Finally!

[merrylander]

I trust you are aware tha asbestos brake linings or whatever they use tend to slip whenwet and lock up when greasy.

[piece-itpete]

Ah so! Thanks.

Pete

[piece-itpete]

Originally Posted by JJIII

Find a safe place and try hitting the brakes hard in the rain. The S 10 I had was bad about locking the rear brakes in slippery conditions. That can be very exciting!

Fun! They are supposed to be antilock rears, I'll give it a shot.

Pete

[piece-itpete]

Did the suspension on the 03 boat! New police-valved gas-a-just shocks, civilian spec springs, bushings/cushions/seats, stock style rear upper and lower control arms, watts link. They do make billet control arms that the Mercury Marauder guys say make a huge difference, but they were out of reach at the moment.

Self locking frame bolts/nuts, ug. And the center nut on the watts is a 200 ft/lb spec, feels like it all the way off. The upper rear control arm bushings were shot, the lowers not much better, the watts barely acceptable.

I had the front shock assembly off the car (it looks like a strut but as it doesn't take the place of the upper ball joint it's actually a 'coilover' shock) and had the strut compressors on (thanks again Rob ) as far as they would go, with only the top 1-1/2 or so coils of the spring uncompressed, and the darn mount plate still flew 30-40 feet when I cut the top nut off.

After that fair warning I took it into a shop to have them assembled and the spring rate is so high on these they had a tough time even with the wall mounted machine. The mech asked me 'What SUV are these for?' Meaty:



For $25 for the pair to be assembled money well spent.

Anyway results? The police spec shocks are a bit stiff. If I do an 03+ again I'd probably use civilian spec ones. Still, the ride is perfectly acceptable and bad roads don't phase it, it's even more surefooted than before. Add the new tight bushings on the rear axle and it's almost unbelievable that a car this big and heavy handles the way it does.

Pete

[piece-itpete]

Bloody Nora. After redoing the AC and having it rigged and charged, the SO says she turned on the air and smelly smoke poured out from under the hood. Probably fried compressor.

Pete

[piece-itpete]

Did the exhaust manifold on the S-10, it had a small leak. It runs better.

Did the front brakes/hdwr/bearings/rubber brake lines too. A knocking noise I thought was the lower control arm bushings turned out to be old caliper hardware on the pass side. Awesome!

Also found out that singing along to 'Family Tradition' while half knackered in front of my better half isn't well received

Pete

[barbara]

Remember my son's truck I spoke about and you guys gave me advice.... We finally found the back end piece it needs and my son got his money together and it's getting fixed this week.
Thanks for all your good advice.


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[piece-itpete]

Very cool!

I hop in the old truck yesterday, fire it up, release the parking brake and - the lever comes off in my hand.

At least it released it but now I worry I'll accidently set the brake from habit

Pete

[bobabode]

It's a Chevy...

[JJIII]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Very cool!

I hop in the old truck yesterday, fire it up, release the parking brake and - the lever comes off in my hand.

At least it released it but now I worry I'll accidently set the brake from habit

Pete

Just once!