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| [GMCnet] Stick & Tom [message #127903] |
Sun, 29 May 2011 15:09 |
Ken Henderson
Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA
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We've known ever since the installation of Stick Miller's transmission
back in early March that we needed to pull it back out to correct a
leak from the chain cover. Friday we finally got around to tackling
it on a day when neither of our backs was in such bad shape that we
couldn't stand up.
We had on hand, thanks to Bill Bramlett, a transmission-to-final drive
gasket and planned to use RTV for the chain cover (with more cleaning
care than the last time). When I got underneath and examined the
situation, I found that the leak was apparently coming from well
forward of the chain cover -- more like between the transmission and
final drive. I also found that most of the dripping stuff Stick
complained about was black, not red, and was coming from the final
drive cover.
Reluctantly, we pulled the final drive cover, and no more than an
ounce of gear oil ran into the catch pan! While there didn't appear
to be any significant damage to the gear teeth (just a little
cross-striation on what looked to me like good mesh wear patterns),
shaking the driver's side axle flange revealed much more than normal
play (which is quite a lot), and the ring gear moved too -- sort of
wobbled around! We didn't feel real good about that, so we went to
the farm to examine the 3 FD's I have stored there -- knowing that I
couldn't directly replace Stick's 3.42 FD.
On the way home from Bean Station, I stopped at Bill Telgen's and he
gave me a TH425 and a FD. Both were reportedly good, so we expected
to use that FD for Stick's coach. But it turned out to have a 2.73:1
ratio. The next one we opened seemed to be in beautiful condition
with great contact patterns (almost all the way across both pull and
coast teeth surfaces) and VERY smooth bearings.
So we began to hunt the other gasket, for the FD cover and the
double-sided seal for the FD-to-transmission connection. CarQuest was
able to get the FD cover gasket from another town before the day was
out. NAPA promised delivery of the seal from Atlanta on Saturday
morning. So that project went on hold for the day.
About then, Tom and Marilyn Phipps arrived from Texas enroute home to
VA. After we got them parked and hooked up, we drafted Tom into the
grease brigade and proceeded to remove the old FD and get everything
ready for the Saturday reassembly (by now the wiped-dry chain cover
was obviously not going to leak for us so we decided to try leaving
that alone). The worst part of the whole job was removing the
impossible-to-remove hidden nut at the top, in, side of the FD. Bill
Bramlett had bent one of my 9/16 box end wrenches just for that job
and had insisted that we re-install that nut, which very few people
do. Naturally, I couldn't find that wrench and had to modify another
one. Half way through that process the O2 for the Mapp Gas torch ran
out. Propane wouldn't provide enough heat, so I had to finish the
bend cold. OLD Snap-On combination wrenches do NOT bend easily. even
when secured to a 14" I-beam, supporting a GMC front end, and
"encouraged" with a 3' pipe. The nut finally came off -- NEVER to be
installed again. We all finished the day very greasy & hot & tired.
Yesterday morning, NAPA called to apologize: They'd messed up the
order, then resubmitted it too late for delivery on Saturday. After
examining the subject seal carefully, we decided to trust it to not
leak and proceeded with the reinstallation. As we had when we removed
it, we tied the FD where it could not fall off of the battery lift
tray I made for the top of the boom on my engine hoist. That's not a
perfect transmission jack, but it sure beats the heck out of manually
lifting 85# of iron over one's head. Despite the abominable
spring-loaded "steer-safe" arrangment mounted behind the #2
crossmember, we were able to twist and turn the FD into position and
mount it without destroying anything. Usually the part most in
jeopardy during that operation is the flange gasket. To minimize that
risk, I'd used Indian Head gasket shellac to stick the gasket to the
FD the afternoon before. That DID help.
After we got the FD in place, Tom & I pretty much abandoned Stick to
hook everything back up while we installed a new vent fan on Tom's
coach and bypassed his leaking water heater. Saturday wasn't nearly
as tough as Friday, but we still wound up pretty tired. Stick took
his coach and left after we took a brief test drive. He pronounced
the final drive much quieter after 100 yards. This morning he
reported that there are no leaks under the coach. Keep your fingers
crossed for longer term success!
This morning, Tom & Marilyn rolled out of the yard about the time I
got out of bed. When I called a few minutes later to notify them that
someone had stolen both of their vehicles from my yard, Tom was about
to enter our local "pure gasoline" station. A few minutes later, he
called back to report a massive gasoline leak in the rear of the
coach.
As soon as Tom backed onto the service rack and I got underneath, I
could see the source of the leak(s). To avoid pulling the gas tanks,
a PO cut the tank-top lines a couple of inches off of the tanks and
used couplers+hose clamps to install new hoses. Guess how those old,
brittle tank-top hoses felt about that? Right, they snapped right
off. One vent line on the front tank and one vent line on the rear
tank. Since the tanks were both full, and I don't own that many empty
gas cans, Tom decided to perpetuate the problem by carefully re-doing
those joints. If he doesn't top off at the next couple of pit stops,
he should make it home with no more leakage -- maybe.
I'll close this and open another posting about those fuel hoses.
Ken H.
Americus, GA
'76 X-Birchaven w/Cad500/Howell EFI+ & EBL
www.gmcwipersetc.com
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Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach
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