Like a Rock

A story about my non square 96 Suburban. 7.4L big block 4wd. "white whale". This story is a brief story of my adventure to get the 4WD working. At the time, we lived in Grand Junction Co. There was a tremendous area north of town, wide open off road trails. BLM land. So, I took the whale out there to check the 4WD. No go. Started diagnosis and traced it to the front axle actuator. I went to the chevy dealer for a new one. The parts guy told me "which one do you want". One actuator, stock, was internally, a lump of paraffin that expands when a heating coil within warms it. The other was a newer design, gear driven by a motor. I asked what's the price difference in price. Same price. It seems that if you drive your 4WD into water, it cools the paraffin and it shrinks, you go out of 4WD in the water. The parts guy said we sell a lot of both. But, the gear driven is better in water.
So, if you drive your chevy into the water, you are stuck there, "Like a Rock"

Comments and arguments, just for fun.

OK, but it ran to get to the water..^^^^^^^^^.........didn't have to push it??!!!!!!.......like some.......

idahovette said:

OK, but it ran to get to the water..^^^^^^^^^.........didn't have to push it??!!!!!!.......like some.......

Click to expand...

You mean like Furds Mr. Perry??... hahaha

They’re known as wax motors. Reliability is zero. They even use them to lock washing machine doors. They fail there also. That group of engineers should be fired.

Thanks bextreme04, the gear driven actuator I got was from Chevy, and a chevy part. It plugged straight into the existing wiring. Never had a problem getting 4wd again. No idea what the part # was.