Hondo's 2006 Roadtrek 210 Popular Build

[Hondo]

I will be moving it into the garage and then lifting it (with help) onto jackstands or sawhorses. Get the shop work done and then wheel it outside to paint it before installation.

I don't have a cherry picker so it will stay at a lower height for the minimum work that I anticipate doing.

[Hondo]

The Dana 70S has arrived, delivered to my driveway yesterday.

When I get home from my trip in 4 days I'll be buying a HF cherry picker to lift & move it into the garage. My plan is to use my motorcycle jack to remove & replace the axle-



Once in the garage I'll be sitting it onto saw horses. After the removed Dana 60 is gone I'll sell the cherry picker.

I'll be looking at the brakes closely, fabbing up rear anti sway bar mounts and changing out the pinion seal for sure as the yoke will be off anyway for the swap. If I see evidence of any other leaks I will change out the seals there, otherwise I'll be leaving the axle seals alone. The rear cover will be removed in order to determine what type of limited slip is installed, the unit inspected, case cleaned out and then sealed up and new lube added.

Updates to come!

[Hondo]

Today I got home and set about to getting the Dana 70S off of the driveway and into the garage. Here's the axle on the pallete-





As you can see it shipped with the brake rotors and the pallete crushed a bit in transit. The brake shield on the crushed side got bent-



I picked up a 1 ton cherry picker/crane at Harbor Freight, just $99.00 with and online coupon and wheeled it up to the pallete- this isn't going to work-



So my son and I carefully placed the axle (one side at a time) onto some bricks in order to position the cherry picker-



Using some chain I attached the axle to the lift and hoised it up-



We wheeled it into the garage and set it on a pair of saw horses-



The HF cherry picker in it's folded up position-



The axle tag from the 2003 GMC Savanna 3500 donor van-



A few pics- the 12 bolt cover-



axle end-



Caliper mounts also included, bent shield on this side-



I removed a rotor - it's within spec so I'll be having it turned-



I'll be replacing the parking brake pads-

[Hondo]

I also picked up a set of Chevrolet OEM 17 X 7.5 x 28mm offset wheels locally for $300-



These wheels have the stock 28mm of offset and will improve handling and reduce tire scrub over the current wheels with 0mm of offset. I'll have to buy a new set of BF Goodrich T/A KO2 tires and will sell my other set along with the wheels.

Tech info-

Chevrolet Silverado 2500 2001-2010
Chevrolet Silverado 3500 SRW 2007-2010
Chevrolet Suburban 2500 2000-2013
GMC Sierra 2500 2001-2010
GMC Sierra 3500 SRW 2007-2010
GMC Yukon 2500 2000-2013

Product Specifications:

Material: Aluminum
Style: 5 Spoke
Finish: Silver Machined
Size: 17x7.5
Lugs: 8
Bolt Pattern: 6.5 Inch
Offset: 28mm
Option Code: P25
Indents: 9595858, 19152820
OE Part Number: 9595464

The tires-

265-75R-16 - 31.7" diameter - currently mounted

265-70R-17 - 31.7"
265-65R-17 - 31.1"
275-70R-17 - 32.2"
285-70R-17 - 32.8"
285-75R 17 - 33.9"

I will try the 285 at the store and work my way smaller. It's a safe bet that the 275-70R-17s will end up on the Roadtrek, but I'll go with the 285s if they will fit.

[Hondo]

Got the cover off- it's a two piece Dana 70 Powr-lok LSD-



Gear lube that came out was relatively clean, maybe freshly changed since it has only 66,000 miles on it.

Interesting gear data on the ring gear-



Powr-Lok model 52277-



I also pulled the other brake disc off- looks like there's a leaky seal to be replaced-

[Deano]

Hondo,
Unless I'm missing something, you will be losing the load carrying advantage of the 265/75x16 tire.
All of the 17" are just barely rated higher than the OE 245/75x16 tire.
All of these ratings are from Tire Rack's site. All are "E" load range.

This is the reason I didn't go to the 17" wheels when I upgraded wheels and tires.

245/75x16 30.43 3042
265-75R-16 - 31.7" diameter -Max load 3415

265-70R-17 - 31.7" 3195
265-65R-17 - 31.1"
275-70R-17 - 32.2" 3195
285-70R-17 - 32.8" 3195
285-75R 17 - 33.9" 3195

[booster]

Originally Posted by Deano

Hondo,
Unless I'm missing something, you will be losing the load carrying advantage of the 265/75x16 tire.
All of the 17" are just barely rated higher than the OE 245/75x16 tire.
All of these ratings are from Tire Rack's site. All are "E" load range.

This is the reason I didn't go to the 17" wheels when I upgraded wheels and tires.

245/75x16 30.43 3042
265-75R-16 - 31.7" diameter -Max load 3415

265-70R-17 - 31.7" 3195
265-65R-17 - 31.1"
275-70R-17 - 32.2" 3195
285-70R-17 - 32.8" 3195
285-75R 17 - 33.9" 3195

That is also what I found when checking out tire slze/load increase tires when I did ours. Reducing aspect ratio when increasing diameter costs you load capacity.

[booster]

The axle is a lot cleaner than the rust bucket we got from NE junk yard!

Inner wheel bearing seal runs on the axle housing itself, so be sure to check and polish the area if needed. You will need to pull the axle to do that seal, and then seal the axle back to the housing, which is where we got a leak that was likely rust related and hard to seal. Permatex #2 plus the steel Felpro problem solver gasket took care of it.

One thing to remember with the Govlock axles is that they use NON limited slip additive lube. I have read several places that folks used the best Amsoil and had issues because of the additive in it.

Synthetic is also recommended, so my choice would be Redline 75-90NS which is non additive lube and really good stuff.

[Hondo]

Yeah, 220 lbs less per side, 440 lbs less for both tires.

I'll still have 6390 lbs total and it weighed in around 5,000 lbs, so I'll be fine as long as Im not pulling a trailer with a 1000 lb tounge weight.

[Hondo]

I picked up all of the seals & gaskets from Napa today, a spindle socket on sale for $10 at Oreily, and am contemplating ordering drilled and slotted rotors from Rock Auto.

What rotors did you use Booster?

[booster]

Originally Posted by Hondo

Yeah, 220 lbs less per side, 440 lbs less for both tires.

I'll still have 6390 lbs total and it weighed in around 5,000 lbs, so I'll be fine as long as Im not pulling a trailer with a 1000 lb tounge weight.

What about the 300#+ bike you were going to haul, that would put quite a bit more than the 300# on the rear?

[booster]

Originally Posted by Hondo

I picked up all of the seals & gaskets from Napa today, a spindle socket on sale for $10 at Oreily, and am contemplating ordering drilled and slotted rotors from Rock Auto.

What rotors did you use Booster?

I used Hawk Performance Quiet Slot rotors on both ends. They are really good rotors from what we have seen, with just tiny slots big enough to keep the pads clean. Unfortunately, the last I looked, they don't offer them any more, and now have fully drilled and slotted stuff which I don't care for.

Most of the most recent data I have seen indicates that slotted and drilling both cause more problems than they fix, so IMO, plain or lightly slotted only, rotors of the best you can get are the best choice. Expect to pay well over $100 per rotor for good ones.

That said, I know from experience that the factory Chevy rotors will survive on the rear with top of the line pads, as Hawk didn't have rotors for the 60s axle and we ran the originals, which had not been turned.

I would take a look at what is in it for pads, as the very well could be ceramic, as were the originals, and not good for the heavy loads and heat seen. Top end semi-metallic will perform much better on any rotors. We have Hawk top end light truck semi metallics and they are extremely good under tough conditions. You do need to do both ends, though, as the semi-metallics will have better grip at less effort so should match.

Of course, it the brake fluid hasn't been changed regularly, it should be done. I generally use Dot4 over Dot3, and never the Dot5 silicone fluid.

Going to a good D4 automatic transmission fluid in the Hydroboost also seems to help braking and steering over the OEM power steering fluid they came with. I switched ours a couple of years ago and the brake and steering feel both got better, and the fluid is staying clean way longer. I used Amsoil D4 synthetic trans fluid in ours.

[Hondo]

Originally Posted by booster

What about the 300#+ bike you were going to haul, that would put quite a bit more than the 300# on the rear?

The RT weighed in at 5540 lbs with full water and fuel, something rarely done. But even with the RT at the 5540, the tire limit of 3,195 x 2 = 6,390 lbs- subtract the 5540 and you get 850 lbs of tire payload left.

Most of the time when I'm taking motorcycles they are on a trailer with a low tongue weight.

If the KLX450R is on the rear & extended out on the carrier the total weight would be about 400 lbs. Add a bit more for extension leverage and lets call that 500 lbs. This is the worst case scenario and only occasionally done and with myself as the only body on board. If I was on a trip with my 100 lb gf I'd take the much lighter 1982 Honda CT110, and that only weighs in at 190 lbs and I'd be at about the same total weight though her 100 lbs would be up front.

I don't travel with full water or waste tanks and if I do see a need then I'd fill up the fresh water close to the boondocking destination.

I wish that there was another tire available that had the 3,415 lb capacity in a 17 inch size but I have not been able to find one anywhere. The only alternative is a 16 inch OEM wheel with the correct offset or an 18 inch wheel with 20mm of offset.

I don't think that I will overload the BFG T/A KO2 17 inch tires.

[Hondo]

Regarding rotors, I measured them last night and they have room for a cleanup turning, so I'll probably go with that if I can get it done economically. Rotor prices are so low now that turning vs buying new can be close if you buy medium quality rotors.

[Hondo]

Another thing to think about with regard to the tire loading-

If I was to max out the RT with 3,195 lbs per tire the Dana 60 axle limit would be exceeded (6,084 lbs). Upgrading to the Dana 70S axle (with a rating of approx 7,500 lbs) will provide cooler running and the ability to carry up to the tire load rating of any tire selected.

[Hondo]

For internet searches (very little image data for the 70S) -

• Dana 70S

• 12 bolt cover

• Powr-Lok limited slip

• Express Savanna

[Hondo]

One thing that I found in my quest for parts- no cover gasket available for the 12 bolt Dana 70S cover, so sealant will be used instead.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Hondo

One thing that I found in my quest for parts- no cover gasket available for the 12 bolt Dana 70S cover, so sealant will be used instead.

The big thing is that not only are gaskets not available, they are also not wanted.

The cover is heavy cast instead of a stamped one because it is structural. That is also why it has 12 bolts, both for strength and to make sure no one used a 10 bolt gasket on them. A structural cover works somewhat like a stud girdle and can increase the capacity of the differential section of the axle.

Were you able to get the plug out of the cover? they can be really rusted solid.

Remember that this is a full floater, so it needs oil in the wheel bearing areas that you will lose if you remove the axles, so after filling it is best to jack up on side of the rear or park on a high curb, to run oil out to the hubs. First one side, then the other. The alternative is to drill and tap in a 1/8" pipe plug into the hub, so you can add oil to them directly, and also use it to drain the oil when you change it.

[Hondo]

Great info Booster, I didn't know that the cover was structural.

No problem getting the filler plug out.

What I was planning on doing was to fill it up on the sawhorses, then lift it up & tilt it to one side to move the lube out to the hub. Then refill & do the other side, then refill at rest on the sawhorses.

[Hondo]

Installed new 275-70R-17 tires onto the 17 X 7.5 28mm offset Chevrolet alloy wheels today. Before I did I reinstalled the 2 inch steel wheel spacers on the rear axle, so the rear track is just barely wider than the front now.

Here are 3 views -

As I bought it, stock ride height, American Racing AR-23 16 X 7 -6mm offset wheels with 245-75R-16 tires-



After lifted 4 inches, 16x8 0mm offset American Racing ATX Ledge wheels with 265-75R-16 BF Goodrich T/A KO2 tires-



As it sits now- Chevrolet 17X7.5 28mm offset wheels with 275-70R-16 BF Goodrich T/A KO2 tires- .6 in taller than 126-75R-16 & 1.7 in taller than the 245s -.85 inches of body lift over stock tires-



The front on the ATX Ledge wheels -



And with the Chevy wheels- the 28mm of offset brought the tire edge in about an inch-



Tuned all the way in, no interference-



turned out, about an inch to spare-



I think it looks best with these factory wheels

With the new wheels & tires it felt like a different vehicle! Slow speed turning was much better (less scrubbing) and at city speeds it drove great. I took it briefly onto the interstate but the winds were really blowing so I couldn't get a really good feel of the change but it did seem more planted.

I'm not sure if these tires would fit on a stock van or Roadtrek because the lift spindles in the front do push the wheels out some and I'm using spacers on the rear. As Booster has said he's had success using the stock offset wheels with 265-75R-16 tires.

If I was to recommend an aftermarket solution I would try to get a wheel with as close to the stock 28mm offset as possible. I found a lot of wheels with 20mm of offset and a few with 25, but I really had to search for them.