[Parkman51]

Today's job was balancing the brakes - making sure that they all braked with approximately the same force. I suspect that they're somewhat out of round - each wheel 'drags' a bit at some point during its rotation - but this I expect will correct itself as the high points wear off during driving.

Here was the procedure:
I started with the front wheels, since they're free-spinning, and not complicated by the drivetrain or the emergency brake. I jacked the front of the car off the ground, and spun the wheels by hand until I felt like I had a good understanding of the force required to produce a given rotation. The driver's wheel was noticeably looser than the passenger, so I tightened its adjustment spring by one or two notches and checked the rotational resistance. When both were fairly equally free, I applied a consistent force to the brake pedal and rechecked to make sure that, as the brake applied, the resistance increased consistently across both sides of the car. (See photograph below. I used a reversible clamp and a spare board.)
Then I dropped the front back down, chocked the wheels, and jacked up the back. After releasing the emergency brake and putting the transmission in neutral, I was able to rotate the back wheels as I had done the front ones. To be sure I was getting an accurate picture of the resistance on each side, I used some 2x4s to stop the rotation of the opposing wheel. The difference here was more pronounced. The driver's wheel was very loose, and the passenger wheel was very tight. I loosened the passenger wheel 2 notches, and tightened the driver's by about 4 (for some reason, the driver's rear wheel has an adjustment gear with half-size teeth, so I really tightened it about 8 notches, but 4 is a more useful comparative measurement). Once the wheels spun about the same, I made sure that the brake force applied equally by means of the emergency brake, withdrawing it 5 clicks at a time and checking each side. It took 15 clicks for the wheels to lock up.
Then I dropped the rear back down and took the car out for a neighborhood drive. It performed finely, and the brakes were noticeably better. The steering wheel no longer drags to the right when braking, and they're a little more responsive too.

One question today: The emergency brake has to get pulled out quite far to achieve proper braking force. Is there a procedure to tighten the response on the emergency brake? It does work serviceably as-is, so is it worth adjusting?

[Jack Gifford]

Originally Posted by Parkman51

... I suspect that they're somewhat out of round - each wheel 'drags' a bit at some point during its rotation - but this I expect will correct itself as the high points wear off during driving...

If a brake drum is truly out-of-round it won't "correct itself". It could possibly be caused by some rust spot[s], which would get rubbed off.

[Parkman51]

Tweaked the speedometer. When I cleaned it previously I must've reassembled it wrong, because it was about 10 mph slow. So I removed it, adjusted the positioning of the wheel, and put it all back together. It's a lot faster doing things the second time around, let me tell you. I'll take it for a short drive on Sunday and give an update on how much better it is (if I remember).

Jack, I hope it's either some rust spots or some bumps on the shoes. Either of these should ideally get fixed over time, if it doesn't then that's another issue to be addressed.

[Parkman51]

Today's project was planned to take a half hour, and it took three.

I had some very small leaks in the fuel system, one at the gas tank drain, and two more in the fittings between the tank and the metal fuel line (for those who don't remember, since the new sending unit didn't line up with the existing fuel line, it goes Tank > Sending unit > about a foot of rubber hose > fuel line). Now, to reseal the gas tank drain, it is necessary to drain the gas. And boy oh boy did I have more gas in there than I thought I did. I filled up all 3 of my gas cans on hand, a 4-gallon bucket I had lying around, an oil drain pan, and a pickle jar.

Once all that was out, I checked the drain plug and decided to replace the gasket/washer, so I ran to the local hardware store and picked up a new gasket. They actually had a much better gasket than the one I had, so this was a pleasing upgrade - and I also decided to get a new drain plug at the same time. Standing in the aisle, wondering whether to buy or not to buy, my rationale was that I didn't want to have to drain the tank again, so better safe than sorry. Then I came back and installed the new drain plug and gasket, with a coat of Gasoila soft-set thread sealant.

Then I removed the bridge line, pulled one of the fittings that didn't seem to be fitting all that well, cut off about a half inch to get a good seal, made another store trip to get a new fitting, set the fitting, and installed the bridge line back where it belonged, with another coat of Gasoila on both ends.

Took the car out for a short drive after the sealant had time to set, and all seems to be well so far! Though the fuel line partially drained during this process, any air gaps were well supplied by the pump, and the engine didn't notice at all.

[Parkman51]

Today I began to replace the transmission pan gasket. After removing the torus/flywheel cover, and pushing the flywheel around to find the drain plug, I tried to remove the drain plug, and promptly failed. The instructions in the manual solemnly adjure the would-be transmission drainer that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES must you use a twelve-point socket, lest you ruin the plug.

Well, my six-point socket was a little loose, and after a bit of pushing, I noticed slight deformation on the corners of the plug. I tried hitting it with WD-40 and tapping it with a hammer, but no luck. And I couldn't wait too long for the WD-40 to ooze in, since the instructions also direct you to drain the transmission while the oil is warm.

Then I hit upon a bright expedient. After cutting a long, thin strip of blue painter's tape, I wound the strip around the plug, then shoved the socket back on, over the tape. The outer layer or two of tape crushed down as the socket pushed in, but the remainder stayed where they were - and that was the ticket! The socket, now fitting snugly indeed, drew the plug out with comparative ease.

With the torus and pan drained, I turned my attention to removing the bolts that hold the pan on, and ran into another problem. Four of the bolts are tucked almost inaccessibly behind a structural crossmember that (I presume) supports the transmission (see photo below). And that stumped me for the day.

So today's question is - Any idea how I can get those four forward bolts out? Once I solve that problem, I should be able to disconnect the filler pipe and have the whole pan off.

[Sirrotica]

Remove the nuts holding the transmission mount to the frame crossmember. Use a bottle jack to raise the transmission up from the crossmember to gain some clearance. Use a 1/4 inch drive swivel socket to remove the bolts (likely 1/2 inch bolt heads). You possibly could get away with a 3/8 drive setup if you can raise the transmission up into the tunnel far enough.

That's how I'd do it, and have done it for many years when pan bolts are obstructed by frame components. Move the component you're working on, away from the obstruction.

The 90s Silverados have a similar build problem on the rear of the 4L80E transmission pans, raising the transmission enables you to get enough clearance to get the rear row of bolts out of the pan rail.

I hope this helps............

[Parkman51]

Thanks, Sirrotica! That got me halfway there: Two questions about your approach.

1) When I have the nuts removed, where should I place the jack to safely lift the transmission?

2) I successfully loosened the nuts on the driver's side, but when I checked the passenger side, the exhaust pipe runs directly under the access slot. One of the nuts I can get to, but the other has so far defied my attempts to reach it. Any suggestions?