Tis winter,,,,,

SNOW: Check!

ROUGH DRIVEWAY, UPHILL TYPE ONE: Check!

V6POWER: Check

4X4:  uh,,,  Mehbe, or try again tomorrow,,,,  (works great on the flat roads, goes in and out when on hills or in the bouncybumpy stuff.)

I tore the hell out of my driveway the other day getting home after the main snow storm.    Made it I did, no small matter being I tortured tested that Posi-trac rearend,,,, That did excellent, and I would NOT have made it otherwise.   And EVERY PART of that driveline was heated up and if damp, SMOKIN’!!!   LOL    (small dribble from the transfer output shaft seal, and I smelled it for certain before looking)    I could tell the selenoid actuators did their job, because the front drive shaft was ‘cleaned off’ and fresh grease showing around the lubed bits, and it did shift into LO4,,, but it wasn’t able to engage the front tires since that vacuum motor didn’t ‘lock’ the front diff to the shafts.  Things spinning around and not connected to anything means  NO POWER TO GROUND.   Just extra torque going “phlllbbbttttttttt!”

Don’t get me wrong, I love the “no need to lock hubs” aspect of the Chevy 4×4 options,,,,    Too many blowed up hubs seen in the past; where someone had locked them, and promptly forgot and went highballin’ it down freeways.

What I DO NOT LIKE, is the vacuum actuators (nor the ‘pushbutton’ controls to selenoid actuators for the transfer case…)  Give me mechanical linkages dangit!!!    That was what was in Great White (prior truck that got shot and died slowly thereafter) and I NEVER had iffy-ness in the Four-by,,,,

This one,,,,   Small vacuum motor located under the battery box, and roughly 20′ of 3mm vacuum tube ran will-he-nil-he from there, back to the transfer case and back up to the engine bay on the opposite side,,, Stuff just floppin’round under the hood and exposed to weather, heat, oil, gunk, you name it,,,,,    

Cheaper to replace ALL of the vacuum lines than purchase a Hard LInk kit for the beast, but damned if I ain’ta tempted,,,,    

But not today,,,,  1) its Sunday,,, no place open for the parts I need.   2) its melt off phase and my section of driveway is more swampish than drive-ish. 3) its cold: wet and cold don’t make for fun times while ‘wrenching’.   Tempted to get some 5/64″ stainless tubing and replace all the long runs with tubing instead of that cheesy rubber line (think how toyota does all their long vacuum runs under the hood   PITA, yes, Bullet proof, DEFINITELY.)    I can get all the parts through the Zon for around $50, where the hard linkage kit runs $200.  And there is just as much work involved.  

OR, I may just replace lines until such time as I do the engine swap THEN do all hard lines for long runs,,,,     Still time to figure it out, I only hope we don’t get hammered again with snow anytime soon.   (and now, since I said that, YOU KNOW this area is gonna get pummeled again,,,,ROFL)

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