My Love/Hate Relationship with my Truck

[Quick GMC]

I decided the new Challenger might be a little ambitious at this point, with all the stuff I have going on in my life. Wife is pregnant, trying sell our house, trying to buy a new house, merging my company with another, moving into a new shop all at the same time. Challenger will have to wait a few years I think. 

I have had my tuck for 10 years now, a 2006 GMC Sierra 1500, 2wd. I started out with exhaust, intake, headers and a custom tune from a company in Texas. Then I dropped the tranny and installed a shift kit and a 3000 stall converter. It ran strong for 40,000 miles before the output shaft grenaded and turned the entire tranny into a paperweight. I bought a re-man tranny, stock for $800. Got 4k miles out of that. Truck on jackstands for a year while I saved up to build the ultimate tranny. $4k later, I converted my 4l60E to a 4L65E with Delco 5 pinion planets, new shift kit, bullet servos, hardened input drum with billet shaft, billet output shaft, new clutch packs and band, custom pinless accumulater setup, etc. Literally sweat and blood into this thing. 

converter clutch comes apart after a couple thousand miles and send metal through the system and takes out the tranny. Kill me now.

I felt like my dog died, I was devastated. I am a stubborn bastard, so I gut the tranny, remove everything, cooler lines, cooler, etc. EVERYTHING. 35,000 GVWR tranny coolor made for a motorhome, nmounted to the front. New factory lines, fittings, everything. No rebuild on the converter, brand new. Gut the tranny, everything that could be salvaged, was. Runs strong, breaks the tires loose during shifts, runs like a maniac. Then 3k miles later I get a clicking, which turns into a chirping, which turns into a clacking, then a clunking, then a thunking. Almost like a rod knock. I am emotionally numb at this point. I put the truck up and start poking around with a stethascope. At one point it sounded like an exhuast leak, nope. Lifters? nope. Bottom end? Nope. Bellhousing? Yep. Kill me now. 

Turns out my flexplate cracked, then broke into 2 completely separate pieces. The only thing that was keeping the torque converter from backing into the bellhousing and ruining my life was the flanges on the bold heads. unbelievable. No problem, ordered a new SFI rated flexplate from Summit. Installed it, slammed the tranny back in, good to go. Start up the truck and there is a hideous shrieking sound, unbearable. Kill me now

Long story short, new flexplate was 2mm diameter larger than stock. After A LOT of poling and prodding, flashlights, stethoscope checks and multiple mirror angles, i was able to determing that the outside edge of the flexplate was smacking the release bearing on the starter and spinning it at an unreasonable speed. This is when I learn about starter shims. Install shims, noise goes away, life is good. 

Fast forward 20,000+ miles and here I am. truck is strong, about to turn 100k on the odometer. New tie rod ends, new struts, new ball joints, brakes, driveshaft center carrier, etc. Tip top shape 10 years later, time to move on. 

 

 

[Quick GMC]

Factory plastic valve body accumulator setup on the right, My custom billet pinless setup on the left

New Sun Gear with reinforced neck

OEM 5 pinion planets

bought a tranny fixture and bench to make it easier on myself

More coming soon, I have to go to a meeting

 

[Dragline]

Quite a journey. Was fun [for me at least] to read of another's plight since I just went through some stuff with my car.

[espo]

It sounds like you might have finally gotten your truck dialed in. I went thru a similar thing with engines on my '96 Chev. 2wd x-cab short bed a few years ago. Just a thought on the pending moves in your life, I.E. residence, business, family. If the truck is working good now you might want to wait until the dust settles with the new home, business, and new addition to the family before you  look at new transportation. A mortgage company will look at any new payments, such as a new vehicle, or any other expenses when they qualify you for a new home loan. After you get moved in and get settled in your new business then you can better figure out what you want or need for transportation.  May be a late model Challenger and keep the truck. I sold my '96 in '05 and still regret it. That same truck costs more now then when I sold it. If the truck is clear think long and hard , maybe it would be better to make it a secondary vehicle if you can. Hate to sound like your "Dad" but I like many others I have been there, done that, and have the T shirt. Good luck to you on all fronts.     

[Joe Handley]

I know that feeling, I think the list of things my Cherokee still needs might be nearing how much I could sell it for if that stuff was still good.

[GT4494]

Might have been better off putting in a manual trans. It Def finely would be cheaper  ☺

[Tom Geiger]

Ack!  Many years ago I paid a garage to put a clutch in my 1965 Barracuda.  The car was a slant 6 three speed car.  I was having clutch issues with it and wanted to get it fixed prior to picking up an old tear drop trailer I had purchased.  So I pick the car up from the garage and head about 60 miles north to pick up the trailer.  The car just didn't feel right at highway speed but I figured it was just different to my feel with the new clutch.  I hitch the trailer and head home.  Now when I hit any minor bump in the road, the shifter jumps out of gear.  It got worse and worse all the way home.  The next morning I crawl under it and couldn't believe what I saw.  The transmission was not bolted in. In fact there were no bolts at all.  The only thing holding it in place was the driveshaft. All I could figure was that they had them in there hand tight and never torqued them in. Or they didn't put the bolts back at all!

I called up the shop and told them to come and get it.  They refused to believe me on the phone, and even hemmed and hawed about making good on the damage.  Several fights later, the car still never was right.  The next year I take it to another shop and they pull the clutch out and show me that all the clutch springs were broken.  So I paid for a second clutch job.  Again the car never felt right.  I eventually put the car in storage and left it there for 15 years.  My family bought a service station so my bro-in-law towed Barracuda there with intent of completely restoring it mechanically. He pulled the trans and showed me the problem.  The tranny shaft was all chewed up, no doubt by the ride it took with no bolts.  So we replaced the clutch once again, and wanted to replace the transmission this time, but couldn't find one.  So we put it back together with the old transmission.  

I eventually found a transmission on eBay and it came via FedEx Ground.  I never did get around to putting it in as we no longer owned the service station. It wound up back into storage in my garage for another 10 years.  I eventually sold the car when I moved since I had to move it anyway.

[drummerdad]

My wife and I had a run of several GM vehicles that all needed major repairs. We had an all wheel drive Astro van that broke a front axle, a Venture van that needed a transmission, a Saturn outlook that also needed a transmission, and a  4wd LTZ suburban that needed a new engine. 

In GMs defense, most of these vehicles were well used when we got them. But the Saturn and the Suburban were both newer, with less than 75k miles, and costing more than $20k. The suburban was the last straw. We traded it on a new Durango, and so far we love it. I also have my 07 charger with 120k miles, that runs like a champ. I had to travel for work recently, and put 6000 miles on the car in 2 months. The only problem I had was tie rods, and that was because Arkansas roads are horrible. 

I am now a dodge guy. I understand the dedication it takes to stick to a vehicle. I just got tired of it with my GMs. Ill never get rid of this charger though. I love it. I am considering a truck in the next few years, but I dont know what to get. I love 70s, 80s, and 90s chevy trucks. 

 

Edited September 24, 2016 by drummerdad
too many pictures

[unclescott58]

I've driven Buicks for years. Other than problems with the tranny in my '73 years ago, I've had no major problems with the rest of them. The transmission problems were interesting on the '73. In cost saving measures, Buick thought they could put THM 350s with their 350 V8 in the the '72 and '73 LeSabres. In '71, and again in '74 they coupled this engine to the THM 400 in the LeSabres. The '71 through '76 LeSabres were big heavy cars. I rebuilt the Turbo 350 once. The second time I installed a THM 400. And guess what? I never had a transmission problem with that car ever again.

By the way, my 2000 LeSabre with just over 125,000 mile on it, shifts rough only when the weather is hot. All summer long I'm feeling nervous about it. Fall and cooler weather comes along, it shifts fine and I forget about it. This has been going on for a couple of years now. One of the guys I work with at O'Reillys says that's normal with these transmission when they get old, and suggested throwing some Lucus transmission fixer in it. So for I've put in about half the bottle. It seems to have helped a little. But, not completely. When the transmission fluid gets lower, I'll try putting the rest of the bottle in.

 

[High octane]

I've driven Chevy trucks for almost 40 years, and this year I was ready for a change. Bought a new F-150 and I'm quite happy with it so far.

[Quick GMC]

I love this truck, other than the transmissions issues, which I take responsibility for, this truck has never had any real issues. The cats got plugged, which was inevitable, the tie rod ends, one wheel bearing, shocks, struts, center carrier bearing, etc. were all replaced a few months ago. About $4k in work total over the course of 10 years. It runs solid. 

here's the flexplate scenario. 

 

[Quick GMC]

So now that it's been solid for 20k miles, I ordered me some goodies. 

BellTech street performance shocks
Air Ride rear helper bags
Air Ride onboard compressor kit
Hellwig fron and rear sway bars
McGaughys 2" drop spindles
Calvert Racing CalTracs traction bars with 2" drop hangers
McGaughys driveshaft center carrier relocation bracket

Yesterday I had new tires installed. Nitto 420S 275/60/R17. Fattest tires that will go on the stock wheels. Later on I will get a nice set of 8.5" wide wheels
 

Future plans include colormatching door handles and mirrors, repaint with new front chrome pieces (sand damage) and a cowl hood, cam and heads. 

 

[Quick GMC]

Actually next purchase is a Detroit trutrac, with 4.11 gears. I think I've pushed the stock locker long enough 

[GT4494]

Nice truck!  Glad to see you have it where all good GM products ought to be.  UP on Jackstands.. JK

[Quick GMC]

This is what I am ultimately going for. 

[dieseldawg142]

This is what I am ultimately going for. 

 

not bad for a 2wd!

any aggravation my truck causes me disappears the minute i'm behind the wheel....