Brian's Blog » quadzilla

Quadzilla Eats Batteries

Brian — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 01:32:00 +0000

In just one hour, I changed clothes, found my overalls, wormed into my overalls, removed the battery, drove to Autozone, argued with them, obtained a new replacement battery (for free), drove home, and installed the new battery. Sometimes, I impress myself. This is the third battery I’ve replaced on quadzilla. The top-of-the-line 7-year batteries always last right at 2 years, and they always test “marginal/good” and don’t want to replace the battery. (and they always quit when the first really cold spell hits) My theory is that my charging system is not quite right, and something is draining my battery while the key is off. In spite of this, everything is OK with a fresh battery. (I’ve tried to resolve the root issues, and can’t figure them out) If anyone has any ideas why my charging system only puts out 13.8v (should be 14.8v) let me know. I’ve replaced the alternator (with regulator) with no change in performance. The only modification I’ve made is relocating the jump-start terminal, adding a 2-foot length of #8 wire to the alternator’s charging wire. I’ve jumped across that wire with a jumper cable and the voltage stayed the same, so I don’t think that is the problem. I’d think that if the voltage-sense circuit had a bad wire (increased resistance), the regulator would overcharge the battery. HellifIknow. I guess I have 2 more years to figure it out now…

Yup, It’s Mine

Brian — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 03:16:37 +0000

I changed out the belts on quadzilla today. Without the supercharger, this is a 4 minute job, with the supercharger, it takes me a couple of hours. I have to take off the intake tubes, the fan shroud, and finally the supercharger and bracket. The big belt snakes through a bunch of bolts/spacers that have to be completely removed to change it out. The bearings in one of the idler pulleys was going bad and making lots of noise. This is the fourth idler pulley I’ve had to replace. PITA. Anyway, when I was getting it cleaned up, the big ProCharger emblem was loose, so I just took it off so I could clean the grim good. I was surprised when I saw my name written underneath the emblem. I feel special now, they assembled this blower just for me!

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More Rear-End Fun

Brian — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 03:29:05 +0000

Today was filled with lots of assembly, measurement, disassembly, re-shim, assembly, measure, repeat. I think I have everything within spec now, and my mesh pattern looks good (to me at least). Tomorrow, I’m going to add an extra 5 thousandths shim to each side of the carrier, and press the real bearings on, then install the real pinion bearings. If all goes well, the new bearings will be close to my setup bearings and I’ll be done with the carrier setup. Picture is of the grade 9 bolts used to hold the ring gear to the pinion. You have to be impressed with grade 9 bolts!

I made this ‘special tool’ today. 3/16″ thick angle. Using it plus the 3-foot cheater bar let me get the required 255 ft-lbs of torque on the pinion nut.

It’s Worse Than I Thought

Brian — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:59:57 +0000

I noticed this area inside the differential housing was ground down. I guess the carrier bearings were so worn that the bolt-side of the carrier was flexing into the housing.

That’s not so bad, but this next part is. I did more reading this morning and found an article about what to look for when you are buying a used axle. When I read the caption of this photo, the proverbial gears in my head started turning, and when I walked out to go look, my heart sank. That critical surface has in fact been ground down all to hell. Even if I did have a carrier that fit correctly, I would never be able to get the preload right.

Even the ring-side surface is all jacked up.

So now I am faced with having new material welded to the axle and re-machined, or finding a good used axle housing and using it. This is depressing.

NOTE: to see all my posts about the Dana 60 Axle, click here.

Quadrasteer / Dana 60 Axle Differences and Similarities

Brian — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 17:05:59 +0000

The quadrasteer variant of the Dana 60 has 12 bolt holes instead of 10. A standard gasket is shown on the right.

If you call a Dana Spicer dealer, they will want to know the “Bill of Materials” or “Build Number”. Mine is 606932-3. This is not a very common axle, it won’t be in their database, and the dealer will have to call Dana directly to get you what you need. Most likely, unless you spend lots of money with the dealer and they know you well, they will not be very helpful or friendly. Such is life. So far, I’ve found that everything inside the housing are normal Dana 60 parts, except the carrier.

At some point they (Dana Spicer) stopped using the well-known number “60″ to describe this axle. The model number is 248. This number is stamped into the housing in 2 different areas.

The original carrier is a Dana Trac-Lok positraction unit. Since the axle is semi-floating design with c-clips that hold the inner axle shafts to the carrier, you can’t upgrade to the stronger Dana Powr-Lok or a Detroit Locker. I ordered a standard “3-series” Dana 60 Trac-Lok replacement, and I got a unit that was shorter than the one I pulled out of the axle. It would require 3/16″ worth of shims to make it work, so I’m pretty sure it is wrong. I haven’t determined if the original carrier is a odd part, or the one shipped to me was wrong.

The carrier is available from GM (part number below). Cost is $477 from your local stealership, or less than $300 on gmpartsdirect.com.

Axle shafts are the standard 35-spline “fat” type. The quadrasteer axles use a CV-joint instead of the standard u-joint though. Since the CV-joint allows axial movement, the inner shaft has to be secured to the differential carrier with c-clips.

The pinion shaft is the standard 29-spline type. Pinion preload is set using shims on this axle. Some other Dana 60 axles use crush washers instead of shims.

Lots of pictures and explanation of how to remove the axle and components are covered in other post I made about this subject.

Here is a low-resolution diagram from the GM parts catalog of the quadrasteer axle. (image TC05-615)

GM Part numbers:

1) 89026803 pinion nut
19) 26091741 outer seal
27) 26091711 Carrier (loaded with Trac-Lok posi) (Dana calls it the case) (Dana part number 50798)
33) 88936343 inner seal
39) short shoulder bolt (qty 11, there is one long bolt used also)
44) cover/steering assembly gasket

NOTE: to see all my posts about the Dana 60 Axle, click here.