Oct 20 2024
Two more things remaining to do..
Got to fix the rust hole in the rear panel.. and the flaked off paint on the passenger front door. Oops no “before” photo.. but it’s in the video. Trust me the paint was flaking off just above the rubber side moulding. Only the front door. Right down to the primer.
Not no more ! The great thing about a plain white vehicle, easy to match the paint. And here’s the last body fix.
Can you tell where I painted ? No ! Only half way up the lower panel.. Yes the match is that good. No more rust. Now for round three of the hatch cables. They still keep braking apart. This time I got some steel cable and some real cable crimps,
And yes this made for a much stronger cable. I even put some heat shrink on the steel cable.
There ! take that.. Dare you to break.. If you do I have lots of pop rivets and cable.
Today I got the chance to go parts shopping and I got the tools & jack, plus a new end for the tube where the handle goes in the bumper. With lock but no keys.
These things are in excellent condition. I put the jack away under the right rear seat. The other tools I used to “try” to lower the spare tire.. Got it down about 6 inches and hit a stuck part.. So there’s some work to do.. The bumper cap needed a good cleaning and it needs to be installed.
As for putting that locking cap back.. No I don’t have the key and it’s not needed. So let’s figure out the lowering of the spare shall we… Well that was fun.. NOT! Five hours later I got the tire down. After years of cranking the spare up under the back of trucks, some brainy engineer thought we needed a safety catch. Just in case the cable broke. Ya right.. That happens all the time… NOT! The cable mechanism to lower the spare works great.. It’s not seized up nor is the cable rusty. But the safety catch was seized.. Sure glad I’m doing this now, in the shop, with all my tools. There’s no way you can do this on the side of the road. I’m fixing that dumb idea.. I have a grinder !
Here’s what my spare looks like. Good tire and still holds air, just a ugly looking rim. Let’s make it look better. Just some black rust paint is good enough.
There! Now I won’t be embarrassed to use this spare. But hopefully I will never need it. I took the whole spare tire holder mechanism out too so I could make it not look so rusty.
And fix that safety latch for good.. Here it is and it no longer has a hook / catch.
It was seized up so bad that no amount of lubricant was going to fix it.. PLUS it’s riveted together. The winch part still works as it should. Most likely because it’s well protected from the elements. I’ll grease the cable lightly before winding it back in. Should be able to put this all back where it was…just better looking. Done and everything worked great. And with that..I believe I’ve got a lot done now. But really never say that. There’s all ways more. Yup.. still some mechanical fixes. And in time new tires. I have a new hood bug deflector on order. That will cover up the paint chips and road rash. I have to change the flashing relay for a LED one. Change the cabin air filters. And lastly get an inspection done for me and the insurance folks. This will tell me how to move forward with the mechanical stuff. So time for a new page..