What did you do to your non-G body project today? [2023]

[Malibu795]

swapped out stock hitch on my 2500 suburban. Should have gotten the 2.5" version.. seams those are hard to come by now.
For those with suburbans that might be interested. Need to drill the 2-4 holes for the furthest forward part.
2" is 41930
2.5 is 45515/45715

 

[Wageslave]

Got to work on the Gladiator this week. It was giving warnings related to a low battery again on year old batteries.

Last year, I swapped the big H7 and a little AUX14 battery out with a new H7 and an ES-TX14-BS motorcycle battery after the AUX14 failed with a dead cell. Would have had it replaced under warranty but they tested it and said it passed their tester, and I wasn't going to let it strand me somewhere just to get a new battery.

Wranglers and Gladiators were apparently set up with a big and little battery in parallel, with the little one used to power the cabin electronics while the Stop/Start system is active. Works ok but a 225 amp alternator is a little hard on a 200cca battery when charging and they don't live very long.

Fast forward to now and I am completely over anything battery related on this truck. I ended up replacing the small battery with a LiFePO4 motorcycle battery. This one is slightly higher rated than the old AUX14, and more importantly has a charge controller that will help isolate this battery from the big battery and help regulate charge from the alternator.

If this ends up not working, I will probably pull the fuse on the ESS and get rid of that small battery completely.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

I see them things everywhere too. That battery setup would be enough to annoy me.

 

[86LK]

Terminal degrees aren't all they're cracked up to be. Wish I hadn't gotten mine.

at my age and this close to retirement, plus I've never had any interest in doing research, a Doctorate would be less than useless. least I didn't have to pay for it

 

[Wageslave]

I see them things everywhere too. That battery setup would be enough to annoy me.

Lucky it is not that hard to convert over to a one battery setup, but I figured I would do my due diligence to make it work as intended before I voided my warranty.

 

[MrSony]

Did abs delete on the k1500. Even without bleeding, brakes feel twice as good.

Built a bench from a kit from Menards because I'm lazy.

Also, my grandpa's big *ss 50lb Wilton vise fell the **** off of my truck during the move, I still don't know how, and bounced down the highway. I found it only because it took my big yellow rake with it and was lying near at the end of the on ramp. It broke two mounting feet and sheared the pin that keeps the screw holder thing in the body so it can screw in and out. I drilled a new hole after I broke a drill bit in the old hole chopped the head off a 1/4-20 bolt dropped it in and that seemed to work. The rotating base holds the pin from falling out so it isn't going anywhere.

 

[Supercharged111]

Did abs delete on the k1500. Even without bleeding, brakes feel twice as good.

Built a bench from a kit from Menards because I'm lazy.
View attachment 232512
Also, my grandpa's big *ss 50lb Wilton vise fell the **** off of my truck during the move, I still don't know how, and bounced down the highway. I found it only because it took my big yellow rake with it and was lying near at the end of the on ramp. It broke two mounting feet and sheared the pin that keeps the screw holder thing in the body so it can screw in and out. I drilled a new hole after I broke a drill bit in the old hole chopped the head off a 1/4-20 bolt dropped it in and that seemed to work. The rotating base holds the pin from falling out so it isn't going anywhere.

View attachment 232509View attachment 232510View attachment 232511

Did you just bypass the rear antilock dealios with a single fitting? I did that to my 88 and then when I got my 98 I retrofitted some TBI lines to it up front and proceeded to complete the delete in the same manner. Certain years of the rear only ABS had a bleeder for the ABS itself that probably would have fixed your issue. I deleted both trucks because the function of the ABS is absolutely awful. Pedal turns to a rock and the truck doesn't stop.

 

[Supercharged111]

I notice you have floor registers and your return air vent is also at floor level. IIRC, you live in Colorado and that looks like a modern home.
1) do they normally build a house with floor registers (for heating, obviously) in cold climates?
2) I would have thought that having a return vent at floor height would just suck the heat right out as it came in thru the floor registers?
3) what kind of underlayment do you plan to install to have warm floors for the planking you are installing?

1) I assume so? Is there a reason not to? The furnace lives either in the crawl space or basement. Not many slab on grade homes here. My crawl space is insulated but not conditioned. The ducts themselves are insulated.

2) I agree it's a dumb spot, but there's another one at the top of the second story.

3) The flooring came with its own underlayment.

As it is a floating floor, I'm now filling in low spots so it's quiet.

Brings back PTSD....... err.... memories.

My first time around was screwdriver with a bent tip, almost like your paint can opener followed by plyers. Fast forward 6 years, and, mini prybars also worked well for me on plywood.

Then, go another 7 years and I stepped up to varsity league pulling those and small nails out of concrete. That one sucked, became hammer and short bar. Any that snapped was an angle grinder if it mattered and couldn't be hammered down for the stone.

Ugh. Never again.

With these 4 tools I can get any staple up without a death grip. Still slow, but more productive and much less effort.

Yesterday I bought a toe kick saw and borrowed an oscillating dealio to cut the subfloor flush with the counters so I could get the rest of that out.

It ended up being a not terrible process. Now we're at the point I want to paint before the new floor goes in. We have vaulted ceilings in the living room and I'd been dreading this for years thinking I'd need ladders and scaffolding. Apparently that's not how it's done.

I borrowed a ladder last night to be able to reach the very top with a brush so hopefully we can get this knocked out nice and quick to be on our way to having a new floor and our house back.

 

[MrSony]

Did you just bypass the rear antilock dealios with a single fitting? I did that to my 88 and then when I got my 98 I retrofitted some TBI lines to it up front and proceeded to complete the delete in the same manner. Certain years of the rear only ABS had a bleeder for the ABS itself that probably would have fixed your issue. I deleted both trucks because the function of the ABS is absolutely awful. Pedal turns to a rock and the truck doesn't stop.

I tried for days to bleed them damn things. Even got fluid to the rear. No rear brakes at all. None. Front work perfect. I just removed the whole setup and plugged the rear line into the prop valve where the solenoid thing went.

 

[86LK]

1) I assume so? Is there a reason not to? The furnace lives either in the crawl space or basement. Not many slab on grade homes here. My crawl space is insulated but not conditioned. The ducts themselves are insulated.

don't know. I live south so all we have are ceiling registers. cold air will fall when pumped out. a/c or heat pump are usually located outside and/or in attic.
and pretty much everything here is built slab on grade. any residence with a crawl space is typically a trailer home. any home with a basement is either : rich home owner, built into the side of a hill, or old farm house.

only asking because we are thinking of retiring some place with mountains and winter wonderland and I'm interested in building technique for optimal efficiency

2) I agree it's a dumb spot, but there's another one at the top of the second story.

our downstairs unit is floor level but with ceiling registers. our upstairs unit is ceiling at top of stairs landing but there are no registers in that area, only in the bedrooms.

3) The flooring came with its own underlayment.

View attachment 232513

As it is a floating floor, I'm now filling in low spots so it's quiet.

we had Pergo for years in our dining room, great stuff.....until we got a pinhole water leak in the water supply line to the refrigerator. leaked under the wall, drawn by gravity across concrete slab, that caused some mold to grow underneath and there was no way to recover since it was all glued together so had to rip it all up 🤬
we had the foam cushion with plastic sheet which made it more cushioned but walking on it with hard soled shoes was like knocking on the front door. but it stood up to the cats claws chasing each other around the corner at speed, not a scratch on the floor in 10+ years!