I continue to have problems starting the truck when it’s cold outside… I’m starting to wonder if there isn’t a cracked plate in the battery. Gonna pick up my dad’s battery load tester to see how the battery does. I might remove the positive battery cable to test it as well. When I installed the new starter, I cleaned the contact on the end of the cable, but didn’t really pay attention to the condition of the terminal to wire connection. Plus there’s a pretty severe kink in the cable where it runs down over the frame & through a bracket.

As I posted a few days ago, I had both of my trucks in the garage (separately) to catch up on routine maintenance. I looked over both with a fairly fine toothed comb while they were in there. Just 3 days later and I have a problem with both that was previously not found while in the garage. The Tahoe started leaking at the rear diff cover. After I noticed that, I started driving the K5 until I could get both of them looked at. While out and about I took note of a rather large puddle of gear lube under the front axle of the K5!

The Tahoe was a fairly easy fix (I think). I found two bolts that were loose at approximately the 3 o’clock position on the diff cover. Tightened them back down and cleaned everything really well with some brake clean & a wire brush to make it clear whether I still had a problem or not. Time will tell.  I’ll keep a close eye on it over the next few days/weeks to be sure that was it.  If not, I’ll pull the cover & install a new gasket.

I had the K5 back in the garage to check out what might be happening with it. The most likely source was the pinion seal, but I did find a blocked breather line (collapsed inside) between the axle and the hard line that then runs up to along the radiator. Cleared that and took it for a test drive. Now, I had just engaged the front hubs in preparation for winter (whenever it decides to get here) so I was driving around with the front end engaged which I rarely do for most of the driving I do with it, so it seems that was throwing around the diff lube, making the seal leak worse than when not engaged. So that’s on the docket for replacement this coming weekend. Here’s to hoping that the pinion bearings are ok (didn’t check that while I was under it today)!

The K5 needed new drag link ends which I had ordered & picked up earlier in the month. Half hour later and the drag link was in. Went to start it to back it out of the garage and… “RrrRRR, BANG!!!”… What the heck… Tried the starter again and it was grinding horribly… Crawled back under the truck to find the nose cone of the starter in pieces. After removing the starter, I found a 3/8″ by 3/4″ long course thread bolt in the nose cone..! Pull off the dust shield to find all three torque converter bolts installed, but 2 of them were loose enough that I removed them easily by hand… To make matters worse, all three were course thread bolts/nuts with regular nuts (i.e. not self-locking). $8 for the proper fine thread bolts with matching self-locking nuts, another $52 for a life-time warrantied NAPA reman starter, about another hour of work, and the K5 was back operational.

In a way, I’m glad the starter went as it could have been a lot worse if the flex plate broke due to missing/loose bolting. And you can’t complain too much about something breaking in the garage where it’s warm, dry, and easily fixed! I had been meaning to replace the starter for awhile now since it has been getting more & more difficult to start…

Also, just a quick update on the A/C leak previously fixed on my Tahoe. I ran my infrared flashlight over the repaired area again today and it still showed zero signs of leakage. The defrost setting has been doing a fine job clearing moisture out of the air with as rainy as it has been lately and I can hear the compressor engage on-demand. No short cycling!

The top has seen better days. There is a cracked out section on the inner rail that will need to be fixed and the joints are a bit loose. The plan is to recondition this top while still enjoying my K5! Then swap them out later on down the road.

As far as the transfer cases go, this was just too good of a deal to pass up. One of the NP205′s has a cracked case at the front output, but all of the gears & shafts inside are in good condition. The other NP205 was just rebuilt and is nice & tight. Both have slip yoke rear outputs so I’ll have to change that. With the 32 spline input shaft being almost as expensive in the aftermarket as what I picked up both cases for, I grabbed one heck of a deal.

Now to work on (or just buy) an adapter to mate the range box from my spare NP203 up to the front of the NP205!

After removing the old battery I found that the battery tray was not quite right. So I’ll be ordering a stock replacement from LMC Monday.

Here are some pictures:

1 – Brand new, never installed, purchased 20 years ago Bestop swing arm style rear tire carrier – $35

2 – Used aftermarket fuel tank from a 1990 Blazer with TBI engine complete with sending unit & pump – $35

The tank is a little rusty, but it is exactly what I need for the conversion to the TBI motor from my ‘90 donor ‘burb.  The tank that is in the ‘burb is a 40 gallon tank and it will not fit without substantial modifications in the back of the truck.

I already have a swing arm style rear tire carrier, but it is bent up a bit and has a crease in one of the tubes.  This was too good of a deal to pass up!