[N2TRUX]

Call me crazy, but I took a step backwards today. I got a call from a friend that buys and sells Squarebody trucks and parts. He recalled a conversation we had about a month ago that I was looking for a axle with 3.42 gears. He picked up a deal on an 87 Suburban with a bad motor that had 3.42 gears on the SPID.

He pulled the cover and verified that they were the gears I wanted and appeared to be in excellent condition. I ran the numbers and verified this was a factory 8.5" 10 bolt so I couldn't resist. He offered me a brother in law deal and we traded axles.

Chris and I loaded the 12 bolt up and headed over to Berto's house. Fortunately he had sprayed the U bolts down with PB Blaster this week and let them soak. We dropped the drive shaft, and bolted the U bolts and slid it out.

In the light of day two things were obvious. The pinion seal was leaking, and the gear set was immaculate. The gears literally dont have awear pattern at all. I'm not sure how thats possible considering the Suburban had over 100k on it and I'm pretty sure the gear oil had never been changed.