Need more truck advice.

[blizzard2014]

I have two things to ask the EO nation about some more work that i've recently done on my van. It turns out that my Pinion bearing was bad after all and that there were missing teeth in my pinion gear. The shop I took it to swears that we cannot use yukon gears in the truch (these are only 350 bucks for the pinion gear and the pinion ring)! He said the part can only be purchased from GM and that it is bein gordered from Lansing Michigan. The GM part he is charging me for is the correct price (there is no mark-up there) Do you think he is bullsitting me? His shop has been around for 30 years and he has all excellent reviews. The ring gear number is supposedly 51888 and the gm part number is 88982532. He claims that the Dana warehouse didn't even have the gear.

I also want to know if anyone has ever used omni-spark spark plug wires from O'reilly on their Chevy vans and if you have had any trouble with them. I found out that my van plugs were replaced with Ac Delco, but the plug wires are not Delco and i'm thinking about returning them and raising hell for a refund. Any help with these two problems would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[greg334]

Is this a GM dealer?

If it is, ask him to see the part numbers on his computer
for your van based on your vin. They can tell you what type of axle is in the van.

IF not, call a GM dealer and ask them. Ask them to see what is in their inventory or in the distribution warehouse nearest to them and see what the lead time is for those part numbers.

ALSO just forgot, I think Hollanders still has their interchange manual (actually it is software), which any good recycler will have to have - you may know them as Junk Yards. They can tell you using the manual what fits or what doesn't.

 

[blizzard2014]

Thanks greg. I already ordered the part and am just having the work done. That way i don't have to worry about it. I could have had the part for 680 plus 100 dollars shipping and a 7 day wait for it or I could have gotten it from another supplier for 850. So this guys mark-up is around 100 bucks. I guess the Yukon gears are not really ideal any how for applications where noise might be an issue. Because the cargo van is like a big speaker box and a noisy after-market pinion and ring gear might be louder than an OEM part.

You have any advice on the spark plug wires?

 

[Moot]

You have any advice on the spark plug wires?

I run ignition wires from NAPA that are guaranteed for life. Every 100,000 miles I replace the spark plugs and get new wires for free.

 

[greg334]

Thanks greg. I already ordered the part and am just having the work done. That way i don't have to worry about it. I could have had the part for 680 plus 100 dollars shipping and a 7 day wait for it or I could have gotten it from another supplier for 850. So this guys mark-up is around 100 bucks. I guess the Yukon gears are not really ideal any how for applications where noise might be an issue. Because the cargo van is like a big speaker box and a noisy after-market pinion and ring gear might be louder than an OEM part.

You have any advice on the spark plug wires?

Nope no advice for the wires, I like my diesels and the two vehicles that are gas that we use, I don't know or care about wires - sorry. Moot's idea is the best one.

As for the rear end issue, noise should not be a factor in selecting the gears, they are made under the same design criteria - noise is one of them. The only thing that comes to mind is an axle built for the military but even the Yukon and that fake hummer thing they built has the same drive train in it, so ...

I would still check into it just to see.

 

[chefdennis]

I have run "aftermarket" gear sets in GM housings in the past with no problem...AS LONG AS THEY ARE SETUP RIGHT...if they are a quality product and installed correctly, i have not seen a issue....and the aftermarket is considerably cheaper then the OEM stuff...Talk to a "performance" shop, they can help you...

As for the wires, again it about the quality...as Moot said, buy good, and replace before they become a issue..."Preventative Maintainance"....

 

[purgoose10]

As with Moot I also do t he lifetime thing with wires and everyother part I can do it with. They used to do it with brakes but they stopped that ( at least here they did).
As far as gears whenever you buy aftermarket kits for GM you will have a noise issue. The noise is nothing more than the tolerances in the gearing is smaller (tighter) causing them to sing. In a Van it's more pronounced because of the box. It costs somewhat more for original equipment but in the long run they last longer in most cases.

 

[greg334]

Noise is sometimes caused by how the gear set is cut, if it is cut on worn tooling, it may have an out of tolerance problem on the gear set.

Even OEM replacement stuff can be part of a secondary level QA group that is sold as replacement sets but not for production.

 

[blizzard2014]

I got the old parts right here, Greg. The part number on the pinion gear is D 70 51887. I am not sure if this is correct. The guy at the gear shop said my rear end was only in prodiction for one year and that all parts have been dicontinued. He said there was only three pinion gear sets left in the entiire country and he might be right. He got this one from Texas and some other supplier said he found one in texas.

The teeth on the pinion gear are still in good shape, bot the pinion gear is shiney and smooth, all of the little sandpaper like grooves that are supposed to be inside the gear teeth are gone. Apparently without these rough parts, the there is nothing to hold the oil to the gear and it just grinds metal on metal. I am no expert, but the gear was shiney like it had been polished with something and has a couple of little nicks inside the gear teeth. Maybe i got hoses, but I hope I didn't. There also is no tag on my axel. It's missing.

 

[greg334]

I got the old parts right here, Greg. The part number on the pinion gear is D 70 51887. I am not sure if this is correct. The guy at the gear shop said my rear end was only in prodiction for one year and that all parts have been dicontinued. He said there was only three pinion gear sets left in the entiire country and he might be right. He got this one from Texas and some other supplier said he found one in texas.

I found 24 sets in the GM dealer's inventory in this area for that gear set. I also found that the set is used from 2005 onwards.

The D 70 51887 are a couple things, the first is the Dana D, the second should be the shim setting for the gear set and the third is a serial number for the set - this was how it was explained to me.

The teeth on the pinion gear are still in good shape, bot the pinion gear is shiney and smooth, all of the little sandpaper like grooves that are supposed to be inside the gear teeth are gone. Apparently without these rough parts, the there is nothing to hold the oil to the gear and it just grinds metal on metal. I am no expert, but the gear was shiney like it had been polished with something and has a couple of little nicks inside the gear teeth.

OK that's good, smooth and shiney is good. If it was rough or nicked up or what ever, it is bad.

Did the tech do a heel/toe check and show you what the pattern is?

If he did, the pattern would be in the center of the ring gear, meaning that there is proper contact with proper clearances.

The oil needs to circulate, not to stick to anything. The oil provides the lubercation between the gear teeth and one reason why they call rear end lube "high pressure" lube - the pressures created by the force of the gears transmitting torque. In addition, the oil takes the heat created by the friction away from the gears and that gets dumps back into the reserve.

I bet that the pinion bearings were going bad and the replacing of the gear set also included (better have) a new set of bearings.

Maybe i got hoses, but I hope I didn't. There also is no tag on my axel. It's missing.

Don't know if you did or not, I didn't hear the RA. The tag does matter a bit, I have seen a lot of hacks yank the tag off when they looked at the RA.