Hi folks, 

I try to avoid summer van work and enjoy the van as much as possible.  I can do bigger projects in the winter in the garage. 

But, today I successfully removed the rear axle on the 85 Auto and once the parts from T3 arrive I’ll rebuild and put back on the van.  I don’t mind this job as I’ve done it so many times.  I do hope the new CV boots turn out to be good ones so I can do this a bit less often. 

The support pieces like the bolts, washers, and grease also become expensive. 

My understanding is I’m not supposed to reuse the bolts.  But that is sad as they are so new often less than a year old. 

The other side is not ripped yet so I’ll leave it.  I think the other side is Rockford boots as they feel stiff.  The Rockfords on the other side gave out a long time ago. 

The boots on my 84 that gave out were Lobro but to be fair I don’t know how long they were on the van.  Still the transmission was replaced in 2021 so I would think the boots were looking good at that point.

So what projects are you folks doing?  I’m looking forward to continuing to build my van preparedness.

Eric Caron