Geauga Lake Park Truck Refresh

[Joe Dirte]

I was there in the 80s as a kid. Both Sea World and Geauga Lake. I get disbelieving looks when I tell people there used to be a Sea World in Ohio. I still have extended family in the area. Sounds like a fun project!

We went to Sea World in Ohio when I was a kid..... no idea what year that was.

Look forward to seeing the build. I grew up just out of Aurora and spent a lot of time at both parks.

Bet we all ran into each other there n never knew we'd all be talkin on truck forum bout a truck we probly all saw.

 

[Geauga Lake John]

Thanks all for the support and positive posts. I think it's cool that people remember the park and enjoy the little bit of a "living memorial" that my truck is. It's kind of fun to think that a little bit of the park still runs and drives.

Not much to update today; I did pick up a transmission though. A local hot-rod legend, Bill Zeman, saw a post of mine on Facebook and reached out to me, offering to donate a transmission to my cause. As a fan of old-school GM, I was aiming to reduce as much computerized equipment as I could. I had been planning to drop a Turbo Hydramatic 400 in the truck so it must have been fate that Bill had exactly that for me. I'm sure I'll get a few scoffs and raised eyebrows for choosing a three speed without overdrive and naturally aspirating the engine but this build has not been and will not be cheap so I figured to just do what I want!

Thanks to my friends Chris and Danielle, we got the tranny home within just a few minutes. Bill said he pulled it out of a motorhome with somewhere around 60k miles. The tag confirms that it was originally in a 1977 Chevy motor home with a 14,000lb GVW and paired with a 475hp motor. I'd imagine it was a BBC but can't be sure which. The tailshaft has a very unique parking drum brake bolted right to it. I've never seen one before but then again I haven't worked on a motorhome.

As soon as we got it home, every bolt got a shot of PB Blaster. I removed the torque converter and all of the delicate bolt-on stuff (governor, modulator, dip stick tube, etc.) then tried to tackle removing the parking brake. The bolts to the tailshaft are covered by the brake drum which has to be removed first. It appears that the studs which need to be removed are pressed in and so rusted that they are spinning inside the drum. I only had an hour or so to mess with this before I had to get ready for work but I have a feeling that the torches are going to come out and make quick work of the rusty old brake.

There was plenty of clean fluid that I discovered after removing the dip stick tube. Unfortunately a little water was in the case as well. While that is never a good sign, I'm not too worried about it. Everything moves freely and a tear-down will reveal any issues. For right now, I plan on tackling the rebuild myself. Maybe Santa will bring me a nice rebuild kit... I'm considering different options for a true torque converter or stall converter. The jury is out and opinions are welcome. I won't make a decision on that until the motor specs are finalized and I decide on rear end gears.

Thanks all for reading.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

That looks like a really cool project,with a lot of local history. I never knew anything GM used that style of parking brake, just thought it was a Mopar thing from the 50s.

 

[Stumpy]

Had no idea there use to be a Seaworld in Ohio, that's wild. Enjoyed the back story. It would be cool to redo the park graphics, after the truck is repainted.

 

[454cid]

That looks like a really cool project,with a lot of local history. I never knew anything GM used that style of parking brake, just thought it was a Mopar thing from the 50s.

The 3500HD had a transmission mounted brake, too.

 

[Geauga Lake John]

Had no idea there use to be a Seaworld in Ohio, that's wild. Enjoyed the back story. It would be cool to redo the park graphics, after the truck is repainted.

I had the same thought! There's a company right up the road from me called Cleveland Wrap. They specialize in vinyl wraps, like something you might see on a police car. I've already brainstormed with the owner of the business-- everything from totally decking it out with photos of the 100+ years of history to just a few marketing slogans on the tailgate. It'll mostly depend on how much this build costs me but I'm open to suggestions if anyone has design ideas. The donor truck I have is silver and vinyl is cheaper than paint so that may be an interesting thing to explore too.

 

[Geauga Lake John]

GL truck update:

This’ll be a short one. I’m a little disappointed in what I discovered today. I started to tackle the the transmission and ran into a less-than-ideal situation.

To begin with, contrary to my last update, I decided not to torch the drum brake mounted to the tail shaft housing. It was too unique for me to destroy, I wanted to make that a last resort and save it for something in the future. In my search to get the thing apart, my thought was to remove the tail shaft housing and deal with it later. The tail shaft housing was also unique; it was secured with studs and nuts. I don’t recall ever seeing a GM transmission that didn’t have the housing bolted to the case. The studs were CRUSTY. I was so worried I would strip or brake something but alas- everything came apart! In my relief, I totally overlooked the bolt from the brake drum backing plate into the tail shaft. Six to eight smacks from a dead-blow hammer and I realized my mistake. The tail shaft housing had separated about 1/4” from the case at that point so in my examination, I’ll need to see if I damaged anything.

If that wasn’t enough, I opened up a huge mess. In one of my last posts, I mentioned the tiny amount of water that came out and how I wasn’t worried. I should have worried. Pictured below is the additional fluid/water combo that came out at the start of disassembly. I was happy to see that this is an eight-bolt pump case but that was about all I was happy to see. The rust made me cringe. Viewer beware- the pictures are disturbing. Most of the inside is rusty.

Initially I was excited- having been removed from a motor home, I was sure it hadn’t been messed with. The cooler lines were cut off (generally if the trans is removed because it’s shot, they’re not cut). All six check balls were in the valve body so I’m fairly certain this was a virgin transmission. I’m sure when it was removed, it was in great shape. There is plenty of material left on the bands and clutch packs so it feels like an even bigger let down.

As life goes, it’s good to have a back up plan. Years ago I bought a 1989 K3500 from a small waterpark in Chardon, Ohio, called Pioneer Waterland. I bought it for the 454 and 14 bolt rear end that I wanted for the Geauga Lake truck. I pulled both and unfortunately cracked the bell housing on its TH400. Ultimately the 454 cost too much to build so it’s in storage waiting for me to hit the lottery. I left the transmission in the truck and gave the whole thing to a friend for parts. Fortunately he still has it. Fingers crossed that water didn’t get into that one too. Hopefully I can get a good mix of new and used parts from the ‘89 to plug into this rock solid case. I’ll just add ATF though and forego the water.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Geauga Lake John]

I know it's been a while since there was an update. Life got in the way a little bit. The SBC 400 is back from the machine shop and now "identifies" as a 406! Parts are rolling in again and I'm slowly getting things together. I have another lead on a TH400 to build but progress has been slow. I'm starting to think about rear ends and I'm looking for input. The truck currently has a 6-lug 9.5" 14 bolt which in my opinion doesn't get the credit it deserves. While this isn't the sought-after full-float 14 bolt, I've heard these semi-float 14 bolts can really be built. I also have what I think is a Dana 70 or Dana 70HD from a 3500. I don't know much about these other than they were common in vans. Does anyone have thoughts on either of these rear ends? Thanks in advance!

 

[Erik the Awful]

I have a Dana 70 in my '88 one-ton. From my research, there's better parts availability for the 14-bolt but the Dana 70 is a bit stronger. I think the Dana 70s were the heavy-duty rear until '90 or so. You'd have a hard time breaking either with a small block.