I've been building a few rear axle assemblies for local customers, and I've noticed something interesting in the 8.5 10-bolt housings that I've had come through my garage. I've been finding that the bolt holes for the carrier bearing cap fasteners are loaded with metal shavings from when the housings were originally machined by GM/GM's supplier(s). This has been consistent in each housing that I've built, and all these housings started as original GM units that had not appeared to have been previously disassembled. These are blind bolt holes, so it's obvious that the housings were not thoroughly cleaned at the plant prior to assembly. Just thought I'd share this so that anybody building an 8.5 should check those bolt holes for shavings. I'd strongly suggest extracting them with a magnet rather than just blowing them out with compressed air. If you blow them out, you might get some of those shavings down in the axle tubes or the holes in the housing casting for the oil to flow through for the pinion.
Another interesting piece I found in an 8.5 tonight was an extra c-clip down inside the housing casting in the large upper oiling hole for the pinion. This c-clip looks brand new with no witness marks where it would have been installed on an axle. Looks like maybe it got dropped in there by mistake during original assembly... :-k
Another interesting piece I found in an 8.5 tonight was an extra c-clip down inside the housing casting in the large upper oiling hole for the pinion. This c-clip looks brand new with no witness marks where it would have been installed on an axle. Looks like maybe it got dropped in there by mistake during original assembly... :-k
Gotta love it. Nothing surprise me anymore. LOL #-o
