My Luxurious late model truck (not so much)

[Thunderwagen]

Looks really good!

[mcbassin]

Air dam looks great

[aggie91]

Looks nice!

[rusty76]

The air dam really cleaned up the front! It looks really good.

[flashed]

I agree with all the others ,air dam really makes it . Im in North Carolina for a long weekend and looking for a junkyard to try to find a carpet cover like yours .

[TheBlueBomber]

Originally Posted by flashed

I agree with all the others ,air dam really makes it . Im in North Carolina for a long weekend and looking for a junkyard to try to find a carpet cover like yours .

Lkq in Durham and raleigh have a lot of 88+ trucks if your in this area. And this weekend for 4th of July everything is half off.

[flashed]

Im in Hendersonville NC and so far I have struck out .Tried to find one in Columbus that the locals told me about but never found it ,must have been well hidden.

[Tx Firefighter]

Today's project is to fix this leak. This is the passenger side differential seal on the front end.



Devin had me skeert that this was going to be a giant ordeal. Not so. I've never messed with one of these before, and did a lot of looking and thinking and head scratching and still got it apart in about an hour.

Passenger side extension housing removed.



There's a snap ring holding the axle in place.



Remove snap ring.



Lift housing off of axle.



And we find the bad seal. You can see the damaged spot there.



Now I sit waiting for FedEx to deliver my Rockauto order with the parts.

[Tx Firefighter]

FedEx brought the goods. Moog sway bar bushings. Mevotech end link kits, Timken axle seal, and KYB steering damper.

I hadn't ever used Mevotech before, but the quality seems to be very good.



I've never owned a truck with a factory steering dampner before so I might not be qualified to judge one, but I figured with 230k miles on it, that replacement while I was under there would be a good idea. KYB sells a nice kit for trucks with factory dampener like mine. The original unit was some kind of stuck on there. I had to take a cutting wheel and cut the dampener off so I could get an impact and deep socket on the mounting stud to spin it loose from the center link.



Original parts for the scrap pile.



After getting it all together I took Valerie to town for a cold drink and driving around to see if I was successful or not. The truck runs and drives just fine. When I got home after driving it around it looks like my efforts were successful. Nice and dry.



Those two little trails you can see coming from the seal area are bits of grease that I lined the seal with upon installation. Nothing to worry about. The truck is now leak free front to rear without a hint of any wetness anywhere.

[lolife99]

Another successful project completed.
You make it look easy.
And stopping to take pics along the way is much appreciated by me.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Another successful project completed.
You make it look easy.
And stopping to take pics along the way is much appreciated by me.

You best get ready for a barrage of questions from me about my stepside project now. I'm trying to grasp air management for my Porterbuilt suspesnion.

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Another successful project completed.
You make it look easy.
And stopping to take pics along the way is much appreciated by me.

I agree. It takes quite a bit of effort to detail different processes like he does. I'm trying to document little things I do with mine, but it's nowhere near involved. I don't have the tools or adequate place to work either, which is something I look forward to someday. Until then, it's fun to watch threads like this one.

[Sodell]

Kevin, no powder coating? (just kidding)

Glad you photo log this stuff so others can see how its done...

[83GMCK2500]

Wooo-hooo! Excellent! I am sorry if I had planted such a seed. My experience has been in removing the entire front differential assembly to go through more of it. I am very happy to see how smoothly that went as I think my own passenger side seal is in the process of preserving the underside of my truck.

[lolife99]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

You best get ready for a barrage of questions from me about my stepside project now. I'm trying to grasp air management for my Porterbuilt suspesnion.

Looking forward to that project!!!

[c3006]

I wish I had your work ethic.

[rusty76]

Really fun to read. A pleasure really. Easy to understand and the pictures makes it much more delightful. Some times wording is the difference between "ok?" and "Okay I got it this time!"

[bufmatmuslepants]

Great read, every time I read one of your threads it gets me motivated to make my junk run properly and stop bandaiding everything. Keep up the good work, I enjoy these reads alot.

[Tx Firefighter]

Today's update is a little embarrassing.

Before I get into that though, I did get my floor mats yesterday.





Now, the embarrassing part. Here is the line up I had facing me this morning.



That spring is the embarrassing part. I got the front differential all back together and ran the truck around with no problems. No leaks, no noises, everything was rosy.

Then when I went to empty my drain pan the next day, I find the spring laying down in the bottom of the old gear oil.



Sucks being me. It obviously fell into the oil when I separated the diff housings and I missed seeing it.

So, take it all back apart and put the spring where it belongs.



And, this stuff. I don't ever want to live a day of my life without a tube of this in my toolbox. I think the proper name for it is anaerobic sealant. It never dries, until it's confined. So you can apply it and take your time and get it all just perfect at your leisure. Then when you torque it all down, it cures.





The second time, the job took me about an hour and a half or so. No real big deal. I also fussed with some wiring during that time too, so it wasn't all wasted effort.

After completion, road test is good. All the 4wd stuff works fine. The indicator lights work on the transfer case shift console. No noises. No leaks.

[aggie91]

Now we all know you are human...just kidding, we all have made mistakes, its one of the ways we learn.

At least you found it before any major damage happened. Its all good with us. No need to be embarassed, you are amoungst friends here...

[rusty76]

So there's not a gasket there in the first place or was this just to make sure it didn't leak, using the Gasket Maker Sealant? I'm just curious. At least you found the spring. Half the time you loose something then you don't find it at all till something goes awry. Then your stuck scratching your head....lol.

[Tx Firefighter]

There is no gasket used in this application. It's just two machined surfaces against each other. Don't get the wrong idea about the red sealant I used. It's not like silicone or any of the other usual suspects. Its a super thin sealant intended for machined surfaces like this. It squeezes down real flat when torqued. I use it on the recommendation of the transmission and driveline mechanic at the local dealership. It's the same stuff I used between the housings on my transfer case.

[Tx Firefighter]

Tomorrow will be the first time I make my work commute in it. Ive driven it a good bit around the house and town here local to try and ferret out any problems.

I did dig an old toolbox out of my scrap pile to put on the truck so I can carry my tools and stuff with some security.



As you can tell, I'm a R.W.H. fan.

[mx289]

Truck looks great.

I enjoy your builds very much.I always learn something.

[Maxxd07]

I knew there was a build thread on this truck and have been looking for it frome time to time, but when I finally find it it's 18 pages long! Great work as usual, I have read the whole thing in one sitting when I should be in bed. I grew up driving dad's 89 Silverado eclb with a 350, 4 spd, and 4.10s, so I know exactly how it sounds and drives and I sure miss it! I think these dashes are the best with the dial that sweeps around. Keep it up and good luck finding a box.