One of my projects in Seaview, GM 1999-2007 classic Door bushings and hinge pins

GM 1999-2007 classic Door bushings and hinge pins

My door was drooping a bit after 148000 miles, so I spiffed it up.

Using instructions from heymccall on the Diesel Place forum.

1. Roll the window down.
2. Remove door sill plate (pull straight up, starting at the front)
3. Remove kick panel (1st, pull firewall edge of the kickpanel towards the center of the truck to release that edge, then pull the pillar side of cover toward the rear of the truck)

4. Undo rubber accordion in in the hinge area by rolling the edge on the A-pillar away from the A-pillar. (only need to do one side)


5. Depress the two tabs on the white plastic insert (revealed in step 4) and slide it up the harness toward the door.
6. Now unplug the door harness that was made accessible in step three and pull it out thru the hole in the A-pillar.
7. Place the door halfway closed and remove the 10mm headed bolt on the door post that holds the door check.
8. Open the door fully and remove the single 10mm headed bolt in each hinge.
9. Standing in the door opening, grab the inner door grab/armrest and lift the door straight up and carry it away. (or lay it on a handy table)


10. Follow the instructions in this kit that you will have pre-purchased

(a) cut swaged pins off (4.5 inch angle grinder/cutter blade worked well)


(b) pull out pins with Vise Grips and/or light taps from hammer/punch, don't bend the hinges out of alignment...


(c) pop out old cheap GM bushings


(d) install new bushings and pins by pulling them in with a nut, then using a lock nut to hold them per instructions in kit




11. Reinstall door by reversing steps 1 thru 9.

It was rather fun and reassuring the number of people that came around to see what this crazy guy was doing now... One week, the front hub assembly, and the next week the door.

Cleaning a Fiberglass roof in Hagerman, ID.

I've been cleaning up the New Horizons fifth wheel which has been sitting in my mothers driveway since April 2008, the last time Diesel shot up over $4... Since getting my lot in Seaview, WA. I have been planning to move the 5th wheel up. I am cleaning it up a bit, checking all the seams, getting the tubes of Dicor ready, or maybe just Eternabond the seams, that should keep any Washington weather out....

The roof (fiberglass) was sprayed with a mix of Dawn and Bleach, allowed to set for a minute or so and then pressure washed, as you can see the dirt and grime just fly off and the roof is restored to the white beauty.

I'll get it loaded up and out of here, I should be back up in Washington by July 15th, but I'm missing a bunch of my friends comedy up in Seattle, Check out Abbey Drake on Facebook.. or on YouTube (p.s. I knew her when...)

Workin' on the Lot

A while back I wrote about buying an RV lot in Seaview, Washington, the lot is about a mile from the beach. I've been working on the lot getting it ready for my New Horizons fifth wheel to be moved onto it. Below are the photos from the Safari Associations website, it already had a 1991 thirty one (31) foot Dutchman trailer on it, which is in poor shape, as a tree had fallen on it a couple of years ago, but someone rebuilt the front part of the trailer. I'm making it into a storage area and workshop.





Below is the same lot, I turned the Dutchman around and have been fighting the weeds, I am down to gravel in some places now. The small Nash trailer will be moved so I can fit the larger New Horizons fifth wheel in it's place. I'll get the fifth wheel set up sometime in mid-July. So Saturday or Sunday I'll be heading back down to Hagerman, ID. to get the fifth wheel ready.

Fridge Fans

I know, it's been so long, I've been busy with everything, it's no excuse. I'm sitting at the Thousand Trails in Las Vegas, Nv, trying to stay cool. I've had a few requests for this when I put "had to add a fan in my fridge coils" on my Facebook wall the other day. As I watched the temperature in my freezer climb, I remembered I had bought a couple of six inch computer fans for the reason of setting up a cooling stack on the refrigerator. The ideal position is above the coils near the roof, to draw the heat up, rather than blow air up. But you have to take the top fridge cover off, stand on a ladder and all sorts of contortions. So mine blow instead of suck.

As you should know the refrigerators in out RV's use an older, more rugged technology, ammonia absorption. Rather than repeat what others have, here is a good explanation.

I thought about mounting the fans on hard mounts, either metal or wood and bracing them in the rear refrigerator compartment, but in traveling down the road the trailer flexes, so I figured the mounts needed to flex, I used nylon flex ties for mounting. (and it was a faster install)


Getting the tools and parts ready..
Crimper, side cutters, wire, #10 push-on lugs, 14-16 push-ons, 75 degree thermal switch (NO) and 12 volt, 4.2 watt 6 inch fan.


Location to place fans


One fan placed to push air UP the stack.


Looking up the stack/absorption coils.


Finished project.


Looking up at second fan..


Thermal switch and ground connector, I can pull apart the ground to open the circuit and stop the fans if I don't want them using power. I'm taking power off the 12 volt lines to the fridge board, a 20 amp fused circuit. Both fans, when on, will use about .6 (six-tenths) amps total (4.2 watts each.)




To sum it up, the thermal switch will turn on both fans about 75 F and push air up through the absorber coils, making the system more efficient. I can disconnect the negative side connecters if I don't want the fans to turn on, or the entire system can be quickly removed and later replaced for service if needed.

Addition (2-4-2012)

I moved the fans to the proper place (above the cooling fins/coils) it was very simple, I added a length of wire to the power portion of the fans and plugged it into the right places.. I also swapped out the thermal switch to a 30 degree C (86F) NO switch. I had a problem with the lower fan creating such an airflow it would suck the flame from the thermocouple making the igniter think the pilot was not on. So it was firing the igniter dozens of times, while the fans worked well during resort/electric operation, during the LP operation the igniter would fire dozens of times..


Closeup of fan in upper fridge flue..


Position of fans, and wire ties to "hang" the fans


One side buttoned up, with small wire ties, wire tie on center bar provided "strain relief" to wire going down to thermal switch/power below.