BettyBlue

[07Burb]

good job, uncle willie

 

[TheWarBeast]

Well, we made it back from TN with minor hiccups.


BettyBlue ran perfect and got 15mph running 80 mph up and down the hills. I am happy with that.


HOWEVER>>>> (as mentioned above) the starter decided to die when it was hot. If we drove a couple of hours we either had to sit for an hour, or push start it. NO major problem. My brother got me a mini starter (from a 2000 S10 Blazer 4.3l)from a junk yard he deals with and I brought it home.

We got busy and it sat for 3 days, then I put the starter in. We went down to a friends house to help him out and the truck would not start unless I pulled on the cable. We put it up on his lift and I tried to tighten the nut.


DAMMIT

I called about a new solenoid and local places wanted $100!!?!???! for it. We got a stock starter for $39.

I put the starter on and my wife BettyBlue off the lift and in a few short minutes we did this.

Yep right back up. The clutch line broke. I have not had the truck for a year yet, and we replaced it shortly after I bought it. I did some searching on my online posts and found I had changed it on October 6, 2016.

The counter guy was able to look it up by the date and it was the only one sold on that day, so he honored the warranty.

We went this morning at 6am while the shop was still cool and put it on.

Steph drove it to Charlotte. So far so good.

 

[TheWarBeast]

Wellll.......


After a year and a half and maybe 100k miles (odometer doesn't work, but that is average for me) the clutch that was bad when I bought the truck finally went out. I am very easy on a clutch. Wife was driving it when it happened so I can blame her. LOL. Tomorrow it goes up on the lift. Fortunately my friends shop is not being used right now.

 

[#1taho]

What else is new ??? Have you bought any new toys ?

 

[TheWarBeast]

What else is new ??? Have you bought any new toys ?

Not in a day or two. Still trying to fix the ones I have LOL>

 

[TheWarBeast]

IT was broken worse than I suspected.





At 845 headed down to TIm's. Right off the bat we had a problem. Steph ran the battery dead with the hazard lights last night. Tim pulled his big e350 van over and jumped it off The truck would not move at all. Since it had a tire chock under the back tire it wasn't going anywhere.



He went to fire up his little John Deere. It had a dead battery. However the Power King next to it had a new one. We jumpstarted the JD and he pushed the truck off the chock.



He has his forklift attachment on the loader. when ht pushed the truck up on the lift the hitch ball got hung on the loader. IT took some doing to get the pin out of the hitch to get it out.



We got started pulling it apart.



We had things well underway when Steph's alarm went off. She had to take Emily to work. I told her to go get the parts on the way back. I don't think she was out of the driveway good when we got the clutch out.





Tim and I sat and chewed the fat for a bit. Then he got a call. One of his customers had the front end loader fall off their TC30.







Tim just traded for a beautiful 65 Ford dump truck. We took it over to the guys property. Turns out the problem was poor maintenance. 6 of 8 bolts that hold the loader to the front arm were gone. We got it lifted back into place and told him what bolts to buy.

We got back to Tim's shop and waited.





Eventually, Steph came back. She had all but two parts and had to go up to Lincolnton to get them. While she did that we installed the clutch, and every thing else we had parts for.





She got back and we got things buttoned up. My back was screaming. I almost couldn't get out from under the lift.



Steph took it for a test drive. She came back and it was idling about 1800 rpm. She also said it had no brakes. I opened the hood and nearly got my beard sucked off my face, the brake booster line was off. Both problems solved.





When we got home it was time for Steph to go get Emily. I waited for Heath to get off the bus. After he did I got in the shower. Now I am sitting here, hurting like mad, barely able to keep my eyes open. How does a simple clutch job wear you out so much.

 

[Tonyrodz]

IT was broken worse than I suspected.





At 845 headed down to TIm's. Right off the bat we had a problem. Steph ran the battery dead with the hazard lights last night. Tim pulled his big e350 van over and jumped it off The truck would not move at all. Since it had a tire chock under the back tire it wasn't going anywhere.



He went to fire up his little John Deere. It had a dead battery. However the Power King next to it had a new one. We jumpstarted the JD and he pushed the truck off the chock.



He has his forklift attachment on the loader. when ht pushed the truck up on the lift the hitch ball got hung on the loader. IT took some doing to get the pin out of the hitch to get it out.



We got started pulling it apart.



We had things well underway when Steph's alarm went off. She had to take Emily to work. I told her to go get the parts on the way back. I don't think she was out of the driveway good when we got the clutch out.





Tim and I sat and chewed the fat for a bit. Then he got a call. One of his customers had the front end loader fall off their TC30.







Tim just traded for a beautiful 65 Ford dump truck. We took it over to the guys property. Turns out the problem was poor maintenance. 6 of 8 bolts that hold the loader to the front arm were gone. We got it lifted back into place and told him what bolts to buy.

We got back to Tim's shop and waited.





Eventually, Steph came back. She had all but two parts and had to go up to Lincolnton to get them. While she did that we installed the clutch, and every thing else we had parts for.





She got back and we got things buttoned up. My back was screaming. I almost couldn't get out from under the lift.



Steph took it for a test drive. She came back and it was idling about 1800 rpm. She also said it had no brakes. I opened the hood and nearly got my beard sucked off my face, the brake booster line was off. Both problems solved.





When we got home it was time for Steph to go get Emily. I waited for Heath to get off the bus. After he did I got in the shower. Now I am sitting here, hurting like mad, barely able to keep my eyes open. How does a simple clutch job wear you out so much.

Well, you got to keep your beard on your face, so I guess it was a successful day! Job well done.

 

[TheWarBeast]

The Epic saga of the broken brakes.


On Wednesday before last I went up to get a super sexy Jaguar for scrap. It also came with a lot of tires on rims.




The guy said it runs. I haven't tried it out yet.

About 2 miles from the house BettyBlue's brakes started to scream. Well not scream. They sounded like a shovel full of gravel in a dryer. It wasn't pleasant.


The next day we went out and tore it apart.

The back brakes were a mess. The parking break pin was sheared off, springs were laying all around. So new springs, slave cylinders, and shoes. They went back together and I went to the front.

I pulled off the drivers side and it didn't look all that bad.


I went around to the passengers side and things were a bit different.


It is hard to tell, but the rotor is cracked. We had noticed a slight pull to the right under extremely heavy braking, but only then.

When I tried to pull the rotor off it refused to come. Since the rotor was already FUBAR I got the big hammer out. Turns out the wheel bearing was starting to seize to the spindle. Great.

I sent the wife after new rotors and bearings. I came in. My back was done.

A neighbor called and said his truck was broken down at Walmart. I told him we would take a look at it as soon as BB was running, well, stopping.

Thursday we got back out to work on it. Right off the bat she had the wrong outer bearings. Dammit.

She got back and we put things together. I always pull the caliper slide bolts out, clean them on the wire wheel, and grease them. The ones on the passengers side refused to come out. I used the hammer and a punch and sent her for new bolts. These were bad. While she was gone I attempted to compress the drivers caliper. It was frozen. Fortunately I had a brand new one I bought for another truck. When she got back she was confused as to why the caliper had changed colors. LOL.

SO we got it all back together and then attempted to bleed the brakes. The back ones would not bleed. We tried everything. Nothing.

I pulled the line off the master cylinder. IT was pumping. I hooked that back up and took it off the bottom of the proportional valve. Nothing. I stole the one off my 88. We bled the brakes and things worked great. I pulled out in the road and did two hard stops. Suddenly the pedal went to the floor.

Back at the house we found the threads in the proportional valve had pulled out of the line for the front. The line had a perfect cylinder of aluminum around it. It looked like some kind of insert had been stuck in it.

So I put the other one back in. I could still drive with just the fronts.

Since the neighbors truck was a little 88 Nissan and was only 4 miles away I figured we could make it OK. We did. IT went up on the two dolly and home with no problems. Stopping distances were just a tad long.

I searched for a valve. No new stock ones anywhere that are affordable. So I looked on LKQ's website. They had 3 88-90 trucks. After 90 they changed the RWAL system.

The next day it poured rain. Nothing got done, anyone want to build me a garage. LOL.

We got up to LKQ and found that all 3 trucks on the website were gone. There was one truck that wasn't listed. I got the valve and we came home. I put it on the truck and it would not bleed. So the wife pulled it off while I did something I had never done before. I took the other two valves apart and make one. It worked perfectly.

Since I didn't get the neighbors truck fixed I had to take him up to the VA in Hickory the next day. We were cruising up the highway when all of a sudden the truck started shaking like crazy. I thought the driveshaft had come apart. Nope. I checked the lug nuts to make sure we got them all tight ( we did) and we tried again.

When I got up to 50 it happened again. I got back out and found smoke coming off the passengers side rear brake drum. Dammit.

We limped to the VA at 40 and got him to his appointment.

 

[TheWarBeast]

The trip home was uneventful.

It was 10 degrees. I came in. Too cold to be holding on to wrenches down south.

The next morning we got on the Nissan. Turned out to be a bad wire on the starter solenoid. Easy enough to fix. We took it back to him At that point my back was done in. We stopped.

The next morning I was awakened by another neighbor who was stuck on the side of the interstate...in the pouring rain. She said she had bad gas. We got there and it started right up and I drove it off the interstate to a church parking lot. The scanner said it had a misfire on cyl 5. She limped it back home. Good thing.

We got out the next morning and pulled the Kia apart. Why you have to remove the intake manifold to get to the coil packs I have no idea. Stupid.

That got taken back to her at about 4. My back was done.

The next day it rained again.

Finally, I got out to look at the truck. With fresh eyes I saw that the parking brake arm was out of place and the return spring was completely compressed. Turns out the genius PO had attempted to adjust the rear brakes with the parking brake adjuster.

SO after almost two weeks of messing with it I finally have brakes again.

 

[TheWarBeast]

Well, she got me home. Tomorrow I will fix it.