Tons of people have done it.


Main advantage is it gets rid of the flimsy rag joint GM used on these trucks. Mine had a lot of play in it. This should last a lot longer than a factory replacement would have.


This joint should also firm up the steering because it's a firm joint compared to the rag joint which always has a bit of give to it.

 

Bought a new to me truck, picked it up Friday night.


2003 Silverado 1500HD; Crew Cab, 6.0L, 4L80E, ~156,000 miles


These two pics are from the ad, when I went to look at it he mentioned he wouldn't mind keeping the wheels and tires for his next truck. I didn't like them and would have taken them off and sold them anyway. He was willing to take a good amount off the price so I was happy to buy it without the wheels and tires. Especially since I already had a set of tires sitting at home.






One of the tires he put on had a cut in the sidewall so it leaked really bad. He told me before hand so I knew about it. Just meant I had to change the tires ASAP. I managed to get 2 of them changed yesterday.


I bought a bunch of BB's to use as balancing beads. I had bought enough to do the 39's for the blazer, 2 sets of tires for the Vibe and a set of tires for a truck. Since I needed to measure some out for the truck, I decided to measure out everything while I was at it.




Stock tires size was 245 45 16, I bought it with 265 75 16 on it and now I'm putting 305/70R16's on.




One I had mounted on a steel rim already so I threw it on as is to save some time. I will mount it on the aluminum wheel when I get some free time again. I still need to do the front tires too.




Now I just need time and money (don't we all) and I can start tearing into the Blazer.....FINALLY!

 

Nice looking truck. How does using the BBs work for balancing the tire?

 

Haven't driven with the new tires yet, so we'll see.


But I have balance beads in one of the tires on the blazer and they work fine there.

 

I ran beads in my 37s and I have them in my 40s and I will continue to run them in every large tire I ever own! I just bought the cheap airsoft bbs. I read the seamless kind work better as they won't split like the seemed ones week so that's what I got.

 

Yeah I had read seamless are better too, I think that's what the ones I got are but I don't know enough about BB's to know for sure. They look fairly smooth to me.

 

Got some work done on the Silvy yesterday, details in its thread.


But the big news is I got the rear axle into the garage, ready to start working on it It's heavy, lol getting it off the trailer and into the garage by myself was fun... and exhausting.

 

Started stripping the rear axle. I think I can finally say... I STARTED WORKING ON MY SAS! ..... Only took 3 years to get started lol


Opened the cover and found it is an open diff, I will be welding it.





I had to go buy a new socket set, I didn't have anything bigger than 1". So after removing the pinion nut, I removed the axle shafts.





And then the carrier came out easily








And that's where I'm at now.


1/2 hour at a time makes for slow going but feels good to finally be getting something done.

 

Glad to see a bit of progress! I know the feeling of not enough time myself. Since I started my new job at the beginning of February I don't have nearly the amount of time I used to have for playing with my truck.

 

Well, I've had a bit of a setback.

I was able to use the special socket to remove the hub nut no problem on the drivers side of the axle, went to do the passenger side and the socket wouldn't fit in the spindle. So right then I start getting a bad feeling.

Left if for a few days, then had my buddy over helping to install new lights in my garage (which are awesome by the way lol, went from 2 - 100 watt bulbs to 8 - 4' T8's). After we were done with the lights, we looked into the axle more. Felt inside the spindle and found a significant bulge.... not good.

After some filing of the spindle and socket, managed to get the nut off, and then the hub. Measured the spindle and it's ovaled, put a square on and can see it's bent. Just my luck


Couple buddies have said just to run it as is. I'm having a hard time bringing myself to use an axle that I know has problems with it.


So I think I'm on the hunt for a new 10.5...


I did manage to get the super heavy D60 (internet says it's in the neighbourhood of 700 pounds) into the garage yesterday. So I can start working on that while I get the rear axle sorted out.