Project Plain Jane

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Well,this mornings walk was to a park with my dog. It's about a 20 minute walk,and I can still remember this walk being a herculean effort 4 years ago. Today that walk is EFFORTESS,like a big block mopar running 12's in an A body :D
 
In the gym 3 days this week! Plus the usual morning walk down to the sons bus,and back up to the park for the dog 5 days a week,and I'll see about adding in this weekend.It's an achievement and I feel pretty good,as the weights are slowly going up,and I have graduated from strictly machines to a combination of free weights and machines.Im still pretty weak,used to bench press 285 lbs 13 years ago,but that was my max. 115 lbs today but 3 sets of 8 reps. Hell of a lot better than sitting on the couch!
Got the rear brakes on the truck bled out,so will do the fronts this weekend. Then fix the wiring..Dana 60 here I come!
 
Hmmmm,if she ramps up cat production,the Ruger is meeting Mr Potato....
 
One step closer to the Dana. Truck brakes are done. On to the taillights!God I HATE this G.M pos,but it's what I can afford...
 
Just gotta tell the crazy symptoms this truck has. Brake lights work,but dimm,right turn sig works but ghost sig in left. Left sig no workie. And no tail lights period when headlights r on. Just gonna add multiple ground wires and see. Circuit boards r new...
 
What year and model of truck are you working on?
 
88 -98 Chevy trucks have issues with headlight switches,at least you know the circuit board fiasco. The separate grounds ,sound like a solid idea.( possibly light socket/wire issues..?)
 
03JeepJeep said:
I smell a fire claim on your insurance coming!
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Probably the best solution,but then how do I haul things like a Dana? Lol!!

It's a 92 GMC,and yup;the headlight switch was next on the list after ground wires for each tail light....I will pull the switch,and clean up the contacts if this ground wire thing doesn't help.

This truck didn't even have a neg cable to the frame. I was floored when I saw that,so I added a nice heavy one.Funny thing is,after I did that the mysterious engine miss went away and the truck now runs like a champ. GM used those cheap *** ribbon cable grounds on this thing. Junk IMHO!!Good thing the Caravan has been rock solid. Say what you will about lack of cool,thats absolutely true. But that van has given me 55 000 trouble free kms. Ideally it would have a hitch,and a small utility trailer for parts and the pos GM could go be someone else's headache.

It's raining right now so Im just gonna wait it out,and get right back on it.

Thanks for the help!
 
needsaresto said:
One step closer to the Dana. Truck brakes are done. On to the taillights!God I HATE this G.M pos,but it's what I can afford...
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Don't hate, when you do, somehow they just keep on giving you problems.

Might sound crazy, but can anybody prove me wrong?
 
goldfish65 said:
Don't hate, when you do, somehow they just keep on giving you problems.

Might sound crazy, but can anybody prove me wrong?
Click to expand...


Hmmmm,so it KNOWS I HATE it! Demonic possesion now seems realistic...maybe holy water instead of fire?
 
On another tpoic,thinking that once I have thr dana I will swap to the 4.5" bolt pattern. I do have those kh 4pistons and it is possible to change those over to the larger pattern with the use of mustang parts. That was done by another member here. I also have m body spindles and brakes,but worry about bump steer with this swap. On a probably impossible swap,I also have c body spindles,calipers and rotors...
 
Lol,no longer worried about bump steer with M body spindles. Read a very informative HotRod article about brake swaps. It's not a problem. Hot rod was very scientific in their article,and covered all the bases.M body,and big bolt pattern A bodies are essentially using b body spindles and ball joints,according to the hotrod article.

Another thing I have been thinking about,is who here could bend me up a cage at a competitive price? Thinking 8 pt.
 
I got out there today. Perhaps the turkey supper last night helped,lol. I added a ground wire to the left brake light,and a ground from the box to the frame. Also found my brand new grote circuit board I bought from rockauto had a bent contact that was preventing the bulb from seating correctly. With my sons assistance,I slipped a thin brass feeler gauge in to hold the contact aside,and also prevent the bulb from simply squashing it more. My son pushed the bulb in steady,and I wiggled the feeler gauge out. Now we have brake lights and
turn signals with or without the headlights,but no running lights anywhere.In fact the only thing that the headlight switch turns on is the headlights.
So we are good for daytime running.Thinking the running lights could be a fuse,but more likely the headlight switch.It might also be related to the interior footwell lights not working. I'll figure it out..
 
So I kinda forgot that I pulled the fuse for the footwell courtesy lights because the switch in the door was keeping them on.Well it also powers the parking light circuit,so lighting issues are resolved.

Gonna see if I can bust the Dana loose tomorrow. Bought a come a long hand winch in preparation,and a friend has volunteered to help drag it out and load it up!
Will get some pics up...
 
I had a old Dodge pick up that the door lock switch shorted out on me then the truck wouldn't run, had to pump the gas to even get it to turn over. Couldn't figure out why till I found a blown fuse, replaced it and everything was great. Turned out the door switches and fuel pump were on the same fuse. Weird.
 
Well I got out there today. It' didn't go so well,lol!!!. I spent the first hour loading up the truck,trying to think of everything I needed. Then I headed up there,and got this beast of a Ford p/u jacked up enough to block it up. I had an old mopar bumper jack,and it did the job nicely But in order to get enough hight I had to jack,block the truck,let the jack down and block up the jack then repeat 4 times. And that was just one corner of the truck. In explanation,this truck has been sitting in the bush for 20 years or more so I had to hand weed around the truck. And then my phone died,so no pics..Plus in spite of me bringing everything I thought I'd need,turns out the lug nuts are something like 15/16? So my socket kit didn't have anything that big.
The final nail in the coffin was the hot sun beating down on me the whole time.,and I forgot to bring water...FUBAR.Intense UV heat just flares me up like crazy...
Tomorrow will be better.
 
needsaresto said:
Well I got out there today. It' didn't go so well,lol!!!. I spent the first hour loading up the truck,trying to think of everything I needed. Then I headed up there,and got this beast of a Ford p/u jacked up enough to block it up. I had an old mopar bumper jack,and it did the job nicely But in order to get enough hight I had to jack,block the truck,let the jack down and block up the jack then repeat 4 times. And that was just one corner of the truck. In explanation,this truck has been sitting in the bush for 20 years or more so I had to hand weed around the truck. And then my phone died,so no pics..Plus in spite of me bringing everything I thought I'd need,turns out the lug nuts are something like 15/16? So my socket kit didn't have anything that big.
The final nail in the coffin was the hot sun beating down on me the whole time.,and I forgot to bring water...FUBAR.Intense UV heat just flares me up like crazy...
Tomorrow will be better.
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Man,had several days,like that.. Pulling turds out of weeds, in hot sunshine ,ugh ..You got it done,lol.
 
Sorry Abody bomber,didn't mean to misrepresent about that Dana as I did not get it out.

I went back today,had a second look at it after coming home yesterday and wondering if I actually had found a Dana60. The thing was friggin HUGE. Turns out it was a Dana 70,so I left it there.and proceeded home. But on the way home a thought occurred to me,about a friend of a friend who often has Ford p/u trucks in his yard. So I stopped in on him. He did indeed have a Dana 60,not a D70. So I offered him $100 cash right now,and I would pull it out today. He said sure!
So I went home,grabbed some cash and a some power tools as this particular truck is within 100 ft of an outlet.
I spent about 6 hours cutting it out,everything was seized ugg.I had to put a 4 foot cheater bar on my 1/2 inch ratchet just to get the lug nuts to budge,and there was 16 of em!It's sitting in the back of my truck right now. I got home at 7 p.m. The wife called wondering if I was dead. No such luck I told her lol!

And yes I have plenty of pictures,so I will get those up asap. I just need to figure out how with this new apple puter.
 


Organ donor. Rusted rotten 5? speed small block Ford


Great. 16 seized lugnuts. I had to take all of them off with my 1/2 ratchet and a 4 ft cheater bar (pipe) on the ratchet.


Dana 60!


One hour later the tires are off..groan. At this point I took a water break.


One side sitting on the ground. At this point I realised there was no way I was getting this thing out because the leafs hung too low. I ended up using my 4 ft pipe,and levered/skidded it to the rear of the Ford,where it was easier to clear the springs. The dana caught on something anyway while I was dragging it out ,and the truck fell on the dana so I had to jack it back up and reblock it.Sigh...



I told my wife I hooked up with Dana last night,lol! No frigging way would I even attempt to muscle this sucker.



What a drag.....O.K that was bad,but at least I found a good use for a G.M.C!



Hey who stole my Dana?!!!



You didn't think I was gonna lift it did you?


Pretty bushed at this point,so hands were shaking.result was a blurry pic. Nother water break.


I backed up under it,then used my cheater bar to lever/skid again. Loaded up in the dark,and went home...
 
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