It should be on your RPO sticker, post a pic (leaving the VIN out of the pic, if you are concerned about that for any reason) of it if you're unsure. You probably have the G80 axle.
@jmonica What are your plans for rust removal or what have you done to the front side? I've been working on rust removal on mine and a grinder with a wire wheel seems to be most effective and quick. It doesn't really get to all of the rust corners though.
I think I'm going to do round 2 this spring/summer and use either loctite (it is in gel form). The gel will be nice for those tight corners.
Hey Maverick,
I wasn't even planning on doing any rust removal when I started the trans swap. I had parked it the day the trans went out and that was during a bad snow storm and I think that was a bad move because,, well you can see the rust I have. Once I took the wheels off and saw what was there, I got sick looking at it.
I swear by evaporust. For some of the larger parts like the drive shafts I went to a plumbing place and bought some 4 or 5" PVC and 2 end caps. I let the driveshafts soak in those for a few days. it really did a god job on them (see pics). Of course when I was removing them, I dropped the tube the bottom cracked and I had a sea of evaporust on my garage floor. hehe What a mess. All of my tools where still on the floor from doing the trans etc.
For things like the the steering knuckles, I just hit them with the wire brush on a drill and then sprayed them with some VHT Epoxy paint before replacing the ball joints. You can make a shower/bath for large parts if you use a pump and let the evaoprust just run over the part and just let it keep recirculating. I bought a aquarium pump and it just didn't work out so I scratched that idea.
Some of the things under the vehicle, I used that Rustoleum rust reformer stuff that turns the rust into some unknown elimiment and then coated that with the VHT epoxy. The VHT Rust convertor didn't seem to work very well for me. Who knows how long that stuff will last but it's supposed to be rust, salt etc resistant. I'll just have to keep on eye on it I guess.
I've only done the front and still have the drivers side controls arms etc to do. I am rebuilding the calipers and will tackle that side when I do the brakes. Oh for some of the really bad parts, I made myself a blast cabinet and use media to blast those parts. Especially if I soaked them and the rust didn't come off. Yes I know it's kind of hokey but it works man (see pics). I blasted then polished and nickel plated the calipers on my other vehicle and they came out looking good. I was going to do that on the Envoy but there's only so much time and grinding and sanding the calipers was like 10 hours ordeal for each caliper.
Oh I also nickel plated some of the brackets and nuts etc in the engine bay. That's a separate project I am going to start after I get the rear of the car done. The only reason I am plating those parts is because I bought the plating kit a long time ago for another project and it has a limited shelf life so I needed to use it. Plus I'm divorced, only have my son 50% of the time and have no life so there you go.
I also replaced the trans cooler lines and am going to do possibly the PS lines in steel braided. I just 3D printed some clamps to replace the stock metal brackets.
So do you have any tips on rust removal? I am all ears man.
I still have the entire back half left to do so any tips will be most welcome! Gonna pull the sway bar and repaint it etc and probably just go flat black epoxy stuff for everything else. I mean even the shocks (Rancho) are rusted. It's depressing when I get under there and look at it. If I only had a lift in my tiny garage! Or bigger garage!
BTW.. Thanks again for any help you provided during the trans swap. I really appreciate it. will post the RPO as soon as I get home and get a pic of it. Thank You