Okay, finally got around to install the front drive shaft on my beast. It's been somewhat cold (down to 9deg at one point) and I haven't much wanted to do anything. :- )
It was somewhat of a task; the slip joint must be particularly nasty in there. The outside was nice and smooth, no pitting. But when I added grease to it, it hydro locked. All the grease that was coming out of the joint at the bottom was a nasty brown. (still is) I ended up taking off the grease nipple, and cleaning out the hole on the top as best I could. I put the CV joint on the ground and a piece of wood on the yolk at the top, and hit it with a hammer. 'Twas like a big nasty brown greasy zit. What came out of the top at first was very un-grease like. It finally did come out as grease, and nice 'clean' black grease. The grease that comes out of the sleeve end is still quite brown. I tried to take off the collar at the bottom with a pair of water pump pliers, with no success. I also tried lightly heating it - didn't want to burn the seal or make the grease explode out. Any tips would be nice, I'd like to clean out all the rust and dirt that must be in there. But I got it so it will expand and contract.
Questions: When I put it in 4hi and turn very sharp, it feels like its going over bumps at regular intervals. It gets worse (shorter intervals) in 4low. It feels like it's coming from the inside wheel (of the turn). A friend of mine (who has been relatively reliable thus far) said it's because the front diff is posi/locked and the wheels are spinning at the same speed as each other. It shouldn't feel like that if I were to take it out on dirt. This makes perfect sense, except for a few things.
A: As far as I know, this truck is basically stock. Also as far as I know, stock diffs weren't lockers (front or rear). My father remembers that you COULD get a ?posi-track' (or whatever GM's flavour was named) rear-end, but nothing about a locking front. B: It doesn't do this when the wheels are locked, but in 2wd
My question, is something wrong or is this guy right?
Other Questions: I've asked this before, and I was told it was an art so I will write some very specific 4x4 use questions:
1: What happens if (for some reason) one wheel gets locked and the other does not? 2: How are you supposed to shift into 4wd? So far, I have stopped, put the tranny in neutral, and then shifted. 2b: Can it be shifted on the fly in some special manor? 3: Could someone explain, or show me a link, to a clearer explanation of t-case ?wind up'? With what I have read, it seams like a myth. 4: Any do's and do-not's that you can think of? I mean basic ? just how not to destroy the mechanics of my drive train, not how to be a pro rock-crawler.-The Lonely Grease Monkey
1985' K5 305CUI TH700R4 NP208 KJ's successor"Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, then he who believes what is a wrong." - Thomas Jefferson