blazer update

[84gmcjimmy]

blazer update-pics now*************

Look here for my previous thread from yesterday:
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123852
Today I went out and got the front spring off, I had to cut the end off, then I still couldn't get it out, so I had to cut inbetween the spring hanger, and the spring. Then it fell on my lleg... ouch
Then I move to the back and COULDN"T get the u-bolts off. The impact moved some of them, but after a little bit, it seemed almost like the impact made the nuts come off crooked. So I put that away and pulled out the ratchet and the cheater bar. DOH! They still don't move. Out of the 8 u-bolt nuts, I only got 1 off. The rest I just cut the U-Bolt off. Easier, plus I was going to replace the U-bolt anyways.
Then I moved onto trying to get the rear brake line off, I accidently wiggled it too much, so up by the frame, the line got a slice in from kinking. So since it was already wrecked, I cut it at the slice. Then I moved onto taking off the e-brake cable. I couldn't see how they attached to the wheel/axle assembly, (I thought it was a nut I had to unwind, but I pulled on it, and it came out a little bit...) so I just said **** it and cut the bracket off (I can always buy one from LMCtruck.com or make my own) so I jusst cut it.
THEN I had to go back to the front of the frame and lower the front down onto some cement blocks to support it. I then moved the engine hoist to the rear, in front of the axle (So I can roll the axle out) and lifted it up enough to roll the rear axle out. Then I lowered it back down onto some cement blocks like I did the front.
Then I moved to the rear drivers side spring and tried to unbolt the 3 bolts... DARN they were on there good. I ended up using a cheeter bar the whole time to get the nuts off. It took me a LONG time to do that. plus whenever I went to unwind the nut/bolt the leaf spring would flex making it harder to go a full turn.
That's all I did today, I didn't feel like doing the rear passenger side leaf spring because my back was sore, I was tired, and it was really dark out, even though I had a trouble light above me, so I will hopefully finish taking the leaf springs off tomorrow.
Now my back hurts from all that wrenching using my body to move them (they were on there REALLY tight) so combine a cheater bar, 195 pounds, and a little momentum... my back hurts...
Pictures to come TOMORROW when it isn't so dark outside

 

[85mudblazin]

screw the ratchet use a

 

[dremu]

get the nuts off

it's important to get your nuts off

Hey, umm, when you say cement blocks, do you mean like cinder blocks with holes in them? You know how easily those crumble, right?

Other than that, lemme say, you are one energetic crazy mofo, and I'm glad to see somebody doing a frame-off. My K5 could use it, but I'll prolly laze out and make a wheeler out of her, and get another one someday for use as a show truck -- that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

-- A

 

[84gmcjimmy]

mudblasin', I don't have a sawzall, so I can't use that!

it's important to get your nuts off

Hey, umm, when you say cement blocks, do you mean like cinder blocks with holes in them? You know how easily those crumble, right?

Other than that, lemme say, you are one energetic crazy mofo, and I'm glad to see somebody doing a frame-off. My K5 could use it, but I'll prolly laze out and make a wheeler out of her, and get another one someday for use as a show truck -- that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

-- A

The ones I am using have two holes. Half of the ones we had (we ha35, about 15 broke being dropped) but yeah, I know they easily crumble, but it's the only thing I can use. I don't have any jackstands, but after x-mas is over, if I have any money, I am going to buy 2, they cost 50 for the pair. So thats not to bad. One day when I have more money I will only use metal,But for now, I can only use the cement blocks. I am not under the area where if the blocks did give out, the frame wouldn't land on me. And I have them sitting the stronger way, so that gives me a little more security. But then again, it's not if they crumble, it's when. I'll be careful.

Haha the only reason why I am so energetic and "crazy" is because i am pretty young still. haha.
Thnks!

 

[POWERMAD]

Ya are certainly determined.
I have cutting disks for my lil Milwaukie grinder. It makes it a big cutoff wheel.
I can pretty much dismantle a rig in a few hrs with it if I have too.
Slices off spring eye bolts and u-bolts no sweat.
Just make sure ya use the handle and wear a sheild.
Above all think about what ya are doing and pay attention to what is going on, it only takes a split second and yer bleedin or worse.
It seems to me that ya are pretty green, nothing wrong with that no one woke up and knew everything and had a box of tools to work with.
Ya want to watch what ya tear up takin stuff apart, it can make going back together a tougher job than it has to be.
The right tools to begin with can make the job at hand either miserable as hell or a breeze.
Have a ball dude

 

[ryoken]

hey Steve, just so you can verify how dangerous your being....

those blocks with 2 holes can either be cement or cinder block. usually the cinder versions tend to be somewhat on the dark gray side, whereas cement will be whiter... also the cinderblock will also be substantially lighter than a cementblock. thats the telltale sign. some cement block can be a little gray like the pic below, but you can really feel a weight difference between the 2. if ya pick up a cinder in one hand and cement in the other, a cinder will weigh like 1/2 the weight...

keep up the good work and don't let bumps in the road get ya down... ya got plenty of help here to walk ya thru the difficult stuff.... oh, and a hot bath should help that back out....

 

[diesel4me]

cinder blocks--yipe!

I would not use cinder blocks or cement blocks for anything but building a garage!--I have nearly been killed when one turned to dust without warning before--that was enough for me!. If I need someting to use as a jack stand,I use wood blocks,or a peice of cordwood--its much stronger and safer..but you sound like you know they are dangerous,and know better than to crawl under anything supported by them..

I have done my share of frame off restorations on theese trucks,and have had many a sore back--your lucky to be doing this while your young--after you hit 40 you only dream about doing that kind of work--just sleeping in the wrong position will give me an aching back now!(I have scoliosis of the spine too,so its not hard to hurt my back!)..I have to be real carful not to screw my back up--it takes weeks to recover if I strain it by pulling on a lug wrench,I have to use cheater pipes a lot...At least when your young you can work all day,and part of the night without feeling like a coronary is in progress,and your body recovers much faster than an old f&&T like me!

I always torch off or sawsall the U-bolts off--havent seen any from new england that would ever unscrew,even after heating them up cherry red--its a waste of time and energy--I can get new U-bolts for 10 bucks apeice,and its nice to know they are new,and will tighten properly,a small price to pay for peice of mind..

 

[ryoken]

you probably had a cinder block.. we only get quality cement block, peoples lives depend on it.. considering i do bottom jobs where i lay under those 40 ton boats for a week at a time, i'm pretty confident in their strength.. these blocks don't "crumble", occasionally one might crack after years of use, even then it will usually be a vertical crack...

i'm not advocating blocks, certainly jackstands are better. i'm just trying to inform peeps that there are various types of block and the quality ones are more than up to the task... i've seen cars fall off jackstands far more often than i've seen a quality block give way..

 

[84gmcjimmy]

Ya are certainly determined.
I have cutting disks for my lil Milwaukie grinder. It makes it a big cutoff wheel.
I can pretty much dismantle a rig in a few hrs with it if I have too.
Slices off spring eye bolts and u-bolts no sweat.
Just make sure ya use the handle and wear a sheild.
Above all think about what ya are doing and pay attention to what is going on, it only takes a split second and yer bleedin or worse.
It seems to me that ya are pretty green, nothing wrong with that no one woke up and knew everything and had a box of tools to work with.
Ya want to watch what ya tear up takin stuff apart, it can make going back together a tougher job than it has to be.
The right tools to begin with can make the job at hand either miserable as hell or a breeze.
Have a ball dude

What do you mean I am pretty green? If you mean because of the tools, all I bought was the air compressor, impact, and some little things, and my mom paid for half of it (a good part of living at home still ) the rest of the tools my dad has collected over the years. He has always been a fix it yourself kind of guy, not once when I was alive, did he ever take stuff to get fixed, just to the tireshop to get the tires balanced. But nearing the end of his life, he did send in the toyota car to get fixed up. I got all his tools at a price. If I had a choice, I'd rather just buy all the stuff, if he could still be here helping me.
Yeah I always wear a face sheild with a grinder. I tried just using the safety glasses once, but the sparks hurt my face LOL. A few hours? Holy! One day I hope I can be like that. But for now, I take my time most of the time.

a want to watch what ya tear up takin stuff apart, it can make going back together a tougher job than it has to be.
The right tools to begin with can make the job at hand either miserable as hell or a breeze.

What part shouldn't I have cut/ripped/killed? Sorry...

The blocks I am using, I think they are a mix of cinder, and cement. Because some of them are really light, and other ones are heavier...
To my surprise, my back doesn't hurt at all from wrenching yesterday. I guess that's a plus of being young
Thanks Powermad, you helped me a lot!

 

[84gmcjimmy]

I have done my share of frame off restorations on theese trucks,and have had many a sore back--your lucky to be doing this while your young--after you hit 40 you only dream about doing that kind of work--just sleeping in the wrong position will give me an aching back now!(I have scoliosis of the spine too,so its not hard to hurt my back!)..I have to be real carful not to screw my back up--it takes weeks to recover if I strain it by pulling on a lug wrench,I have to use cheater pipes a lot...At least when your young you can work all day,and part of the night without feeling like a coronary is in progress,and your body recovers much faster than an old f&&T like me!

Yeah, I don't exactly know what scoliosis is, but my dad had to have surgery on his spine because he did something to 3 of the disks (I forget what its called) but he never got the surgery because the recovery time was around 1/2 a year... too long for my dad.
Hopefully my back doesn't act up when I am older.
Thanks!

 

[84gmcjimmy]

Oh my, what a day.
I slept in till 11:00, so there goes half my day. Then I was tired and not very motived and didn't get outside till 1:30. I try to get the bolts off on the passenger side with the cheater bar. Didn't work so I took Renes advice and cut the rest of the bolts. I thought it was going to be easy... but not for me. I started out using my 4.5" grinder but eventually the disc got too small. Then I spent 1.5 hours re-wiring my 5" grinder and got it going. Then i went through 4 cut off discs but EVENTUALLY got off all bolts from the 2 rear springs. WHat hell that was. 12 cuts all together, half the spots I couldn't reach all the way because it was too tight in bwtween the frame/spring hangger and spring. My technique was to cut off the rear most bolts (1 per side) and then try to cut off the front hanger, but I couldn't get to one side of it, so I lifted the spring up from the rear, and wiggled it around, eventually breaking the bolts.
besides it being dark when I am doing most of this, and only have a treble light showing me where I am, and besides the hammer slipping out of my hand and hitting my shin, and the chisel flying out and hitting my knee, and besides the 4 holes in a piece of plywood from rage with a hammer, and besides 2 bent cheater bars, the day went alright.
I got everything off the frame I wanted too. All that is left is the engine mounts, fuel/brake lines, and all the stuff held on by *gasp* rivets
I leave to Victoria on the 23rd, so tomorrow will be a clean up day, pack day, paint the cat, and relax day. I worked from 1:30-6:00 today on the blazer, then 2 morre hours after dinner on the cat. So I am DAMN tired right now.

To do list when I get back from the coast:

• Unbolt motor mounts
• pull off fuel/brake lines
• buy 100000's of grinding discs and start grinding away at the rivets
• find a cheap place to buy por15 or eastwood rust ecalasor
• wirewheel/oven clean/brush frame
• bolt on all the stuff that was previously held on by rivets, with grade 8 hardware (if I can find some)
• And the list goes on....

 

[stockk5]

damn dude, you are determined. I remember back in the summer i replaced the rear tailpan/floor of my k5 and i spent every waking free moment out there working on it, after a while it just got to me, couldnt stand it anymore but luckly i was done, after 4weeks or so. goodluck on this rest. your gonna be so excited about it when its done knowing you did EVERYTHING on the truck yourself. you definitly will know this truck head to toe. goodluck to ya with it all.

 

[84gmcjimmy]

LOL thanks. Thats something I'll be doing in the summer, replacing the floor! That will be a good learning experience for me

 

[84gmcjimmy]

Pictures

here are the pictures!!

They are in no order, but in some you can see I swept the rust away to reveal the stains!

 

[goldwing2000]

One piece of advice:

Get a cutting torch.

A flame axe is so much faster/easier/better than cutting or grinding discs. You can pick up a torch set from Sears and rent tanks from the local welding supply. Shouldn't be out more than $300 and you'll save hours and hours of time.

 

[diesel4me]

scoliosis sucks!

Scoliosis is a condition where your spine has a curve,or two curves in it,instead of being straight like it should--if they had noticed it earlier in life they could have cut me open like a dead fish and put titanium wire or rods in next to my spine and used "clamps" to hold it straight..I was told its best to have the operation before your 22 or so for best results (you dont heal as good if your older,and the spine is one place you DONT want any scar tissue!)--since this would have required at least 9 months in a body cast,I passed on the operation..
I have a double curve,which is not as bad as having a single curve,and so far I have been able to get by and live a normal life with the help of some over the counter painkillers and asprin,I was usuing Tylenol-Codine pills for a few years in my 20's,and percocet,but I saw I was becoming dependent on them,and quit taking them,before I ended up being an addict!.
.All told I've probably done more than the average guy as far as wrenching on vehicles and other hard work,I just have to be kind of careful not to get too pissed off at whatever I'm working on and flip out--thats when the BFH comes out,and you end up going too far and the next thing you know,your in bed for a week trying to get rid of the backache--usually I dont realize I've pushed myself too far until the next day--then I regret it!!. After watching a guy my brother knows that fell off a roof in his teens and became a quadraplegic build a 57 chevy from the ground up climbing in and out of his wheelchair,with little or no help,I guess I can live with an ocaisional backache!!
Having had testicular cancer was much more painful than my back ever was--even to this day I have severe pain sometimes in the area they operated on to remove the tumorous testicle--I still wonder if they left a pair of sissors or a hatchet in there sometimes---feels like thats what they removed it with...and if that wasnt enough pain, I have several teeth that need to be fixed,or more likely,yanked--so my advice is do as much as you can BEFORE your 30-
--you might not have made enough money by then to buy the "truck of your dreams",but if you want one you'd better start sooner than later--after you get older than that,you might have more money to play with,but lack the physical strength and stamina to do all the work required,and if you plan on having a life, a wife and kids,and a job,you wont have much time to tinker on a truck---so its best to do it while your young--living at home with your parents while in your teens is the best years of your life,now is the best time for you to be doing what your doing!!...

Well--enough preaching from me!!-Your doing a good job Steve--dont get discouraged by not having every tool or gizmo to do the job--I've gotten by without a lot of the tools they say you cant do without!!--your brain is your friend--work smarter,not harder!!(my boss hated that slogan!)...

 

[84gmcjimmy]

Wow sounds like you've been through a lot! I will definitly take advantage of my age, and do as much, and learn as much as I can before I start a family that occupies 99% of my time. Although, then I could have a son that could help me... LOL
Yeah, my dad had BAD headaches every day since around 1999 when he fell 10 feet off a building (he was a carpenter) and broke 7 ribs and hit his head. He was taking Tyenol 3 (The kind with codeen in) and after a while, he got addicted to it, so it didn't help as much anymore. So the last 1-2 years he has been using other stuff to soothe the pain.

I will be buying an opxy/acetylne welder/cutter with my x-mas money...