MECHANICAL
The Transmission was in relatively good shape. It shifted fine on the original trip from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. As it sat in the garage for 12 months it was leaking fluid. The leak was from the speedometer gear housing. There’s a gear that spins inside a metal housing. There are multiple o-rings inside it to seal it but they wear down over time. The gear itself also wears down. You can see a groove in the old gear so it was loose in the housing. You could spin the old one as fast as a bearing but the new one is tight and snaps into the housing.
The kick down solenoid also needed to be replaced. The connector that goes through the casing has an o-ring so I replaced that and the solenoid.
I also changed the transmission filter. I took the pan down and triple layered some masking tape inside it. Then I sandblasted and painted the outside of the pan Chevy orange.
When the RV went to the sand blaster I decided to drop the transmission and degrease it too. I changed the transmission mount but cracked the rear housing when I was taking it off. I had the crack welded so hopefully it holds. Since I had to take the rear housing off I replaced the rear main seal and bushing.
Since a new 33 gallon Fuel Tank was only $140 I decided to replace it and all it’s components. This included the fuel lines, hoses, sending unit, wiring, tank straps, bolts and filler neck parts. It should have been a quick job but it ended up taking about 2 weeks. This was because I had to wait for the tiny fuel gauge wiring harness that goes on the sending unit on top of the tank.
The old tank wasn’t leaking or anything but I decided to replace it for a few reasons: rust on the outside of the tank, grime on the inside of the tank, corrosion/rust around the sending unit, rust, rust and more rust. I think the only parts I saved were the brackets for the fuel line and the little plastic breather that attaches to the fuel sending unit.
I also sand blasted and painted the filler neck and replaced the hoses.
Brakes: I started by replacing the master cylinder and the proportioning valve. The old valve was missing the plastic harness. The old master cylinder only had fluid in one side which is why I barely had brakes when I brought the RV home. The fittings were all so rusted I replaced everything, including every single brake line.
I also rebuilt the hydroboost since it was too expensive to replace.
When I bought the RV the battery was sitting on the edge of a piece of angle iron and bungee corded to the inner fender. There are two supports for the battery, one was mounted to the firewall and one was mounted to the front end by the headlight. The shelf that was supposed to be in between the brackets was completed rusted and gone. The previous owner tried to screw a piece of angle iron to one of the brackets to hold the battery.
I decided to make new brackets and a new shelf. I used scrap 1.5” angle iron for the brackets. I cut a piece of cardboard to mock-up the shelf and then cut it out of steel. Then I bought a battery tray and tie down from Autozone for about $15 and bolted the tray to the shelf. The brackets I made didn’t sit level so I cut a piece of plastic to use as a spacer between the bracket and the shelf.
I got an Optima Red Top 75 series battery from Summit Racing. I also got new battery cables, starter, alternator and ground straps.
The old transmission dipstick was over 50” long and a solid tube. It pushed against the valve cover which is bad because the valve covers aren’t very tight so pressure from the dipstick resting against it could make them leak. I decided to get a short dipstick and mount it to the back of the head on some pre-drilled holes that weren’t being used. I made a little bracket out of some stainless steel. I will have to access it through the dog house but it is a much cleaner set-up than before.
The front brakes were pretty easy to replace. I got new rotors, bearings, seals, pads and dust covers. The new rotors already have the new bearings races pressed in so that made changing them easy. The old rotors were rusted and pitted really bad. Then the Amish guy that sandblasted the frame just painted black over everything. I was surprised to see the calipers aren’t even bolted on. There’s just a wedge of steel you hammer in and out that keeps them in place.
The rear drums were much more difficult to change. First you have to take the axles out so gear oil spills everywhere. Then you can take the drums off which are attached to the hubs. They need to be separated so you can change the bearings. These bearings are more difficult to change because you need to press in the races. You also have to use a punch to hammer out all the studs to separate the hub from the rotor.
Then you get to the pads. I replaced the pads, adjusters, cylinders, springs and the lock rings that hold in the axles. I also replaced the hard brake lines. I took off the entire back plates and sandblasted and painted both of them. Both rear cylinders were bad so I had no rear brakes before I replaced them.
Since the wheels were off for the brakes I also replaced the struts and tie rods. The old struts had dry rotted bushings and I could close them with one finger. I replaced them with Bilstein’s all the way around.
When you change the rear brakes you have to take out the axles so a bunch of gear oil leaks out. The only way to change the gear oil is to take off the cover on the back of the rear differential. I drained the oil and scraped the gasket off.
I decided to replace the cover with the Dana Spicer cover because it is more robust and it has a drain plug. It came with the plugs, bolts and gasket. I filled the Dana 60 with 75W90 Royal Purple.
I had my mechanic change the U-Joints in the drive shaft. All the clips were broken from rust so I just had him do it. I wire brushed and painted them black. I replaced the carrier bearing in the middle of the drive shaft too. I had to make a little tool to hammer it on. It was just a piece of pipe with a plate welded to the end so I could hit it with a hammer.
I didn’t know you are supposed to mark them before you take them apart so they probably aren’t right and they are probably going to vibrate or something. When I put them together I just put the weights on opposing sides thinking they will balance but I’ll find out when I get it back on the road.
