CK5
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The K30 did some good work tonight!
My girlfriend's scooter was stolen a couple of years ago. We think it was right about mid-July of 2021. Yesterday, she woke up to a voicemail from Denver Police saying that they had recovered it. We had given up on it a long time ago. Needless to say the thief or thieves were not kind to it.
Here is it shortly after she bought it...
...and here is a picture of it when we picked it up.
So, we loaded it into the back of the K30 and took it back home.
Here are a couple of pics:
You probably already noticed the paw prints... but the ramp in the bed is actually for my dog. I use it for her to get up into the Blazer. I double-checked and it supports up to 300 pounds, and the scoot comes in at 200-something. It worked out great for us.
The truck has so many problems that I need to address...
My girlfriend's scooter was stolen a couple of years ago. We think it was right about mid-July of 2021. Yesterday, she woke up to a voicemail from Denver Police saying that they had recovered it. We had given up on it a long time ago. Needless to say the thief or thieves were not kind to it.
Here is it shortly after she bought it...
...and here is a picture of it when we picked it up.
So, we loaded it into the back of the K30 and took it back home.
Here are a couple of pics:
You probably already noticed the paw prints... but the ramp in the bed is actually for my dog. I use it for her to get up into the Blazer. I double-checked and it supports up to 300 pounds, and the scoot comes in at 200-something. It worked out great for us.
The truck has so many problems that I need to address...
- It shakes like a MFer every time I hit a bump and boy is it LOUD. I think it is a combination of worn out / non-existent window seals, body / bed mounts, who knows what else.
- It has some pretty inconvenient electrical issues that I need to figure out:
- It still has a parasitic draw on the battery. I accidentally left the headlights on while we were in the police building (~20 minutes) and when I came out it was dead. Had to get a jump.
- It doesn't charge well still. On the drive home, I saw about 9V on the alternator gauge.
- It doesn't beep at me when I leave the lights on and the door is open. I realize this is more of a creature comfort but clearly I can't be relied upon to remember to turn off the damn lights.
- It was shaking mildly at stoplights. I tuned the carb a short while ago and I thought I did a good job according to the video... but it still shudders a bit while at rest.
Mostly it needs a set of hub caps, the rest of that stuff will sort itself out.
Martin
Martin
You could probably let a good deal of air pressure out of the tires. Tire shops will put them at max psi. In the crew cab I run the fronts at 28 and the rears at 21. The C10 is also similar. Lower tire pressure will help with the ride. When I've had one of my trucks at the tire shop, I can tell immediately the difference in the ride after they've aired the tires up all the way.
Our 2500HD Silverado rides a lot better with about 200 pounds of weight at the back of the bed. You could consider something like that as well.
I don't remember what all you've done, but anytime I buy one of these old trucks the first thing I do is buy a new distributor, coil, plugs, and wires. I know it's not a thrifty way of doing things, but for example the 66 C20 will fire right up and run smooth and I haven't touched the carb on it.
Our 2500HD Silverado rides a lot better with about 200 pounds of weight at the back of the bed. You could consider something like that as well.
I don't remember what all you've done, but anytime I buy one of these old trucks the first thing I do is buy a new distributor, coil, plugs, and wires. I know it's not a thrifty way of doing things, but for example the 66 C20 will fire right up and run smooth and I haven't touched the carb on it.
I'm running 55 psi in my tires, so yeah... I bet it would make quite the difference to drop some air out.
Looking back through my notes... plugs, wires, dist, and coil have not been changed during my ownership and the prior owner didn't mention changing them (or their health in general) when I bought the truck.
I wish that I had followed a "regiment" when buying this K30. Hindsight is 20/20. I think when I buy my next square I will be really diligent about going in "steps":
- Wash it and clean out the interior.
- Fluid check and change.
- Tune-up (new plugs and wires at a minimum, etc.)
- Move on to other "problems" one at a time.
Plugs, wires, cap and rotor are pretty simple and cheap items to replace. Just be sure you have the firing order correct. I mixed up a couple wires and had a miss for a long time as a result. Don't be like me!
The reason I just replace the distributor is because I was stranded at the Loveland ski resort one night in my K5. It wouldn't start and we figured out it was due to no spark. We tried everything we could think of to fix it. Ultimately a new distributor fixed it. We figured the reluctor was probably too far gone.
Point is these trucks are at least 4 decades old and sometimes you're just going to fight old parts trying to get them to work. I think it's worth spending a little money so you can enjoy your rig instead of fighting it all the time.
Point is these trucks are at least 4 decades old and sometimes you're just going to fight old parts trying to get them to work. I think it's worth spending a little money so you can enjoy your rig instead of fighting it all the time.
Are you sure it’s a parasitic draw? If you’re not charging your battery it won’t take long to kill it….just a thought
First thing I do with a used vehicle is a full tune up and fluids. Resets my baseline. Then I can start troubleshooting and repairing.
Also, I run 40psi in my tires in my tundra and it’s a crew cab short bed. I’d run 35-40 in your truck. Do the chalk line test and see where it’s at and go from there.
Also, I run 40psi in my tires in my tundra and it’s a crew cab short bed. I’d run 35-40 in your truck. Do the chalk line test and see where it’s at and go from there.
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This^ I usually find about 7 miles of unused wire up under the dash, and generally the fluids look as though they’ve never been changed
You can(i.e. should) search for the information here, but basically, the PSI on the sidewall is ONLY for the load listed on the sidewall. The correct pressure is basically linear interpolation between the MAX load (sidewall) for the tire and the ACTUAL weight on it. Do you know the real front/rear weights of the rig?
Yeah, the battery will die down from just "sitting". It's a pretty terrible combination of (not charging well) + (parasitic draw).
Thanks for the tip! No, I don't know those weights. I can tell you that I rarely carry a load in the bed. If I do, it is fairly light. Eventually I am going to put the camper shell back on and am going to build a sleeping platform + camping setup in the bed... but that is a ways away. I'll do some reading.
I mathed out my pressures like @Blue85 mentioned. I also look at the tire contact patch and shoot for contact nearly across the entire width.
You could check here and see if you can find a vehicle that might be similar for weights: https://ridetech.com/tech/vehicle-weights/
You could check here and see if you can find a vehicle that might be similar for weights: https://ridetech.com/tech/vehicle-weights/
Yeah, there are other popular methods like marking the tires with chalk, I just wanted to steer you into the right direction.
There are actually a lot of places with open scales, if you look/ask around, like gravel yard, transfer station, scrap yard, etc.
There are actually a lot of places with open scales, if you look/ask around, like gravel yard, transfer station, scrap yard, etc.
I do that to all my vehicles
Drive in dirt then pavement.
Should look like this
Should look like this
Spent some time yesterday. Just wanted to get to some of the old quality-of-life things that I had been ignoring.
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- Santa came early. New door locks are in.
- Removed both windows. One of them is prying away from its track. Going to redo the adhesive on them, clean them, etc.
- Removed the window weatherstripping. God it was brittle. Broke all over on the driver's side. Passenger side was a bit cleaner.
- I found an old teddy bear in the passenger-side door. Freaked me out. Might name this truck "teddy" or "one-ton teddy".
- A while ago, I was able to get most of the driver's side door dent out. I used a $2.50 suction cup from Harbor Freight. Thanks VGG for the tip.
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Man I made a mess last night.
I separated the passenger window from its track because it was already coming loose. I cleaned the window with glass cleaner and I tried cleaning out the track with a rag and brake clean. Then I tried applying fresh adhesive. The window glass had a black "pad-like" material on it where the track used to be. I wasn't sure if that was old adhesive or a separate part so I tried adding new adhesive on top of the old material. Looking back on it, I am thinking that was probably wrong.
Anyhow the adhesive I was using was this stuff from 3M. I bought it many years ago and it has just been sitting on the shelf. The viscosity was so thick that I could not get it to squeeze out of the tube. I started trying to step on it to get the stuff out. Only a small bit (1/8") would come out at a time. Then it started leaking and getting everywhere. After a while I got frustrated and sorta stomped on it. The whole tube blew into two pieces.
I said screw it and just used my hand to scoop out the adhesive and apply it as best I could to the window and the track. I got that stuff everywhere. It was all over my hands, I got it on my tools, my clothes, etc.
I didn't take any pictures, but I should have. Both of my hands were black. It took forever to get it all off.
Fingers are crossed that the passenger window is firmly glued to its track now. I got a little bit of glue on the window itself, but not much. Hoping I can get it all cleaned up.
I separated the passenger window from its track because it was already coming loose. I cleaned the window with glass cleaner and I tried cleaning out the track with a rag and brake clean. Then I tried applying fresh adhesive. The window glass had a black "pad-like" material on it where the track used to be. I wasn't sure if that was old adhesive or a separate part so I tried adding new adhesive on top of the old material. Looking back on it, I am thinking that was probably wrong.
Anyhow the adhesive I was using was this stuff from 3M. I bought it many years ago and it has just been sitting on the shelf. The viscosity was so thick that I could not get it to squeeze out of the tube. I started trying to step on it to get the stuff out. Only a small bit (1/8") would come out at a time. Then it started leaking and getting everywhere. After a while I got frustrated and sorta stomped on it. The whole tube blew into two pieces.
I said screw it and just used my hand to scoop out the adhesive and apply it as best I could to the window and the track. I got that stuff everywhere. It was all over my hands, I got it on my tools, my clothes, etc.
I didn't take any pictures, but I should have. Both of my hands were black. It took forever to get it all off.
Fingers are crossed that the passenger window is firmly glued to its track now. I got a little bit of glue on the window itself, but not much. Hoping I can get it all cleaned up.
If it needs to be done again. Yes remove the part that stuck to window. That was is the glue for the sash.
Use the epoxy with the activator. Same stuff glass guys use on modern windshields. I used it to glue the sash back on one of my old Ford vans, worked great.
Use the epoxy with the activator. Same stuff glass guys use on modern windshields. I used it to glue the sash back on one of my old Ford vans, worked great.
Is that Lotso from Toy Story III?
Martin
Martin
