roadkill

i bought a 1998 k1500 silverado Z-71. short wheelbase. the rear ring gear lost 9 teeth. once in there i saw the diff ear was broken off with the bearing stuck on it. i would guess this diff failure caused the ring gear to break. but what caused the diff to break? i notice a slight delay from pushing the gas to vehicle movement. the driveshaft seems to move and hit as i go from a stop. i can feel and hear this hit. i think this might be the cause of the diff to break but am unsure. a friend with same year long wheelbase had the same driveshaft hit and was told something about what it was made from made a difference. i replaced the entire rearend with a 1997 surburban 4x4 rear, and the only difference was the bigger drum brakes. is this driveshaft the problem? could it be the transmission? cant afford to break another one.

caprice_coupe

Just have a few questions. The first rear end you broke, was that the stock one? Second, had the engine been modded? When did they break? Under hard acceleration/heavy towing etc...You've may've just had a case of bad luck or need a beefier rear-end.

roadkill

not real sure. the rear cover had 3.42 positrak painted on it, so i thought it was changed. stock 5.7 engine, no power mods.
had a diff service 6 months ago. i still have that "hit" when i take off from a stop. seems to me like the driveshaft is turning a bit before it bites. i think this hit is causing the problem...but what can i do to fix? change imput shaft? tranny work? out of money but need to game plan. and thank you for your help.

caprice_coupe

This is like one of those problems that's hard to diagnose over the net. I just don't believe the driveshaft is warped. I guess it could be but you'd have to probably take it off to look at it. Seems the delay to me would be either a high stall converter and not enough RPMs to get it to go or it's just worn out and maybe a worn out clutch pack in the tranny. Maybe just maybe the rear you got now is fine and this problem is your transmission. Here's what I'd do. I'd pop open the cover on the rear end and inspect the parts. If all checks out, check your transmission, pull the pan off and if you see little black chunks of rubber like material. If you see any then I'd have the transmission serviced.

caprice_coupe

If I am correct that's a two piece driveshaft. Try looking at the carrier, should be a grease tit there, try putting some grease in there. Sometimes they'll get a little sloppy and cause some problems but I called my friend and we both think it's a transmission problem.

SuperTexan

My 92 and my buddies 90 is doing the same thing you speak of. A delay then a "hit" when it catches. There's 3 trucks I know of now. Okay, so....if you read my post you can see what I wrote about it. I've gotten it down to a science f knowing when its going to "late-engage" when I take off. And therefore I can avoid the BAM and clank. Another I tried doing is when I know its going to do it, I slightly roll forward a bit to hopefully get it out of the "bind" it might be in. This works sometimes, but shidting to nuetral and back to drives works well.

btotheh33

Pull your drive shaft and inspect all u joints. while its out see if the yoke has alot of play. I work at a transmission shop and build rear ends. If it is in your tranny they will have to pull it and rebuild it. In my shop a service is fluid, filter, and pangasket and thats maintnence. A trans service wont fix anything. My buddy has a 99 yukon and his pinion nut backed off. We waited to long to inspect and had to do a whole bearing kit and ring and pinion. We coulldve just tightend the nut if he didnt drive with it like that for so long