Rocket Man's 02 Denali Build Thread AKA "THE BEAST"

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Rocket Man

Rocket Man

Mark
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I got the diff installed tonight, the CV axles will be done in the AM and I should be buttoned up by noon. I have to say that front diff is a ***** to get in. I used my trans jack but couldn’t just lift it straight up, it had to go up kinda sideways to get the input shaft tucked over the crossmember area ( removing the crossmember wouldn’t help because there’s “ears” that stick out) then twist and jack it and **** around with it until I could get the upper and lower mounts to line up. It kept wanting to slide off the jack and wouldn’t sit very good on it. The lower mount seemed to be too wide to fit in the mount. The upper slid in fine, so I’m not sure if the new bushing wasn’t pressed all the way together. It was way worse than installing the transfer case but not as hard as the transmission. The unit is powder coated. And now I have a nice box to store the old one in. I’m pretty sure I’m not getting my core charge back. I’ll hold onto it.
 
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Rocket Man

Rocket Man

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Oh, did I miss you posting that?
I guess I never posted it. I think just the tube is broken but I would need seals and bearings at the minimum, total parts around $200. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do with it. I can’t get my core charge back so for now I’ll just pack it away.

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Rocket Man

Rocket Man

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It has an upper and lower mount, and then the tube is bolted outboard. So the torque must have twisted the main housing in the mounts and with the tube bolted so it couldn’t twist, the tube snapped. I’m kinda surprised it didn’t snap the driveline. Glad I had new Spicer u-joints and heavy duty straps. I drove a few blocks afterward but the sound was bad with the broken CV joint on the opposite side causing the axle to flop around plus all the oil was draining.

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