Above 1200 Sq/FT The Salvage Garage

[Strouty]

The Alaska burb has a smaller list of things to do than anything else, some of it doesn’t need to be done yet and can wait for a while. I found the rear brake line that is rotted out, I have sprayed down some fitting, going to see if I can get the line replaced tonight and maybe get the bleeders loosened up. If not, I will be ordering wheel cylinders and probably full rear brakes. The front end doesn’t feel too bad, but my Buddy knows what it will or won’t need. I do not think I am going to touch the transmission yet, if I can get the truck so I can used it locally, that will get me started. From there I will most likely work on the Volvo, then once that is done I can swap the transmission in the Alaska burb, along with other things. I figure it will be the backup vehicle anyways, so putting some money into it won’t make me feel too bad, I just want to run it for a bit before I dump more money into it.

I still need to decide what I am doing for the Blurb, if I can get the defroster to work the way it is supposed to, then I would change the transmission. Ultimately if the Alaska burb is up and running, I really don’t need the Blurb this winter. I would love to start parting out some of the parts trucks and assembling a couple of the good trucks.

 

[Strouty]

I spent the last hour cleaning off the scale and rust blisters, it doesn't look too bad, the rockers are pretty much gone on both sides, but only the outside is rusted through. Probably just get a rough patch as I don't think there is any way to stop it from progressing without major surgery. I can easily get a couple years out of it in the condition that it is, hopefully the mechanical side is as good as I think it is.

 

[Strouty]

So far everything has come undone easily, even the brake bleeders loosened up. Got the hard bend done, now I need to feed it in and make the other end once it is in there. I think it came out pretty close, we will see if it hits the clamps or not. I did screw it up, twice, practice makes perfect.

 

[Strouty]

Got everything in, looks decent, for some reason I am not getting any gravity bleed, maybe the ABS? Not a rush anyways, but I thought it would be cool to have it done.

 

[walrus]

That looks like my bucket truck, rust never sleeps. Woolwax helps, 5 gallon bucket goes a long way

 

[Strouty]

I have been using Krown rust inhibitor, it creeps better and isn’t as messy. It seems to slowly remove the rust as well.

 

[jack stand]

F__k rust is all I can say!

 

[Strouty]

Today was supposed to be raining, it is sunny and 50 with some wind, but very nice, I setup appointments based on the forecast, so now I have to deal with that stuff. I might get some time this afternoon to move things around outside. The extended forecast looks nothing like winter, fingers crossed, I need that type of weather, that is for sure.

 

[68400BIRD]

-3 windchill here right now. I would love some more 50 degree weather.

 

[Strouty]

It looks like we are going to fluctuate from the low 20s at night to as good as the 40s during the day for the next week or more. Any precipitation looks to be rain as well, I am not going to complain.

 

[Strouty]

Maybe I can get something done this afternoon, should have an hour or two worth of daylight.

 

[86turbodsl]

Now I am confused if I am in 86's thread, had a brake line that wouldn't come undone, had to run a new line and I am NOT touching the other side, the rubber hose is getting reused. That line goes up over the driveshaft and around a bunch of corners and will not be as easy to replace. Hopefully the rubber line is OK, if not, well, I will have to do it, but I will see about ordering a line from Volvo. I couldn't find my bending pliers, so I did the general layout by hand, I hit all the clips that hold the line, so it couldn't be that bad, right?

As for "coated" brake lines, that is the dumbest gimmick EVER created, they look great, but the coating gets removed when the line is flared, so right at the fitting they tend to get seized up and usually you don't have enough length or room to flare the end again. NiCop is the best all around, bends easy, flares easy, and stays good essentially forever (or until your fitting rots off). The brakes were pretty bad, I have to start putting things back together now, shouldn't be too bad from here, just hope that the rubber line I am not replacing isn't a problem.

Man that looks familiar.

 

[86turbodsl]

The Volvo isn’t drivable, keeps going into limp mode or stalling, transmission slams, and you have to take off in third gear. I don’t have time to chase the problem right now, at least it has all new brakes.

Frustrating for sure, going to have to make a vehicle that works and fast. The Blurb could be fixed by changing the transmission, but then I still have my mystery no heat/defrost issue, so that isn’t the best choice. I am actually thinking of figuring out what piston is missing in the white diesel burb and just putting a used one in it. The Alaska 1/2 ton needs a transmission and at a minimum a brake line, most likely it will need more. The Maroon burb needs frame repair, transmission, and glow plugs on the hard side. So many choices and all of them seem bad…

Man, how many people are in the same boat? Seems like everybody i know. Good luck with the vehicles. i am sure getting tired of this stuff.

 

[86turbodsl]

The maroon burb still functions enough to get me home, last night I tried the Volvo, but this morning when it got into limp mode it was hard on the trans going up all the hills. My house is less than 5 miles from the Hill, so for right now I can continue to use the maroon burb, but I suspect it is going to give up the ghost sooner rather than later. If the snow stays away, I can drive the only dependable vehicle, Bev, but once it gets slick, it is essentially done.

Wasted a few hours doing some internet searching for the Volvo and then a couple random tests, nothing seems to be bad, at least not with the easy troubleshooting. I can tell the all wheel drive is not working and a good portion of what I found points to that system shorting itself out, then causing issues with the Can Bus, so I think that is the next bit of troubleshooting. I need to mess with the burbs a bit so I can at least see what makes the most sense moving forward. I am leaning towards the 1/2 ton Alaska burb, it needs a transmission, BUT, it is on the upper end, so in theory I could use it for a while as is, at least after I figure out what is wrong with the brakes. Basically you can go 50 MPH, after that you start to get into the RPMs a bit too much.

time to call Wes?

 

[86turbodsl]

I've never heard of Krown. I'm planning to throw fluid film on my stuff this year. I'm late...

 

[Strouty]

The Krown is made in Canada, good stuff, it works great and is easy to reapply. When you have to work on things you don’t get all nasty either. It doesn’t need to be warm to apply, but it creeps better when it is warm. I use it every time I do my oil changes.

The maroon burb is acting up with the ABS now, today is the last day I drive it in the road, I had a close call when someone stopped short, I am now keeping triple my normal distance just in case. I have one more stop for errands, then back to the Hill to get the ramp truck, going to try and drag another burb back to the Hill. I think I have a decent way forward, I should have a firm plan sometime tomorrow.

 

[Strouty]

I am over at the Salvage Garage, was supposed to be a quick swoop in and grab a suburban with the ramp truck, well two things are blocking access and neither will start. I think I have an issue with the points on the forklift or fuel (you pick), then the truck has crappy battery cables and a dead battery, I try and jump it and it loses connection completely. I don't have any spare batteries at the SG, I do have several at the Hill.

I am going to get a couple batteries, then see if I can move the truck, after that there is a neat looking M37 in the way of the burb I want to grab, so I will need to move that too. I have lost daylight and the temp is dropping like a brick in water, I am not dressed appropriately (my ballet outfit is too tight), so I am probably going to complain, a lot.

 

[bimmer1980]

At least you have some humor about it.....!!

Just need the audio and camera crew to be filming and broadcasting..... It seems that every week could turn into a drama filled episode...

Maybe the ramp truck just needs to be the daily driver??? It seems to be the most reliable of the bunch as of lately....... oops, don't jinx it... LOL

 

[legenddc]

Too bad you can't get a 6-month lease on a car. Then you could stop wasting time fixing things to get home and tear into a couple of project trucks.

 

[kaymccampbell]

It looks like we are going to fluctuate from the low 20s at night to as good as the 40s during the day for the next week or more. Any precipitation looks to be rain as well, I am not going to complain.

Frickin summer.

 

[walrus]

At least you have some humor about it.....!!

Just need the audio and camera crew to be filming and broadcasting..... It seems that every week could turn into a drama filled episode...

Maybe the ramp truck just needs to be the daily driver??? It seems to be the most reliable of the bunch as of lately....... oops, don't jinx it... LOL

Ramp truck isn’t his so hasn’t been stricken by the Strouty curse…….. yet anyway

 

[Strouty]

Technically the ramp truck has an issue, some accessory drive on the engine seems to bind up a bit when you hit a bump. I pulled the serpentine belt off, but nothing feels gritty, dang thing stops making the noise before you can get under the hood. I am sure it will end up failing as soon as I "own" it.

Perk is probably the most dependable, but not the best to drive around, Bev is the most dependable and pretty easy to drive, but not very winter friendly.

I gave up on anything to do with outside at the SG, I had to arrange for some gravel at the Hill, then another phone call turned into a long one, I am going to spend a bit of time cleaning up the shop, it is a pig pen and I can't find anything, seems to be a recurring theme that I just can't seem to shake.

 

[Strouty]

Look what I found, wonder if they have a charge? I also found the blower resistor for the ramp truck, so at least one win for the day!

 

[Strouty]

Got the F-700 moved, had to add a couple gallons of coolant, kept shutting down due to “low coolant”, at least I knew what I was getting into with that truck. The temps have actually warmed up since I last bitched about it, no wind at all either, should be able to scoop up the burb after all.

 

[Strouty]

It was a squeeze to get the burb out, had a bit of an Austin Powers moment to get the ramp lined up, got it out and chained as well as strapped down. The body on this one is almost completely unbolted, don’t want any issues on the way home.

If I remember correctly, this was hands down the nicest one and the first one I bought, we thought the engine was bad due to low oil pressure, pretty sure it was just the sending unit. Dad “helped” me tear this one apart when my hands were messed up, he got pissy with me thinking that I was just lazy when in fact my hands hurt so bad after just a little bit of use, he abandoned ship and left me with a partially torn down truck. It was great, good memories. Anyways, the plan had been to galvanize the frame and then rebuild it, I am pretty sure the rear body mounts wouldn’t come out, so I had to cut things. It will be interesting to see how the thing looks on the lift, might be somewhat salvageable, might be pure parts.

 

[Strouty]

The plan is to make it run again and see that it moves, but it might be more trouble than I think, probably is, per usual. I will have to do some head scratching, but I think this would be the candidate for the gray burb body that came from Florida, it would essentially become my work truck and the rest of the interior would be for my restomod of the OGMC, the one I bought new in 1999.

 

[Strouty]

A bit chilly this morning, if it wasn’t windy, it wouldn’t be quite as bad. I have gravel coming for some repairs to the Quonset hut area, then Wednesday and Thursday I have help in the form of a small excavator, 7 yard dump truck, and operator. Should be able to get some stuff done. Friday is pretty much out, I have a meeting with the accountant, trying to get ahead of the taxes so there is no extension and no mad scramble next year.

 

[Strouty]

A plan is unfolding for the earth work at the Hill, looks like we will be able to get a lot done, at least that is the hope! So far everything has started without any issues, the guy my Cousin sent over seems to be totally with it, he also said he isn't one of the guys that works only until 3PM, glad to hear that. Now I have to change almost everything that I had planned for today to get things ready and out of the way for the earth work, it should be worth it though, some of this stuff has been a problem for years.

 

[86turbodsl]

Technically the ramp truck has an issue, some accessory drive on the engine seems to bind up a bit when you hit a bump. I pulled the serpentine belt off, but nothing feels gritty, dang thing stops making the noise before you can get under the hood. I am sure it will end up failing as soon as I "own" it.

Perk is probably the most dependable, but not the best to drive around, Bev is the most dependable and pretty easy to drive, but not very winter friendly.

I gave up on anything to do with outside at the SG, I had to arrange for some gravel at the Hill, then another phone call turned into a long one, I am going to spend a bit of time cleaning up the shop, it is a pig pen and I can't find anything, seems to be a recurring theme that I just can't seem to shake.

Man do i hear that...

 

[86turbodsl]

It's 18F here and we got about 3 inches of snow last couple of days... heading your way!

 

[Strouty]

Nope, I already wrote refused, wrong address on it and sent it back.

 

[Strouty]

The Alaska burb looks overall decent, going to need some front end work, tires, shocks, rear u-bolts, and a few trinkets here and there. I am going to run it as is for the rest of the week to make sure there isn’t something glaringly wrong that would make it a terrible waste of time or money.

The white diesel burb is also in decent enough shape that I will put an engine in it. Have the burb I dragged out last night inside now, needed a couple pieces of rubber hose to loop some of the lines together before trying to start it.

 

[Strouty]

LOL, can’t make this stuff up, Alaska burb no longer has third or fourth gear.

Transmission swap it is, I may have a semi quick fix for the Volvo, but I can’t tackle that until tomorrow. I figured out how to “resolve” the brake issue with the maroon burb, just remove the ABS fuse.

At least I can still drive that for a couple more days. This **** is getting old, fast.

 

[Strouty]

It gets even better, the burb I dragged home last night, had about two gallons of water in the oil pan. Once we drained that out and changed the oil, it starts right up and runs great, even has 60 PSI of oil pressure confirmed with manual gauge. Wish I had never torn it apart.

Anyways, I am letting it drip drain all night and will refill the oil again, then I have to decide if I put it back together enough to drive it or just roll with it and stuff the trans into the Blurb as is. I am just so annoyed by everything right now, but I am also really close to have a bunch of things figured out and resolved. I am going home so I can eat and do laundry, then go to bed early so I can start a new mess (I mean day), hopefully it goes better than today.

 

[Prospecter]

It's hard to keep so many plates spinning, but you are managing!!! You got this!

 

[Strouty]

I think I broke a few.

 

[Just_Steve]

I think you need some gas and matches.

 

[930dreamer]

Our 2001 2500 Burb is ready for either the For Sale sign or a new engine, transmission, brakes and suspension. Just under 300K.

 

[Strouty]

All I need to do is

 

[kaymccampbell]

Everything.