I bet 10$ that the cause of your vibration comes from the clutch arm pivot. Mine did exaclty what your describing.

 

I dunno - is that 10 dollars U.S. or Canadian???

I can look at it again when I pull the tranny this weekend....what should I look for?? What can go wrong with a pivot ball?

 

Allright, well my car is in the tranny shop again, getting screwed over hear by my transmission guy... the tranny wasn't equipped to handle the new motor, even though it was supposed to beuilt to handle about double what I have in there now.

Anyway... while the tranny guy has it, I told him the problem, and he thinks it is caused by a misalignment in the drivetrain... he is gonna do some testing when he finishes the transmission, hopefully he will figure this out. Either that or I wait till I get some time off and more money.

 

And so I have the torque arm removed, drive shaft etc..

I slide the new slip yoke and driveshaft in my other trans (the G Force I had in it before) which is sitting on the work bench ready to go in, and I can still feel a tiny bit of movement if I pull up/down on the yoke, not as bad as the old one that's in the car now, but a tiny bit.

Before I haul this one up under the car - how much play is allowed on these things???

I had another thought - with my old trans - the one that I'm removing, my speedo quit working right after I got the car - could a bad slip yoke bushing and/or slip yoke itself cause the speedo gears not to mesh, as well as this vibration problem I'm having???

- Thanks in advance!!

 

Anyone????

BTT.....

 

There should be basically zero play. You might want to get the extension housing bushing in the transmission replaced. There's a tool that can do it without tearing down the trans, it looks like an inside gear puller with real short teeth. Find a trans shop that has one, and just drive the car to them. It only takes about 10 minutes to swap it.

Yes, that can definitely cause the speedo not to work. It's a dead giveaway if it works OK in 1-4 but screw up in 5th, since 5th side-loads the mainshaft in a different direction from what the other gears do.

 

Thanks for the 100th time RB!! :hail:

That's just what I needed to know....the extension housing bushing IS the same as a slip yoke bushing, correct???

The tranny is on the workbench (the G Force T-5), I shoved the driveshaft in it, to test any side-to-side play, and as I said, there's a slight amount....there's even more side-to-side play on my original T-5 I have in it now...

I'll just take the tranny to a shop tommorow - hopefully - and they'll be able to replace it I assume. I most likely wore it quite a bit running a drive shaft with a bad yoke for a while when I first got it..( G Force).

Or at least I hope that's my vibration problem....I'll run to AAMOCO and see what they can do...

BUT - the speedo quit working in 1-4 and 5th on my old tranny - works fine with my new one though....

 

OK - I just got back from the tranny shop, and they replaced it. They opted to just split the rear housing to do the job.

I asked them about the tool you were talking about RB, they say they have one, but they don't like to take the chance of scoring the case if the puller's not set just right. At first the guy said the play wasn't that bad, and I should just take it home and try it out...

Screw that!!! If I'm going through the trouble of changing these trannys out - AGAIN- I want a new one now...I want this vib problem to stop! Found out the old one we took out was more worn than we thought. Bushing had pretty heavy wear.

Now I have a new slip yoke AND a new bushing, and now there's NO side-to-side play, and he only charged me 30 bucks. Not bad...

We did find very,very fine metal shavings (like etch-a-scetch consistancy) inside. It really looked like anti-seize to me..he said it may be from the new gearset breaking in a little, and if it's not too noisy and running fine, not to worry.

Guess I'll do the fun swap out and let y'all know how it went...

 

Well good. I hope it works out.

Some metal always seems to get shed in a manual trans, no matter how well it's set up. Also, if it was built with moly grease, that stuff leaves a residue that looks like powdered metal (because it is). If it's not magnetic it's probably moly.

 

I now the the GF T-5 back in, with the new tailshaft extension bushing and slip yoke. Vibration is still there.

Tried changing tires around- no difference.

So far, here's what I've tried:

- Two different trannys
- new U-Joints
- Balanced driveshaft twice
- Balanced tires
- New tranny mount, and isolator bushings

Took it back to the same shop, cause the guy wanted to know if it worked or not, I told him no so he test drove it again and put it back on the rack and ran it with the rear tires off the ground.

Heard a noise from the pass side brake drum while it was spinning. It was the drum barely hitting the shoes every rotation of the wheel. Removed drum and ran it. The axle itself, or at least the wheel mounting plate seems to have a slight "bob" in it...(up/down while spinning) -looks like I'll be replacing the axle now!!!

He's a cool guy though, he didn't charge me anything. He spent the better part of an hour testing it too!

He's also convinced it's a drivetrain vibration because it seems to be strictly speed ralated, clutch in/out makes no difference...

I assume I just ask around for a axle for a 10 bolt rear, and all of them are pretty standard?

 

many f-bodys experience this problem after making changes, i.e. rear axle swap, trans. swap, or lowering. check your driveshaft angles at the trans and the diff. these should be the same degree but at opposite angles such as the trans down 2 degrees with the diff. up 2 degrees putting them on the same plane. check it and see!

 

One more suggestion I have is to try a different set of wheels. THere might be a slight bend in the wheels. Although balanced, they still not might be perfect at high speeds. I am restoring a set of the later style 15" IROCs, I will put them on for a while during the winter and see what happens. Just one more minor thing to check, prolly not it, but it is worth a shot.

 

Thx for the replies - although I tried them both to an extent:

soloc4 - Both tranny shops told me there was nothing wrong with pinion angle. Although both did not take any kind of measurement, they said they could tell by looking. I didn't use poly mounts or anything - just stock replacements. They did succeed in keeping the shifter from bouncing around as much.

Bandit - I've never changed wheels (cause I don't have a spare set), but I did swap the rears to the front for the heck of it to see if the vib might move to the front....didn't seem to change a thing.
I've had them balanced too. I know what you mean about a bad wheel, but I'd think the vib would change if I put it on the front??

 

A slightly bent axle could definately be the problem. Check the other axle as well.

Just curious...did you ever check the clutch\flywheel balance? Last resort if changing the axle doesn't help.

 

It's bent just slightly - We checked the other it looked fine.

It's been slowly coming back to me....When I first got the car, Me and my buddy COULD NOT get the wheels off!!! After 4 years of sitting in a driveway uncovered....go figure! Ended up "tapping" or "persuading" them off from behind each wheel with a mini sledge.... I knew it wasn't a good thing to do, but it's the only way they'd come off!!!

Only ONE place around here is willing to sell a 10 bolt axle shaft, and he says it's a driver's side....I need a passenger side one, any difference???

Everyone else wants to sell me an entire rear. I just want to see if this is the culprit....I may get a Moser later anyway.

No - I did this over the weekend and the machine shop wasn't open to check them for me anyway. I was so confident it was a slip yoke problem....You're right though, it will be the next step.

Me and the guy at the shop feel it's a drivetrain/speed problem..if in neutral and clutch out, at any RPM's, it's smooth if that makes any sense!!

At 55-65 MPH, you can hear it and feel the vibs through the torque arm and up to the trans when you push in/out on the clutch at those speeds...

 

When the car is on stands or a lift.

In 5th gear, bring wheel speed up to Vibartion speed, and maybe 10-15 above.

Slide it out of gear, and kill the engine.

DOES IT VIBRATE???

If so, IT ISN'T THE CLUTCH OR FLYWHEEL! Let's get this narrowed down. That is the next step.

 

I wouldn't run unsupported tires that fast. Do it on a dyno, but not with just sitting in the air. The centrifugal force will force the tire off of the wheel. You need to have it on the ground somewhere.

 

What in the world are you talking about??? How does having the tire on the ground "hold it together" LOL!

There is no differnce -from the tire's point of view if it can't tell if it in the air, or if that part of the tire is just going "over the top". Why doesn't the tire "separate from the rim" on the top??

How come tires don't dismount them selves when cars get air??

 

I read it bak when I replaced my entire suspension and wheels setup. If you have the tire off of the ground, and run it at high speeds, centrifugal force will be a constant, as opposed to the dampening and non-existant point where the tire hits the ground. The constant centrifugal force will increase proportionally with speed and begin to pull the tire away from the wheel. But... I don't remember where I read it, only that I did, pretty sure it was some kind of pamplet that came with the stuff I ordered.

As for not coming off when they get air, they usually don't get air for any substantial period of time, so it is not very likely it will pull itself off.

 

Well, the tire won't come off at 75 MPH.

Centrifugal force increases EXPONENTIALLY to the RPM, but the tire still won't come off at that speed.

I've done it plenty of times, diagnosing this very same BS on my car, and never had any tires come off.

 

Tom - I see what you're getting at (I think) - No I haven't done that particular test.

Would it not take the clutch/engine/flywheel out of the equation if I just have the car in neutral with the clutch out and rev and hold at different RPM's to see if it vibrates??? I've done that, and it's smooth - no vibs. The clutch/flywheel are all rotating doing this, and it's not the trans doing this since I've had two different ones in the car, and nothing changed.

 

It is my opinion that if the car is stopped, in neutral, clutch out and you rev the engine and get NO vibration, then the Engine, flywheel, clutch/inputshaft/pilot bushing are out of the picture.

You can strengthen that diagnosis by doing the test I just mentioned above, and if there IS vibration, then we absolutely KNOW the flywheel/clutch are out, because;
*when the clutch is spinning and nothing else is, no vibration
*when the drive train is spinning and the clutch is stationary, there IS vibration. Obviously the clutch can't create a vib if it is stationary.

So I think you need to do the jackstands/70 mph/slide it out of gear test and see if, or if not, there is vibration.

To do this test, I would jack the back of the car and support it under the axle. I would support the axle, such that the rear wheels are as close to the ground as possible, without touching. This way, everything is as close to actual driving mode as possible. You haven't changed your pinion angle or drive shaft angle by letting the axle hang.

 

Your harmonic balancer may have pinched a loaf. If the vib is present with 2, count 'em, 2 different trans, then it's something else.

 

That's what I think too!! Certainly, I can perform the test you describe to verify this. I'm just a little weary of doing this on jackstands, because in theory it could vibrate itself off a stand doing 70 MPH which wouldn't be good....

I'm having a hard time locating an axle at present....no one wants to sell just an axle - and I don't want to buy a whole stock rear if I don't have to.

Anyone know the answer to this?? It may be a stupid question, but I'm not sure if they're the same or not...never played with rear axles before.

 

ive never tried, but i'll say im about 80% sure they're the same left and right. not positive, but ive never heard about them being drivers and pass side...

id goto a junkyard and have them pull one (or you pull it yourself)... just be sure to get the proper splines.... all of a sudden i cant remember the changeover point, but the early ones are 26 spline and the later ones are 28



btw, if it does turn out to be a bent axle... who said that first??

 

It won't vibrate off the stands.

If something DOES happen, your in the car. Push in the darn clutch, and step on the brake.

It'll be in 5th gear at like 1/16th throttle. If it fell of the stands (which it won't) and you for some reason couldn't push in the clutch and step on the brake, it'll just stall anyways as soon as it hits the ground. Please do this test. Doing this test, and still getting the vib still will also show that it isnt' the harmonic balancer.

This is really, really simple. If you do my test, and you get the vib, you and everyone on this board will know the problem is somewhere from the tailshaft bushing BACK, out to the hubcaps. IF you do this and it vibs, it isn't the clutch, it isn't the harmonic balancer or any other speculation. As I said way earlier in this thread, you need to perform systematic tests, that incrementally eliminate components, until you're left with one or one set that could be the only cause. Please do this test and tell us what happend. The whole thing -set up test and putting the car back down- should be less than 7 minutes.

 

No - it actually took around 15 minutes!

I had the rear wheels off the ground around 3 inches (low as my jackstands allow) and ran it up to 70 MPH in 5th.....(I can feel it rumbling louder and louder the faster I spin them) - then placed it in neutral real fast,released the clutch and shut down the engine as you said to try...

It continues to rumble all the way down to around 30 MPH....so YES - vib is definatly still there after the engine's shut down as I suspected. I figured this would be the result because as I said in the post above, with clutch out in neutral, car sitting still, I can rev through the RPM range with no rumbling or vibs.

But the test was a good one Tom, it helps confirm the problem is from the driveshaft back....

 

Thanks for doing that, now we are getting some where.

My first thought is the drive shaft, but we've thoroughly covered that already! If I were you, or if this was MY car, Here is the next test I would do:

I would pull both axle shafts, and do the same test again, so all you're spinning is the drive shaft, the pinion, and the ring gear and carrier. I wouldn't worry about oil, as you only need to do the test for about 5 - 10 seconds; the residual lube on the gears, and no-load...everything will be fine. You might want to loosely put the cover back on so oil doesn't fly everywhere.

I think you can pull both shafts in, hmmm, 30 minutes -20 if you have drums.

What are you waiting for? Git, git, GIT!!

 

while the axles are out... might as well stick a straight edge on them...

 

Or you can try it with the wheels off and the axels on. Have someone watch the axels to see if they can identify any kind of oscillation.

 

Thanks Bandit, Tom400, MrDude_1 and all the others that have replied -

I grabbed the quote from a post I recently made, so I already suspect I have an issue with the passenger side axle...there is a "slight" oscillation on the hub. My only problem now is finding another axle around this place.... there may be a tiny beam of light at the end of this tunnel yet!

Tom - I'll go ahead and try running it with the axles pulled as soon as I find an axle for the pass. side....certainly can't hurt!

If this turns out to be the whole problem MrDude_1, I gotta give ya credit!! :hail:

Tom - I'm only waiting to become independently wealthy so I don't have to go to work anymore!!

In the meantime, I gotta pay off this engine I'm getting for my vibrating car!

I'll let you know the results of the next test....thx

 

Well I decided to look into this further since it doesn't look like I'll find an axle soon anyway....

I got a dial indicator and a mag base from work today. I plan to see what the runout is on each hub on the top (edge) and on the front just for sh*ts and grins.

If both sides are measuring close to one another, then I'll do the test that Tom400CFI mentioned. I assume using that test I'd know if it were the axles/bearings OR the gearset itself?

If the pass. side one is WAY out of whack, I'll replace that axle for sure and see how it goes.....

I know I'll see a little slop, but anyone know what the max acceptable measurement would be??

 

Measuring where the wheel hub actually centers on the axle would be the most accurate. This is your hubcentric and should be very accuarte. I couldn't find any specs for axle runout in my manual, but I would be looking for radial runout within .010" measured at this point. You'll probably have to knock the studs out, but this would be the most accurate area to measure.

You really shouldn't see any significant radial slop in the bearings ( up and down )....axial slop ( in and out ) yes...radial slop no.

To minimise this set up the Dial Indicator so that it is in a vertical plane. Have someone rotate the opposite wheel by hand so that you don't disturb the dial indicator by any hand loading of the axle that you are measuring.

I'm thinking that if you can see the movement by eyeball, then you're going to have a pretty significant amount of runout. May be a good idea to compare with a buddies car to get a baseline.

 

Sounds like you now have a great plan in place. Step by step, you'll get it narrowed down to the problematic part.

I don't know what the runout should be on those hubs, but I would think 0.010 would be too much.

If you do the most recent test I said, (with the axles removed) and it still does it, you (we) know it the axles/wheels are OUT, and you are then down to the carrier, gears and shaft.

Then the next step, IMO would be to remove the for carrier bolts, pop out the carrier and ring, and di the same test again. now you're looking at just the drive shaft, joints, and pinion/bearings. Se where I'm going here. Incremental, systematic testing.

You're on a good track here. We'll get is nailed down.

Edit: I was typing while Chickenman was posting. Funny that we both "feel" that 0.010" is sensible max. He is right about measuring on the wheel centering flange. Good point. Good point about "hand loading" too. These are good posts here, IMO.

 

if you're intrested, I have a set of Moser 28 spline axles new in box, & everything you need to rebuild your rearend to make it stronger than stock

 

Well, for my vibration problem, it started happening only after i put in the new 9" with Moser axels. I am pretty sure those weren't bent new, but who knows.

 

Well, I took the measurements and here’s what I have:

Pass. side hub face: .018
Pass. side hub edge: .048
Driv. side hub face: .037
Driv. side hub edge: .082

As you can see, no readings UNDER .010, and the axle that appears most out of whack is the driver’s side, not the pass. side….
There’s so many dips and valleys in the flange, you really can’t get any measurement that is accurate….even the drivers side hub edge reading…it’s high because there’s about a ½ inch high spot.

Most likely been like that for years, maybe due to lug nuts not torqued evenly....

I let the dial indicator ride on the hub while the hub was spinning in 1st gear, engine idling. It's geared plenty low enough so it spun nice and slow enough to check for anything bent or warped.

Since I had both drums off anyway, I ran it up to 65 MPH with only the axles spinning, and it still rumbles….I guess that rules out tires and drums.

I now think the axles are straight enough, and I think I’ve been overlooking what should have been obvious all along….wheel bearings??

 

Running it up to speed w/o the wheels and drums was a good test/idea. Now you know that whatever the runout is of the hubs, it isn't "slinging" the wheel around in an eliptical path, causing the vibration.

Next step....no axleshafts.

Edit: I just wanted to say that I think you're doing a good job of executing these tests.

About the wheel bearings, can you move the axle up and down by hand? How much?

 

First off...Thx Tom

As far as the movement of the axle up/down...yeah, there's a little play in it, but doesn't seem real excessive. Now I wish I would've thought of getting readings on that since I had the wheels and drums off...

But it seems I'll be pulling axles anyway, and while they're out, I'll do the test you mentioned Tom - If the vib is gone, then I'll replace the axle bearings and seals and give her a try!

I just hope the area where the bearing rides on the axle isn't mangled up .......

It'll be a few days till I have a chance to get at it due to my lousy work schedule, but I'll let you guys know what I find....

 

If you are close to MI, I have a pair of 82-89(26 spline) axles you could have, I pulled them when I installed my Zexel Torsen, so I had to get 89-92 axles(28 spline)

 

Thanks Dave...I'll keep you in mind if I find a bad one. And it's highly likely I will.....

BTW - checked out your site. Nice ride! Great job on the floorboards too!!

I can see these bearings as being the problem the whole time...the more I think about it - the more it makes sense!!

The car sat still for 4 years before I got it. I wonder if that could've ruined the bearings?? I put new fronts on when I had the rotors turned, but that's before I even got the car roadworthy again.

soloc4 - Thanks for the offer, but I plan to eventually get a Moser....just want to keep this rear in the car for awhile longer.

Plus I'm too tapped out on cash cause I'm still paying on this engine I'm having built! I've wanted a seriously strong engine since way back, and hopfully this will be the one!!

 

The first, most basic, essential question has still not been answered.

• Is the vibe/rumble/noise at wheel speed, drive shaft speed, or engine speed?

Without dividing the car up into the various sections with logical tests, you'll be chasing this thing from now to doomsday with the "maybe it's this, maybe it's that" technique, and you'll have no guarantee of ever fixing it.

 

That's why he IS "dividing the car up into the various sections with logical tests" as we speak. I think he is currently doing a very good job of breaking this down into individual pieces.

He has thus far eliminated the engine and anything related to that (accessories, balancer, etc), the clutch is out, the flywheel is out, the trans, and the wheels have been eliminated at this point.

He now knows the vibration is being generated by the drive shaft, the pinion (somehow), the ring gear/carrier (doubtful) or the axle shafts (also doubtful, IMO).

I'm ***-uming that the vibration is at driveshaft speed, since he describes it as a "rumble". But that may be a bad ***-umption. Personally, I don't see how the ring/carrier and axle shafts could ever create a noticable vibe at 65 mph, with no wheels attached. Not enough mass and speed there, IMO. I'm pretty certain that if he follows my advice, he will get to the point I want to see in which the carrier is out, he runs the same test, and gets the vib., meaning it is in the driveshaft/pinion assy.

He's doing good though, IMO.

 

That's just it Tom; it's been logical at times, but is descending back into scatter-gun mode again...

A wheel-speed vibe is very easy to distinguish from a drive-line vibe, especially with 3.73 gears. Step the first should be to figure that out. The discussion and repairs have gone from transmision swaps to clutch work to now bent axles; while it's certainly true that a bent axle will create a vibe at wheel speed, it will equally certainly not create a "rumble" with the car running on jack stands. Therefore, it is imperative that the mechaninc distinguish as soon as possible between a drive line vibe and a wheel vibe, and then stop working on the other thing that isn't causing a problem. Unless of course there's more than one problem, in which case, the right thing to do is to work on one at a time, separately.

A bad pinion bearing or a bent pinion yoke could very easily create a vibe at drive shaft speed, that would account for a "rumble" with the car on stands. After the process of elimination on the trans already, it's fairly certain that the problem is to the rear of that. I can't recall for certain right this instant, but I seem to remember that a new (or other) drive shaft, as well as balancing this one, didn't help. So that pretty much eliminates that as a source.

Seems to me that (1) the car has a "rumble" on jack stands, which can only be caused at this point by a bent yoke or bad pinion bearings, or by really bad axle bearings; (2) the car has at least one bent axle, which will create a wheel-speed vibe that would only be detectable while actually driving it, and not on stands; and (3) I don't recall that the axles have been inspected (since the axle itself is the inner race of the axle bearing, if the bearings are farkled, then the axles will be as well).

So:

If I were supervising this troubleshooting effort, I would inspect the bearing surface on the axles; and if found to be OK, zero in on the pinion gear's surroundings. For that matter, it's OK to run the car with the rear on stands with the axles out, and put the cross pin back in; if the "rumble" remains, then the axles are eliminated as its source. In that case, I would buy a new yoke such as the EY3R-7500 from http://www.drivetrainspecialists.com...=28&cat=GM+7.5 which can be installed without tearing the rear down, and see if that helps; if not, it's pinion bearing time (i.e. complete rear end rebuild).

 

I completely agree. That's the exact thing I've been trying to lead him to here. That's why above we were talking about what you just said; running the thing w/the axles removed. Then of absolute confirmation that is driveshaft/pinion related, removing of the chuck and doing it again. Then there is nothing else it could possibly be. I think the only thing preventing him from removing the axles right now, is his work schedule. He'll get it though.

 

Thanks for all the replies!! RB, you know I value your opinion already, but the reason some of this troubleshooting seems “haphazard” is due to the fact I made too many changes at once, and not realizing what condition the drive train was actually in BEFORE I made the changes.

It all started when I got the new trans and decided it would be a “good thing” to just go ahead and change the tranny mount and driveshaft U-joints since I was doing the swap anyway.

For instance, I really didn’t drive the car at highway speeds before I changed to the G Force trans I had built. That was a big mistake, because I would’ve discovered I had a drive train problem BEFORE I did the swap.

That caused me to blame G Force of shoddy workmanship on their trannys. Until I swapped back to the old trans, and found out the problem was still there….

I also ended up paying to have my driveshaft balanced after they replaced the U-joints because the machine shop said I may have problems with vibs since replacement U-joints have internal C-clips vice the factory plastic injected crap the factory puts in.

I also had the slip yoke and ext. housing bushing replaced under the advice of a trans shop I went to. They were loose however, and I’m glad I replaced it. – But it didn’t solve the problem…

Anyways, as Tom stated, I’m at the point now where I need to pull both axles, spin it with axles removed, and check out the bearings and axle surface. I doubt that I have a bad pinion bearing or a bent pinion yoke, but who knows?

 

Worn-out pinion bearings, or even just loose (which I guess is really worn-out too, even if they're not terribly rough or brinnelled or spalled or anything) will allow the yoke and drive shaft to rattle around in the rear end housing, and make a rumbling noise from that; it's especially noticeable under "float" conditions, i.e. when there's no drive train load when the engine is neither speeding up or slowing down the car, which running it on stands would pretty much duplicate.

 

Allright - I decided to work on it today. I'm not too familiar working on rear ends, but I have the cover off, drained the oil, and I was planning to pull both axles...then...

Following my Haynes manual, It says to remove the pinion locking bolt and pull the pinion pin out......

I can't seem to get the pin out!!!! I've used an extension and hammer and tapped on both sides of the pin - and it might move either way a thousandth of an inch. It's almost like the locking bolt is still in it!!

Then I notice that it seems this thing has been opened up before cause I found no gasket on the cover, just clear rubber silicone as a gasket. There were already marks on each end of the pin as if someone else may have "tapped" it also in the past....

Then I looked closely at the locking bolt and layed it alongside where I took it out, and it doesn't seem quite long enough to lock the pin in the first place. The end of the bolt looks like either the bolt was mashing pretty good against the pin - OR - it's broken the last little bit off the end!!!

Doesn't look like a new break that I did (if it is at all)....how long is that bolt supposed to be???? Now I'm pissed.....

If part of that stupid locking bolt is in there, how do I get it out??? The one that came out is only like, 1/2 inch long...

The pinion pin should "fall" right out shouldn't it??

 

Hmmmmm..... not good at all....

The locking bolt is about 2½" long. Starting at the head, it has about 6 or 8 threads, then a section that's about 5/16" in diamter abd about 1¼" long, then a section that's about 3/16" dia and about ¾" long. If all you have is the head and the threads, then the bulk of the pin is still in there. And if you didn't feel the bolt break, then somebody broke it before you got there, and now you have to get it out.

Sometimes you can get it to turn with an awl or something like that. Sometimes you have to just cut the cross shaft with a torch and replace it (like $10, see my link above).

 

This is a nightmare.....can I start this day all over??

Well RB - The locking bolt you're describing ain't what I pulled out.

Sounds like what you're saying is that the bolt steps down in diameter.....I only have about a half inch of thread!!

No where near 2 inches long....this sucks.

You mean use a oxy./atcet. torch to cut the pinion pin in half??? What link? I don't see one....

MAN!!!! I just ordered my new engine, like....yesterday (literally)...and now this. I'm not happy with Thirdgens today.

And I could end up with bad pinion bearings....ANYWAY (can't test them alone if I can't pull the axles)......and end up changing the whole rear end anyway???? - figures.