A way overdue Thank You!....

I have done basic maintenance since way back when, oil, pads, plugs....

Then, in nov '17 came the infamous body mount job botched by a mechanic. Fixing this was my first "big" job & intro to TW.

Spring of '18 I continued on -
The list-
These first three I did with a friend -
Rack & Pinion
Leaf Springs
Belts/water pump

The rest were done by me with the occasional help by a neighbor when I needed a second set of hands....
Tranny mount
Ignition coils/spark plugs
Center support bearing
tie rods - inner & outer (did the inner before I realized I needed the R&P)
LBJ's
UBJ's
Shocks (all around)
Valve cover Gaskets
CV shafts & bearing
Motor Mounts
Troubleshoot & rewire lights
Sway bar links
& at some point I had to redo the body mounts since I did not realize just how bad they had been messed up
A paint job
& in June of this year, I topped it off with a shiny new bumper

& lastly, "basics" -
Fuel Filter
brake job (3 times, Never get calipers from Advanced)
O2 & A/F sensors
Bump stops

None of this is about me looking for at'a girls

The point of this post is to say THANK YOU!!!! There is no way I could have done most of this without the help, patience, encouragement &, yes, at'a girls, from the awesome TW folks....
& while I do see a power steering pump looming on the horizon & there is a new noise I must investigate, my truck is happier than she's been in a very long time.

& what a confidence booster, not only doing these repairs, also having all this support. & anyone who may be reading this who is nervous about trying these repairs, yes, some are more daunting than others, but they are doable. If you're unsure, check around TW, ask questions & watch how to vids (most jobs are covered by @Timmah!'s great vids) before deciding. Make sure you have the tools & check out your local auto parts places to see what they offer through the loaner tool thingy. Ok, that was my 16 cents....

So once again, Thank You!

 

Hell yea man

 

Sweet!

 

Glad your ok I missed reading your posts !!

Goes to prove with the correct mind set and the proper tools things can be done.

 

Any helpful tips on that?

-if it was a front

 

Mine was rear. Are they all that different installationwise though?
One thing that comes to mind is that, at least on the 01’s, the front bumper is attached to both the frame & cab. I only state this as a point cuz I have had to clear this up on a few occasions with people who were adamant it was not so. I can see someone thinking that have all the bolts out & trying to let it drop & (been wanting to use that one).

I placed 5 gal pails under it on either side while removing it. I had asked a neighbor to help hold it while I bolted it in, however he was in a mood, cranky & nay saying (I like advice, but the “this is never gonna work” stuff has no place in my world). So I kindly told him I’d take care of it. I placed a couple of thick old towels over the buckets & it took a little work, however once I got one bolt in each side I was good to go.
I imagine in addition, a jack wouldn’t hurt under the truck to help get it where you need it.

 

Awesome. Nice work

 

A jack under the truck that is. Not the bumper....

 

very nice, kristi with a K
my truck has not yet needed near half the stuff you have done, but someday it maybe will, its in need of a new clutch & maybe soon i find myself stranded in the middle of nowhere with a bad clutch
i did finally find what was vibrating intermittingly under it recently (splash shield skid had a funky attachment) but its been a small rattling for almost 40k miles drove me batkrap krazy not knowing what it was for over a year
how the heck does one diagnose something like that befuddled me

 

Just goes to show you what you can do when you put your mind too it. You should also give yourself a "Big" pat on the back
for having the courage to tackle these jobs. Most Women(90%) wouldn't even think about trying what you've accomplished. As they say

"You Go Girl"

 

Glad you made it through the front control arms or maybe it was the lower ball joints with
the broken bolt situation

 

Awesome post. I’ve learned so much on TW also. Such a great community.

 

You literally get under the truck and start wacking everything you see with the bottom of your fist. No special tricks, just whack-a-mole.

 

Don’t even get me started. My 98 has no such rattles or noises. My 04 has three distinct ones.

1. sounds like an exhaust heat shield but the two (that I know of) are super tight when I grab a hold of them. Noise is still unknown.

2. A thud/thunk that is random. Mostly when hitting bumps on the paved road, but not every time. Can’t for the life of me find this one. It’s a scary sound because it sounds like something in the suspension. Only solution? Replace the whole suspension. (Which I was doing anyway so I’ll see if that noise goes away )

3. A loose metal rattle. I suspect this is the splash guard set up but haven’t really investigated this one too much.

 

everything looked attached, all bolts able to be checked on the various shields were tight!
it only vibrated when the truck was in motion, while standing still in neutral and revving the engine produced NO rattle whatsoever
so it was quite strange!! how do you diagnose something that only happens when the vehicle is in motion without specialty equipment

i found the #3 rattle by driving around normally without the splash guards on while it was at the powdercoaters for a week,
the rattle ceased to exist so that must've been it! but now i think the DT broke the special fix again while rotating tires yesterday

 

That is my next diagnosis. Remove the splash guards and drive around...see if the noise goes away.

Why did Discount Tire remove your splash guards to rotate your tires?

 

I know you weren't looking for pats on the back for being a girl and turning wrenches but you have to know you are a rare breed for your gender. I think auto mechanics still intimidates most women and a high percentage of men too. But, what you've discovered and millions of others have is if you have the Right Information, Right Tools, and because we all know things don't always go smooth, the Right Level of Patience, people can do most of their own automotive work.

You basically just have to have the willingness to learn. Back when I started turning wrenches in the early 80's, all we had for information was maybe a Chiltons manual we bought at our local Kragens automotive store and maybe we had an older brother or friend that knew something about auto mechanics. Nowadays with the internet, there's Youtube videos like I make and there's forums like this one that provide a wealth of knowledge for DIYers like ourselves. There are still legitimate excuses why people take their rigs to shops, like living in an apartment with no space to do the work, or just too damn busy with work and family, but for a lot of us, the only thing stopping us is us. Auto mechanics can be intimidating. I'll be the first to admit I was intimidated by bigger jobs like timing belt replacements but now I'm not intimidated by much other than diving deep into electrical problems. Reading electrical wiring schematics makes my head hurt. Another challenge is I have to get off my ass and learn how to weld.

Anyway, I appreciate your post and applaud you for doing your own wrenching. Women unfortunately continue to get taken advantage of at shops. I've personally seen it happen to my mother and my girlfriend. Luckily for both of them, I intervened and was able to save them a lot of money.

Happy Wrenching!

 

This site combined with some excellent Youtube channels has given me the confidence to do a lot of work that I would have balked at just a few years ago. It's a lot of work keeping these old trucks on the road, and you either do the work yourself or pay big bucks to a mechanic. Having a knowledgeable group of folks to bounce questions off of when you're stuck doing a job really is priceless.

Without this site I wouldn't have known about the frame recall, and I would have either sold my truck for a couple grand, or still be driving around in a rusty deathtrap.

 

i think they had the floor pumpjacks on the bottom of them i had to stand outside the shop to observe with no facemask in the fresh air
it all appeared attached while i was under woolWaxing up front last week then noticed it unattached in one spot yesterday but have not detected any scraping of the new powdercoat under there
i have no clue how it would work itself loose after just 2400 miles and a bit over 3 weeks since they were reattached and fixed or so i thought
but now that i think more on it i did hear a clunk which must've been the bolt

similar knowledge TW educated to me as well for the most part
i asked the 'knowledgeable' service manager at one of my local dealers about things i was finding out and what to do about it all, and he just gave me a puzzled look and had not a clue what i was referring to with frame coating peeling off
it was literally BENEATH him to even help me out at all and i took stock of that experience

 

You WoolWax your truck more often than I shower