Wow I'm in a pickle. (Broke down truck) and a story.

Grumpy Bear · Monday at 08:41 PM

6 hours ago, Atlas said:

Because I couldn't find someone to do a root canal without anesthetic on me, I decided to replace the door pins on my sagging driver's door to fill my Sunday afternoon instead.

Nothing makes a vehicle feel more like such a huge pile of crap than a sagging driver's door, especially when it creaks/groans. Procedurally, it's not that hard of a fix. Practically, it is a learning curve and you really should have someone there to help position the door when it's unhinged. Caution: spouses may become unhinged if you don't clearly communicate expectations or start moving the door without announcing to line up holes, etc.

I'm happy to report the hinges are just fine, but the old pins were severely worn, and the bushings had basically broken they were so bad. New pins and new bushings have it opening/closing level with the striker. These are pretty janky doors/latches from the factory so we don't get a "pop/thud" open/close like with a Mercedes. More of a clacky/latchy sound with a jiggly door handle. But it's as-new, good as it's going to get.

One more item checked off the list. The passenger door "could" use a new set of pins. 50/50 on whether I do it or not as it's fairly involved. At the very least I'll wait a week because I was down on my hands/knees and I'll need to wait a few days to recover from that!

I'm free and FREE to do that root canal :crackup:

Atlas · Tuesday at 03:05 PM

18 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

I'm free and FREE to do that root canal

I have an old dental chair in my shop. Something I got for free and apparently it has more than scrap value? People collect them although mine isn't restored or anything. It's visually interesting (1930's Ritter) which is why I like it. And it IS decently comfortable if you kick back.

When a good buddy of mine saw it he said, let me guess, Atlas. It's a conversation piece? As in, you ask the questions, they do the talking?

Where do you hide the jar of teeth?

I would never.

Grumpy Bear · Tuesday at 10:01 PM

6 hours ago, Atlas said:

I have an old dental chair in my shop. Something I got for free and apparently it has more than scrap value? People collect them although mine isn't restored or anything. It's visually interesting (1930's Ritter) which is why I like it. And it IS decently comfortable if you kick back.

When a good buddy of mine saw it he said, let me guess, Atlas. It's a conversation piece? As in, you ask the questions, they do the talking?

Where do you hide the jar of teeth?

I would never.

Why does that not surprise me? It is more creative that a crowbar on a kneecap. :crackup: Did it come with the mounted overhead lighting?

Atlas · 2026-07-18T14:47:15Z

My office is slowly filling with Blazer parts. Getting ready to do the big bang of repairs. Intake (second time), water pump, radiator, hoses, and I'm going to re-seal the timing cover where someone went hog wild with silicone. Might as well, because I don't think that's done right.

There's a local tow yard that I didn't realize also has quite the inventory of junk vehicles. This is an old school junkyard. No waivers. Cash only, you were never here if anyone asks. Don't piss off the owner, or you'll end up in the back of one of those cars, headed for the shredder. And if you see something, don't snitch. Cars stacked double high, wasps nests, trip hazards and junk everywhere. I found a few little odds/ends for my Blazer. The $20 I spent was worth the experience alone. But I was never there. What yard?

I officially love/hate this truck. It's so out of my wheelhouse, roughest vehicle I've ever owned. Every. single. repair. -is so hard-fought, everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. Currently in a hate phase, and kind of wish I was closer to sending it down the road with a lucky new owner, to be honest. Preparing for the day when I tear into this thing...lots of pre-funk with Ibuprofen.

Rock Auto sent me a bad reman rear wiper motor. It was a bear to install. The tailgate in these things has about eleventy-billion fastners and pieces and things that need to be uninstalled/moved just to access the shoddy rear wiper motor. The casing on mine was cracked clean through, btw. Nice, GM, nice. SO I got this new motor installed, hit the switch, I see it wig-wag (without the arm installed) and think I'm golden. Reassemble everything. With the wiper arm installed I gave it one final test. Time to clean up and take the other half out to dinner, collect a paycheck, right?

Nope. I hear the plastic worm gear stripping as the arm hung up. Just like my broken motor. Weak/old and shredding itself internally. I can assist the arm and the range of motion is normal, and it parks correctly. It just doesn't have the poop to actually sweep the arm with a blade on it. Oh, hell. Turned the key off and shut the shop door behind me. I get to do that over again, too.