mrws6speed

Ok....so here's the story.

1) With a little over 1,000 miles on the car I started hearing noises from the rear end (clunking and whining). So at 6K I finally took it in and had the rear end "serviced" where they did "stuff" to fix it.

2) At 20K I decided to go to 4.10 gears. The original "serviced" 3.42's were trashed and metal shavings all in the fluid.

3) I've had the 4.10 gears chewed up (they were installed correctly). So I replaced them (this is gear set # 4) PLUS put in a new Carrier figuring that may be bad.

4) The replacement 4.10's got chewed up.

5) Now I decided to get a Moser 12-bolt and screw the 10-bolt (I know....wise decision).

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Now...the warranty gear company wanted to check the old housing out. The axle tube is bent (there's no way a car could physically do this....plus I don't race my car and have never wrecked it). You can see where it's worn on the axle.

Wait.....it gets better. The spring pearches were completely off (not level with each other). It was soooo bad that it elongated the bushings (from shifting them) and BENT the rear shocks.

So now that I'm about $6K into gears, rear end, labor and everything else....hopefully things should be ok.

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I'm soooo pissed at GM!!!!! (BTW....my car has less than 25K miles on it now). I paid close for $40K for this car brand new and have had problems from day one and NOW THIS!

I'm not sure I'll EVER buy a GM vehicle again. This may sound extreme, but I've had problems with my new '04 Duramax GMC ($50K truck)...the brake controller failed to name one and every other GM vehicle I've owned.

I will be posting another thread with the new 12-bolt....it did come out awesome though.

just1news6

whats gone wrong with the duramax

cam

iTrader: (9)

Well all I can say is when I was building 8.8 rears i used factory 10 bolts for the tubes and perches. I was completely floored at the tolerances on those things. I never received one single core where the perches were both on the same plane ( level as you put it )

I thought hmmm well maybe its some funky geometry deal but each core was out of alignment every which way there was no ryhme or reason so out went that theory.

Spacing on the perches was also inconsistent as was the alignement of the brake flanges. I did get a couple with bent axle tubes too.

I dont know if this makes you feel beter or not but I guess I just wanted to say you are definitely not alone. Pretty much all those ten bolts are garbage right from the get go

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

This kinda makes me wonder what the aftermarket 12-bolt housings are like (Strange, Moser, etc)...

cam

iTrader: (9)

I can assure you the aftermarket housings are far superior in terms of tube straightness and bracket alignment and whatnot. I'm not overly impressed with the castings though i think the OEM stuff is far superior but its just my theory/opinion/whatever.

Even with all the tubes and brackets out of alignment it wont really make much difference on longevity ( how many miles it lasts ) but if the internals of the castings and machined sufaces are not exactly true you get noise and all sorts of reliability issues... like some of the aftermarket assemblies.

2002_Z28_Six_Speed

iTrader: (19)

You should take the old housing and dump it on GM's doorstep in Mich.

I know not everything can be perfect as such is the nature with ASM line work. Anyways, that STILL shouldn't have happened in a 'mission-critical' aspect of the ASM line.

cam

iTrader: (9)

I couldnt agree more! While your at it leave a note saying they better not **** up the differentials on the new Camaros or we're gonna make the designers walk the plank!!!

Wnts2Go10O

iTrader: (12)

actually there are quite a few improvements in the aftermarket castings. hell even the material used is "cleaner." not only that but things like more material in the mains, better web design for the pinion, the list goes on.