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Ok, so I just finished the engine swap on my '99 Trans Am. I took the LS1/6-Speed out of my old, beat up Formula and swapped it into a nicer Trans-Am roller I bought. Today we bled the clutch and brakes and took the car out for the first test drive. Everything went fine until I was coming down the off-ramp and the rear wheels locked up and I heard a grinding/clunking sound upon trying to take off.
The car will still drive, kinda, but there's a grinding sound and when I take off it acts like the E-Brake is on and I have to give it a lot more power to get it to roll. I got it back to the house, put it in neutral and jacked the rear wheels off the ground and they are VERY hard to turn by hand. With the E-Brake handle down there is no tension in the E-Brake cable on either side of the Y. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be?
It seems to me that the problem isn't in the engine or transmission because the car idles and runs fine, and the rear wheels still bind up when turned by hand with the car and neutral so that seems, to my limited knowledge, to isolate the problem to the rear differential or brake system. I'm kind of in a bind, seeing as my ex-girlfriend blew the engine in my truck and this inoperable Trans-Am is now my sole source of transportation.
Ok. I've isolated the problem down the the differential. I cracked the bleeders to see if the brakes would free up, but the wheels still bound up. Removed the calipers, still bound up. Popped the differential cover and no gear oil My own dumb fault, it seems. Was too worried about all the stuff I might have messed up in the engine swap to think to check the gear oil. This is what I found:
My first question is: What the Hell gouged up the differential case like that? Second: is this rear-end salvagable? The pinion gear is a little chewed up but, other than that, I can't see anything that would cause it to lock up. There were a few metal shavings on the magnet but no chunks of gear or anything. Anybody got an idea? Did I eat a bearing or something?
The only thing I can think of is the pinion crush sleeve crushed more allowing more play and the pinion is hitting the diff carrier. Or it could be caused by remenance of a broken spider gear, or previous damage and lack of oil cooked the bearings.
In any case, looks like you'll need a new carrier and ring and pinion and a full bearing set. I wouldn't trust anything in there, especially behind a manual.
If you got the funds, now might be a good time to get a 9"/S60/12 bolt.
Unfortunately I don't have the funds or the time. My ex-girlfriend blew the engine in my truck so this project now needs to be my daily driver and I'm in the middle of moving houses. When it rains it pours.
I've still got the old Formula the engine in this Trans-Am came from and it's got a good rear end. Would it be easier to pull the gears out of the rear-end in my Formula or to swap the whole axle over? Another option I've got is a 3.50 posi rear-end I can get for $150.
They're both LS1 cars. The donor Formula is a 2001. The Trans-Am is a '99. How rough is a rear-end swap on these cars? I've never done one and I've only got a couple weeks to get it done.
They're both LS1 cars. The donor Formula is a 2001. The Trans-Am is a '99. How rough is a rear-end swap on these cars? I've never done one and I've only got a couple weeks to get it done.
Should take less than 1 day, basic hand tools, and a jack with stands. Both m6? You also want to make sure the abs is the same, 3 channel or 4.
Both were M6 cars. The tranny from the Formula is also in the Trans-Am now. After I swap this rear-end I will have put the entire drivetrain from the Formula into the Trans-Am. How do I check whether the ABS is 3 or 4 channel?
3 channel is ABS only(1 sensor on top of rearend),4 channel is ABS and Traction Control(NO sensor on top of rearend instead a sensor at each brake backing plate).
So would the easier solution be to pull the gears out of this rear end and swap in the ones from my old Firebird or just take the entire axle out of the old one and put it under the new one?
So would the easier solution be to pull the gears out of this rear end and swap in the ones from my old Firebird or just take the entire axle out of the old one and put it under the new one?
Entire axle. Swapping out the diff and gears requires shimming. Not to sound like a dick, but with the questions you're asking, definitely more experience needed than you have. It's easy to get the gear set up wrong if you haven't done it before. Plus an axle swap is much faster than a gear swap. I've done axles swaps in about 4 hours by my self without power tools. Faster if I've done it in that car before.
If the axles don't have the same abs, you just won't have abs and the light will illuminate. But still very drivable.
Not to sound like a dick, but with the questions you're asking, definitely more experience needed than you have.
No offense taken. I'm a body man by trade, and I haven't even done that in about six years since I joined the military, so I'm painfully aware that I've got no idea what I'm doing with the internals of most parts of a car. Well, I guess I'll get cracking pulling the axle out and getting the new one under it. Any tips to make things easier or faster?
No offense taken. I'm a body man by trade, and I haven't even done that in about six years since I joined the military, so I'm painfully aware that I've got no idea what I'm doing with the internals of most parts of a car. Well, I guess I'll get cracking pulling the axle out and getting the new one under it. Any tips to make things easier or faster?
It's pretty straight forward.
But, I will say disconnect the sway bar end links, then shocks from the axle, then drop out the springs, then disconnect the torque arm. It's important to drop the springs before the torque arm, and install the torque arm before the springs.
I've started pulling the borked rear-end out of the Trans-Am. Thus far I've snapped one rusted out swaybar link, galled the threads off the other, thrashed my knuckles pulling the right shock and spilled my beer. This is gonna be a long night.
I've started pulling the borked rear-end out of the Trans-Am. Thus far I've snapped one rusted out swaybar link, galled the threads off the other, thrashed my knuckles pulling the right shock and spilled my beer. This is gonna be a long night.
Go to the other car and spray all the nuts and bolts with wd-40 or PB Blaster now, give it time to work in.
I soaked them last night and let them sit overnight. Thankfully the old Formula is actually much less rusty underneath than the Trans-Am, which is ironic because the Formula came from Louisiana and the Trans-Am came from Arizona. You'd think the Louisiana car would be rusty and the Arizona car clean.
Anyways I finished pulling the bad rear-end this morning and got the old Formula up on jacks to start pulling that rear end. Before I started I spun the wheels and gave the rear-end a listen. The wheels spun silently for about 30 seconds so I think the bearings and everything are good. I'm still gonna check the gear oil before I try to drive it. I'm also gonna check the transmission oil as well. I've got some 80w90 gear oil in the garage and a few bottles of Dex III for the transmission. Will that stuff work?
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Rear Wheels Locked Up 
My own dumb fault, it seems. Was too worried about all the stuff I might have messed up in the engine swap to think to check the gear oil. This is what I found:
