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who wrenches on there trucks themselves...

I agree it can get lonely and boring, wrenching by yourself. I just crank the stereo up another notch, and get after it.

It would be nice to have a couple of friends close, who were into busting knuckles, and BSing.
 
Yep do a lot of work alone.

I try to do as much as I can on the jimmy, but sometimes I still farm stuff out, but even when I do I tend to be there getting in the way, I mean helping.

I have a few friends that come over from time to time when I wrench. Most on CK5.

Even though its a pain I still like knowing I did it. Except when it breaks and I can't blame anybody but me. But its times like those I just don't pay myself.:doah: :haha:
 
me, had help when i dropped the tranny and had a guy help me move the axles around...but other than that ME =)
 
Oh man, what a reality check. I'd swapped a motor before I had a license, in the front yard even. I used to DIY because I couldn't afford to pay somebody "to do it wrong". I still do it because the Pros, are not.:wink1:
 
the only thing I get help with is bleeding brakes. I swapped a cab by myself, an engine by myself, 1 ton axles by myself. all of that on an unlevel gravel driveway. every weld on my truck I did. maybe thats why the truck looks like such crap. :D


other people distract me and I don't get anything done. since I don't get a lot of time to work on the truck thats not a good thing. I don't even have a radio.

If you think working on your truck by yourself is bad try living 35 minutes from where you keep the truck. a good week is where I get to work on my truck 1 day. :( that will motivate you to get things done quickly.
 
gmc4cw said:
the only thing I get help with is bleeding brakes. I swapped a cab by myself, an engine by myself, 1 ton axles by myself. all of that on an unlevel gravel driveway. every weld on my truck I did. maybe thats why the truck looks like such crap. :D


other people distract me and I don't get anything done. since I don't get a lot of time to work on the truck thats not a good thing. I don't even have a radio.

If you think working on your truck by yourself is bad try living 35 minutes from where you keep the truck. a good week is where I get to work on my truck 1 day. :( that will motivate you to get things done quickly.
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yeah mine is not that far but its about 20 mins at my moms house...
 
the only work i don't do myself is stuff that involves machines i don't have. alignments, tire mounting and balancing, etc. almost everything else is me. i'm usually too tired after work, but it's great stress relieve for me. and i prefer it alone. i get to do it my way, know exactly how i did it (not wonder if someone else over/under tightened a bolt), and it's time alone to think. i work long hours, so i only get time to wrench on the weekends. most of my projects are stretched over a few sunday afternoons.

it is nice to have a hand now and then, though. when i installed my engine, my dad gave me a hand in actually setting it down. me working under the k5 and him working up top made lining everything up very easy and quick.

to each his own, i guess.
 
I work by myself (scary I know). I can have my dad help with 2 man jobs.


Everything is pretty easy though with a lift and air tools. The welder and torch help some times too. Even though my truck isn't too nice.
 
Gentlemen, glad to be a ck5 member again.

I had to add my two cents, could not have built my blazer w/o the info from guys here. Sometimes good info and some patience are better than 2 extra hands...
 
doing an axle with one pair of hands =)) .. and a furniture dolly ... and I HAD to finish the truck to get the garage door to close .... been there, done that. :doah:

-- A
 
my friend offered to help with my engine install. i appreciated the offer, but knowing he'd never done one, i declined. he seriously suggested that we could lift the 350, complete with all manifolds and full accessories, over the grill and then lower it down onto the mounts:haha:. i'm decently strong and he's no wimp, so in theory, we could lift it...about 2 inches off the ground. but hernias are not fun, so i hear.
 
When i pulled mine (using a picker), i set it on the axles, and cut the radiator support between the bolt holes on the top mounts (so you can line it back up). Worked fab, melted it back in when I was done

ps, a full SBC goes 550#
 
bent72 said:
When i pulled mine (using a picker), i set it on the axles, and cut the radiator support between the bolt holes on the top mounts (so you can line it back up). Worked fab, melted it back in when I was done

ps, a full SBC goes 550#
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why didn't you just remove the entire rad support? seems like cutting it and then welding it back together is more work. when I swapped motors I pulled the entire front clip in one piece. it was really easy to work on then.
 
When I have help working on a car, it's usually because it's THEIR car. I did call a buddy last year with hydraulics experience and he helped me build new fuel lines. Years ago somebody helped me install front springs. Without extra hands, you just have to use more brain power. I have to admit that an extra set of arms and legs would have been nice when I loaded a complete rear axle into my truck last weekend (there are some drawbacks to a lifted truck)

I'm all set up with cable TV, a full-size home stereo and the ability to stream music from the server or internet in the garage, so I don't get lonely. The wife and kids are usually just on the other side of the door anyway (attached garage).
 
why didn't you just remove the entire rad support? seems like cutting it and then welding it back together is more work.
Click to expand...

i'll tell you what's less work than either. get a hoist that's tall enough. my truck is currently stock height, but the hoist had plenty more lift left so the 4" i'm putting on shouldn't be a problem if i ever pull the engine again.

ps, a full SBC goes 550#
Click to expand...

that's about what i've heard. but, that's just the longblock without accessories and stuff. manifolds and accessories probably add another 100lbs, i'd guess.
 
I work bymelf on alot of things, i swapped my axles in the trazer and my blazer by myself put in my crate motor with the help of my dad. I truely enjoy being alone, its MY time. I can work as slow or as fast as i want, i can quit and go somewhere else whenever i want.

Now having a friend or to over to just bull**** around and work on trucks, its fun. But I have found that when you get 2of yuor best friends over you dont get much work done.

Example, last week we were putting a tranny in my buddies s10, pulled it out, rolled it into the yard. Its 930, too late to do more, to early to go home. SO we take hte overhead winch wrap a chair in chair and take turns riding it up and down, then we would unplug it and theyre hangin 5feet above the floor, flip em over etc. Hell of a time. haha

When you do bigger things with more than 1person the reassembly takes longer, 1person did x with x thing etc.
 
x2 GMC4CW on the kids. Right now my 3 and 6 year olds love to "help". We have a lot of fun, but don't get anything done. Last weekend about all I did was layout a "truck" for them to play with on the lawn. I had the seats, belts, and center console from one of my K5s lined up on the lawn with some old Pontiac steering column up on jack stands so they could take turns "driving". Hopefully as they get older they'll get into it and actually be helpfull.

I also do almost everything myself. I can't stomach paying some shop $80-90/hr to not give a s**t about my truck. Besides it would break my budget ($0).

x2 Broncoman - There is some theory somewhere that productivity drops with each additional person involved because of the added communication that is needed. I'm no good at communication anyway so working by myself suits me just fine.

In fact right now I am trying to come up with a way to turn my jack into a tranny jack with some old MDF and 2x4s so I can do a tranny swap by myself and *hopefully* live to tell the tale.
 
When I started rebuilding my front 60, I had to take it all apart first to get it into my truck to move it to my Father-in-law's shop. I couldn't lift the damn thing by myself. I can't stand the thought of asking someone else to work on my rig when I know more about it than they do. Just imagine how many times someone at Midas would have to go to the parts store to get the right rotors for a front 60 in a K5? I'll bet they would resort to opening every box in the rotor section untill they found the right one.
 
I wrench on all my vehicles myself, mostly out of necessity. I usually cant justify spending the money to pay someone to do something that I could do myself. Labor is expensive.
If its a big job, I will usually have my dad help. He taught me about cars as i was growing up, and it still helps to have him around to drink beers with, and bounce questions off.
When he and i were putting the new motor in my sub, my 10 YO was there the whole time, and honestly, I cant say enough about how helpfull he was!
It was great to be able to say "I need the 1/2 ratchet, with a 9/16" socket, and the short extension..", and not have to crawl out from under the truck to get it!! Especially in those instances where I really needed a 1/2" socket!
Yeah, he can get in the way, but he is learning the exact same way that I learned. By doing it. I hope my 8 YO son will start to get more interested in working on cars. I feel like its my job to make sure they at least know whats-what under the hood. Just in case, you know?
 
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