Chevy & GMC Vans

Wow that got the wheels turning! Very cool!

the cladding under the DS door seemed to have more play in it than normal this summer. I popped the 4 pins and pulled the screws holding it on and was greeted by a shower of rust. I feared the worst but lucky for me its only the bracket that the cladding slips on to that disintegrated. Its supposed to be appx 30" x 5" and I have a 30" strip that came off with the plastic cladding. Everything from the screws down was a shower of rust. I had to use a cutoff wheel to slot the self tapping screws and all 4 came out. Flap disk in the grinder and some rust encapsulator later I am back to clean ( sealed ) metal. I still have some left over paint from last falls touch ups to re-paint the rocker, and fabbed up a new bracket from some leftover metal.

Once that is all done I have a 5 gallon pail of Fluid Film and a new gun to coat all 3 rigs in the driveway before winter hits.

blacknome, that's funny I just ground down rust under my (now deleted) cladding. Covered with Eastwood corroless. then a day later sprayed some Duplicolor bed coating.
That should get me a few more years.

nonhog wrote:blacknome, that's funny I just ground down rust under my (now deleted) cladding. Covered with Eastwood corroless. then a day later sprayed some Duplicolor bed coating.
That should get me a few more years.

I was not amused nor surprised as the PS did the same thing a few years back. Rockers under the rusted bracket are now cleaned and painted BC/CC. I have now been fooling with trying to re-create that bracket for some days now in my spare time. I have the top edge sorted but the bottom is too thick for the plastic cladding to come around and clip back into place. It has a weird bend to it that contours the rocker panel. Its holding up my undercoating the van before it gets too cold ! Hope to get back to it early next week.

Van rolled over at 285 thousand kms on the way home from work tonight.

Funny as in, how coincidental we both were doing that. I wasn't amused by your rust repair, nor mine.

Last night I got the front rotors off as they are glazed pretty good, high pitched squeal! Get them turned today. Keeps me from finding the source of my other noises.
Front end clunk. #-o

I just sent this email to Ct. Axle in Ellington Ct. Upon hearing back from them , I will be delivering my van for professional installation of two Torsen style LSD carriers and complete rebuilds of my factory rear and the cast iron front diff that will take the place of the open aluminum stock diff currently in the van. After four attempts at shimming and setting backlash I have decided there is black magic involved and I'm leaving it to a professional magician.

Mr Haney
I now have in my possession a ;
1-cast iron 7.2" front diff
2-Torsen carrier for 7.2" diff
3-master rebuild kit for 7.2" diff
4-Detroit Truetrac LSD for 7.625" diff
5-minor kit for 7.625" diff>shims and pinion crush sleeve

Let me know when you would like for me to drop off the van to you.
Thanks

Hi,
Recently washed the 2003 AWD.

AP

Truly tested the new 4wd t-case

Took the van Christmas tree hunting same as every year.... but this year we went somewhere new. With the np236 t-case up and running we were able to get to a new area and be more confident getting there. Idaho is a little low on snow right now but at least we were able to find some.

Ryan

Finally got around to gutting the driver's side dutch door to open up a little more storage.



Used my nibbler to cut out the "cross" of the center steel, filed the edges, and brushed some primer on the bare stuff. I glued some spare amp/trunk carpet I had lying around into the inside. I wanted to make sure whatever was stored in the door didn't interfere with the latch rod, so I added a small plywood "wall" to keep everything out of that area.



The "wall" is just held in by the same screws that fasten the footman loops on the left side. Sheet-metal screws hold the footman loops on the right. I wanted to keep the outer ring of trim so I just sliced the door-card with a box knife to match the opening.


I experimented with putting my tools here, but it does make that door really heavy (with the pelican box on the outer rack too), so for now I'll continue to store my tools in the jack area and probably keep my leveling blocks in here.


The nice thing about having an easy place to put the leveling blocks is that they're always the dead-last thing to get put away as I break camp - I hate having to futz with opening a bunch of stuff up to put them away.

Hi All,

Very clever! The storage inside rear door could be handy for small camping items too. LED light, paper towels, soap, etc.

AP

Hi,
Finished installing a custom designed aluminum skid plate for T Case.

Front portion of skid plate shares a threaded stud that is for transmission mount. Rear of skid plate attaches to a new 58" long 1 1/2" X 1 1/2" steel box tubing that connects to Nerf bar support runners.
AP

Hi,
Working on skid plate for front diff.

AP

I see the custom (aluminum?) skid plate for the T-case, but who made the black corrugated piece in the left side of the photo?
That looks like a very good addition.
Rod Johnson
Issaquah, WA

Hi,
The black corogated heavy plastic came from Pic n pull type salvage yard . I forget which vehicle I pulled it from. Since I remove my OEM bumper and spoiler, I am happy that I found a suitable front air spoiler to freshening the look and keep mud and splash away from front wiring and horn , etc.'
AP

Hi,
I attached 20.5" length of reduced height (I.e. 7/8". instead of 1 5/8" ) Uni strut slotted channel that I got from Lowes, to the under side of sub frame cross bar. Then inserted 3 channel nuts. Used 1/4" hex bolts to attach the 4 mm thick aluminum skid plate. The skid plate came off of some 4 WD truck or maybe a s10 blazer . It is about 18" X 24" inches and weighs 10 lbs.
The rear mount was done by used Uni strut fittings bolted to existing bolt that secure front diff carrier mont. The Uni strut fitting is P2325 or ?. Which is a 4 hole corner brace.

AP