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Well, if you remember, I had a bad trans. I swapped out a new PAB coded trans, ran t for 2 mins, and watched it lock solid. Called junkyard, they were cool, got me another one. How convenient that the tag was damaged so bad you couldn't read if it was the right code, thus right gear ratio.
I installed it anyway. Sure enough, Incorrect Gear Ratio code comes up. No problem I think, I'll just get her flashed. Dealer tells me, that part of the code can't be changed. Sounded like BS to me, but I'm not familiar with flashing so I let it go. I drove it home, fairly smooth, little hard on the shifts, but I give that to the gear ratio thing. I think to myself, I have the old trans still, I'll just swap the diffs. So I did. I kept track of what I pulled off, and re-installed exactly the same way back in.
Here's what I noticed. Diffs, same height, have same number on their casting. Sun Gear different, different ratio, makes sense.
So I pulled the trans to motor brace, popped the axle, removed the diff/housing cover, popped the diff off with a wedge between the spider gear cross shaft and the inner axle stub. swapped the sun gear, installed the sun gear thrush bearing in the diff with some grease to hold it there, slid on the diff, gave it a tap to pop over the c-clip, installed thrush bearing spacer on diff, installed thrush bearing, installed diff/housing cover.
Rest computer with my scanner. topped off the car. took it for a drive.
felt great, smooth, perfect buick like shifting...smooth. come to a stop and hear what sounds like popcorn. hmmmmm, what was that? Headed for home, no noise. I drive it around a few more blocks, no noise, no gear ratio code either. achieved speeds of 75MPH, downshift, hard acceleration, soft acceleration, all perfect. So I come home, park it, check fluid one more time, call uncle, "come get your buick."
Uncle leaves with car, makes it 4 blocks. says he hears popcorn, and car is feeling like something is binding. I go down to him, get in, drop it in gear, foot off brake, she no roll. I figure, well, looks like the bone yard will owe me another one. So I nail it. She snap, crackle, pops, sounds like hard plastic being torn to shreds, car moves, sound goes away. feels like nothing is wrong. Come to stop, let roll, sound comes back but not as loud, I accelerate normally, it goes away. Come to stop a 3rd time, accelerate, car is smooth, no noise. It feels ok to me, but I'm not a tranny guy. I've built a few 350's and 400's, thats really it. Any clues? Did I screw something up? I made real sure to not pull those shafts out when I was working on it. Come to think of it the cover going back on felt...different. Like it was spring loaded the last 1/16 to 1/8" before contact with main case. noise sounded like it was coming from drivers side, something under the side cover that will make that sound?
I installed it anyway. Sure enough, Incorrect Gear Ratio code comes up. No problem I think, I'll just get her flashed. Dealer tells me, that part of the code can't be changed. Sounded like BS to me, but I'm not familiar with flashing so I let it go. I drove it home, fairly smooth, little hard on the shifts, but I give that to the gear ratio thing. I think to myself, I have the old trans still, I'll just swap the diffs. So I did. I kept track of what I pulled off, and re-installed exactly the same way back in.
Here's what I noticed. Diffs, same height, have same number on their casting. Sun Gear different, different ratio, makes sense.
So I pulled the trans to motor brace, popped the axle, removed the diff/housing cover, popped the diff off with a wedge between the spider gear cross shaft and the inner axle stub. swapped the sun gear, installed the sun gear thrush bearing in the diff with some grease to hold it there, slid on the diff, gave it a tap to pop over the c-clip, installed thrush bearing spacer on diff, installed thrush bearing, installed diff/housing cover.
Rest computer with my scanner. topped off the car. took it for a drive.
felt great, smooth, perfect buick like shifting...smooth. come to a stop and hear what sounds like popcorn. hmmmmm, what was that? Headed for home, no noise. I drive it around a few more blocks, no noise, no gear ratio code either. achieved speeds of 75MPH, downshift, hard acceleration, soft acceleration, all perfect. So I come home, park it, check fluid one more time, call uncle, "come get your buick."
Uncle leaves with car, makes it 4 blocks. says he hears popcorn, and car is feeling like something is binding. I go down to him, get in, drop it in gear, foot off brake, she no roll. I figure, well, looks like the bone yard will owe me another one. So I nail it. She snap, crackle, pops, sounds like hard plastic being torn to shreds, car moves, sound goes away. feels like nothing is wrong. Come to stop, let roll, sound comes back but not as loud, I accelerate normally, it goes away. Come to stop a 3rd time, accelerate, car is smooth, no noise. It feels ok to me, but I'm not a tranny guy. I've built a few 350's and 400's, thats really it. Any clues? Did I screw something up? I made real sure to not pull those shafts out when I was working on it. Come to think of it the cover going back on felt...different. Like it was spring loaded the last 1/16 to 1/8" before contact with main case. noise sounded like it was coming from drivers side, something under the side cover that will make that sound?
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