What did you do with your truck/shop today

[Chris]

Washed her this evening during my lunch break. I'll try to take pictures tonight, when I get home, if it doesn't rain. But since I washed her, it is more likely to rain, now.

Raining in Tehachapi. Tuesday night I had to change the tire on my Honda in the rain on the side of 58. Had to drive the truck today


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[CadillacLuke24]

Got a lot of small goodies added Thursday. Little accessories that may make life easier down the road. 

[Chevyguy85]

Tried to take the steering stabilizer off to see if that's what's making my truck pull.  I guess we messed up the locking nut putting it on, I can't get it off so I just put it back on and I'll deal with it.  Eventually I'll get another alignment done when I find a shop that can fit my truck and that I don't hate.  Checked the air pressure in my tires, fronts were at 65 like they were supposed to be, dropped them down to 60.  3 rears were at 70 (supposed to be 60) dropped those 3 down to 55.  One was flat, (driver rear outer) I don't know how long it's been flat and the tire shows no visible damage.  At first I thought it was the core so I pulled that out and put it back in, nope.  Looks like the valve stem either isn't seated properly or went bad, all the air is leaking out from there.    So tomorrow I'll wake up early and get that fixed before work.

[Jsdirt]

Up here, we constantly get leaks out the valve stem from corrosion. It pushes the rubber up and away, and creates slow leaks that drive everyone nuts.

 

You might want to do an alignment yourself with string, chalk, masking tape, and a tape measure. You'll probably end up with a better job anyway, plus you'll save $70, or whatever the going rate is down there.

 

Might have to nick that nut off with a torch, or, try hammering on it with a 1/2" drive impact first. It'll either come off, or bust the bolt - either way will get it off. 

 

Something I didn't think about before - if you're still having a slight shake from wheel imbalance, try balancing beads. Forgot all about them - trucking companies I worked for used to use them in steer tires. Worked real good.

[Ravenkeeper]

Last night, I drove my wife to a new restaurant in Quartz Hill, CA, they opened their doors on Valentine's Day. 

[Chevyguy85]

Up here, we constantly get leaks out the valve stem from corrosion. It pushes the rubber up and away, and creates slow leaks that drive everyone nuts.
 
You might want to do an alignment yourself with string, chalk, masking tape, and a tape measure. You'll probably end up with a better job anyway, plus you'll save $70, or whatever the going rate is down there.
 
Might have to nick that nut off with a torch, or, try hammering on it with a 1/2" drive impact first. It'll either come off, or bust the bolt - either way will get it off. 
 
Something I didn't think about before - if you're still having a slight shake from wheel imbalance, try balancing beads. Forgot all about them - trucking companies I worked for used to use them in steer tires. Worked real good.

I'm not sure it's the tires. Tried beads before and then tried double the recommended amount per the suggestion of the bead manufacturer. I don't remember how much time passed between the beads and the tires being declared bad. Whatever it is causing the issue goes away and then comes back within a few hundred miles of something being done to the truck.

At this point I'm just waiting for all the 2020s to come out and I'll see if I like something from any of the 3. Seems like they're all pretty much the same from a reliability and crap dealership service standpoint. F450 seems to keep being thought about. Probably won't be thrilled with the tires on it though and I don't want to know the hassle it's going to be getting that thing serviced.

I'm not going to torch the stabilizer off its pretty much new condition still. I couldn't fit an air tool in the space. Maybe if I pulled the plastic skid plate off, but even then I don't think so. Just wanted to see if that's what was causing the pull. Reviews on multiple sites had people saying their vehicle started to pull after installing that bilistein stabilizer. I had the truck aligned last year, it wasn't off very much for its first alignment that had been done on it, had seventy something thousand at the time. Alignment I think is probably closer to $100, if I had a car I could get it done for $50 or less. Problem for me isn't paying for the alignment it's finding someone to pay who can do the job.


What I did today:
Valve stem replaced, place didn't even charge me.

I'm glad I was taught to check stuff before a trip, driving to Gainesville Friday. I am curious how long it had been flat though.

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[Jsdirt]

8 hours ago, Chevyguy85 said:

I'm not sure it's the tires. Tried beads before and then tried double the recommended amount per the suggestion of the bead manufacturer. I don't remember how much time passed between the beads and the tires being declared bad. Whatever it is causing the issue goes away and then comes back within a few hundred miles of something being done to the truck.

At this point I'm just waiting for all the 2020s to come out and I'll see if I like something from any of the 3. Seems like they're all pretty much the same from a reliability and crap dealership service standpoint. F450 seems to keep being thought about. Probably won't be thrilled with the tires on it though and I don't want to know the hassle it's going to be getting that thing serviced.

I'm not going to torch the stabilizer off its pretty much new condition still. I couldn't fit an air tool in the space. Maybe if I pulled the plastic skid plate off, but even then I don't think so. Just wanted to see if that's what was causing the pull. Reviews on multiple sites had people saying their vehicle started to pull after installing that bilistein stabilizer. I had the truck aligned last year, it wasn't off very much for its first alignment that had been done on it, had seventy something thousand at the time. Alignment I think is probably closer to $100, if I had a car I could get it done for $50 or less. Problem for me isn't paying for the alignment it's finding someone to pay who can do the job.


What I did today:
Valve stem replaced, place didn't even charge me.

I'm glad I was taught to check stuff before a trip, driving to Gainesville Friday. I am curious how long it had been flat though.

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Didn't mean torch off the whole stabilizer - just the nut. I just did that recently on a '98 Ram 2500 rear shock top bolt that was rusted to crap.  Special bolt, so I didn't want to destroy it, but the nut had been rounded off, then brought to me. If your quick and careful with the torch, you can blow out the nut, and not even touch the threads.

 

Ford or Toyota would be the only ones I'd consider today. Given a choice, neither, lol -  a '68 GMC fits the bill for me. 

 

That coming and going of the shake suggests a dragging caliper, or ABS issue. Pretty common on these trucks, unfortunately. I had a different problem right out of the gate with 40 miles on the clock - pulsation issues upon brake application, thanks to GM's chinese rotors. How a rotor could warp that fast just defies logic!

Edited March 12, 2019 by Jsdirt

[Jsdirt]

On the truck front, the Silverado finally got all new belts, tensioners, and an idler pulley, after the A/C tensioner pulley puked it's balls out, bound up on the 4 balls that were left, seized solid, and turned my Delco Fleetrunner A/C belt into a pile of green goo.This is the second bearing I've installed in the tensioner pulley - that one only made it 21k miles. SKF bearing too - used to be the best of the best. Welcome to the 21st Century.

 

At 76k miles, everything was starting to get noisy, so I greased up the main tensioner bearing and idler. Those were just starting to get noisy again. I attempted to grease up the tiny 6001 bearing in the A/C tensioner pulley, but that thing spins so fast, it wasn't happy with the John Deere Corn Head Grease I used, even at a NGLI #0 - guess it was just too heavy. That's when I replaced the bearing with an SKF.

 

While the belt was off, noticed the alternator bearings getting loud. That will fail next. Better order the rebuild kit now. 97,248 miles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by Jsdirt

[kstruckcountry]

On the truck front, the Silverado finally got all new belts, tensioners, and an idler pulley, after the A/C tensioner pulley puked it's balls out, bound up on the 4 balls that were left, seized solid, and turned my Delco Fleetrunner A/C belt into a pile of green goo.This is the second bearing I've installed in the tensioner pulley - that one only made it 21k miles. SKF bearing too - used to be the best of the best. Welcome to the 21st Century.

 

At 76k miles, everything was starting to get noisy, so I greased up the main tensioner bearing and idler. Those were just starting to get noisy again. I attempted to grease up the tiny 6001 bearing in the A/C tensioner pulley, but that thing spins so fast, it wasn't happy with the John Deere Corn Head Grease I used, even at a NGLI #0 - guess it was just too heavy. That's when I replaced the bearing with an SKF.

 

While the belt was off, noticed the alternator bearings getting loud. That will fail next. Better order the rebuild kit now. 97,248 miles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My original alternator made it 193,000. Still charged, but was making some serious noise. I was pretty impressed.

 

I have started checking pulleys every oil change. It's cheap insurance.

 

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[Jsdirt]

Yeah prior to '07, GM still built some solid stuff. My ol' man's '02 2500HD Duramax still had the OE alternator at 230k miles in '15!  The body was a different story, though.

 

I doubt I'll get another 30k out of my alternator, judging from its sound.

[KARNUT]

Yeah prior to '07, GM still built some solid stuff. My ol' man's '02 2500HD Duramax still had the OE alternator at 230k miles in '15!  The body was a different story, though.
 
I doubt I'll get another 30k out of my alternator, judging from its sound.

My 92 truck is still rocking and rolling. When I retired I had more confidence in it than my 14, got rid of the 14. Every thing works even the under hood light. I’d drive it anywhere. I have a cassette adapter that I hook to my phone to play through the original radio. Or I play my six disk CD changer.


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[Jsdirt]

Just now, KARNUT said:

My 92 truck is still rocking and rolling. When I retired I had more confidence in it than my 14, got rid of the 14. Every thing works even the under hood light. I’d drive it anywhere. I have a cassette adapter that I hook to my phone to play through the original radio. Or I play my six disk CD changer.


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The GMT-400 was THE best truck GM ever built from a reliability standpoint. I had a '94 K1500 - my OE fuel pump, ball joints, hub bearings, & U-joints all made it well into 200k miles. I sold the truck with 266k on the clock, everything still working perfectly. Sold that for the '07. Biggest mistake of my life ...

[Jsdirt]

I felt compelled to have an "Airplane" (the movie) response to that, but I'll spare you ... 

 

I'm running Bilsteins all the way around - front struts, rear shocks. They handle big G-out type bumps really well, but are a little on the firm side for my tastes over our chewed up Massachusetts roadways up here.

[RyanbabZ71]

Preliminary order submitted. We will see if it is accepted tomorrow




Ryan B.

[SnakeEyeSS]

1 hour ago, RyanbabZ71 said:

Preliminary order submitted. We will see if it is accepted tomorrow




Ryan B.

Edited March 14, 2019 by SnakeEyeSS