For those still interested in the glacially slow transmission swap thread, I worked on the truck all weekend. No, it's not done but significant progress was made.
Friday:
Friday was a paid holiday so my plan was to work on the truck. My brother took the day off. He had some stuff to do but came over to the storage late that morning because he wanted to help. I'm really lucky to have him. I started out with putting the new cooler fittings in the transmission. I went with inverted flare fittings instead of the GM quick connect fittings or fittings for AN hose. The front fitting is for a 4L60E or 4L80E. It went in with no drama. The rear fitting is 4L80E specific in that it has the 'pipe' on the end of it that extends into the transmission presumably to direct the returning fluid onto parts that need lubrication. The rear fitting wouldn't start. I started out with a thread file tying to give the first few threads better definition. No luck. Two trips to ACE Hardware later (because I wasn't smart enough to buy the right die nut the first time) and I had the correct die nut. I hoped to just clean up the first few threads but it didn't work out that way I ended up cutting a lot of metal but in the end I had some pretty good looking threads. Once I had it threaded in a ways it started to stiffen up a little but I didn't use Teflon tape so I wasn't overly concerned. I was unsure of how far to go since the rear fitting has an O-Ring. I wanted to crush the O-Ring enough to seal but not kill it. I was pretty careful so I hope I got it right. Next I cleaned up and installed the two speed sensors, their brackets and bolts. Somewhere in there, Sean showed up and brought me some Vaseline, which the builder recommended I use on the O-Ring on the input shaft for the torque converter lock-up. I didn't have any transmission assembly gel and said to use the Vaseline instead of buying assembly gel. I used that and installed the torque converter. I didn't put any fluid in the converter, per the builder's recommendation. He said it wasn't necessary. The last time I tried to put fluid in the converter, I didn't get much in it and poured a good bit of it out when I stood the converter up to install it. Next, Sean helped me get the transmission on the jack and get it strapped down. Here it is, ready to go in....
Next, I got under the truck and blew two more cans of cooler clean through the lines and transmission coolers. Then I followed with compressed air. The system is clean now. Since the lines needed to come out for modification, I went ahead and pulled them then to get them out of the way. I really don't like fighting with those GM push lock fittings. It's fine if you have good access but if you don't it sucks. After some struggling and getting frustrated, we ended up pulling the grill and bumper cover to get better access to the auxiliary transmission cooler. We got it and the lines pulled....
The upper transmission line (transmission to radiator) was leaking at the rubber hose so I ordered up a replacement...
I think at this point we went back to the house and ate lunch. When we went back, we were finally ready to go in with the transmission. It went in without much difficulty. We got all the bellhousing studs torqued and also got the transmission vent bracket, transmission dipstick, and fuel line bracket all secured to their respective studs with the lock nuts. Access to some of that is not great but I have about a 36" long extension that really helps. We got the transmission jacked up and put in the crossmember.....
I've long suspected having a bad motor mount or bad mounts. Right at a year ago I bought some custom fabbed mounts with polyurethane bushings from a little shop in Alabama that specializes in custom stuff for GMT 400, 800 and 900 trucks. I just hadn't had time to put them in. With the vehicle this far apart, I decided now was the time. It was late afternoon by then so Sean started picking up tools and picking up the shop. I dove right in to pulling the driver's side motor mount. I got all the bolts out but we couldn't get the mount out from between the frame and the block. We had the engine jacked up pretty high. I was worried about crushing the intake manifold under the cowl so we stopped there.....
Saturday:
We started our Saturday like we always do by going to breakfast with Dad. Afterwards, Dad and Sean were helping our Sister by moving some furniture that came from my niece over to her (my Sister's) house for her little girl. The bed frame needed a little TLC when they put it together so they were tied up for the day.
I decided the header was going to have to come out to get the motor mount out. I decided that since I was going to have to pull the spark plugs and had to pick up exhaust manifold gaskets, that I would go ahead and pick up a new set of plugs. I had to go to three auto parts stores to get a set of AC Delco spark plugs for a 5.3! Ridiculous. Once I was done with my boondoggle, I realized I didn't have what I needed to gap the plugs at the storage so I went home and gapped them.....
I posted the pic above because I wanted to show the AC gap tool. I find the scale is not very accurate but the "C" is a great tool to use as a hook to open up the gap a little bit. It's a great tool in my opinion. I've had it for like 20 years now.
After gapping the plugs I headed back to the storage. I got started by pulling the Driver's front wheel and wheel well. Then I pulled the plug wires and plugs. Then I removed the header. The motor mount came right out at that point....
I'm going to have to stop here as I have to get back to it, here at the office. I'll finish the update either tonight or at lunch tomorrow. Until then, thanks for following along.
Best,
Jared
Friday:
Friday was a paid holiday so my plan was to work on the truck. My brother took the day off. He had some stuff to do but came over to the storage late that morning because he wanted to help. I'm really lucky to have him. I started out with putting the new cooler fittings in the transmission. I went with inverted flare fittings instead of the GM quick connect fittings or fittings for AN hose. The front fitting is for a 4L60E or 4L80E. It went in with no drama. The rear fitting is 4L80E specific in that it has the 'pipe' on the end of it that extends into the transmission presumably to direct the returning fluid onto parts that need lubrication. The rear fitting wouldn't start. I started out with a thread file tying to give the first few threads better definition. No luck. Two trips to ACE Hardware later (because I wasn't smart enough to buy the right die nut the first time) and I had the correct die nut. I hoped to just clean up the first few threads but it didn't work out that way I ended up cutting a lot of metal but in the end I had some pretty good looking threads. Once I had it threaded in a ways it started to stiffen up a little but I didn't use Teflon tape so I wasn't overly concerned. I was unsure of how far to go since the rear fitting has an O-Ring. I wanted to crush the O-Ring enough to seal but not kill it. I was pretty careful so I hope I got it right. Next I cleaned up and installed the two speed sensors, their brackets and bolts. Somewhere in there, Sean showed up and brought me some Vaseline, which the builder recommended I use on the O-Ring on the input shaft for the torque converter lock-up. I didn't have any transmission assembly gel and said to use the Vaseline instead of buying assembly gel. I used that and installed the torque converter. I didn't put any fluid in the converter, per the builder's recommendation. He said it wasn't necessary. The last time I tried to put fluid in the converter, I didn't get much in it and poured a good bit of it out when I stood the converter up to install it. Next, Sean helped me get the transmission on the jack and get it strapped down. Here it is, ready to go in....
Next, I got under the truck and blew two more cans of cooler clean through the lines and transmission coolers. Then I followed with compressed air. The system is clean now. Since the lines needed to come out for modification, I went ahead and pulled them then to get them out of the way. I really don't like fighting with those GM push lock fittings. It's fine if you have good access but if you don't it sucks. After some struggling and getting frustrated, we ended up pulling the grill and bumper cover to get better access to the auxiliary transmission cooler. We got it and the lines pulled....
The upper transmission line (transmission to radiator) was leaking at the rubber hose so I ordered up a replacement...
I think at this point we went back to the house and ate lunch. When we went back, we were finally ready to go in with the transmission. It went in without much difficulty. We got all the bellhousing studs torqued and also got the transmission vent bracket, transmission dipstick, and fuel line bracket all secured to their respective studs with the lock nuts. Access to some of that is not great but I have about a 36" long extension that really helps. We got the transmission jacked up and put in the crossmember.....
I've long suspected having a bad motor mount or bad mounts. Right at a year ago I bought some custom fabbed mounts with polyurethane bushings from a little shop in Alabama that specializes in custom stuff for GMT 400, 800 and 900 trucks. I just hadn't had time to put them in. With the vehicle this far apart, I decided now was the time. It was late afternoon by then so Sean started picking up tools and picking up the shop. I dove right in to pulling the driver's side motor mount. I got all the bolts out but we couldn't get the mount out from between the frame and the block. We had the engine jacked up pretty high. I was worried about crushing the intake manifold under the cowl so we stopped there.....
Saturday:
We started our Saturday like we always do by going to breakfast with Dad. Afterwards, Dad and Sean were helping our Sister by moving some furniture that came from my niece over to her (my Sister's) house for her little girl. The bed frame needed a little TLC when they put it together so they were tied up for the day.
I decided the header was going to have to come out to get the motor mount out. I decided that since I was going to have to pull the spark plugs and had to pick up exhaust manifold gaskets, that I would go ahead and pick up a new set of plugs. I had to go to three auto parts stores to get a set of AC Delco spark plugs for a 5.3! Ridiculous. Once I was done with my boondoggle, I realized I didn't have what I needed to gap the plugs at the storage so I went home and gapped them.....
I posted the pic above because I wanted to show the AC gap tool. I find the scale is not very accurate but the "C" is a great tool to use as a hook to open up the gap a little bit. It's a great tool in my opinion. I've had it for like 20 years now.
After gapping the plugs I headed back to the storage. I got started by pulling the Driver's front wheel and wheel well. Then I pulled the plug wires and plugs. Then I removed the header. The motor mount came right out at that point....
I'm going to have to stop here as I have to get back to it, here at the office. I'll finish the update either tonight or at lunch tomorrow. Until then, thanks for following along.
Best,
Jared
