"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
06/02/2018 at 13:39 • Filed to: None
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"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
06/02/2018 at 13:39 • Filed to: None | 4
| 10 |
As some of you may remember, this is the truck I bought to drive to Montreal, but it wouldn’t die so I kept driving it, and eventually sold it to a friend when the Legacy came into the picture.
He’s had it for a couple years now, or a bit less than that, and put 15k kms on it. 8 months ago he parked it under a tree behind his garage because the starter died, and, in his words, the brakes were getting pretty bad and making noise.
A week and a half ago, he lets me know that he wants to take the Blazer on a road trip, leaving next week.....so I get a starter, oil, a filter, and pads/rotors/calipers for the front, which I’m fairly sure it needs.
Here’s how the truck looked when we got started.
So after a lot of screwing around just to get the truck into neutral and moved into a spot where I can work, I get the starter replaced. Not a fun job, but certainly not the worst thing I’ve done.
So the truck fires up for the first time in 8 months, spews out some blue and grey smoke, and proceeds to run as perfectly as ever.
I didn’t put those dents in the doors....
I took it for a test run around the block, and find that the brake pedal goes almost to the floor before anything happens, it just barely grabs, and feels like metal on metal. Extremely sketchy, and this is how he’d been driving the poor thing before he parked it....
After limping it through the alleys to charge the battery, we learn that the battery is too far gone, since it keeps running out of electricity and stalling. Then it also ran out of gas.
On Thursday the truck went to my mechanic, who informed us that the master cylinder is done for, most of the brake lines need replaced, as do the front calipers, pads, rotors, and the rear shoes and wheel cylinders. If nothing else goes wrong, $600-$700 if I do the fronts with the parts I got, or $1300-$1500 if my mechanic does all of it. Considering how rough it is now, with 330k kms on it, needing shocks, body damage, broken fuel level sender, very noisy fuel pump, occasionally slipping transmission....this is probably it for the mighty old Blazer. It got towed to my friends parents place, where it’ll sit under another tree until further notice. Most likely getting scrapped, since there’s no real value in the truck even though it runs so well, which is a shame. I feel more sad about this than I should, but it doesn’t owe us anything. Between the two of us we got 4 years, 45k kms, and an epic road trip out of a $600 truck.
shop-teacher
> gmctavish needs more space
06/02/2018 at 14:26 |
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I’ll pour one out :(
TheRealBicycleBuck
> gmctavish needs more space
06/02/2018 at 14:34 |
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That’s one of those nasty conundrums. I’m having a hard time letting go of my old truck. It’s value is essentially zero, but it will only take a couple thousand to get it running and legal again. A busted windshield was the final straw that took it off the road. And the need for a new master cylinder. Oh, and the need for a new intake. Let’s not forget about the a/c and the windows that don’t roll down properly....
vicali
> gmctavish needs more space
06/02/2018 at 15:02 |
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One of my friends back in Cranbrook has a Jimmy of the same ilk. It is still his daily 20+ years since his parents bought it brand new. I think he’s done the brakes and fuel pump- nothing else.
atfsgeoff
> gmctavish needs more space
06/02/2018 at 15:15 |
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It’s not swiss cheese from rust, it has plenty of redeeming value yet.
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gmctavish needs more space
> atfsgeoff
06/02/2018 at 15:26 |
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None of them are very rusty around here, you can get one with no body damage and half the miles for less than it would cost to make this one good again. By itself, I agree it has redeeming value, but with in this area, it unfortunately doesn’t.
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gmctavish needs more space
> vicali
06/02/2018 at 15:29 |
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That’s really impressive. These are known for eating front ends regularly, mostly ball joints. Also for dying 4L60Es, which mine seemed to have lengthened the life of since it had a trans cooler. The 4.3, however, is a gem of an engine.
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gmctavish needs more space
> TheRealBicycleBuck
06/02/2018 at 15:32 |
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Before I inherited my Subaru, I was trying to decide if I should dump money into this thing, or put a little bit more into buying a better replacement. Now my friend just doesn’t have the cash to fix it anyways, and I don’t have the space or the justification to take on a fourth vehicle. It’s too bad, I had silly ideas of one day throwing far too much money at this thing to restore it to its former glory, because it deserves it for being such a dependable vehicle. Unless I win the lottery next week, or suddenly get a big raise, that won’t be happening.
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atfsgeoff
> gmctavish needs more space
06/02/2018 at 17:45 |
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Maybe so, but there is an often-unrecognized value in already owning the vehicle, already knowing what it needs or doesn’t need, its quirks, history, etc, how it drives, what to expect on a long trip with it. A thousand bucks to get it in good, roadworthy condition again vs spending that much on an similar vehicle of unknown history with unknown problems, PLUS titling/registration/tax costs.
I’d stick it out with the old girl.
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gmctavish needs more space
> atfsgeoff
06/02/2018 at 18:08 |
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If it was still mine, I’d quite possibly do that, but mostly because of sentimental value. It’s more like $2000 to get it into good condition again, and then there’s still the dented doors which would drive me crazy. And after all that, the transmission is liable to give up at any time. Once it started slipping occasionally I lost some of my trust in it for long trips. It’s a very well-used truck, and while part of me still wants to save it, I kinda made that decision already when I sold it to my friend. Plus now I have a different old truck, and I unfortunately don’t have room/time/money for two needy old trucks.
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atfsgeoff
> gmctavish needs more space
06/02/2018 at 18:30 |
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Plus now I have a different old truck, and I unfortunately don’t have room/time/money for two needy old trucks.
Story of my life!