Chevy & GMC Vans

Starting the front and rear 4.10/4.11 and G80 posi swap today!

I guess we all know what comes after that!

Grumpy: Spent most of the long weekend replacing the transmission with the one from the parts van. All I know about the replacement trans is that it has less mileage than Grumpy's original and it's been sitting a couple years. Really hoping this turns out good.

photo_van wrote:I guess we all know what comes after that!

Yeah...gotta re-program somehow!

Lift may be next year. Not 100% sure on that as Ben will probably get the van for college in a couple years.

Kit the van out as an Expedition van, he can live in it instead of renting.

almost got sideswiped by a jersey shore cast off in a volvo who apparently thought "lane ends. merge left" means drive into the vehicle next to you. The guy missed the right side of my van by literally an inch (then when he ducked in behind me he almost took off his front end on my hitch). what is with people!?!? Its a white van...its not exactly invisible.

also, the van came to my rescue over the weekend. My dad and I were on the highway to a charity car wash (for a local women's roller derby league). He was driving the van and I was driving the '83 lesabre. apparently, my right front tire overheated and disintegrated (tread came off). Tires were scheduled to be replaced in a couple days due to old age. I called my dad, and he swung back around. Using the universal spare from the van (since apparently the 1980's spare in the lesabre didnt hold air anymore) and a floor jack (kept in the van because the factory jack doesnt reach the frame) we changed the tire in about 5 minutesand had the car back on the road. Thankfully, the tire didnt damage the car too bad (fender is fine, but inner fender (rubber) has a rip and the chrome rocker on the passengers front door is messed up pretty good.)

LiftedAWDAstro wrote:Starting the front and rear 4.10/4.11 and G80 posi swap today!

LiftedAWDAstro wrote:

photo_van wrote:I guess we all know what comes after that!

Yeah...gotta re-program somehow!

Lift may be next year. Not 100% sure on that as Ben will probably get the van for college in a couple years.

Jet Performance programmer (#15015) you can change gear ratio, tire diameter, shift points, also diagnostics reader/reset.

LiftedAWDAstro wrote:Starting the front and rear 4.10/4.11 and G80 posi swap today!

I failed miserably this time! ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) I couldn't get a decent pattern and the backlash keeps changing. I think it's the cheap Chinese bearings. I am gonna pull the axle out and place it on the bench to make this job easier. My knees, back and hips can't take much more! Once that's done I will drive it for a little while to make sure they are good and then it's time for the front end.

LiftedAWDAstro wrote:

LiftedAWDAstro wrote:Starting the front and rear 4.10/4.11 and G80 posi swap today!

I failed miserably this time! ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) I couldn't get a decent pattern and the backlash keeps changing. I think it's the cheap Chinese bearings. I am gonna pull the axle out and place it on the bench to make this job easier. My knees, back and hips can't take much more! Once that's done I will drive it for a little while to make sure they are good and then it's time for the front end.

I've seen improperly seated ring gears cause strange problems like that... weird contact patterns and changing backlash.
I learned from an old Italian Master mechanic and he used to rub the ring gear and carrier where they mated with a hone stone to knock down any high spots left from machining.

Pulled the axle out an placed in the bench. Should have done this the first time! ](*,) Checked run-out of the ring gear before I pulled it and it's less than 0.001". I then pulled the carrier out and the pinion and found the problem! When I was seating the pinion races the back (large) race went in very hard and did not get seated all the way. #-o I couldn't see it crouched under the van but on the bench it was easy to see. I also found the crush sleeve wasn't crushed at all. I kinda knew something wasn't right when the pinion nut tightened down before having to apply a lot of torque to crush the sleeve. Now I am gonna wait for the new Timken bearings to arrive and then set it up on and install it. The Jet 15015 programmer should be here by then too!

Look in the rear axle section for pics!

Those pics under the van in the driveway brought back memories,.......it was alot colder as I recall.. :-k

LOL Yeah it was! We were bundled up pretty good.

Got some parts and tools in...

Yukon master install kit for 2000+ 7.625" rear ends.



KD Tools inch-pound beam torque wrench, adapter set and axle seals.



Now I just need time to get the gears installed! Hopefully the rear will be in and running by the 18th or 19th. Then I can do the front.

Finally did a few things to personalize my Safari today. Got rid of the corroded old alloys ($75 in my pocket) and got the brand new steelies put on. While the wheels were off, I painted the hubs black and the calipers red. I think it'll really look nice when my center caps arrive. I also replaced the speakers in the rear doors and rear pillars- sounds much fresher. A good day's worth of stuff done. Enjoy the pics-