What did you do to your truck today??

[Just call me Sean]

Better not wait too long to get to the junkyard. I went to mine and they crushed some trucks I wanted parts from.

[special-K]

This one is always revolving. Lots of volume and nothing stays for long. It's owned by LKQ.

[Just call me Sean]

The one I go to they look for things I want and they put stuff aside for me. They put aside a 350 for me, but it's actually a 400. Also the wrong year, too old. But they tried.

[special-K]

I wish someone would set a 400 aside for me. I love those. Since LKQ is a giant parts corporation, they take first pick on parts, then put them out for the rest of us. It sucks that the prior owners sold to them. One thing I liked when I moved here is there were 5 or 6 junkyards. Now only one and LKQ bought it

[Just call me Sean]

There are at least seven junkyards within a five mile radius of my house, and more further out. I like to shop at the one though. They give me real good prices.

So every day when I get home from work I turn off the truck in the driveway to unlock the gate. Lately it hasn't been starting back up sometimes and I give the starter a few taps with a hammer. Today no amount of whacking was making it start so I dragged it through the gate with the van and changed the starter in the dirt. The 93, I did the 99 starter like last week.

[special-K]

I got through most of a summer in a '71 I had that wouldn't start once running temp. I was picking my son up at daycare after work, too. The routine was pop the hood while I went in to get him, although that didn't let it cool enough. Then I'd scoop a big cup full of water from the cooler and pour it on the starter, shut hood, hop in, and fire it up. I finally replaced it when I had the time.

I can travel to a lot of junkyards, mostly within an hour. The one here people come from all around, like out of Baltimore and Wash, DC and their suburbs. The location is, or was, just far enough outside the cities to have junkyards, saw mills, and dirt roads. Also is where all the contractors and truckers lived because we can do what we want here. But the old story, development, is changing that. Actually, Baltimore used to have a lot of Junkyards, as well as US1 between there and DC. Used to be the blue collar corridor. A place no one else wanted to live. Race tracks, motels, bars, speed shops, car shops. used car lots, Bike shops, and trucking companies. It's amazing how that stretch has changed. Real estate became a valuable thing

[special-K]

I swapped the tires off my '72 onto the front of my '95 Suburban so I could get those tires dismounted. My favorite tire shop was closed today so I used one of the shops in town. The guy said a couple hours, so I killed time on errands. Still not done, so I took care of more things in town. Finally at almost 3 I picked them up. Rode them out to my sandblaster in the country. Shop is closed but it's next to the house. She wasn't answering the phone but I figured I'd drop the wheels off either way. Fortunately she had just stopped in, as she is dog sitting all weekend at a friend's house. So I got to pick up the first pair of wheels. They look fantastic, 7" Accurides painted white. I can't wait to get this second pair back. I just ordered tires today. I also ordered Gates hydroboost lines from Rock Auto. So, didn't do any work on the beast but got some parts going. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to the junk yard and find parts I need to the interior

[Boog]

You have yards open on Sunday? I wish I did. The main yard around here is open Wed - Sat only...

[special-K]

I'm pretty sure this one is. It's funny, I have this huge yard right up the road and I never think to go there. People come from miles around. When I tell people I live in Mt. Airy they say "I bet you go to Crazy Ray's all the time". I probably say something like, "Oh yeah, Crazy Rays" . Cost 2 bucks to enter. Cheap entertainment. That's exactly what I did one time when I was totally broke and bored. Wouldn't you know it? I saw about everything I could ever want to 88-98s. I saw the dash bezel and bucket seats I wanted, w/console, lots of 5-lug and 8-lug styled steel wheels, a diesel bumper, blue GM floor mats, a single headlight GMC grille, a clean white Suburban quarter panel to replace my smashed one, and a white driver's door. I think I even saw blue Silverado front roll-up door panels. It's about warm enough to go check it out now

[special-K]

Well, they were open and it's not called Crazy Ray's anymore, just LKQ (but receipt says Potomac German Auto, Inc). Whatever. I did pretty good on finding what I needed. I kept finding the heater control harness cut out on '96-ups and feared that was going to be a bust. But finally I found one, control panel out and all, a pleasant surprise. I got my cluster bezel and cupholder in blue, but had to settle for a grey glovebox. Went to Advance after but they don't carry blue vinyl dye. I also got a passenger side blue GM floor mat. I already have one on the driver side. So my trip to the junk yard cost $50, not bad.

I had been looking at tires on www.discounttiredirect.com waiting for the funds on Friday. I put four Cooper 285/75-16s in my cart at $210@ and Microsoft pops up a thing saying I can get them somewhere else for $165. I usually ignore those pop-ups but I went ahead and looked, figuring that deal probably didn't offer free shipping. Nope, free shipping and this was Discount Tire Direct on Ebay. Heck yeah, I place the order saving over $200! No sooner had a placed the order and I noticed I had just ought 265/70-16s! What??? How did I do that? I immediately had to figure out how to cancel the sale. I go back to their website and do the same thing. There it is, the dang pop-up with a better deal again... for the wrong size tire! WTF kind of BS is that??? Duh? I can get a smaller size tire for less?? Really? I swear, the internet is full of BS. Now I have to wait 3-5 days for my debit card to be credited! Once again it's "Please stop helping me you annoying computer!"

[Boog]

Glad you found your parts and I hope the panel works out too. A guy might like to have some heat and a/c.
Oh man. I get so aggravated with websites too. Just this evening I opened a site to buy a couple of things and right on the main page is a banner offering a 15% discount on my purchase if I give em my email addy and phone #, which is required info anyway. I never do that until I get to the checkout phase but that was next so I did this time and proceeded to the checkout and the discount wasn't there. I tried to back out of it but no go. They've got my info and I closed the sight. Luckily I didn't choose a method of payment so at the most I should only see texts and email junk! I hate trickery and underhanded crap!

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

I just drive up to the Discount Tire, buy the tire and throw it in the back of my truck. I don't even get them mounted, I do that myself. $85 each for 235/75/15s. I use the same tire on most of my stuff, Goodyear Wranglers.

I'm not sure if Discount Tire is the same as Discount Tire Direct. I use the latter because they are cheapest and have the best selection. We don't have anything in Maryland that compares to these online prices with free shipping. I install and balance the tires at my friend's place. 16" take a big jump in price from the 15s. I bought 235/75-15 Wranglers at Walmart for a really good price before. On my 8-lug 4wds I'm particular about what I run and it costs me a bit more. Cooper is my preferred brand because they are made in the USA by a USA owned company. The compromise for the Suburban is a not so aggressive mud tire. I don't 4-wheel it, most hiway and snow, with a little extra traction needed for soft ground is good. I don't want to pour too much money into the old beast.

I'm keeping my old set of tires for rollers/spares. At the junkyard there was a Ford Van with 3 Accurides I want to go back for. LKQ sets all vehicles up on four stands, which are two wheels welded up. They don't allow jacks. Lots of those Accurides used for that. I'm surprised they haven't taken these. It's just bring a lug wrench and spin them off. They have pull carts and they dismount on site for no charge

Originally Posted by Boog

Glad you found your parts and I hope the panel works out too. A guy might like to have some heat and a/c.
Oh man. I get so aggravated with websites too. Just this evening I opened a site to buy a couple of things and right on the main page is a banner offering a 15% discount on my purchase if I give em my email addy and phone #, which is required info anyway. I never do that until I get to the checkout phase but that was next so I did this time and proceeded to the checkout and the discount wasn't there. I tried to back out of it but no go. They've got my info and I closed the sight. Luckily I didn't choose a method of payment so at the most I should only see texts and email junk! I hate trickery and underhanded crap!

Yep, my rant is I hate the smoke & mirrors bull crap that seems to be the business model these days. How do you spell business? B-u-l-l-s-h-i-t, both words are full of BS. They can't let a good product sell itself on it's own merit these days, they have to put on a song & dance show with flashing lights and bright colors to confuse you into buying... sometimes it seems.

When I was trying to figure out what happened with my order, I kept going through the same process. I thought the wrong size that was suggested was 265/75-16 at first. I thought maybe I hit the 6 instead of the 8. That's the next size down and I considered letting it be. After all, $200+ would buy a lot of other things the 'Burb needs. What I really wanted to get were 255/85s, taller skinnier, so skinnier 265s might be ok. But it was 70 series they swapped in on me. No way I want that much short a tire on my 4wd. Nowhere near what I wanted in the 255/85s. Those would be $1,300 a set, so I went with 285/75s @$800. That's what I've been running on my 8-lugger 88-98s and what is on the '72, so a very practical choice.

One time I ran it through, the pop-up discount offering was for 20" wheels! WTF? Wrong tire AND wheel size! Yeah, save money on tires so I can go buy new wheels . Again it's, "Please STOP helping me!!"

I'm pissed this sets me back 3-5 days from ordering what I tried to get ordered on Saturday. I'll just be ordering the same thing I ordered Saturday, while ignoring the wonderfully helpful pop-up like I always did before!

[Just call me Sean]

I just drive up to the Discount Tire, buy the tire and throw it in the back of my truck. I don't even get them mounted, I do that myself. $85 each for 235/75/15s. I use the same tire on most of my stuff, Goodyear Wranglers.

On Friday after work I finally installed the distributor cap and rotor on the 99. Ran good, drove it some. Took it all around on Saturday, had one slow start but it still started. Let the wife take it around today while I was home in case I had to come to the rescue, worked good all day. Pretty sure it's good now. I did have to whack the blower motor so the a/c would work. Now I can do some work to the S10.

[Boog]

Sean do you have your own balancer too?
I've been looking at Discount Tire's site, they're new in our town, for a set for my 91. I dropped 4 into the cart to get a full cost and in with the taxes are $20 each for mount, balance and maintenance of the tires. Next is $3.00 each for disposal fee. If you're not replacing any tires, only buying new ones, there are no tires to dispose of so that fee is non applicable at this time, in my mind.

[Just call me Sean]

I don't have a balancer. If the truck vibrates after I put on a tire I'll consider getting it balanced, but that hasn't happened. Yes it would be around $110 for the tires I get with mounting and such included. I always had them remove the disposal fee but now I pay it and give them a tire. I consider it three bucks well spent.

[Just call me Sean]

Started the 93 to go home and the check engine light came on. Went home with it on, noticed it was running different. I turn it off to open my gate, and after starting back up no light. Checked codes, 22 TPS. I have to check my receipts, pretty sure I've replaced it. We'll see if the light comes back on tomorrow. I might bring an extra TPS with me, I have a few.

[special-K]

How was it running different? Responsiveness?

[Just call me Sean]

Less power, transmission was shifting later and not downshifting when I floor it.

[Just call me Sean]

It was fine today, no light. I guess it healed itself, it was a hiccup. I don't know.

[Boog]

Got it's own diagnostic and repair program huh? Super!

[special-K]

Sounds like a Chevy. They'll let you know when they need some help, but keep you going in the meantime. It also does sound, to my untrained mind, like a TPS issue. What you described is what I thought you might say. Sounds like the accelerator cable is stretching

[Just call me Sean]

Went to the junkyard to pick up that 700R4, it looked like the worker that pulled it dropped it six feet to the ground from the rack the vehicle sits on when they pull it. The TV and shifter cables were ripped apart, the pan was smashed, and the tailshaft housing was snapped off. So, no extra transmission right now. They're crushing a lot of cars so I figured I would pick up some sunvisors before they're gone. Found out why they're crushing cars, the land is up for sale so they're moving. Not too bad of news though, they're moving closer to my house. Less space though.

So both the 93 and 99 have grey visors, the 99 ones are awful the 93 are barely ok. Every cloth visor in the yard was crap, the vinyl ones fared better. None in grey though. I was only looking for one pair but couldn't decide between these two so I got them both, $20 for all. The 93 is a mix of grey and blue interior parts so I think I'll use the blue ones in it. Probably put the 93 ones in the 99 and color the tan ones grey to go in it later. Then recover the 93 ones.

[LeesTruk]

Sometime before the purchase of my '89 Cheyenne, a PO did an engine/trans swap. When taking the missus for a ride, the exhaust got suddenly VERY loud. When back at home, I lifted the front of the truck and crawled underneath and found the rt. side donut had blown out. Also noted that one stud was broken in the flange, and a second stud had only been held in the manifold by epoxy that had since turned to dust. Mechanics at its' finest. Anyways, replaced the rt. side exhaust manifold. All is now well with the better half...

[special-K]

That's got to be nice now. I had to do a flange repair kit on mine last year, so I did both. It was barely leaking but because there is a hole in the exhaust at the muffler it was giving a big backfire when I'd let off at 70mph or so. Also descending big hills. Still have the same exhaust. Looking to replace with true duals (Suburban)

[LeesTruk]

Yeah, it is nice-n-quiet now. Thought about changing the driver's side, but it's too cold and my hands get numb really quickly. Gonna let sleepin dogs lay for now, but do it in a bit when it gets warmer