What did you get done? 10/07

[dan42]

Me neither. Went to the river.

[SCOTI]

I hung out @ GoodGuys w/the gang Fri~Sun. Had a good lunch w/N2billet, N2Trux, Bagged74 (& his significant other), Zumo (w/his son & his brother) & Carter on Sunday.

I was on vacation last week & chopped up what was left of a parts truck (mainly just chopped up the cab) & dropped off the remains @ the scrap steel recycle-bin. I also moved from a small storage building to one that's 3x larger (& it's still crammed full ) since I 'acquired' some more parts.

Got to meet Nathan & Chris from Porterbuilt StreetRods. Two of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. They were nice enough to even take some time during their trip to make a small donation to the ElPaso TX sheriffs dept. re-election campaign . . ......

[GMC69]

I went to the cottage for the weekend to celebrate thanksgiving ( Canada eh!), and managed to get 500$ given to me to go towards my 700R4 tranny.

[ChaseDale3and8]

I was on vacation last week although it doesn't seem like it. I started the week off by getting some much needed work done on my wife's 2002 Dodge Durango. I swear I'll never buy another Dodge as long as I live after having as much trouble as I've had with this one. It was something that my wife just HAD to have. You married guys all know how that goes. If it had been up to me it would have been a Trailblazer or a Tahoe instead.

Anyway, the check engine light had come on some time ago, and I just never had the time to get it looked at. I bought an extended warranty on it when we bought it, smart move on our part as the deductible was $100. Not that much money to have to pay out when something goes wrong.

The front passenger side window had also quit working. Needed to get that looked at as well. Wife had been hounding me about that for 6 months. Needed new tires, so I ordered some from The Tire Rack.

Called my local Dodge dealer and scheduled a time to drop the Durango off. I actually dropped it off the Thursday before I was to go on vacation at 8 a.m. so that I could get the window and the check engine light taken care of. Then I had planned to take it to the tire shop and get the tires put on and get the oil changed and get it lubed. Simple enough, but things never go that simple for me.

The Dodge boys assured me that the Durango would be done before my wife had to go to work at 2 p.m. so that we could pick it up without her being late. I get a call at 1:30 saying that there's a problem. The lower ball joints are bad. They noticed this when they put it up on the lift to find out what the check engine light was on for. The check engine light was on due to a bad vacuum hose that runs from the gas tank to the canister up front. They said they would have to call the warranty company to see if the ball joints and this hose would be covered under the extended warranty.

Great! My wife needs to leave and isn't going to get her Durango back today. She hates driving my 2003 Silverado exteneded cab Z71, but she's got no other choice, and now we have to wait on the warranty company to show up to see if they will even pay for the window, bad hose, and ball joints.

I had been calling all day Friday to find out when the Durango was going to be done because I needed it back. I wanted to get the tires that I bought put on etc. 3 p.m. comes and they finally call me back and say that the warranty covers everything but the bad vacuum hose. I ask how much to fix that. Answer was another $130. Told them to go ahead and fix that too so that the irritating light would go off and hopefully stay off. I also
asked about having the tires put on there instead of doing it at the tire shop since the front end would need to be aligned. Might as well do it with the new tires on. And might as well do the oil change and lube as well since they were competitive on what they charge for that.

They said no problem. It would be done by 11 a.m. i went home and loaded up the tires and dropped them off where they told me to. Right next to the Durango. Went back home and waited for them to call. 1:30 comes, they finally call me back saying that it's ready for pick up. We rush up there before my wife has to go to work only to find the Durano still up on the lift getting the alignment done! Then found out the oil and lube hadn't been done yet! I was pissed! I started raising hell with them right then and there. The service department entrance is right next to their new car showroom.

I started telling everybody coming into the new car showroom that they didn't want to buy one of these P.O.S. Dodges, that they needed to go look at a G.M. instead because G.M. stands behind their products, takes care of their customers, and doesn't give them the runaround that Dodge does.

Needless to say, they wanted me outta there since Saturday is their busiest day, and it gave them some motivation to get the wife's Durango done after they had kept it for almost 3 business days. They got my bill ready and I went in and paid it. Went back around to the front and the first thing that I notice is that it has the wrong tires on it! I left the Firestone Winterforce tire that I had bought with it, and they had put some cheapo highway tires on! I really blew up! Yelled a string of obscenities that I can't post up here, but you get the idea. My wife had already called in late for work as it was, and now this! They close at 3p.m. on Saturday and it was 2:30.

I went back in their shop to find out where the hell MY tires were with the shop manager hot on my heels. Sure enough, they were right where I had dropped them off. I turned around and gave the shop manager another cussing, and then he chewed the tire installer out. They told us to go ahead and take the vehicle, bring it back Monday morning and they'd put the tires that I'd bought on.

Monday comes and I take the Durango back. They sure didn't want me around there because they offered to take me home while they fixed their mistake. They took me home and then called at 11 a.m. saying that they were done and not to worry about picking it up, that they were going to bring it to me. They said that they noticed that the front brakes were bad and needed replaced. I told them that I didn't want to waste 3 more days having them fix it, that I'd just do it myself, just bring my vehicle back!

They drop it off. I jack it up and pull the passenger side tire off. Sure enough the brakes are shot. Made a trip to O'Reilly to get a new set of front brakes. Drove my old 86 there. The manager asked if I wanted to buy a set of bumpers that he had off of his 85 Blazer that he was parting out. Told him bring 'em up and I'd have a look. Ended up buying them the next day.(Wed)

I was Dodged out by this point. Decided to put bumpers on first, then I'd do her brakes. Spent most of the day Wednesday dealing with rusty hardware so that I could get my bumpers on. Since he had removed them with the brackets intact,this wasn't easy.

In between dealing with the Dodge boys and working on my 86 I power washed my deck on the back of my house. I wanted to get that done so that I could spray the Thompsons Honey Gold water sealer on that I had bought. Went and picked up the washer from a buddy of mine, washed the deck, and then had my wife help me tape the siding off Thursday morning. Sprayed it Thursday afternoon. Job done. Looks good!

Next on the list was her brakes. Since she was going to be off of work, I figured that Friday was a good day to git 'er done! An hour job turned into an all day fiasco! I didn't have the right bit to get the calipers off, and it took me half the day to finally get the right one! I went to Harbor Freight Tools first and bought a full set of bits in Metric and Standard size. Went home and not a damn one was the right size!

Made another trip to O'Reilly. Manager wasn't there, and none of the flunkies knew what size I needed. None of their books showed what size I needed either. I wasn't about to ask my friends at Dodge, so I took a guess that it looked like an 8mm and it turned out that's what it was!

Get the thing apart, load the rotors to have them turned at O'Reilly only to find out that they are toast! More $$$. I shouldn't have been surprised. Got it all back together and decide to road test. First thing that I notice is that the check engine light was on again! At first, I thought it might have been something that I did while putting her brakes on. Looked around, couldn't find anything except the brake fluid was a little bit low. Another string of obscenities ensued.

Back to O'Reilly for some more brake fluid to top it off. Light still on. And I noticed that when I road tested the Durango the outer springs on the front calipers had fallen off! O'Reilly wanted $25 for them, Auto Zone wanted $26 and neither had them in stock.

Went back to my Dodge buddies parts department. They had ONE of them in stock, and the other had to be ordered. $6 for a pair. Shocking! figured that they'd be more from the dealer than the parts stores.

While I was there, I went back to the service department. Told them the light was back on, and that I'd better not be charged to get it looked at since I hadn't even had it back a week since the last time. I personally know 3 of the mechanics there. Have known them for over 20 years since one of my H.S. buddies used to work there in the body shop and I used to stop by quite a bit on my way home from work.

One of the mechanics that I know walks up. Says hang on and he will hook up the computer to it and find out what's going on. Turns out the hose that they just replaced came loose and was causing the same problem as before....a vacuum leak. Got it fixed at no charge.

Saturday was spent doing yard work. Mowing and fall clean up mostly. Sunday, I put a new fuel pump and filter on my 86 hoping to fix what I thought was a fuel starvation problem. Didn't fix the problem. Either the carb or an electrical issue. Don't know which yet. Watched the race at Talladega flag to flag, barbequed Sunday night, and called it a week..

Didn't mean to write a book here, but this was how I spent all of my free time. I still have to finish painting the front wall in my garage, and paint the garage floor with the Quickrete epoxy floor paint that I bought but haven't had the time to put on yet. Here's a few pics of my deck. ...Joe

[ChaseDale3and8]

A few more.....

[1987 Shortwide]

Friday night we went to the Kelly Pickler concert at club rodeo here in ICT. That girl is gorgeous, great voice too... Basically just ended up shooting pool all evening (I was the DD so no drinking)

Saturday we slept in and then went to my nephew's football game. Afterwards I got a little done on the impala wiring.

Sunday I had the GTO out, washed it up and met a couple of my buddies for some photos. They came out alright...

[bigblock73]

Steve, those are *****in photos!!

Is the guy in the Camaro in the last pic telling you that you are "number 1"?

[ChaseDale3and8]

Man those are some nice looking rides! My favorite color too...BLACK! ...Joe

[1987 Shortwide]

Yes, he was being a smartass as he went by... lol

This was the first time I've used that camera, so they'll improve.

[jchav62]

nada nada nada

[killthewabbit]

Daaang, 3&8 - that sounds rough, dude.

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by ChaseDale3and8

....Didn't mean to write a book here, but this was how I spent all of my free time. ....Joe

Daaaang, that was long. Sorry to hear about all the BS at the dealership. Not trying to push on a sore spot, but why was the vacuum leak not covered?

[knightlife]

damn those are some sexy azz rides brother...

[ChaseDale3and8]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

Daaaang, that was long. Sorry to hear about all the BS at the dealership. Not trying to push on a sore spot, but why was the vacuum leak not covered?

Because it ended up being a bad hose and it is on the list of parts not covered by the warranty. They won't cover belts, brakes, etc. either. They have a list of things that they won't pay for in the warranty papers. Anyone buying a newer vehicle that buys an extended warranty would do well to read the fine print of their warranty so that there are no surprises later.

I may not be done with this yet. My wife said the check engine light came back on yesterday on her way to work, but went back off on her way back home. The dealer says that it has a pump back there that will sometimes go bad where this hose connects to. They said that it SHOULD be covered under the warranty if it turns out that this pump is bad.

I'm going to give it another day or two and see if it gives any more trouble. If it does, I'm going to have to go back to the dealership again and have them find out if the hoses came loose again, or if that pump is about to quit and needs replaced. Then I'll find out if they'll pay for it or not. In my opinion, I shouldn't have to pay any more money out since the problem wasn't fixed after 2 trips to the dealer, but they may have another idea. I will just wait and see what happens.

The easiest thing for me to do would be to put some black tape over the top of the light so that I wouldn't have to see it when I have to drive it! Fortunately for me I don't drive it that much. Just if she thinks that something is going wrong, or all four of us go somewhere since it is the family vehicle. Sorry for such a long post ....again! As I've said before though, the simple things in life for me aren't so simple! ...Joe

[STP67-72]

Dang n2 billet
You said you where going to shoot me a post and it would not be nice. It has all ready started. I did sell the truck and delivered it to Dallas tuesday. A nice 700 mile round trip. I was pretty happy with truck and the 212 miles i put on it. The last 12 was around the track sat evening. I will try to make them nicer every time. Maybe one day somebody will take a few pictures of one of my trucks. It is always in the back ground. I guess that is what i get for throwing it together.
I could not believe the 2 69-72 trucks that got picked.
I guess that i will throw this other 70 swb together and sell it so i can start on one that i am going to keep for more than 200 miles. It was nice talking with all of yall. I will keepin touch with cab and bedsides.

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by STP67-72

...
I guess that i will throw this other 70 swb together and sell it....

Why don't you "throw together" a 68 SWB big window. Preferably black with all the trim....

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

..... It was nice to meet Keith, Ken and Carter. I noticed SCOTI's truck in the parking lot when I left, but didn't get to meet him.

It was a real pleasure to spend time talking with you as well. Man, you have a really cool job.

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by 7T7

Did anyone get any pictures of it? Obviously Jonboy didn't take his camera with him!

Originally Posted by Jonboy

... Does anyone know anything about the white 85-87 truck that was making the hot laps?

There is an article on this truck in the latest Sport Trucks mag...

[STP67-72]

Hey Ken
I am going to get my new shop up and then starton the 70swb. I will start by repainting it. I also happen to have a 68 swb that i am going to (throw)together. I will have to watch what i say around keith. I have already decided to put all of the trim. The truck was originally a ugly yellow. So the color is open. I have thought about the original tangelo orange on the 69-72's.I don't know if it was on the 67-68's. This truck is second on list. I also have a big window 67 swb. Don't know how nice a truck this will make yet.

I have a 72 super cheyenne 402 truck that i plan to paint black, with all the bells and whistles.That is one of the trucks that i plan on keeping and driving. I will not throw this one together.

Ken
Hope to see all of you this weekend at the swapmeet.

[n2billet]

"I will have to watch what i say around keith."

Should my feelings be hurt?

[72BlckButy]

The wife and I painted the living room/hallway walls and ceiling. I'm glad that I won't have to paint that room again, well, at least in this house. We have a cathederal ceiling, not to mention it was painted some off-white, beige color. (PO decision) Will post pics when I get back home...

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by STP67-72

....Ken
Hope to see all of you this weekend at the swapmeet.

I don't know if I'm bringing my 77 out, but I will stop by and visit. You gonna have time to BS or do you stay busy all day?

[Pyrotechnic]

Car show !

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=262171