The Plow Truck: 99 454 CCSB

Started off the day with a freshly potted Rostra harness (used JB Weld as you can see).



Swapped that out, put the pan on for real with new filter and GM gasket, finished cleaning the cross member, painted that, and finally installed and got the drivetrain at the proper angle. Reinstalled all 6 exhaust nuts, they went in like butter. Snapped the cooler lines back in, got the rod dealies in that run off the inspection cover, dicked around with a bunch of piddly stuff. Dropped the tank as well, swapped the pump and bucket, and ran out of stuff to deal with the ghetto rigged connector. The old pump and bucket weren't that old it turns out.



But likely made of the most inferior of Chineseum. The harness seemed a bit long and had a bulge.



I think I'd better check the last guy's work.



Looking even more suspect.




I assumed the other 3 were equally bad and cut them all off. I kept chipping up the harness and the grey wire was oxidized as far back as I kept cutting. Not sure where to go with that. That's kinda where my momentum died with the pump. The tank is ready to go, but I'm not sure the truck is ready for it yet. So I swapped out the emergency brake cable and came home. The PRNDL switch looked a bit off so I grabbed a spare from home to compare to. Once that on I can zap the front driveshaft in and once the tank is back in I can zap the rear driveshaft back in.

So trans and fuel pump are done, truck is off the lift, and I'm down to fixing the gear oil leak into the RR drum. Initially I'd chalked it up to wear and tear at the spindle, but yesterday I went to bang a new seal into the hub and found this ignorance.



Yeah that looks way more like the real leak to me. Boy I can't get enough of refixing another "mechanic's" work. Went to the junkyard to grab another hub and stumbled upon this gem, should have snagged the whole thing but was not in the mood.



A 96 Suburban with the elusive slip on drums! Drums are part number 15622390. Gotta wonder if they can't just be slipped over a regular hub? I don't think there were but 3 or so different hubs ever made? Onto the next truck with the more familiar crappy press on drums. Snagged a hub and got out of there. Got it home and more excellence awaited me.



The collective gene pool could really use a cleansing. This I was able to blend out at least. Who would ever need to swing a hammer this way?! Seriously! Today I'll swing back out and get this installed. Hopefully can call this good. Also still need to switch over to the PYOs.

Time will tell if that gear oil leak stays fixed. I went with a newer 2 piece seal from the AAM 10.5" axle. This one locks onto the spindle and eliminates the leak cause by the groove the original seal wears into it. Parking brake works great. Turns out both drums had been replaced so that's good. Got the PYOs on finally and man what a difference in fitment! Here's the old wheels.



And here's the PYOs with a 2" steel spacer out back.



No more rubbing! I need to get my factory flares out back on the front. After this I went for a test drive. Seems the torque converter fixed the lugging/stalling/pushing you through an intersection. I FINALLY have 4wd! That lower mileage transfer case I put in must have had a good encoder motor. The parking brake held while I torqued the axle shaft, spacers, and wheels. The brakes felt alright. And it fires right up like a normal engine.

It sounds like you’re winning.

Feels like a huge win to me. Also forgot to mention I snuck in a new rear main seal while the trans was out. Old one was migrating outward and didn't fit very tight, just like my dually. So there's another leak hopefully fixed.

A few days back I snuck in an oil change on the dually and this rig. Then yesterday I decided I wanted to bring it home to screw with it some more, but first it needed AC. I installed my new GM connector and was immediately disappointed/angered.



So I hacked the alignment t!t off the switch and snapped it on anyway. AC blows cold and consistent again. Next I replaced my under hood light and the junkyard fresh unit shuts off when you close the hood. Next up was to fix my exhaust leak. I just hadn't tightened the 3 collector nuts evenly, so a couple minutes of fiddling around there and it was quiet again. From there I unloaded the plow and came home. While at the hangar I also put some time into getting a replacement quarter panel closer to removed, so it was getting dark by the time I got home. I still managed to back off the parking brake cable completely, thread on a backup nut, smear on some anti-seize, properly set the parking brake so I now have one, and with the backup nut on there it'll actually hold ab adjustment. The nyloc part on my GM cable fell out so that wasn't going to cut it. I must say I've not been impressed with my not made in USA GM parts. There is a noticeable difference in quality. Today I go after the alignment, install a 7 pin trailer plug, plus whatever else I dream up. Gotta get it good enough for the wife to tow a car to MI and not hate her life.

So I did screw with the alignment some more. Truck seems to go pretty straight, but I wanted to straighten the wheel out a bit. I didn't quite get there, I stopped a little short as I wanted to fix the steering slop before finalizing the straightening of the wheel. Next was the 7 pin connector. Some of the wires were oxidized, so they got a high tech treatment.



I should have done this to the fuel pump harness too, it works great!



Forgot to snap an after pic, but you can see the existing hole in the bumper. Just imagine a nice, fresh 7 pin receptacle in that hole now. I tested it today on the open deck trailer and all was well.

Next up was a 4hi mod on this thing. I tucked a relay on the fender next to the fuse box to make that happen. I'm happy with that. This is the 4th vehicle I've done this to and I've done every one a little bit differently. Next up is the wife's ride. Today I took the longest drive I've ever made in this thing and it didn't miss a beat. This helps instill confidence that A: it's gonna make it to MI and 2: maybe it'll survive a winter of plowing. At any rate, my new rag joint showed up today.



I'll go about cleaning up the rest of the shaft and getting it all reinstalled tomorrow. I think only 1 other person has used this part and he hasn't been on this forum in a hot minute.

Aren't those urethane "rag joints" considered dangerous?

Is that a MI plate on your truck?

454cid said:

Aren't those urethane "rag joints" considered dangerous?

Is that a MI plate on your truck?

Click to expand...

All my cars have MI plates, never gave them up. This "joint" is aluminum. Never heard of a urethane unit before?

Supercharged111 said:

All my cars have MI plates, never gave them up. This "joint" is aluminum. Never heard of a urethane unit before?

Click to expand...

I thought you had been gone too longer than that would be practical/possible to keep MI plates. I don't think that plate design you have is availble anymore. Mine look like a 1964 plate.

Yes, I've heard of some guys using a urethane puck type joint. I think the problem is that they can give out suddenly, as they don't have the reinforcing fiber. If you stated aluminum in the original post, I must have missed it. Aluminum certainly isn't going to break.