you're telling me.
New L31-r from Chevrolet. honestly, it's crossed my mind, but everyone I ask says it would be nearly impossible to have a bad one straight from chevy.
I'll try that. I rebuilt the front hubs. the spindles looked perfect, put new bearings in, did the specific torque sequence on the two spindle nuts(I think 50lbs, back them off, 35lbs back them off, snug them up plus a bit, then tabbed washer and outer nut). I swear I can hear them click when I put it in reverse after disengaging the hub locks. I'll try disconnecting the front driveshaft and if that doesn't do it, maybe go through the front hubs again.
quick question on wheel bearings: I'll check them after a 40+ mile drive and everything feels great temperature-wise...barely discernibly warm to the touch. is that a good sign or meaningless? I know at least it means they aren't too tight or dry, right? probably less indicative on the rears since they're open bath in the diff fluid and that amount of lube volume won't build heat easily... also the diff feels barely warm after the same distance. not sure if that means anything either.
at this point everything has been replaced on the truck except: 14ff rear differential and associated bearings, rear wheel bearings, np208 transfer case(with the exception of the rear yoke seal, yoke bushing and rear output shaft bearing--which I just did those three this past week) and TH400.
TH400 is my last suspect as it shifts flawlessly, and the oil was mint when I was rebuilding the truck. not even slightly dark, still bright red and new. the filter also looked good. similarly, the transfer case and rear end's fluids looked perfect when I drained them for the first time. The PO did swap the 4.56s and Detroit out for 3.73s and a G80. I replaced the pinion seal, but punched witness marks into the pinion stud, nut and yoke/counted threads before removal for the seal replacement; then reinstalled and lined everything back up. IIRC it had this harmonic starting before I did the seal.
It is possible that when the PO had the rear end stuff done that everything wasn't set up properly. I've owned the truck for 7ish years but only put about 4-5k miles on it tops in the first 5 years. the last time I drove it before tearing it down was an attempt to pull out a stuck concrete truck (unsuccessfully) on my property. I was spinning all tires in the gravel going nowhere and I know G80s don't love that. However, it didn't come apart and as I mentioned earlier; when I removed the diff cover to put new oil in, the oil looked clean. Since it's been back together I've put less than 2k on it.
I was going to get a spare about a month ago, but American racing stopped making the 8 lugs that I have in 16x8. I guess I can do one of my steelies that I use for a spare now with a new tire. the tires on the steelies I have(one of which I use for a spare) are 4 10+ year old Yokohama geolanders or whatever are on the three that
@Craig 85 gave me. between the 7 I'd be lucky to find one that isn't too clapped out to give me more vibration issues, lol.
I should get a steelie with a fresh tire, though. the yokos still look good all things considered.