I had a very pleasant lunch the other day with my eldest daughter.mainly just because I missed her and wanted to check on her.as usual she is doing well, winning the battle with the family daemons that make us over think things and cause inaction. She is hours away from turning in a paper for school. And she even congratulated me on fixing my truck. And then she said. I recognized it from the mess of wires hanging from the trailer hitch.
What? Really is that the most noticeable thing about my almost antique 1998 Chevrolet Silverado k1500? I’ve been working on the transmission and engine so long I don’t even remember why they are hanging.
Fast forward to today (Saturday). I should be working on the AC for the truck, but due to my inability to discard perfectly good things the shop was in need of some rearranging so I can fit the back of the truck in. I know the space is not large enough to fit the front in with the door open. So I figure if I have the back in with the door open outside, I can put down the plus wood and the moving blanket and use that as the base to work from to get under the dash. Look at me and my logic, so cute. Yes I think about these things all the damn time.
So plan in hand I actually started to get sh1t done. First the cleanup. Move some “collection items” that can handle weather, outside. Fold some moving blankets and stack some more cumbersome collectibles. Now to make it slightly more comfortable, clear the front of a 70 year old fridge and plug it in. I don’t really live using an extension cord for this but I haven’t wired this side of the shop yet.
I stole the fridge with two cases of water and a case of bud light cans. Just the necessities. I pull thee truck bed into the shop. And stare at it. Betty doesn’t flinch. So, starting contest lost, I get to work. Having previously swept the floor I slide under the bumper easily and take a look.
Why did I look? Right off the bat, 4 Issues. There is a hose laying on the exhaust that is melting. The rear differential cover is leaking, the shock absorbers have failed, and one not so new issue is the spare tire lift is broken. The tire lift I knew about, it let go half way across a plowed field that we were allow to park in for a skeet shoot a couple of years ago. I figured I would just grab one from Amazon and be done. But for some reason this vehicle and this particular year it is just plain NOT available. Damn. Whatever I will find a solution. So it is coming down. A couple of 15mm wrench and socket do the job and a small screwdriver removes the weird finger clip that holds the extension bar and it is free from the truck.
The melted hose is a serious concern. My thoughts go immediately to the spongy brakes. If this is a brake line and it is leaking that would be it. But I check the hose and it is actually completely melted on one side. There is no way this is a brake line. I follow it back to its source and it is the vent line from the differential. So if I go through high water it would allow water into my differential about 6 inches lower than the original vent. So not a huge deal. I don’t go through high water and we are in the middle of a 10 year drought. But I will be purchasing a new hose and using some manly zip ties to keep it safely away from this heat source.
At 250K miles even if these shocks aren’t original, they are beyond their useful life. I will look into the budget and see when i can replace them. Not much of a rush since I barely drive these days but they need replacing.
I knew about the leaking diff back when I did the transmission and even bought the gasket for it. Now I just have to figure out where I put it and do the job. It won’t happen today, but it is back on the list for attention. Today I will focus on these pesky wires.
While removing the spare tire lift I remembered that when the spare exited from under the bed, it didn’t want to be alone so it grabbed the wires to my trailer plug and tried to hang on. But alas these wires were not meant to tow a spare tire through a plowed field and they let go almost instantly and hung down like entrails of an injured animal. While the kids driving the golf carts shuttling the guests to their vehicles at the skeet shoot, grabbed my tire. I removed the t-plug from the truck lights and the plug and tried to tidy up the rest of the wires. The effort was minimal and the result was that mess that stayed that way for the past couple of years. Since I have not had either of my trailers for a couple of years (another story) this has not been an issue. But I found the T plug and wired everything back up including a nice ground wire, and used the 3M brand electric tape to wrap everything and keep it up behind the bumper. I do need to go back with some zip ties to be totally sure but for some reason I can’t find any in the shop.
Ok, check the fridge grab a beer. It isn’t totally cold but the freezer box at the top is definitely getting very cold. Awesome. What did I get done on the AC? Nothing. But I did move the ball forwards and I will be borrowing some “amazing” swaging tool from Tres to get the tire lift fixed. That will be a free fix and I like that, A LOT.
