Chevy & GMC Vans

Man, this is driving me nuts. We have great weather today, and while I don't have a lot of time available, I did have a couple of hours so I thought I would get to replacing the rear seal on the transmission where the drive shaft goes in. I jacked up and supported the van, went under and gave the bolts that hold the u-joint/drive shaft at the rear a good shot of PB Blaster, and then I got my tools. All is well. Crawled under and marked the drive shaft orientation. All is well. Then I tried to find a socket that would fit those bolts. Nothing fits. Either it is too small or too big. The closest seem to be 5/16" and I think 8mm. What size is it. I don't really want to round off the bolt head, or worse yet, break it off.

yeah as I remember it it is 8mm 12 point

With a little tapping and wiggling the 8mm went on. Got the shaft out, pulled the seal, put in the new one after finding something to drive it in since the Napa seals come with a big dust boot that makes is too tall for my seal driver. Then I found that the one dust cap on the U-joint had somehow come out of the tape I had put over it to keep it from coming off. Had to deal with that, and hopefully the U-joint will be fine as I will be driving from Ontario to the Harrisburg PA area on Monday.

On the negative side, I noticed something dripping from the bottom of the backing plate for the brakes on the passenger side. I am guessing the axle seal but it could be something else. I was going to pull off the wheel and have a look, but it was stuck fast. I will have to bring it in as I am running out of time, hopefully it will be something simple. I need the tires rotated anyway, and free rotations were included with the purchase of the tires.

Jim-I forgot to say sometimes tailshaft seals leak because of a wear line on the yoke from the seal.Alittle emory cloth to smooth it out will work sometimes.I had to do that recently on Rufus.

I will keep that in mind if it leaks again.

I was right, passenger side axle seal is leaking. I will not be able to get to it until I return from Harrisburg PA.