This just keeps getting better and better...

........

Today I went to the only place in town I found that had the transmission throttle valve (kickdown) cable for my K5. It's a 700R4 tranny...

I get home with the cable, and crawl under the truck, only to find that the bolt holding the cable's end into the tranny is very hard to move. So hard that I'm starting to round it over with the wrench.

So I make a run to Sears, and get a small set of the bolt extractors. They're like sockets that grip tighter and tighter as you try to loosen the bolt.

Well...that did it...sort of... The bolt's head and about 1/8" of the bolt came off. That means the other half is STILL IN THE MOTHERF*CKING TRANSMISSION.

(calming down)

I would absolute LOVE any suggestions as to how I'm going to remedy this situation.

~jp

Reply to
Jon R. Pickens
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Reply to
racin71

======================= JP,

any suggestions ::

#1 take the tranny out, drill out the broken bolt, then retap or use a helicoil.

#2 take the pan off, index the bolt from underneath, center punch the spot and drill it out from the bottom. Use silicone on the threads of the new hold-down bolt and on the flange of the TV cable.

#3 git yerself some scrapmetal and fabricate a hold-down bracket, using one of the pan bolts to attach it with.

#4 go down to the local Mopop Dealer and git yerself some of that great,black, silicone that them Mopop techs stick on everything......it's better than boogers fer glue....and it's sealing characteristics are unbleavable. Load up the sealing area of the TV cable with it, stick er in the hole, let er sit fer awhile.....then go bout yer merry little life.

#5 (and my least favorite) stick that suker in the hole and see what happens.

addendum to all the above :: be sure to use a NEW TV Cable "boot" (the seal) on any and all of the above "suggested" repairs. The new boot will usually make the TV cable a bit snugger in the hole.......and an old one will definately...possibly..maybe.. could....cause you to have to relive this nightmare again. so put the beer down....and go git one.

SIDE NOTE : any and all of the above "suggestions" will accomplish a satisfactory repair....and were listed in decreasing order of reliability of repair. Also, I have and will in the future, used or will use,each of the above repair proceedures at one time or another......yeah......each single one..... (please see my definitions below..and pay close attention to the one on CHEAP....cuz some folks is yuh know, even when warned of the outcome)

DEFINITIONS OF TERMINOLOGY USED

Satisfactory: when given a monetary choice....some folks take the cheapest way out and HOPE no problems occur.......and if they do, the prob is addressed then.

Reliability: do you reeeelllly think that #5 is going to work out OK????? reeeellly??? do you??? reeellly???

Cheapest: see "Easy"

Easy: lazy, scared, monetarily strapped, financially overconcerned, penywise and pound foolish, unsure of ability, or incompetent in the proceedures required to accomplish the task at hand {special note--one or all of the above may be used fer classification of definition}

~:~ Marsh Monster always willing to offer up a suggestion......... or two..... or three..... ~:~

Reply to
Marsh Monster

I disagree.........

testing task to be sure.......

maybe a bit homely.....

possibly a bit unattractive at first glance.......

definately unbecoming a professional......

but not ugly!

Why I would go so far as to say that IMO the task at hand is undaunting and definately doable with a bit of steady handedness and............ bout a fith of Crown Royal.

~:~ Marsh Monster ~sips his mushroom tea and contemplates the task at hand~

Reply to
Marsh Monster

Dang Man! I have never known anyone to have such bad luck with a Vehicle...Well I guess I did with one...two...maybe 3...well...

I dunno what to tell ya about the tough bolt...never had or heard of that happening.

My best suggestion is to crawl underneath and see if the trans hump is removable(not sure what year the floor was made all 1 pc. If it is removable, you should be able to get right to the TV cable hole. If its not, a cut off wheel to remove a panel to the passenger side of the shifter in just the right place will ease the job. A piece of thick tin with some Auto Body Sealant and a few sheet metal screws will cover the access hole just fine.

If that sounds a bit too daunting, Marsh Monsters #3 idea sounds like a good enough option.

I still have the nearly new built up TH350 with TH700 adapter...Its a direct bolt in WITH good cable and new dipstick and tube...If you wanna think about it!

Reply to
Shades

Marsh...Thanks for the suggestions...

I am not in a position to drop the tranny. The apartment managers frown on such behavior in the parking lot :-P

Options 4 and 5 are out...3 seems pretty unlikely.

Option #2 however may be possible. I haven't dropped the pan, but I'm assuming that the bolt doesn't come all the way through the case into the pan area. I'm sure it doesn't. It can't. If that were the case then that would mean my luck was changing.

Since there is the remote possibility that I got water in the tranny I'm going to have to drop the pan anyway...so I'll see it then. It'll still be a bitch without being able to look down at the broken bolt.

~jp

Reply to
Jon R. Pickens

Dude...I'm telling you...I don't even get mad anymore. I'm still in disbelief that a 10 second mistake (not connecting the fuel line) has caused such a ridiculous amount of trouble.

I'm wondering if it has fused over time with heat, or if somebody did something stupid and cross-threaded it. Either way, I'm the one stuck dealing with it.

I'm leaning toward Marsh's option #2 which is to pull the pan (needed anyway to drain the fluid) and then drill up and through. I know I'm not lucky enough for the bolt to come all the way through the case into the pan area. But still, I'm pretty comfortable with that option. When the tranny eventually dies I'll put a new one in and not deal with rebuilding that one.

Maybe I'll be REAL lucky and find enough of the bolt left sticking out to twist it out with vice grips, but that's just not realistic at this point.

I'd take you up on your 350 offer if I didn't like having overdrive :-)

~jp

Reply to
Jon R. Pickens

Aren't you running 3.08's? Or was it 3.08 in front and 3.73 in back?

Reply to
Shades
3.08 up front, 3.73 rear...obviously I'm not using the 4x4 right now. I HATED the 3.08 rear though. Driving on the interstate in overdrive sucked. Maintaining speed on anything steeper than perfectly flat was damn near impossible without downshifting to Drive.

I didn't need to have the front axle at the time that the rear was rebuilt. I had him put in the ratio I wanted (3.73) since he was replacing everything anyway. The front will probably not get changed though. I'll be swapping the whole axle. Yes I know that a Dana 60 is overkill. But a free Dana 60 is better than a non-free Dana 44. After the K5 issues are resolved and I can actually drive it, I'll arrange to get my 14 bolt. Then we can start the axle garbage all over again!! Won't that be fun?

I think the 14 bolt had 4.56's in it, and probably the Dana 60 does too. They're coming out of CUCV's. Actually, the 14 bolt was never used, it's on a pallet. But when I put 'em in, it'll be part of an overall package. Axles + lift + new rims + bigger tires.

~jp

Reply to
Jon R. Pickens

hard to "picture" it without a picture, but would a drill and easy-out be too simple? Maybe no access or something?

Possible to drill the 1/8" or so of hole left bigger and tap it, then thread/epoxy a new bolt in...

I'm known as the "king of Mickey Mouse", so none of the above are the "right" way... *g*

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

Well, it's on the top-side of the pan... Not really the pan, but the square area which the pan bolts to. I couldn't even really see the bolt, I more or less had to feel for it. I only saw it with a small mirror and flashlight. It took a few tries before I found a wrench angle that would work because of the tight clearance.

I'm probably going to end up drilling from the underside once I have the pan off. Otherwise dropping the tranny would be the only way and that's out of the question considering the environment I have to work in. As I stated in an earlier post, if I were lucky, the bolt would actually come all the way into the pan area and I could see it easily from underneath with the pan removed. But I know that's not gonna happen.

So I'll have to located where to drill, then do it, then tap it for a larger size (more than likely).

~jp

Reply to
Jon R. Pickens

You may be able to drill & tap if you remove trans. pan. Good luck.

Reply to
GM Master Tech.

Right now, that's the plan...

~jp

Reply to
Jon R. Pickens

Hey Jon, maybe this isn't a big help but if you can drill/extract that sucker(not from the bottom) one thing I learned on these boards is that left twist drill bits work great for this. I had a broken exhaust bolt that had been in my engine when I bought it, got a set of left hand cobalts, by the time I hit the third size the bolt was actually spinning free, twisted it out by hand.

Reply to
89GMC

That's a good idea, thanks... I've been letting the possibilities soak into my brain for a couple of days.

Shades recommended cutting an access panel in the floor. I don't want to do that, however, one hole for a drill bit on an extension wouldn't bother me at all, and could easily be patched. So that's a solution that I'm considering.

~jp

Reply to
Jon R. Pickens

Have you checked to see if the floor section is removable yet? I am thinking that it was all one piece starting in '81, but not sure. Its worth a look and would make it ALLOT easier!

Reply to
Shades

Reply to
MikeG

PB Blaster??? Not familiar with that...enlighten me...

~jp

Reply to
Jon R. Pickens

put a grommet in it for future cb antenna, speaker wires, etc... one of those "I meant to do that" kinda things...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

I think it's to late for that, Jon.. it's a penetrating oil that loosens frozen threads sometimes..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

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