In continuation of my interior makeover, today I did flooring.
my truck began as a work truck package which had a rubber floor mat. So I got a carpet from RockAuto and some sound insulation from Amazon and went to work.
In continuation of my interior makeover, today I did flooring.
my truck began as a work truck package which had a rubber floor mat. So I got a carpet from RockAuto and some sound insulation from Amazon and went to work.
@Cousin_Eddie that looks great!
I had a shift solenoid failure on my K1500, the drive to work is mostly slow in town, but I had to drive a bit further the other day and noticed the revs were staying higher than normal, and it was somewhat sluggish off the line. No first gear and no fourth gear, so I had the 2-3 shift and torque converter lockup. Replaced both solenoids which fixed it right up.
This truck has 197k miles on it with the original transmission and, as far as I can tell, the original fluid. I'm the third owner and have had it for a while, and the previous owner straight up told me with great pride that he did zero maintenance to it except engine oil. Knowing that history, I was expecting the pan to be full of clutch material, but it looks really good. The fluid smelled a bit burnt, but it's always hard for me to tell.
Two new solenoids, new filter, and new fluid, and she shifts like a champ. The 1-2 shift also got better somehow, and these late trucks have the ECCC setup that constantly slips the converter clutch to improve driveability up to around 70 mph. The converter lockup has always been a bit lazy, and that got better too. So that was all a win.
Knowing that the transmission actually wasn't on it's last breath, I decided to check the calibration in efilive - turns out the stock programming is REALLY soft. As in, shift times as long as 0.65 seconds up to nearly 200 ft lbs of torque. There also isn't very much torque reduction compared to GMT800 trucks, meaning you have this slow slippery shift but it's still making some power. I sped up the target shift times (used by the PCM to determine shift pressure adaptation) and upped the shift pressures until I saw minimal adaptation required to hit the targets. Then added in more torque reduction so that the shifts are still relatively smooth. It's actually got some really nice satisfying shifts now, which came as a surprise.
The other surprise is that after the hardware and software maintenance, plus fixing the EGR valve, gas mileage went from 13ish to between 15 and 16.
There was one other thing I did - changed the diff oil. I probably should do the T-case and front diff too at some point. I'm glad I did the rear - it was disgusting, and at some point the magnet had come unglued from the ring and pinion and had gotten sucked through the diff. Lots of little magnet pieces floating around in there. I'm sure I didn't get it all out, but I got most of it. It's always scary when you pull a diff cover and chunks come out. R&P look great, there's some damage to the spider gears but not enough for me to worry about it.
In reply to gearheadE30 :
my buddy at Tremec always says "you can't hurt a trans by giving it fresh fluid."
I have a mild fluid leak on the tailshaft of my trans. Fixing that and doing full trans maintenance is definitely on the radar sooner rather than later.
In reply to gearheadE30 :
For anyone going through this in the future. You can buy updated and remanned valve bodies w/ solenoids on ebay for 150-300, and it gives you a chance to do the seperator plate, which is prone to fail from the check balls wearing it out.
Mine was an P1870, which most people think is a solenoid failure but it usually stems from bore wear in the valve body itself, and it came with the sonnax fix installed.
In reply to Opti :
do you recall if it includes the o-ringed TCC valve upgrade? I had to do that to my 97 a couple years ago and it was a PITA (probably because I did it without taking the valve body out). Boy-oh-boy did that make a difference. Lockup feels like a 5th gear
In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
i'd love to hear a before/after with the amazon sound deadening. I've been eyeballing that for a project of mine
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
words to live by. I get irrationally angry seeing the old wive's tale perpetuated "if you havent regularly changed the fluid, if you change it at 100k, 150k, 175k or whatever arbitrary interval they made up to apply to a specific vehicle, changing the fluid will ruin the transmission!" Ridiculous. Clean fluid>old fluid no matter what, in my book.
Now power flushing an old trans with a machine, that's a different story.
Reverse is fixed, short in the PRNDL is fixed, new park lamps, new master cylinder and an oil change. Passed Saskatchewan inspection and is now insured.
Glad to have the old workhorse back on the road.
Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:In continuation of my interior makeover, today I did flooring.
my truck began as a work truck package which had a rubber floor mat. So I got a carpet from RockAuto and some sound insulation from Amazon and went to work.
I bet this was really satisfying. It would be cool to have a decibel meter on hand to do a before and after comparison..
My friend's tow rig and backup daily is a 1992 Suburban 2500.
Is there a trick to getting the steering to not be sloppy? We've replaced every bit of linkage, installed a RedHead steering box and an XJ steering shaft. What are we missing?
There's always a little slop, even when brand new I think. I installed a Cunningham Machine steering shaft and it made a world of difference compared to the stock parts.
i don't like driving trucks, and i'd be proud to daily Cousin_Eddie's truck. i keep going back and looking at how clean the bare floor is, and all i can think is "this is the guy you want to buy a used car from."
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:i don't like driving trucks, and i'd be proud to daily Cousin_Eddie's truck. i keep going back and looking at how clean the bare floor is, and all i can think is "this is the guy you want to buy a used car from."
Thank you for saying that. That's very flattering.
06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:There's always a little slop, even when brand new I think. I installed a Cunningham Machine steering shaft and it made a world of difference compared to the stock parts.
We're towing with about 5° of play. It's just enough that it's unenjoyable
Do a dry steer and see where the play is. Sometimes some adjustability in the steering box. Maybe some play in the upper steering shaft?
In reply to 06HHR (Forum Supporter) :
i think there's bound to be a *little* bit of play in an old school steering box like that. however, even on a freshly rebuilt box, adjustment of the sector shaft is important and if improperly adjusted, it will definitely have play. a proper adjustment can only be done with the box out of the truck. that little hex shaft on the top of the box that everyone loves to dink with isnt the full story.
In reply to budget_bandit :
That we haven't messed with. Awesome. Thank you!
The engine in my 95 is slowly raising its middle finger at me. It's got a persistent Miss at idle and is now using a quart or so every 700 miles. Smokes heavily at idle if you let it idle too long. So I bought a low mileage 5.3 LS. My plan is to hook it up to the 4l80 and retain the entirety of the 04 donor trucks cooling system and under hood accessories and all if I can. Can you point me in a direction of some real good information on LS swapping these that are not YouTube videos? Particularly for air conditioning, wiring, and motor mounts? The volume of information on LS swapping these is staggering and most of it is contradictory
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
disclaimer: i haven't done an LS swap in mine (yet) but GMT400.com has a lot of good information that i've looked at.
From memory, i think the current "easy" button is ebay motor adapter plates, and using the stock 5.3 computer as basically a standalone to run the engine and wiring it to the stock gauges. i think it needs an oil pressure sensor adapter for the stock gauge, maybe a resistor for the tach wire? A/C fix is to buy a $200-$300 amazon bracket to put the stock TBI compressor in the stock location on the 5.3 to keep stock wires/lines
My second GMT400, after the untimely demise of my previous 1988 long box.
1997 Vortec 4.3 short box. I don't think there are any options on it, after decoding the RPOs. It's from BC, and relatively rust free other than a driver's cab corner. Frame is excellent. It's been lowered at some point. I don't hate the V6, but I miss the sound of the dual exhaust 305 in the 1988.
I'm thinking 4.8 or 5.3 in the near future.
Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:In continuation of my interior makeover, today I did flooring.
my truck began as a work truck package which had a rubber floor mat. So I got a carpet from RockAuto and some sound insulation from Amazon and went to work.
Interior looks great! I want to do the same thing to my ex work truck K2500. Would you recommend the Rockauto carpet?
Here's my two GMT400's:
'96 C1500 350/4l60 that we've had for nearly 20 years. 256k mi original engine/trans. Such a great truck, was her first vehicle and helped move us across the country.
'97 K2500 350/NV4500 5 speed. Bought it somewhat recently to replace a '19 F250 that I just couldn't get along with. Needed the usual vortec 350 things but it was a decently kept farm truck.
mjlogan said:Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) said:In continuation of my interior makeover, today I did flooring.
my truck began as a work truck package which had a rubber floor mat. So I got a carpet from RockAuto and some sound insulation from Amazon and went to work.
Interior looks great! I want to do the same thing to my ex work truck K2500. Would you recommend the Rockauto carpet?
Yes, very much so. It's Auto Custom Carpet brand which is the same brand that everyone else sells. I've gotten several carpets from RockAuto over the years, all Auto Custom Carpet brand, and the total price including shipping aways beats everyone else. 5 stars.
Every time this thread comes to page 1 I kick myself for selling my GMT 400 suburban and buying a GMT 900. Literally the worst vehicle decision I have ever made (in wasted dollars)
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