lil89ram50

the good. Got my rear end installed in 4 hours, changed the oil, deleted oil cooler lines and did a trans flush on the chevy. Also installed flowmaster. sounds great. While installing rear end, i tossed in some 2 inch blocks and cranked torsion bars up front. the bad. Opened up used rear end im about to install. Found 9 large chunks of metal, and was full of metal shavings on the magnet. Inspected gears and bearings. found a few teeth on the pinion to be chipped slightly, along with one nice ching out of one ring gear tooth. pulled out axles as the brakes and backing plates are junk. this rear end is the worst rear end they have ever sent us. they are normally high quality used parts. (oxymoron i know) backing plates are rusted through, wheel studs are missing, broken, stripped, bent. well after i pulled axles out i found the axles to have a lot of wear on the them. big groves where the bearings wear. inspected axle bearings and there pitted. so all in all, i got a good used case, and an "alright" at the least gear set. had to use my old axles, backing plates and brakes, and had to buy new bearings and seals. but from start to finish, it took 4 hours. I am going to try to get a partial refund from them. and sunday, i put a shift cable in a 94 dodge intrepid. talk about hell getting the retaining clip in. we attemped to do this project a few weeks ago, but right out of the box the cable was already broke. dodge must not have thinking when they designed this.

has anyone had the trans out before... sounds like the throw out bearing is either shot, or the wrong one.

who got her?

ive found its easier just to tighten the bolts. and snap them off.

what did you use for a radiator... im thinking, i might be able to get away with the stock rad, and a big elec fan. i also have access to an aluminum vw rabbit radiator.

yupp sanding the tires work great. just be careful not to go too deep or it could get dangerous. good luck with the truck, its lookin great so far!

got any others? ike 521's?

i'd be in for a set if i knew a few weeks before.

your trying to buy head bolts at a hard ware store?

no, no tool allowence.

snap on pneumatic tools are also garbage. ill stick to my ingersor rand anyday.

when i did the crank bolt on the duramax, we broke 3 ratchets that day. 2 craftsmans and my one snap on. the snap on had me hanging on the cheater pipe before the little blots on the front came loose and fucked everything up. thats the main flaw. the craftsmanns didnt stand a chance. one pretty much exploded, and the other one just stripped out the internals.

so back on topic... has anypone tried the gear wrench torque wrench? or should i just get the techangle from snap on?.... or i could just experiment and get the gear wrench and report back. it might just be a good one for at home. ???

yea we al get along at our dealer, at least us in the shop do. we have are regular arguements with our service writers on a daily basis though. since i had my ranting thread on here, we have lost our head tech, and one other tech. now its just 3 of us. and 3 other oil changers. and we move into a brand new shop the first of the year.... if we dont have a tool, we borrow from each other all the time. and yes the kent moore tool works great, but it seems like its always out at out sister toyota store.

if you ever get the chance to try them they are awesome! they have little teeth things in the open end that stopr the nut from stripping.

I beg to differ. I have used a lot of tools. I have cheap tools at home. They tend to crack sockets, bend wrenches and breaker bars. Screw driver tips get fucked instantly and fuck up the screw. Ratchets explode. I have never had a problem with snap on. Except my 1/2" long ratchet. That only broke cuz i was trying to break a crank bolt loose on an '03 duramax. i use my tools hard, shouldnt matter, they are supposed to be built to last. just at home, i tend to be a bit more careful, so i dont break tools as often.

how are you wiring them up? just with basic relays and fuses, or have you used icehouses can/am box. think im going to swing for one of those and give it a try. inline pump? which one?

have you tried the snap on flank drive plus wrenches? those things are amazing!! i have not stripped a single bolt since i bought them! blue point stil has a standard design.

yes i know i could mark the blots and do it with just a breaker bar, and be careful. but i am doing this everyday, trying to beat the clock and not be worried i messed up. and yes, it is easy to get way into debt with snap on. currently i owe about $5,500 to snap on. when i first started i owed about $8,400, so within 9 months, ive dropped it down to that, but i have bought a lot of stuff in between, so i believe with all the tools i have, from parts stores, mac, and snap on, about $10,000. no where near a lot of tools. but it is enough to get me by. now if i would have gon and bought all craftsman, atd, and gear wrench tools, i'd have a lot more then what i do now! but, i do not have that much to drop all at once. snap on is nice becuase i can make payments. i am trying to get my bill paid off as fast as i can. and i am going to stop buying snap on for a while, and just get parts store tools as i need them. unless its just a snap on only tool. also, has anyone here used the new low profile pitman arm puller from snap on for gm's? i got one a couple weeks ago and havent had a chance to try it out. can i leave the gear box in the vehicle completely if i drop the drag link?

the majorito of the tools i have now are snap on. i have a few mac items, ads some random things from the parts store that i needed when snap on was out of town. so far, i love all my snap on tools, just wondering if there was something better.

how many cars will fit in this shop? is it the whole thing shown, or just a part.?

we have a local parts store that deals a lot with tools. they sell them and will warrenty everything. even if it does not have a warrenty. this store is awesome. thats one thing i like about small town, small buisnesses. but, im lookin for opinions. snap on 1, gear wrench 0

what do you guys use for torque wrenches? i wrench professionally, and i need to buy a torque wrench. . As i work at a GM dealer, all the headbolts get torqued to yeid. as in angles. up until now i have been using just a regular torque wrench for the initial torque, then a "Kent Moore" digital angle meter the shop supplies. well, i have been getting a lot more lifter jobs and stuff where i am using the torque wrench daily. I would ike to just purchase my own. as now i have a few side jobs where i am going to have to do work at home. a few head gasket jobs. so what have/ are you guys using? reminder, it must do both ft/lbs and angles. i used the snap on tech angle on my last lifter job. the snap on guy here let me domo it. I must say i was impressed. on the other hand, gear wrench makes one similar, and like 200 bux cheaper. but i am not sure on the quality. just looking for opinions/ experience.

ok, so lets make a list of who has all done, or is working on a ka swap into their 521. so people can know where to come for advice, help. please post pics, setups, whatever else that you think might help some one out. also ask questions if you have them. ill start. i have a 71 521, l20b, 4 speed. Still gathering parts at the moment and dailying the truck. cuirrently rebuilding motor. waiting for some extra cash to drop 400 bux on the rebuild kit. I have it all tore down and ready to be reassembled. Still need to get the intake manifod to my welder to have butterfly holes welded up and the egr welded closed.