Mr. Pickles

Yeah, I know about the sliding business. Now I've just gotta come up with a way to do it without a bench vise, as I don't have one/don't have anywhere to put one, and don't know anybody that does. Sooo... its either off to Home Depot to find something to ghetto fab this, or buy a vise and invade my parent's garage for a bit. I'm thinking one possiblity could be to use your vice grips approach, and to hold the shaft, drill a hole through a large enough chunk of wood with a large washer or something to keep the shaft from sinking in as I drive it down from below. Who knows...

They're going to the back to replace the old ones I have for additional back-up lights, since they're much brighter. This is a must for those of us with dark tinted windows.

There really isn't any way to get at it from the other side without tearing into the engine bay to remove the alternator, etc. And there's not much to pry against in there to gain leverage, other than the steering box with its plastic cover. I appreciate the grasping at straws effort, who knows what will pop up. This truck is suprising me. I had 9 body mounts that came out and went back in with reasonable to little effort, yet the last one was frozen beyond belief to the point that it broke that monster bolt. I think my truck is cursed, as its just random stuff that pops up that is a pain. I'm gonna continue to soak it with PB cause I won't be able to do much this week. I'm ready to have my truck back.

I mounted mine on the floor/tranny tunnel on the passenger side, with the controls facing up toward the stick shift and the sky. My Pathy is a 94 WD21, but I don't think its that much different, and I have a pimp Uniden (can't remember the model # off hand). I even made a bit of a mount out of a wedge cut from a 2x4 wrapped in leftover grey carpet from my sub box. Its close enough to be convenient to reach, I didn't have to hack up the dash or remove storage, and its out of my way (not the passenger's, though!).

Here's the shaft held to the angle it needs to go to meet the end of the steering column.

Ok, details, details. It looks as though the lower joint should slide on the splines, as they are barely visibly, but it wasn't budging. I tried prying it, and jacking the body with the bolt on the pinch clamp thing removed, but it wouldn't move here. I've dumped some more PB Blaster on it and will give it another try prying. There has to be a way to get that shaft out, they're not going to expect a person to jack the body to remove it. I'm hoping to get it off, then get it on a bench vise or something and try to extend it. I'm at the point where I'm all but done with this lift. I tested the steering before just after the stretch and it seemed fine. I've put most everything back together, including the bumper which was a complete joke. It would be a huge step backward to have to completely take the driver's side back apart, including the bumper, we're talking hours and hours to a full day wasted. As it is, I'm tired, the GF thinks I'm nuts, and the neighbors are about to kill me.

Wow, that's a great score on the seats. Those would look perfect with my grey interior, and my driver's seat is starting to rip and die. Hmmmm....

I think the closest you'll find will be in the stereo insall sticky. I figured the wiring out with a lot of patience and testing, and it honestly wasn't worth the effort to have it hacked together. I ended up just ripping it all apart anyways, and running new wire. Its pretty easy to do, will take about the same amount of time vs. sorting out the factory amp situation, and you'll have better quality wiring if you just start from scratch.

So I have the lift essentially done. I fired her up, got everything up to operating temps, and was pumping the brakes and cycling the steering while checking for leaks and issues. Then the familiar *clunk* and and the steering wheel went slack. The shaft had backed itselt out of the top splines again, and any extra lenght on the shaft retreated back inside so now I'm about 1/4" short. Does anybody know how to get that shaft out so I can hopefully stretch it on a vice or something? My Haynes manual is predictably worthless in this respect. I'll be darned if I'm gonna take the body back down (again) on the driver's side. I spent hours just getting the bumper back on. So, any thoughts?

You're missing the point. 4 of them are simply bolts that screw up into the body, rather than having a nut on the other end. You cut the head off with a grinder, you have problems. And the broken one is the rear-most one on the driver's side. Its way up, tucked between the body and frame with the tail pipe crossing through right in the middle. No fun. Which is why I'm not screwing with it. -thnkboutit-

They're actually crap, so don't worry about it. My old one was very rusty in back and started to rust through on the end caps, but the truck was wrecked in Jan. so the whole bumper was replaed with some P.O.S. made in Taiwan job, which already has some visible rust on the chrome after only 1 year.. I have it sitting in the livingroom now, and I just hope it will last a bit.

Here is what I've come up with for the Hella's since I'm without a proper bumper.

May I suggest installing a body lift before you start for more space? Sorry, had to go there. You'd still be carving the fire wall and such, and doing insane fab work. If you have the balls, cash and time, more power to ya. Its only money, and you only live once. You might as well have a good time doing it!

No prob. Honestly, its not that bad of a project at all, just that my 1 frozen mount and busted bolt screwed me. If it all goes smoothly, and you have a spare set of hands to help, I bet you could do it in 1 very long day. As it is, I have probably 2-2 1/2 full days invested if you take away a break here and there, and trips out and about looking for tools for that stupid bolt and such. But I've done the whole thing, begining to end, all by myself. Its been a great experience really, and I feel satisfied. Good luck on your toys!

I've got a grinder with cut off wheels too. But I wouldn't get too chop happy, as the mounts rest right up next to rubber body isolators and such. If you slip, they're expensive. I've got one coming for the busted mount in back, and its like $38. But its worth my time vs driving all the way out to the boneyard. Give the bolts a try first, then really aren't bad at all to remove. I'm just suggesting making them effortless.

Jim had his fabricated (and I believe welded up) by his neighbor. I think I'm gonna be able to make it work using all the extra nuts and bolts. Everybody else seems to end up with a fair amout too. While doing so, I'm gonna look at scrapping my Pilot driving lights in favor of fabbing up some sort of mount for my Hella's. Then I'll move the Pilots to the rear to replace my cheap P.O.S. back-up lights down under the bumper by the reciever hitch.

Ok, I've come to the joy of the bumper brackets as I'm trying to get that ready to go. Has anybody done these on a 94 or 95? I hear the bumper changed design after 93. Near as I can tell, its gonna take some bending of the brackets somehow, and/or some washers as spacers, to get these brackets to even align and bolt up with the bumper, let alone mount to the truck.

Try turning the wheel and looking at where the tire is closest in travel to the flare, as well as looking for obvious rubbing. When mine was stock height, my 31's would rub. I just trimmed an inch or so on the front/bottom of the flare near the bumper, as well as the ends of that valance thing under the bumper. Done, no rubbing at all.

88 is also enforcing the thing called "American Ingenuity." Basically, come up with something that works, is acceptable, then run with it. This, of course, is why we love this guy. A true Junkyard Warrior, a master of the dark and dirty arts.

Good score!

Its very easy. If you want to keep it simple on any machine, just insert the pic to Word (tools- insert). Shrink the size down smaller but viewable, then copy it to Paint. From there, just save as a jpg/jpeg and you're good to go. Simple as can be if you need it to be, but it saves Jim a bunch of space. Oh, and it takes 1 minute, maybe even 2.

Definately replace it! Your local auto shop will probably sell it by the foot off a monster roll for CHEAP, just like MaritimeMan said. Don't mess around with the B.S. quick solution.

I wonder if new bushings in the tension rods, etc. would help, especially poly's since they're much stiffer. You can pick up Energy Suspension bushings on eBay for reasonable, as well as at some shops. I got mine for the swaybar from Central 4wd in Kent, WA and they have shops around. Been thinking about doing the others as well... at some point.

I split the difference of cheap and "high performance" and bought the Bosch +2's. Along with a tune up adn plugs, I had a bit more pep and snap. Who's to say what caused it, mostly just replacing a lot of tired stuff. But those plugs were more like $3 each, which wasn't bad. If you're looking for a true boost, it sure wouldn't help to go with the aftermarket wires, coil, etc. I've been looking at MSD's and such on eBay, and they'e been going for pretty reasonable vs. the local shops.

If you're taking it the the stealer anyways, I'd take it ASAP before you change the fluids. If you do change first, they could try to raise some issue with you changing it out, your method, what you used, etc. Its just one less hassle in your battle.