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Reassemble Front Suspension:

 

This is obviously common sense but there are a couple steps to be taken here. If you were smart you stripped your front end for welding clearance, so now you have to completely rebuild your front end. Fun times let me tell you. Now would be a great time to make some improvements. I mean lets be honest you just blew thousands of dollars up to this point, what’s a couple hundred more for a little more performance and another 10 years of reliability... Also you are adding like 300 lbs of equipment to your truck, it wouldn’t hurt to replace some old worn out stuff.

 

Replace those old worn out rubber bushings with some nice firm Poly bushings from energy suspension. FYI, for you 05/06 RWD guys, you will use the same kit as the 2004 AWD. Don’t order the 05/06 SS or RWD kits, they won’t fit. Part number 3-3190G is the correct kit. And I know the red ones are pretty, but they are annoying and loud. Black poly’s are graphite impregnated so they are quieter. No one’s gonna see them, don’t worry.

 

Replace old worn out ball joints. My suspension had some slop. I scrapped every ball joint for moogs. Some swear by them. So far I have no complaints.

 

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Tie rod ends are nice too. You can simultaneously clean out and re-grease your center shaft as well.

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Maybe do that Z06 brake upgrade you’ve been wanting to do for a while? I actually did this in 2010 but I cleaned everything up and painted the dead spots in the rotors. Eh I’m a perfectionist.

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Sway bar bushings. Energy suspension also has these. Definitely stiffens things up a bit.

 

Alignment Cams. Mine were…pretty worn out from rust and corrosion. Did I mention you are going to need an alignment anyway? Oh you are going to need an alignment after this.

 

Anyway, enough with the fun stuff. The necessities:

 

You need new hubs/bearings. Your old ones are sealed. You are about to have front CV Axles. I went with Timken. They bolt right up to your steering knuckle. You can use the donor’s, but you know what I’m going to say about that. They aren’t that expensive. They even come with new abs sensors. Don’t forget your splash shields too. You’ll notice the AWD’s are smaller, but you can keep your bigger RWD shields no problem.

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Torque your hubs to 133 lb/ft. you can press the hubs into the knuckle or just use a wrench and the bolts to draw it in. Just clean mating surface well with a wire wheel and lightly lube it with a lithium grease or equivalent.

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And don’t forget your new CV axles. Slide them into the hub, then bolt to IFS shaft flanges.

Hub axle nut: 177 lb/ft

CV axle to flange bolts: 58 lb/ft

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Reassemble the rest of your suspension. Don’t forget to zero your torsion bar ride height and if you still have them, insert the plastic cam guides into your upper control arm cams, which will get you close to factory alignment to get you to the shop. It wouldn't hurt to take your truck's alignment specs, as in my case, my shop almost aligned it to a standard 1500.

 

You may have been also wondering about the Front IFS breather hose. It will locate on the driver frame rail so you can attach it while you are at this stage. There are a couple holes above the upper control arm that you can use, just make sure its oriented upward and not in the way of any moving parts.

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Intermediate Shaft:

 

Pretty standard. Just bolt to Front IFS and Transfer case. Check your wiring for clearance. Use heavy duty zip ties if you aren’t comfortable with how little clearance there is. You may want to change out your Universal Joints at this time. Saginaw 3R’s. Just beware, removing the old ones is a huge pain. Get a torch and a press. They explode apart. They are held on with injected nylon that you have to melt out. Way to go chevy…real smart.

 

Also if you are so inclined you can paint your shaft to make it look nice. Doesn’t hurt.

 

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The Transfer case side uses a boot that has dog ear clamps to hold it on. You’ll need new ones and pliers to clamp them down. DO NOT get the cheap pliers from your local parts store. I broke two sets before I special ordered a heavy duty set. If it has 3/8” drive holes in the handles for ratchets to be used for extra leverage then they are sufficient.

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Driveshaft:

 

Alright, almost done. At this point you need to assemble your truck to the point that all you need to do is put on your driveshaft. Drop it on the ground (with the wheels on of course) so it sits proper. If you didn’t do it earlier, zero out your suspension. It needs to be level. You are going to be measuring for either your custom driveshaft or modification to the old driveshaft. Choose your own adventure. But first we have to address something else.

 

Your rear axle. If you swapped your front gear, then you are pretty much good. At this point either get a custom shaft with a slip joint front, and a “ insert your universal joint here “ on the rear. You may have one of a couple. Measure it and check. Don’t trust what you find online. The AWD and RWD use different yokes and joints. The 9.5” should have a 1350 though. If you are lucky the 8.6 has a 1350 as well…but don’t count on it. Check out HERE for measurements.

 

If you didn’t swap your front gear or want to change both gears, you need to get in your rear axle first. I completely rebuilt my rear axle just because, so I took the liberty of putting in a 4.10 gear and pinion, new bearings, a Detroit tru-trac, new axle seals, a girdle, and just because I want extra piece of mind, upgraded to a 1415 yoke. FYI, just because this is an AAM piece doesn’t mean its popular. I found the yoke straps in a weird tucked away shop. No mainstream local shop had it and I couldn’t find them online. I know, why did I even do this…This is why

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Here is my rear end now. If you’ve never done backlash and preload, this one is difficult. Get a torque multiplier for the pinion nut.

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If you are all done with your rear axle and happy, then let’s get those driveshaft measurements. Again it has to be sitting on its wheels and level with the suspension set to where you want it. Jounce your suspension a few times (jump up and down in the bed or something). Grab a tape measure and measure from these two points

 

The end of the transfer case. This is BEHIND the output shaft seal. You can hook your tape measure on the seal.

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To the strap surface of the yoke. 72 and 1/8” for me. Measure it a few times just to be sure. Don’t take my measurements as rule. Do your own. Minor changes in your suspension geometry can change this measurement….like a lift or drop.

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The shop will likely need some other measurements as well. Here they are:

 

Length of Transmission Output Shaft: 1”

Boot Seal on Transmission: 1”

Pinion Yoke type and measurements: check yours

 

For me about a week later I received my custom 5” aluminum 72.125” Driveshaft. Very nice. And a perfect fit.

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While you are waiting for your driveshaft, take this time to finish up the little things.

Edited by marodda (see edit history)
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The Little Things: (Pre drive prep)

 

Before you go crazy with your truck you still have some things to sort. You can do this while you wait for your driveshaft.

 

Fill all the fluids. Chances are you drained every fluid in your truck. Here are the specs again.

Engine Oil: 6 qts 5w30 (I realize this is an easy one)

Transmission: 11.2 quarts Dexron VI (this is full tear down fill. Add 10, start, let warm up, fill to capacity)

Front IFS: 1.5 qts 75w90 or 75w140 (extreme duty) – Use a synthetic

Transfer Case: 2.22 qts AutoTrac II or Dexron VI

9.5” Rear Axle: This one is a little relative.

Factory cover: fill to fill hole (2 qts I believe). 75w90/75w140 synthetic is recommended

TA Girdle: 3 quarts (DON’T fill to fill plug)

Detroit Tru-Trac: Conventional oil only, no additives

Coolant: 16.7 qts Dex Cool GM

Freon: Check specs, its dependent on temp and humidity.

 

 

Bleed your coolant

Bleed your brakes if you were disconnecting any lines

Check torque on everything just to be safe

Tune your PCM

 

 

Don’t worry you aren’t doing a full tune here, but you just changed your gear ratio. You need to adjust this in your PCM before you drive it or it’ll throw off your transmission…and speedometer. Thats not good for the trans. I hear zippy is good, or take your pcm to a local shop, whatever. If you are feeling really brave do it yourself with a tuning software like HP Tuner. I’m a big fan. That’s it though. No other tuning necessary. Everything is mechanical here. Your Traction Control is still there, but you likely will never see it engage, so there is no issue there.

 

With that said though, now that you have a VLSD in your center, your traction control will inhibit this from operating correctly. Google this if you want to know more, its actually pretty interesting, but in a nutshell a VLSD uses a viscous fluid like silicon and when a sudden change in rotation of one side occurs it gradually “locks” the two sides together with fluid dynamics. If your pcm interrupts this it won’t operate efficiently. It needs a loss of traction to apply. If you are stuck or losing traction a lot, turn your TC off so your new Full Time AWD can function properly. I have yet to lose traction, even in snow or mud (with dedicated snow/mud tires though)

Edited by marodda (see edit history)
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Break In Period:

 

This is important. You have a lot of new bearings and drivetrain parts. You need to properly break them in. Keep it under 55mph (-ish) with no sudden acceleration or manuevers for 500 miles. Once you hit 500 miles change out your fluids. (Front axle, Transfer Case, and Rear axle if you were in there. Transmission is not necessary since you didn't change any parts that need a break in) You will see the metal shavings from the break in. I know, such a waste of brand new fluid. You can skimp a little by using conventional oils in the axles and dexron vi in the transfer case, but make sure to put the good stuff in before you start stressing it.

 

Don't forget the alignment.

 

Go ahead and check your torque specs again too.

 

Once you do that, go to town. Try to do some burnouts. Try and get stuck. I haven't yet.

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I also have one last thing to add. It isn't necessary but now that you have all these new drivetrain parts you may want to consider protecting them. GM will tell you otherwise, but you can install the factory Front IFS and Transfer case shields on a RWD Frame. Remember those holes in the transmission brace? Yeah. You'll need GM Part #23423831. This will consist of both shields, #15259217 and #20922755 and i believe 4 of the 8 bolts needed (2 in the front shield, 2 loose). You'll need to order 4 more bolts #11518341.

 

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Its incredibly simple to install these. You'll simply use a 10mm x 1.50 tap to add threads to the following holes:

Front Frame

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Engine Brace

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Transmission Brace

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Use the bolts and install. Use an anti sieze agent here since you just cut threads, Otherwise they will rust.

 

Transfer Case Shield

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Sorry, i don't have any pictures of the front shield at the moment. I painted the front one black though to match the Transfer Case Shield.

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I did not even realize it was missing the mounting points you pointed out.

 

I just assumed the frames were the same minus the lower cross brace. Thanks for the heads up!!!

 

Your documentation is Phenomenal!!!

 

Funny story, that's what i thought as well. Check yours though. Because the 05 was offered in both trims, the 05 RWD may actually have the mounts. I would assume not though since there are 06 4WD 1500's. Did the 05 RWD come with an 8.6 or 9.5 rear end?

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