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10/6/08
On July 4th, 2008, I blew the left front tire, despite the fact that
the car had been pulling harder and harder RIGHT for almost a week.
I replaced that tire with a matching tire on that date.
For the last week, the truck has been pulling right again, and has
had a serious shake when I first start out, smoothing out as I reach
freeway speeds.
But it was freaking me out, and I held to the right lane for the
last few days.
I was on my way over to Mike’s Frame today to get it checked out,
and called him on the way. I suggested perhaps I should go to Tires
Buy Mark (yes, correct spelling), and he agreed, warning me they
would undoubtedly tell me they could not match the tires and would
try to sell me two new fronts.
I then recalled I thought I had bought tires from Flip’s. I went
there, and Tim corrected me noting that my fronts were NOT Hankooks,
but Laredos. The rears are Hankooks, all 4 of them.
I asked if he had Hankooks, and he said yes and could have a pair on
in an hour.
I used the new Laredo left front for a spare, although at this time
I have NO rim or hanging hardware. So for $270 out the door, I have
now ALL matching Hankooks, all in good condition. Perhaps I got the
Laredos at Guadalupe Tire or Jalisco Tire down the street. They were
probably WAY old tires, as they both took a crap close to the same
mileage.
The truck feels WAY better. Now to cure the front end clunking
noise. I am supposed to go to Tyreman’s tomorrow for that $500
repair to the A-arms. I’ll call Joel and ask a few questions first.
I’m not sure I can do that right now.
The dually runs great, hauls with the Edge hooked back up, although
I am not crazy about the lesser low end performance. John talked me
through programming it for low end performance, but it does not seem
to be doing what I asked.
I’ll stop by DPS and see if they can straighten it out and turn off
the 71 MPH speed alert.
Mike, from Bob’s Big Boy, has still not stepped up notwithstanding
dropping the price to $17,500 last weekend while I met him there.
10/11/08
Mike is not ready to buy the dually, despite all the talk.
I took the truck to Flip’s and they can find NOTHING wrong in the
front. Time says it looks all new.
I attempted to go to Bakersfield today for the races, and the truck
started smoking just as I got to Roxford. I checked the Edge, cut it
back to ZERO setting thinking MAYBE it had gone into a too rich fuel
setting, but still saw some smoke.
I pulled off the 5 onto the 210 and immediately exited at Yarnell,
and as I pulled to a stop the trans downshifted with a clunk. I KNEW
immediately what had happened: the crappy little spring clips that
GM uses to hold the lines in place on the radiator let go. This is
the third or fourth time on two trucks this has happened. It was for
this very reason I spent a LOT of time and money having Brett put a
sensor in the line, which turned out to be useless, as the pressure
at idle drops to near zero, and at peak is about 35 PSI. Sure
enough, trans fluid is EVERYWHERE, including the rear of the truck.
I had it towed home, bought two cases of BrakeKleen, used three cans
to wash it down, and now I’m going to go out and start snooping.
12/29/08
Had an odd thing happen today, and not cheap. The dually has two
tanks, connected by a common tube. There should be NO air pockets,
given the size of the crossover. But, the lat two times I filled it,
I could only access the right tank, as I did not have my gas cap key
We’re gonna get rid of that locking cap tomorrow, as previously
promised.
Anyway, the fuel gauge showed near empty a few days ago, and I
refilled, only to find I could put no more than 18 gallons in it.
It showed empty again this tie, with about 300 miles (the same), so
I said no stop. MISTAKE!
It ran out on the freeway, and I coasted down the Desoto (east) off
ramp and made the corner, pulling right up behind a CHP, who was
writing someone a ticket. The short story is the CHP pushed me (with
his car) into the Shell at the corner.
I filled it, again only getting 19.6 gallons, essentially EMPTY on
the right tank. But why is it not filling the left?
It then would not prime, and would not start. I got a ride home, a
ride back, opened the left side tank locked cap, but no massive
escape of air, and the gauge did go down to a little over a half
tank. HOWEVER, the fuel level remained at the top in the right tank!
I had to get it towed, and AAA refused to tow it. Mind you, they’ve
towed this vehicle perhaps a half dozen times in the past few years.
No, no, not this time. So I will be gong to AAA to add RV coverage.
Utter bullshit, plain and simple.
I tried to get Harry, but he was booked for the day (about $45).
I then called Frankie at Creative, who had me call Jose. Jose towed
it, and then tried to hit me up for $100!!!
I had Frankie call him, saving me an entire $20. I will NOT be using
Jose again.
John and Jerry at DPS took the primer apart and after about an hour
go tit primed and running. VERY odd. Naturally, I will NOT do that
again.
7/24/09
The front end has not been cured, notwithstanding I have been back
to Mike’s a couple of times for realignment. We did more relieving
of the center link, and sadly it managed to get out of alignment
scrubbing about half the life off a brand new set of Hankooks in
front. The clunking continues, but otherwise it seems to be holding
the alignment for now. The truck runs great.
I got the hifi FINALLY fixed and had the subwoofer amp rebuilt at
Monolithic, and the front speaker 4-channel amp checked for a couple
of months at Monolithic with no apparent problem. I had Greg build
me a high pass filter for the rear door speakers, as they share the
EQ‘d bass signal to the subs. I installed this filter ahead of the
electronic crossover to the rear doors, but Greg says it won’t work
that way. So I will re-wire the in and out AFTER the xover and put
it only in the low pass circuit to the mid-bass speakers.
All said, it is nice to have a substantial sound back in the truck.
Every time I go to Bob’s, Mike inquires about the truck, but
obviously has no interest in it. And, I have3 dropped the price from
$22K down to $13,900. I just have no idea what his supposed interest
was all about. I mean, I took him and his friends for rides in the
truck, and he asked week after week about it, came out and saw it
and the other cars here, etc.
Whatever.
It is clear that NOTHING is selling for what I am asking. I have
dropped the price drastically on several cars with no sales. I will
just have to ride out this economic crisis somehow without selling 5
cars.
8/12/09
I have not altered the rear door xover yet. I had FOUR things go bad
AT ONCE:
1-the radiator leaked, so I replaced it
2-The oil cooler, integral to the oil filter, leaked and John at DPS
kindly gave me a new unit FOR FREE. It has a TINY drip now (water).
I had noticed sludge in the puke tank.
3-The truck would not run (it did for ten seconds then shut off)
after we did the above work, due to the bunged-up oil pressure
sensor pins and plug. I hard-wired it and FINALLY got the truck to
start by priming the hell out of it.
4-The fuel system was not holding a prime. There was a pinhole leak
in the hard line just under the driver area. I replaced those lines
with blue line to the motor.
It now works.
WHEW!
A fellow in Arizona expressed strong interest in the truck, citing
he would call in a month after his crop-dusting season ended, and
would fly into Van Nuys to see the truck.
Jay has yet to correct his dash work.
I found a loose core support bolt, and tried some shim work while we
had the radiator and intercooler out. We shall see.
9/6/09
It took Jay 10 days to do the dash. He took my advice and removed
his second bondo attempt and fiberglassed the panel, then painted
it. Once back, the radio was not installed, and the AC quit a day
later. It turns out the AC blower motor died (and had been expiring
for quite a while). This was BRAND new three years ago. I got a new
one for FREE at AutoZone on its lifetime warranty. My engineering on
removable wheel well access panels proved critical. Of course I
could not find the ONLY size socket/wrench that would work on the
screw a 9/32 or 7 mm. I bought a 7 mm ¼” drive socket. Bingo, we
have air. The stereo works, but NOT the front amp. It’s too friggin’
hot to sit in the truck testing for now. The subs and rear door
speakers work, so at least I have sound. All items are fixed, and I
have just not pushed the hifi into the sleeve locks as yet. The
truck is apparently now no longer leaking in the area of the oil
cooler. It still is purging some oil out of the tank, though. Not
puking, just bringing residual (I sure hope) oil to the top.
I also found a couple of spare horns, and mounted those in the right
fender area. I just have to find the horn wire to get them all
working.
I cleaned up the interior, REALLY cleaning the dog hair and dust
from the seats. So no rides for the doggies for a while.
No word yet from the Cropduster.
9/7/09
I broke down and took the dogs for a ride today. So I will have some
vacuuming to do. Gotta have fun, you know?
I need to get on the front amp thing early in the morning when it’s
cool.
I talked with Rob Anderson regarding trying to purge the remaining
oil sludge out of the cooling system. He said not to worry about it,
as it will naturally just rise to the top. I found some in the bends
of the hoses when we changed the radiator, so I’m figuring I might
be losing a little flow in the evaporator or in some of the lines.
The dash temp gauge does not read the same as the computer readout
on the Edge at all times, and that makes me a little suspicious that
the sensor is greased up. I may try some surfactants to solubize the
oil and then drain the whole thing and flush it. I’m really running
around taking off any hoses again to inspect. I will just have to go
that route I guess.
3/3/10
I did not solubize. The truck seems to be running quite cool now,
and an oil leak at the trans cooler (just an O-ring) has been solved
at DPS. The EDGE computer crapped out once again, and for $100 I got
it replaced. Runs great again.
The amp thing turns out to be something I deduced: the turn on
sensor does NOT like anything over 12 volts. So on charging, it
shuts off. Greg at Monolithic sent me some zener diodes, and I will
install them soon. I will also relocate the rear door speaker sub
filter as directed.
No word from the crop duster. I advertised for a few times in
Craig’s List then stopped.
I am taking the truck to Creative for some minor paint touch up, and
just putting no expectation in selling ANYTHING right now.
I continue to take the dogs around, and vacuum the truck out every
couple of weeks.
I have not seen Mike at Bob’s (who over a year ago was so hot to
trot on the truck). I am looking to get a heat pump AC unit for the
house from him.
The steering continues to go off, and I replaced the front tires. I
called Tommy Lee, and am due to call him again to look it over. The
wheel appears to have gone out of adjustment after about a month. I
must get to him soon, before I scrub these tire off, too.
4/6/10
The steering is off, but now it is in the steering column. It
appears the knuckle joint on the tilt wheel has gone WAY loose. Roy
is returning tomorrow to finish opening the column (he needed
something to access the snap ring holding it all down), and I hope
we find nothing broken, just loose.
The hifi is now working on front speakers, and I have not installed
the Zener diodes, nor relocated the low filter in the system to the
rear doors. But, soon.
4/7/10
Roy came today and it took him 6 hours to repair the column. Turns
out a snap ring had popped off the u-joint in the tilt mechanism,
and could have resulted in NO steering. Whew!
Roy will return tomorrow (his regular day) to put two final boot
pieces on the column and address other matters on the 92 Tbird.
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