What did you do to your truck today??

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

Most just say "liability reasons". When the shop I always bought from said it to me first I had them explain more. People installing tires on vehicles they aren't rated for then suing when they fail. People injuring themselves installing them and suing. Mostly reasons that revolve around getting sued. I said I would sign a waiver but still no. You know I could sue you for not selling me tires too right? That's the reward I get for helping keep your store open instead of ordering online and saving money.

This is a symptom of the compulsive obsessive petty tyrants in the latest generations. It's pretty sick and twisted that their world will come to an end if they can't tell us how to use the parts we purchase after we walk out the door with them.
Any judge that doesn't throw that kind of frivolous crap out of his courtroom is part of the problem. If I buy gasoline in a can, pour it on a fire, and turn myself into a human torch then I'm an idiot. My death or maiming is not the fault of the gas can manufacturer or the filling station. If I spray ether into the truck tire on a split rim and blow the lock ring off it and into my head it's my own darn fault.
I've mounted more tires by hand, up to and including tractor tires taller than my 6'5" frame, in the last 45 years than the teenage goons they have running the tire machines.

[Boog]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

I guess the truck is down for the weekend? I've never had a column that far apart. Any pictures?

Most just say "liability reasons". When the shop I always bought from said it to me first I had them explain more. People installing tires on vehicles they aren't rated for then suing when they fail. People injuring themselves installing them and suing. Mostly reasons that revolve around getting sued. I said I would sign a waiver but still no. You know I could sue you for not selling me tires too right? That's the reward I get for helping keep your store open instead of ordering online and saving money.

Yeah, it ain't going anywhere right now. And all over a $10 tool.
This is the 1st time for me going that far into a late model column too. There are numerous videos out there and I've watched a couple so I dove right in. It is tight in there. I did buy that locking plate removal tool also. All these many years and I've never owned one. I used to do it the hard way. These two tools I'll likely never use again.
Your experience with tire stores are nothing like around here. I just recently ordered a set of tires and took my rims up there to get the tires mounted. Mounted, balanced and loaded in the back of my truck. No questions asked. The tire tech did snap a selfie of him posing beside my '91. He has a 91 sportside too.

[special-K]

I use this tire shop because it's so great. Out in the country back in the woods. The owner is younger (than me) and the guys working there are his age, his buddies I think. They've all worked there forever and they are a no BS full service tire repair shop. The dump truck guys, contractors, and farmers all know about the place. I don't have a tire machine and don't like to break down 16" truck tires, they are tough. They'll dismount tires for me for free and when they fix a flat they study the tire (if it's old) to determine how it is surviving. They always break down, grind, and boot the tire and charge less than anywhere else. I've bought farm tractor tires there, too, and had them serviced. I had a set sent out for foam fill due to mysterious chronic flat issues. I had slow leak in a 35" tire on a 9.75" aluminum slot wheel years ago. I had another tire shop repair it and it still kept leaking down. I think I took it back twice, still leaked. I took it to this good shop and they sprayed soapy water on the wheel. It turned out air was seeping through the wheel itself. They didn't even charge me. I took the wheel to an alloy wheel repair business and they were able to fix the wheel.

What I'm doing to my truck today is change the oil, top everything else off, and head on down to kayak a stretch of the Shenandoah River. I'm going with four others, so the suburban will be the shuttle craft back up the river to everyone's vehicles

[Just call me Sean]

Cool, I didn't think of that. Rivers don't flow in a circle. Have to get back somehow.

[Boog]

I've been putting off tightening up the upper steering column in my 91. It has gotten annoying now. Whenever I shift to park or use the turn signal the whole column collar turns a bit. Well, I have mostly ran out of things to take care of on it so today I said today's the day. I dug into it and got down to removing two pivot pins so I can get the inside structure out of the way to get to those 4 bolts that have worked loose. It was time to buy some new sockets as well. Outside torx sockets just to fit those 4 bolts, and some Loctite. And wouldn't you know it, it takes a specialty tool to pull those pins out. Lisle makes it and it's reasonably priced but no one in town has it. And quicker than I can give my wife the part number she has one coming on Monday. Amazon is her go to source for most things now days. And today is Saturday, yard work is done, so I don't mind. I believe I'll have a cold snack

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c...le+19940&pos=0

[Just call me Sean]

The two new tires are on the back of the 99, the good Wrangler from the 99 is on the 93, and the spare is back on the van.

[special-K]

It's too many lawyers syndrome. Ridiculous. By this warped logic the tire store should be liable for what happens after they mount the tire. I never would have run into that tree if they hadn't mounted that tire. Makes you wonder how the online tire sites manage to sell a zillion loose tires to anyone with internet without a lawsuit.

A few of us this weekend ended up having the same conversation about the wranglers being discontinued. I noticed my brother-in-law is running those on their Toyota pickup, and he used to always run Michelins. So they take a well known tire with a good reputation out of production.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by special-K

It's too many lawyers syndrome. Ridiculous. By this warped logic the tire store should be liable for what happens after they mount the tire. I never would have run into that tree if they hadn't mounted that tire. Makes you wonder how the online tire sites manage to sell a zillion loose tires to anyone with internet without a lawsuit.

A few of us this weekend ended up having the same conversation about the wranglers being discontinued. I noticed my brother-in-law is running those on their Toyota pickup, and he used to always run Michelins. So they take a well known tire with a good reputation out of production.

Nokian and Falken tires are pretty decent. Have Nokians on my girlfriends 05 Toyota Tundra and ran new Falkens on a 2001 Volvo V70 AWD wagon I bought with a bad transmission & brakes as a flip car. good all weather traction on both. The Nokians were as good on winter roads as my Bridgestone Blizzaks back in the 1990's.

I've never had good luck with Goodyear tires. Never ran a set or Wranglers on anything so I can't speak about them. They might be great tires.
I've had several sets of Goodyear tires on used car purchases. Wet weather traction was dismal.
My last experience was the set of Goodyear Eagles my '09 Impala SS came with from GM. Darn poor wet weather traction right from the get go. I have four Michelin Pilot A3 tires on it now.

[special-K]

I think he meant sell just the tire unmounted on wheel, to be mounted elsewhere. I've never heard of that either. I've been told by a shop that they don't do any leak repairs for liability reasons. I believe my jaw dropped. Then I said, "That incompetent, ey?" before leaving. wudeverrr...

[Just call me Sean]

Yes, just the tire out the door with no mounting or balancing. The Goodyears look more like an all terrain although they do break loose easy in the rain. The General Grabbers look more like a street tire, we'll see how they do.

So the exhaust donuts blew out on the 93 today, I think that thing in the road I hit helped make it happen. The side that isn't leaking as bad I can see chunks of the donut sticking out. The other side looks like it all came out because the downpipe is jammed against the exhaust manifold and it's leaking like crazy. I've had it all apart recently but most likely some of the bolts will break anyways. Right now the S10 is on the only slab I have to work on and I can't move it because I pulled the axles. So I'll be taking the 99 for work the rest of the week and the wife will have to use the van if she needs to go somewhere. I'm okay with that, the 99 is the only one with AC.

[Boog]

Well I received my Lisle pivot pin removal tool today and finished the job of tightening the four bolts down in the steering column. Ordered Saturday night and arrived today by post office. Regular mail too.
I advise anyone doing this job to watch some vids or take pictures or both. Can’t hurt. I found two of the four bolts were less than finger tight. I removed one at a time, cleaned and put a touch of Loctite on the ends of each and reinstalled. At least one video said you have to remove the upper end of the steering shaft to gain access to those four bolts but that’s not the case. As you can see I just moved that shaft over by hand to give plenty of room to access the bolts. The busy side of the inner column area is the left side of course with the turn signal switch and dimmer switch and ignition switch linkage. I will tell you to check things as you are reassembling. I did have to back up a couple of times to reset some pieces. So maybe these pics will help someone.
I bought a steering wheel lock plate removal tool and that Lisle pivot pin puller tool. About $26 total. It looks like you’re working on part of the Terminator or some other robot.
GM used this design column from the 80-90s in numerous vehicles but this is the first one I have ever owned with a loose column.

[Boog]

In the second pic that wire spring is shown installed wrong. It holds the locking pin in place to move it back and forth. The rod sticking out to the left is the dimmer switch rod and has to be in just the right spot to work.
In the third pic I am pointing to the ignition switch actuator linkage and also has to be placed just right. As you disassemble it these small parts tend to move and or pop out of place.
In the fourth pic I am using the pivot pin remover to remove the inner “cage” for lack of a better word.
No further disassembly is needed.
In the fifth pic you see I just moved the shaft over enough to remove the bolts.
Reverse order for assembly. Hope it helps someone.

[Just call me Sean]

Wow yea that's really apart. I couldn't quite picture it in my head.

[Just call me Sean]

I changed the exhaust donuts. I didn't break any studs, but three that I previously changed backed out of the manifold. I used vice grips to get them off the flange. The one donut was smashed pretty good, the other side was missing completely. I don't know how it could have come out all the way, but it did.

[Grumpy old man]

heat air control module went out a while back on my 95 k2500 . I found a good 95 module on ebay and actually had heat this past winter fast forward and now that it's starting to heat up I check and my A/C isn't working so after replacing the low pressure switch and I'm back to cold air again , Nothing better than a easy fix .

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

I changed the exhaust donuts. I didn't break any studs, but three that I previously changed backed out of the manifold. I used vice grips to get them off the flange. The one donut was smashed pretty good, the other side was missing completely. I don't know how it could have come out all the way, but it did.

It's a mystery. I had to do mine a couple years ago. One was leaking and I did both sides. I need a new exhaust. Nothing past the muffler, which is a dual outlet Flowmaster I put on when I bought it. It needed exhaust bad. I had dual tailpipes run out behind the tires. It took about 4 years for that to rot and fall off. I guess they used crappy cheap tube. They did my '72 system in '04 and it's all still on there

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

heat air control module went out a while back on my 95 k2500 . I found a good 95 module on ebay and actually had heat this past winter fast forward and now that it's starting to heat up I check and my A/C isn't working so after replacing the low pressure switch and I'm back to cold air again , Nothing better than a easy fix .

Nice. I hope to get my dash back together soon. Then I can chase down why the a/c stopped blowing cold.

[DeadheadNM]

No start after six week sleep. Popped in a new PMD and it fired right up. I’m glad that solved it because that’s all I know about 6.5L diesel issues.

[special-K]

A lot of efi pumps got replaced under warranty due to a failed PMD. To the point that GM ordered that all removed pumps be destroyed. Even GM dealerships didn't understand the 6.5TD injection system. Fuel delivery issues are usually due to support components.

The idea of mounting the PMD to the pump was for the circulating fuel through the pump to cool the heat sensitive PMD. The actual result was the opposite which caused pump failures. Mounting up off the manifold rather than under it results in about a 60* cooler environment. I guess the finned aluminum mount meant to be a heat sink helps as well.

Glad you get 'er goin'

[Tx Firefighter]

My 97 is up to 118k miles now so I figured I'd service the wheel bearings. Me being me, I scope creeped it to include new bearings, rotors, seals, rebuilt calipers with new pads and braided brake hoses.

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

My 97 is up to 118k miles now so I figured I'd service the wheel bearings. Me being me, I scope creeped it to include new bearings, rotors, seals, rebuilt calipers with new pads and braided brake hoses.

Clean work. Is this the one I remember from the build thread?

[Just call me Sean]

My truck has been losing water very slowly for a while now. Didn't know where it was going. Well, it's leaking much faster now. Water pump. Removed it and made it to the parts store just in time to exchange it. Will be putting it on shortly.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

My 97 is up to 118k miles now so I figured I'd service the wheel bearings. Me being me, I scope creeped it to include new bearings, rotors, seals, rebuilt calipers with new pads and braided brake hoses.

Nice to be "thorough" while you're at it. You made it purdy while you were at it.

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

My truck has been losing water very slowly for a while now. Didn't know where it was going. Well, it's leaking much faster now. Water pump. Removed it and made it to the parts store just in time to exchange it. Will be putting it on shortly.

Them Chevys let you know when they need something

[Just call me Sean]

It's not even cold here but an animal crawled into the radiator shroud of the 99 yesterday and this is my fan. I picked one up from the junkyard this morning and just put it on.

[special-K]

I guess the animal lost that fight?

I'm a wimp. I've been wanting to change my oil, a simple task. I like to drain oil when it's hot. The last couple days it has been in the 90s and crawling under a hot truck to remove a hot filter and drain plugs has not been appealing to me at all. I'm thinking run it a bit in the morning, then change the oil while it's in the 60s.

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by special-K

I guess the animal lost that fight?

I'm a wimp. I've been wanting to change my oil, a simple task. I like to drain oil when it's hot. The last couple days it has been in the 90s and crawling under a hot truck to remove a hot filter and drain plugs has not been appealing to me at all. I'm thinking run it a bit in the morning, then change the oil while it's in the 60s.

If it's 90° out, then your oil is 90°. Change away! Haha. Around here, that's almost operating temperature for most of the year... Not quite. That way, you can look at rolling under your truck as being in the shade.