Edgar: The adventures and ramblings of a high mileage 1992 Chevy K1500 RCSB
- Thread starter TwinDuro
- Start date
plumber mike
Adventurer
Jegs has the pipe you need to “test” catalytic efficiency.
TwinDuro
Well-known member
With the boat launches and fishing reopening in the past few days and with the weather being perfect, I had to get out on the water for the first time this season:
Loaded up the truck and headed out to Lake Kapowsin, the only parking spot available being next to another K1500.
Haven't pulled a license yet, so no fishing today, but instead paddled across the lake and found a shady spot to enjoy a beer and a cigar for old time’s sake and lounged for awhile. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday
Long time friends Nick and Megan on their maiden voyages of they’re new fishing kayaks. Gotta admit, I’m a bit envious of the multiple rod holders their boats have. These new units have a lot of nice features:
Loaded up the truck and headed out to Lake Kapowsin, the only parking spot available being next to another K1500.
Haven't pulled a license yet, so no fishing today, but instead paddled across the lake and found a shady spot to enjoy a beer and a cigar for old time’s sake and lounged for awhile. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday
Long time friends Nick and Megan on their maiden voyages of they’re new fishing kayaks. Gotta admit, I’m a bit envious of the multiple rod holders their boats have. These new units have a lot of nice features:
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TwinDuro
Well-known member
In preparation for a little dirt adventure this upcoming weekend, I’m finally getting the cooling system up to snuff, by replacing the dumb heater hose quick connect on the intake manifold with a proper barb fitting (wish me luck, I hope to god it comes out without surgery!):
... and new heater hoses, radiator hoses, overflow hose, 34” x 17” x 2-3/16” core big block radiator, shroud and new stainless Tridon wide-band hose clamps, which are my favorite easy-to-find clamps. Stainless “T” band clamps are my favorite, but are kind of spendy and hard to find locally. A trip to the local NAPA and Lowe’s (for the clamps) got me squared away with Gates hose. The AC Delco radiator hoses came from a previous Rock Auto order.
Always helps to bring the hoses along to get the right size clamps... also as you can see, the toilet needs a overhaul as well ?
... and new heater hoses, radiator hoses, overflow hose, 34” x 17” x 2-3/16” core big block radiator, shroud and new stainless Tridon wide-band hose clamps, which are my favorite easy-to-find clamps. Stainless “T” band clamps are my favorite, but are kind of spendy and hard to find locally. A trip to the local NAPA and Lowe’s (for the clamps) got me squared away with Gates hose. The AC Delco radiator hoses came from a previous Rock Auto order.
Always helps to bring the hoses along to get the right size clamps... also as you can see, the toilet needs a overhaul as well ?
TwinDuro
Well-known member
Like a wise wrench once said “Every 30 minute job is one broken bolt away from becoming a 3 day ordeal.” What should have taken me about 30 minutes (replacing the rear shocks) ended up being a bit more of a struggle due to all of the upper shock bolts being frozen solid (should have hit ‘em with PB blaster a few days ago):
Thankfully with the right Rube-Goldberg array of impact swivels and extensions, the frozen bolts snapped in half with a few blips from the impact gun and I didn’t have to get the hot wrench or the grinder out, but I did have to make a run to the hardware store for new bolts/nuts/washers. The lower bolts came out without too much effort. I’m really thankful to have air tools these days!
Out with the old...
Here’s the old mystery shock (has silver paint like a KYB Gas-A-Just) next to the new KYB Monomax unit. The old shock took about 30 seconds to re-extend itself after being compressed so I’d say they were a tad shot. The photo makes the old shock look a lot longer, but they’re within an 1/8” when measured eye-to-eye:
In with the new...
A quick test drive at varying speeds over a rough section of road with speed bumps proved just how bad the old rear shocks were; what a night and day difference with the new KYBs!
After I put some miles of mixed driving on them up in the hills on Saturday, I’ll report back. So far, so good! ?
Thankfully with the right Rube-Goldberg array of impact swivels and extensions, the frozen bolts snapped in half with a few blips from the impact gun and I didn’t have to get the hot wrench or the grinder out, but I did have to make a run to the hardware store for new bolts/nuts/washers. The lower bolts came out without too much effort. I’m really thankful to have air tools these days!
Out with the old...
Here’s the old mystery shock (has silver paint like a KYB Gas-A-Just) next to the new KYB Monomax unit. The old shock took about 30 seconds to re-extend itself after being compressed so I’d say they were a tad shot. The photo makes the old shock look a lot longer, but they’re within an 1/8” when measured eye-to-eye:
In with the new...
A quick test drive at varying speeds over a rough section of road with speed bumps proved just how bad the old rear shocks were; what a night and day difference with the new KYBs!
After I put some miles of mixed driving on them up in the hills on Saturday, I’ll report back. So far, so good! ?
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TwinDuro
Well-known member
I’m curious to get some miles on them... My WAG is that they’re KYB’s version of a Bilstein 4600/5100 but at half the cost (especially with rebates). I’ve had good luck with Monroes over the years as well. It’s good to hear the Reflexes have served you well!
TwinDuro
Well-known member
Sometimes it’s the little things... the previous owner managed to not only rip the parking brake release handle off (pretty normal), but also sheared the pedal release lever off the pedal ratchet itself and bent up a bunch of the mechanism...
With a much better condition new (used) parking brake pedal and release on hand, I cleaned up the new assembly, greased the pivots and bolted ‘er up!
Amazing how nice it is to have a functional parking brake again! She holds on the steepest of hills and now I can warm the truck up in neutral without the use of a wheel chock ?
Like I said... the little things...
With a much better condition new (used) parking brake pedal and release on hand, I cleaned up the new assembly, greased the pivots and bolted ‘er up!
Amazing how nice it is to have a functional parking brake again! She holds on the steepest of hills and now I can warm the truck up in neutral without the use of a wheel chock ?
Like I said... the little things...
TwinDuro
Well-known member
Got a couple other things squared away, took the canopy back off and bolted the tool box back on and got all my gear together. Headed about 40 miles NE to Snoqualmie to explore some of the dirt up there with my buddies. We’ll see how she goes... she won’t be this shiny this time tomorrow that’s for darn sure!
TwinDuro
Well-known member
Had a great time exploring the North Fork with friends today. Mostly just unmaintained forest road cruising but there was some fun stuff in there as well. Had to turn around a few times due to tree falls (not just a few trees, usually 20-50, one after the other, blocking the road) as it's still early in the season yet. Saw some of the last snow before it melted as well. Gotta throw the "Chevrolet Dealer Brochure" glamour shot in first. Damn fine looking truck if I don’t say so myself! ?
Just for fun we crossed the river only to turn around (nothing over there) and cross it again. I've never done a water crossing a 4 wheeled rig (bunch of times on motorcycles) so it was a ton of fun for me. The drive down was a bit steep and tight though. Despite careful driving of course, trail pin-striping was mandatory...that's OK, it's a truck!
Easy does ‘er and mind the gap!
and the reward was a helluva spot to spend the morning!
‘ol Edger went everywhere I asked him to. The only issue I had wasn't really an issue at all, just something I already knew about. I ran out of time to swap the new radiator and hoses in so I just brought about 5 gallon jugs of water (currently running strait distilled water in the cooling system) and the side tanks were leaking profusely so everytime we stopped, I added water to the overflow tank. Went through about 2 gallons of water for the 140 mile trip but even in the slow sloggs of some of the rougher roads, the coolant temp never got out of control. Cooling systems are supposed to be total loss just like WWI era Harleys and aircraft engines, right?
The new KYB MonoMax rear shocks (also ran out of time to install the front ones) worked fantastic and made the heavily potholed (some large enough to house their own ecosystem!) and wash-boarded roads fairly pleasant compared to the old blown-out rears. As I was dunking the front diff crossing the river, I definitely thought about @vargsmetal mention about them dying when dunked. Didn't have any problems but it was definitely in the back of my mind.
It was a great test run of Edger and I'm looking forward to getting out on more adventures in the coming weeks and months.
More photos and videos to come of this little adventure (I'll update this post, so it will change a bit)! It was a much needed day out of the house and away from cell-signal enjoying time with friends having fun. Definitely put me in a good mindset to start the week.
Just for fun we crossed the river only to turn around (nothing over there) and cross it again. I've never done a water crossing a 4 wheeled rig (bunch of times on motorcycles) so it was a ton of fun for me. The drive down was a bit steep and tight though. Despite careful driving of course, trail pin-striping was mandatory...that's OK, it's a truck!
Easy does ‘er and mind the gap!
and the reward was a helluva spot to spend the morning!
‘ol Edger went everywhere I asked him to. The only issue I had wasn't really an issue at all, just something I already knew about. I ran out of time to swap the new radiator and hoses in so I just brought about 5 gallon jugs of water (currently running strait distilled water in the cooling system) and the side tanks were leaking profusely so everytime we stopped, I added water to the overflow tank. Went through about 2 gallons of water for the 140 mile trip but even in the slow sloggs of some of the rougher roads, the coolant temp never got out of control. Cooling systems are supposed to be total loss just like WWI era Harleys and aircraft engines, right?
The new KYB MonoMax rear shocks (also ran out of time to install the front ones) worked fantastic and made the heavily potholed (some large enough to house their own ecosystem!) and wash-boarded roads fairly pleasant compared to the old blown-out rears. As I was dunking the front diff crossing the river, I definitely thought about @vargsmetal mention about them dying when dunked. Didn't have any problems but it was definitely in the back of my mind.
It was a great test run of Edger and I'm looking forward to getting out on more adventures in the coming weeks and months.
More photos and videos to come of this little adventure (I'll update this post, so it will change a bit)! It was a much needed day out of the house and away from cell-signal enjoying time with friends having fun. Definitely put me in a good mindset to start the week.
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TwinDuro
Well-known member
Took a break from the norm yesterday to have a wrench day with buddies. We needed to put together a new spring pack for Nick’s 2015 Frontier Crew Cab long-bed which required some good old fashioned fiddling around. Added a U-bolt flip kit that needed trimming as well as a few other things.
Then we got around to reviving the restored 1944 Ford GPW Jeep that had been sitting for 3-4 years.
The 6V battery was toast, so I brought over the good condition unit from my ‘54 Chevy Pickup.
They did an awesome job on the restoration and the details are amazing.If you look close even the battery clamps have “Ford” cast into them along with all the bolts throughout the vehicle.
It took us awhile to figure out how a couple of things worked, despite these rigs being very simple, and we finally got her to turn over, but just barely. The Go-Devil Four was totally free but the starter would only give us about half of a full rotation.
We tried using an old full size battery charger/starter with a “6V cranking 200 amp setting” also to no avail. I remembered a trick I heard from an old timer, saying that “when you convert older 6V vehicles to 12V, you don’t need to change the starter because it’ll just crank faster, no harm, no foul” so we pulled the positive lead off of the starter motor and covered it up so it wouldn’t arc out and then we used a pair of heavy jumper cables and Edgers 12V battery (while running) to use as as an isolated 12V booster for the starter only.
It worked great and now we were getting somewhere but still no spark...
I popped the distributor cap off and the points looked a bit gray, so we rounded up some emery paper and I “flossed” the points to clean them up a bit. Success!!!
View attachment trim.F58996B2-D179-4748-AED8-06FB869D7389.MOV
We put some ethanol-free fuel in her, aired up the tires and without too much hassle, she fired right up! Once the cobwebs were blown out, she idled perfectly as well!
Then we got around to reviving the restored 1944 Ford GPW Jeep that had been sitting for 3-4 years.
The 6V battery was toast, so I brought over the good condition unit from my ‘54 Chevy Pickup.
They did an awesome job on the restoration and the details are amazing.If you look close even the battery clamps have “Ford” cast into them along with all the bolts throughout the vehicle.
It took us awhile to figure out how a couple of things worked, despite these rigs being very simple, and we finally got her to turn over, but just barely. The Go-Devil Four was totally free but the starter would only give us about half of a full rotation.
We tried using an old full size battery charger/starter with a “6V cranking 200 amp setting” also to no avail. I remembered a trick I heard from an old timer, saying that “when you convert older 6V vehicles to 12V, you don’t need to change the starter because it’ll just crank faster, no harm, no foul” so we pulled the positive lead off of the starter motor and covered it up so it wouldn’t arc out and then we used a pair of heavy jumper cables and Edgers 12V battery (while running) to use as as an isolated 12V booster for the starter only.
It worked great and now we were getting somewhere but still no spark...
I popped the distributor cap off and the points looked a bit gray, so we rounded up some emery paper and I “flossed” the points to clean them up a bit. Success!!!
View attachment trim.F58996B2-D179-4748-AED8-06FB869D7389.MOV
We put some ethanol-free fuel in her, aired up the tires and without too much hassle, she fired right up! Once the cobwebs were blown out, she idled perfectly as well!
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TwinDuro
Well-known member
First time she had moved in about 4 years...
View attachment trim.3E6FE2EB-C018-4DBC-8414-2E212E8C77A6.MOV
View attachment trim.3E6FE2EB-C018-4DBC-8414-2E212E8C77A6.MOV
TwinDuro
Well-known member
So of course, I handed my buddy a fire extinguisher (I know better at this point, lol, a lot of rigs new and old have tried to light me on fire over the years and these jeeps didn’t come with fuses! After another fluid and check-over, away we went.
You can bet the neighbors had a double take as we put a few miles on her around .
We each took a turn driving and it was a helluva experience to drive the original “Jeep,” one of the original vehicles that paved the way for what many consider “Overlanding” today. I had never driven a Jeep of any model before, so this is a helluva way to start! ?
View attachment trim.23CA0485-3CA7-42A7-BAD0-C36B3E079E6A.MOV
I love the experience of driving vintage vehicles so to be able to put a few miles behind the wheel of this rig made my month!
Compared to a modern rig, it’s rough, it’s crude, has zero amenities and it doesn’t have much power, but it did exactly what it needed to do to help the allied forces win a war that changed the face of the world as we know it... We can never forget the men and women who fought and served in these rigs.
While we all badly wanted to shift the Dana 18 into low range and explore some nearby trails, considering the condition of this rig, that was not in the cards, but that’s A-OK, what a great day!
You can bet the neighbors had a double take as we put a few miles on her around .
We each took a turn driving and it was a helluva experience to drive the original “Jeep,” one of the original vehicles that paved the way for what many consider “Overlanding” today. I had never driven a Jeep of any model before, so this is a helluva way to start! ?
View attachment trim.23CA0485-3CA7-42A7-BAD0-C36B3E079E6A.MOV
I love the experience of driving vintage vehicles so to be able to put a few miles behind the wheel of this rig made my month!
Compared to a modern rig, it’s rough, it’s crude, has zero amenities and it doesn’t have much power, but it did exactly what it needed to do to help the allied forces win a war that changed the face of the world as we know it... We can never forget the men and women who fought and served in these rigs.
While we all badly wanted to shift the Dana 18 into low range and explore some nearby trails, considering the condition of this rig, that was not in the cards, but that’s A-OK, what a great day!
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