the case to drain it and didn't tighten the bolts back down. After tightening the bolts, it seems the leak has stopped.
The axle doesn't appear to be bent. The truck drives just fine, and no longer sounds like it has a handful of gravel in the rear end. :D