Rear seal and u-joints

[Doug'sL81]

Hi again,

Thanks Rare for the posts on chambered mufflers. This weekend I was removing the drive shaft, not a big deal, thanks to you all. While I was at it I wanted to replace the rear tranny seal. Well, it seems that Vettes are kind of unique in that everything is a PITA even simple things like removing the rear seal. Access to the seal was difficult in that the cross member was in the way so I pretty much had to tear up the seal trying to get it out. I also tried to remove the tail cone to make it easier, after putting my aging body trough some impossible contortions I was able to get at the four bolts holding it. However, that damn cross member was in the way again I couldn’t remove the tailpiece all the way. Has anyone removed the tail cone without removing the cross member? Also the U-joints for the drive shaft I bought at NAPA were too large, their book says the same U-joints all around for automatic and smaller driveshaft U-joints with manual. It could be wrong in their book cause the smaller U-joints did fit. All in all I had a great time getting greasy, now if only my neck would move. :D

[DDLS1]

Doug

I ran into the same problem at NAPA when replacing my U-joints. They show two different numbers, one for automatic and one for standard transmission. My automatic took the joints the book showed for standard. I'm not sure if it's NAPA's book or GM's but sometimes parts are a PIA for the 81. I found it to be a real advantage to take the old part with me so I could compare. All 6 u-joints, once you find the right one are the same.

[cheeseral]

From what I've heard from Chris81 about ujoints the bigger ones are for the manual cars, the smaller ones are for the autos.

Trans stuff is a pain, I just had to remove the driven gear assembly and had to raise the rear of the trans a 1/2 inch to get to the retainer bolt what a pain but finally got it. Next is a new gear and cable and hopefully back on the road.

[Yoda]

Doug you are welcome, we're here to help.. if possible ;)

Chris is right about the size of the U-joints for the 4-speed 1981 being 2 sizes ;) and cheeseral if you're running with Chris81 or (81Chris) you are running in some mighty fine company.. ;) Please say hi to him for me next time you see him.. :w

BudD
:bu

[Nut]

Doug,

If you have a St. Louis '81 and especially a later build it was not uncommon to find a mix of parts. My '81 has the TH350 tranney but came fresh from the factory with the larger u-joints. Found out the same way others did the first time I changed them out. Bigger is definitely better in this case. I got close to 18 years out of the factory U-J's.

............. Nut

[JohnnyJ]

Just recently changed both of these on my 79 . I had the same problem reaching the Main Seal because the drive shaft was only half wayto the side. I decided to remove the drive shaft and that worked fine. However, I managed to drop one of the end caps off of the iniversal, so need tp change the forward universal due to the lost bearings. If you do droop the drive shaft be careful of the horse shoe fitting from the rear end to the cross member....if there's any pressure on the side bolt...DON'T REMOVE THEM.

[JohnnyJ]

Just recently changed both of these on my 79 . I had the same problem reaching the Main Seal because the drive shaft was only half wayto the side. I decided to remove the drive shaft and that worked fine. However, I managed to drop one of the end caps off of the iniversal, so need tp change the forward universal due to the lost bearings. If you do droop the drive shaft be careful of the horse shoe fitting from the rear end to the cross member....if there's any pressure on the side bolt...DON'T REMOVE THEM.

[JohnnyJ]

Recently changed the seal, but it turned out that the leak was from the speedometer adapter on the side of the tranny. I got the new adapter from Chevy for $19.00. No one else seemed to have it. Real easy to change, and also stopped the tranny from leaking.