TireSmoke.org

This is Rhonda's truck which showed up here in 2010.

It has been relatively trouble free - some of the stuff done since purchase:
- under warranty one of the injector or ignition wires to the coil needed replaced
- catalytic converter heat shield broke free and would make noise vibrating
- gate handle got real difficult had to replace it
- blower motor quit working. This was a bad ground under the hood
- one of the rear shocks rusted out enough to start leaking so I replaced them both
- replaced the battery (2018 - it was 10 years old!)
- replaced accessory belt tensioner and belt (2020)
- A/C condenser developed a leak and had to be replaced (2022)

Yesterday though after 90k miles it had its first significant problem - suffering catastrophic water pump failure. The pump literally seized up and the belt was dragging down the power so she pulled over. This was about 30 minutes from home so I borrowed a truck and trailer and fetched it. To load it I just cut the belt and it started right up and drove up on the trailer.
After a couple quick video searches I had a plan ("Tank - I need a program to change a 2008 Colorado water pump"). The process was pretty straightforward. instructions called for a 36 mm wrench to remove the fan from the pump, but I used a giant 18" crescent wrench instead. It was not very tight and could probably be removed with good channel locks. The pump was so locked up I didn't need to secure it from rotating while removing the bolts and the fan.

Ordered a Melling water pump and Continental belt which will be here on Wednesday. Radiator fluid I got locally.

These parts are installed. Upon opening the water pump box the first thing I saw was a note on a yellow piece of paper that said to flush the cooling system since leftover debris from the old pump is the top reason replacement pumps fail. With this info I removed the lower radiator hose to drain out the rest of the system, flushed out the radiator, carefully cleaned inside the block in the cavity for the water pump. After install I filled the system with water and after it got up to temp I took the top hose off the radiator and let it pump a bunch of water out that way. Then drain the whole thing and fill with radiator fluid.

There is a small exhaust leak developing - we'll see how long that takes to get annoying. At 90k and 15 years its probably time for new plugs, brake hoses and fluid, and while the front shocks are not leaking they are also quite rusty.

Recently I noticed the right rear of the truck sagging under load which got me thinking there is a broken leaf. Since this truck is occasionally carrying heavy loads I decided to get some heavy duty springs - these are stock replacements for some heavier setup than this truck was originally equipped. These have one extra leaf spring.

The change was relatively straightforward except for removing the rear bolt from the shackle. On the passenger side I loosened the top shackle bolt and was able to swing the spring up above the exhaust pipe to get the bolt out. On the driver side the spare tire was in the way. Unfortunately the spare would not lower more than two inches. I was with some effort able to get the top shackle bolt out in that small gap though this cost a bunch of extra time. Upon reassembly I put the bolts in the other way so those items won't be in the way if this ever needs to be done again.

Being in NE Ohio winters I expected the worst from rust, but all the bolts came out, with just a bit of trouble getting a couple bolts out of the leaf spring.

The net result now puts the rear wheel well about 3" higher than the front. If you look at the pictures at the start of this thread you'll see the gaps to be similar when it was new. I'm not surprised its higher just didn't see it being that much. Gonna drive it a bit and see if it settles. If it doesn't or if she doesn't like it I can get some longer ubolts and blocks to lower it back down a bit.

Don't forget to adjust the headlights. You could lose a lot of night visibility with a 3 inch rise in the back.

I like the new 'stance'!!