Chilton or Haynes manual?

[77Impala]

I knew you would like them. Have you ever used a Chilton or Haynes manual before? If so what do you think of them now?

 

[brycebba]

I haven't ever used the others but these are great and thick!

 

[21Actual]

Cant speak for chiltons or haynes, but I absolutely love shop key / ondemand5, particularly for the wiring diagrams.

But as others have said, its a monthly subscription. For me, its well worth it.

 

[454cid]

My 99 manual is poorly edited, but it's better than any Haynes or Chilton. Still, there will be things it won't explain, or treat the same as a 1/2 ton when it's not the same.

 

[brycebba]

So after researching the diagrams for the cleanest way I would design my harness for my backup camera I recognized the fatal flaw in these manuals... They aren't electronic! If I could search within them it would be incredible.

I am strongly considering cutting the bindings off and using the duplex scanner at my work to create massive pdfs that I could use to search for like terms like CRKT64. Then I could 3 hole punch them and put them in a binder in case I don't want to use the computer in my garage.

What do you think?

 

[steampunk1375]

I've got a subscription to Alldata DIY. It's pretty solid, it's like $45 a year for the first vehicle and $20 for each additional. Far better than Haynes or Chiltons books.

 

[someotherguy]

My 99 manual is poorly edited, but it's better than any Haynes or Chilton. Still, there will be things it won't explain, or treat the same as a 1/2 ton when it's not the same.

Don't know if they fixed this by '99 but the kind of stuff that always makes my head hurt is when using my '94 manual to diagnose an A/C control problem, for example...and the manual starts telling me to check vacuum lines.

Richard

 

[df2x4]

I actually just picked up the full set of factory manuals for my '97s the other day. Even got the Bi-Fuel supplement. Don't see myself ever working on anything with a natural gas engine but hey, gotta have the full set. Having only ever used Chiltons or Haynes before I was pretty surprised when the factory manuals showed up. They weren't kidding when they said over 4000 pages!

 

[454cid]

Don't know if they fixed this by '99 but the kind of stuff that always makes my head hurt is when using my '94 manual to diagnose an A/C control problem, for example...and the manual starts telling me to check vacuum lines.

Richard

I haven't done much with the AC, but if I recall correctly, I am supposed to "remove the rotors" with no explanation, as if they will just slide off. They printed the same diagrams over and over down the page, as if it was showing a progression of removal of parts. The stupid labels on the diagrams never seem to match up to anything. They often use diagrams that look more like the light duty trucks for the heavy GVW trucks.......and they're just drawn terribly.

I have found a mis-printed torque spec...... the spec for the bolts on my upper ball joints. It's much higher than all but the very best grade of hardware, that size, will take. I think the Haynes or Chilton said the same, so either GM expects us to use aerospace grade hardware, or they've made a mistake someplace.