Yes I'm aware of what they exist for, not my first rodeo nor was I suggesting they were structural in any fashion

However, when you're trying to snake the pan around the diff and line up the pick up tube and you have 4 globs of rtv in the corners and you're on your back in gravel; it's nice to not be fighting the gasket or having the bolt you pushed thru fall on your head

or when you baffle your C5 pan and you keep having to turn it upside down on the motor to measure things; the rivets hold the gasket on

it's pretty obv that 2 .125" rivets aren't offering any support when there are 12+ 8mm bolts 😂 (and 2 6mm ones and 2 10mm)

but they give you the provision, it makes your life easier, they thought it thru and decided the cost was worth it: makes sense in my book

 

Yeah I agree, people don't realize just how big of an undertaking not only making something, but making it affordable to everyone and mass producing millions of them and along with how much effort goes into just designing for manufacturability.

If I have the oil pan off, I think I can just unbolt the baffles to expose the rod bolts and crank right? Is there anything I can do while I have it off? Maybe install better rod bolts? I'm not sure about the GEN 3/4, but I know the GEN 5 the rod bolts become a weak link when trying to rev it higher. I guess that's about the only thing I can do is put in better rod bolts while I have the pan off, I think the main bolts and all that theres no point in upgrading since they are all extremely strong and not a weak point.

 

GM did it for manufacturing. And they have to account for the people doing the assembly too, if they can mitigate errors, they save a whole lot more than a couple of rivets cost.

For me, I just use the bolts to hold the gasket on, the holes pinch the bolts a little and they hold each other in place.

Rivets are up to you, use them if you want, don't if you don't.

 

This, there's a ton of things on the vehicle that keep it together while moving down the assembly line etc that are no longer needed after assembly, just like the stupid rotor/drum clips.

 

Don't do the bolts, no need on 3/4 stuff. Plus the appropriate way to do it is to have the big end honed after bolt replacement

stock G3 bolts will last as long as the rod will

 

I meant more along the lines of power holding potential and boost and high rpm capability. I would think they would probably be the last thing to go wrong in a stock motor haha.

And curious what you mean by honing on the bolt? I don't see what honing a cylinder has to do with the rod bolts?

 

Honing the big end of the rod

 

The rod bolt doesn't care about power, only rpm. Higher power affects the rod (force pushing the piston down, no affect on rod bolts), rod bolts are for pulling the piston back down, that's when they get stretched. The higher the rpm the more force on the rod cap pulling the piston back down the cylinder.

If you upgrade or change bolts, it slightly distorts the rod end/cap so it needs to be honed perfectly round with the stronger/higher clamping bolts in there. Katech for a while offered some rod bolts that advertised no honing needed.

 

Does anyone know how you are supposed to pull the steering linkage off? At first I thought I could get the diff out without pulling the steering and tried different ways and turned the steering and tried it too but I don't think it will.

I am kind of scared I will spend all day trying to get this steering linkage off and the differential still won't come out because there isn't' enough room, seems it might have enough play in the steering linkage to move out of the way if I just take it off at both pitman arms? Or am I going to have to seperate it at the tie rod ends too?

Given how hard it is to get this stupid steering linkage off I might want to just go ahead and waste more more on steering parts, I've already broke and destroyed the plastic boot on the steering drag link to pitman arm, even though I broke it with a pick I still can't slide the stupid supposed "puller" tool completley on and lined up:

I guess I could just try to force it by hammering on it?

 

I used a pickle fork, and you only have to drop the drag link off the pitman and idler. The diff won't come out with the steering attached, but drop it from the pitman and idler and you can party with the diff however you want

put new steering parts on, may as well, you're right there