The 2012 HD trucks are tough, but their transmissions don't last very long. The factory tranny went for 200,000 miles and this one only lasted 150,000. Not bad. But doesn't really match the rest of the truck. Regardless, anything mechanical is bound to break down.
White Horse started slipping a few weeks ago. Thankfully, she didn't leave me stranded. So we got all our ducks in a row, and changed the transmission out in the rectory garage. Ranching.
Special thanks to Jim and Brittnee Borgialli for letting me borrow Grandpa's rig for a couple weeks. Sweet ride.
It was a snug fit in the garage, but actually made for some nice working space. We ran her up on chalks and had plenty of room underneath.
Crossmember first. The transmission could rest on the back of the transfer case while we dismounted everything else.
The exhaust was interesting. Surprisingly, it came out pretty well.
Piece by piece, take it apart. Make sure and put all your bolts together in order.
Breaking the torque converter bolts free from the fly wheel was tough. We lost a little knuckle hide on this job.
Once she was ready to drop, I grabbed Darin and we let her down with a floor jack. Then lifted in back of the pickup with a come-along and hotshotted it to Billings to exchange for a rebuilt one.
Meanwhile, we flushed the oil cooler lines. First with diesel fuel, then brake cleaner, then ATF. This pump-up weed sprayer worked good, I thought.
Then back in we go.
Amazingly it all bolted up nice. Chevy has really come a long way in their engineering over the years. Once bolted back up to the engine, we started reassembling things.
Ending with the crossmember.
These transmissions need to be flash coded by someone who has the right tools and knowhow. So we pulled her over to a shop who programed it for us.
After that, she was back in business. So we cleaned her up before winter hits.
Giddy up.
$4,000 for a new transmission is a lot better than $45,000 for a new used truck. Besides, miles give a truck character. I'm super thankful that this job went as smooth as it did. I'm not going to lie, when I first crawled under, I was a bit intimidated. But bit by bit, she came apart and went back together. Sometimes a guy just has to trust the Lord and start loosing bolts. I'm excited to get her back on the road. The town was starting to talk about White Horse not being in the driveway. No need to worry, anymore. We're back in action. Let's ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment