Slartibartfast

Great write up. One question though, I was underneath checking out what I had to work with, and noticed that the ends aren't even. One T bar has its back end outside of the crossmember (like the OP), the other has its end tucked inside. Is something worn out, or was some mechanic sloppy? Or are the adjuster bolts just out of whack? (Maybe the previous owner had a go?) Or is this normal/unimportant? Driver's side: Passenger's side:

Oh man... Reindex the torsion bars Undercoat Oil change Trans cooler/ATF change Replace an exhaust gasket where the local grease monkey half welded the pipes together Driver side door hinge Tinker with the headlights/install driving lights Then I need to actually take it off road. Priorities have changed a bit. Fix frame rot. Undercoat. Undercoat. Undercoat. Fix exhaust. Trans cooler. Lights, maybe. Probably more undercoat.

^ Hadn't thought of that. Locked out it is.

I only use overdrive once I'm up to about fifty, and I've yet to find a situation where I needed the E-AT "power" setting. The overdrive makes the trans heat up more during stop and go traffic, or city driving, or towing, or driving 4x4. (Heat and automatics don't like each other.) It also makes the truck sluggish at lower speeds (it feels like there's a little old lady pedaling as hard as she can under the hood, especially on hills). It's a highway gear. Turning the overdrive off also gives you more engine braking when you let off the gas. Let off in overdrive and you coast; disengage the overdrive and the truck slows pretty quickly. My commute includes a couple decent-sized hills, and in underdrive (dunno what else to call it) I seldom have to touch the brakes. Also, according to my dad, don't use overdrive in snow. Apparently it kicks the gearing around more, making the truck more likely to slip, or something. I don't usually drive over fifty in snow, so I don't worry about it. (I'm new here too, and sites like this are why I love the Internet. )

When I got my Pathy, it had a hole in the headlight. It was near the bottom, so I just sealed it up with a little epoxy. I replaced it later with one from the junkyard, which I don't think cost more than $5-10. It's not like it could the headlights any worse, right? There's a steering idler arm which is apparently a weak spot, you can buy/fabricate a brace that strengthens it. A word of warning doing the exhaust, the old headers will be a pain to take off. The studs don't like parting with the block. Poke around a bit and you'll find loads of info... that's what I'm doing.

Today, I discovered the "sport" suspension mode.