driveshaft help, what can I do?
 

Hey everybody. I'm pulling the tranny, xfer case, and axles from an 85K30, and I am stuck on the rear driveshaft at the rear axle. All four of the bolts holding the driveshaft on are stripped and rounded off. Nice job somebody else set up for me. I can't even tell what size they are. At first I thought they were metric for some reason, now I have no idea. Vise Grips only add insult to injury, and there is no way to get my air tools in there, because the driveshaft's in the way. I am thinking about cutting the straps to get it off, any other ideas? I don't want to ruin the yoke or the driveshaft. I could cut off the bolt heads, but I would still have to get the bolts out afterwards. That, and I am finding the NP205 and TH400 are VERY HEAVY!! Plus I am sick. Thanks very much for any help. You should see how I dropped the tranny and transfer case. Cut through the frame with a sawzall, peeled back the frame and down she came. Lots of rust on this one. Okay, thanks very much.

sounds like the best idea is cutting the straps off. once you get the shaft out of the way you can get to the rounded off bolts. if you want to. try taking a chisel and try tapping it on the edges of the bolt and breaking them loose.

Thanks OZ. Here's a picture of the frame where I cut through to get the tranny and xfer case out. It's so much fun taking these things apart sometimes. This wasn't one of them. ;)

You werent joking at all about the rust. I would probibly cut the straps to get it out and then soak with PB Blaster for a couple of days.

For $30 you can buy the Sears special set of nut/bolt removers. They work but you need to apply force slowly.

Hi guys, thanks for your help. GCHEMIST, what do they look like, or what do I ask for? Thank you.

The bolts "were" probably a Torx head bolt. Mine were on the '78 rear I got to replace the blownup one in the '73. Had the same problem and ended up cutting off the straps...

Holy Rust, Batman...and I thought Connecticut was bad...sheesh... :rolleyes:

Thanks Hemikiller, they are definitely hex head. I would be surprised if they were metric, although I am not sure when they started with that. Do the newer trucks have metric fasteners?

My '86 is a horrible mixture of standard and metric fasteners. You can't work on it without bringing out both sets of tools.

Slonaker

mutt truck
 

That's not good news. I thought Chevy trucks would have standard fasteners, at least then. I thought metric fasteners were for Volkswagens ;).
Looking at the truck, it's not an 87. The body is an 87, says K10 on the fender, but they're not the original fenders (different color), the doors are different altogether (black) and the body (cab and bed) are two tone red and gray. Kind of a nice color scheme actually, but I want to paint it bright red, and keep the maroon interior. The frame and running gear look older to me, say 78 or 79. I found a transfer case shift indicator in the glovebox with the fulltime pattern lo lock, lo, neutral, hi, hi lock. I am guessing then that this truck would have a TH400 and a NP203 (full time?). How can I figure out what year this thing is? Thanks guys, you are always such a big help.

Go www.sears.com and look up parts Sears item #00952166000 Mfr. model #52166 Or ask for the Crafstman bolt-out kits. I need need to buy some too.

Thanks very much, I appreciate you taking the time to send me this information. Take care.

I have a set of the bolt out tools that my mom got me for Christmas one year. They are one of the tools you wont use very much but you will be glad you have them when you need them.

The rear driveshaft bolts on my 79 K30 were Torx bolts. I ran into that when I needed to change out the carrier bearing. The GM dealers didn't even have a mechanic working there with a Torx socket in 80 but, they had replacement bolts in stock! Go figure! I cut the straps off and bought a set of sockets from the SnapOn truck.