Tank (gmc g3500 extended)

[unicutie]

Hello everyone. I got the title today for my van, so now that it's officially mine (woop!) I'm starting a thread for it. tomorrow i'm doing ttl, then inspection and registration next. Everything looks decent on it, it's a 1995 van so yea haha I wasn't expecting everything to be perfect. The major parts are in good shape, there's just some little b.s. stuff I need to work on. The main mechanical issue is the steering. Pretty much all the bushings appear to need replacement, but the one that's causing the slack in the steering is on the pitman arm. bummer! that one looks hard to get to. If it was the tie rods, i was going to do it myself but i will probably take it to a shop. I don't have the tools yet to lift and work on such a large vehicle (5k lb). I don't even have a torque wrench, haha. Also i have to figure out why the reverse lights don't work. I hope it's the bulbs because i already looked at the fuse and it's not burned out x.x

After that, I will probably start by making the outside look better. polish the paint and paint the roof white. clean up everything so it isn't such an eyesore haha. I've been working on peeling some of the decals off. I need to look into some kind of adhesive remover! Or find an OCD friend who enjoys peeling things heheh

This is my first truck i've ever owned. I'm so proud that I bought it myself and now it's mine! haha. I feel like a real adult almost

Anyway here he is I'll be doing text and video updates. 

 

[highdesertranger]

actually the pitman arm is pretty easy. get a puller for free at the auto parts store. more then likely if the pitman is bad so is the idler arm. you shouldn't need an alignment after these. if you replace tie rods you need to get it aligned after.

check your reverse lights at night. get in and start your van, put the brakes on and move the shift lever while watching for the lights to come on. the switch might be out of adjustment and the lights might come on just not in reverse. this is common on GM's. hope this helps. highdesertranger

 

[unicutie]

well the shifter is the reason the back up lights don't work. The lights come on with the shift lever in the halfway position between park and reverse. But when reverse is fully selected, they turn off. So you can put it in reverse and then partially unshift, the lights come on and it stays in reverse. this won't pass inspection though probably and seems dangerous ... ;P

edit: should have refreshed before posting this, yea that's my issue, thanks highdesertranger i pulled the bulb out and let it dangle in the cab and watched it.

 

[highdesertranger]

I thought so, like I said it's common. just adjust it but it must be done right because it's also your neutral safety switch. highdesertranger

 

[unicutie]

I thought so,  like I said it's common.  just adjust it but it must be done right because it's also your neutral safety switch.  highdesertranger

hopefully i did it right! not really knowing what i was doing, i messed with it by hand, feeling around for an aduster. But it happened to twist it a little and it clicked a couple of times. That was all it took haha it works now! wooop!

 

[Almost There]

Need to find a better, nicer name for her than 'Tank'....  

I called my van the 'Big White Money Pit' for the first few months (and with good reason) but then realized that much like ourselves when given nicknames, they tend to live up to them!

 

[Headache]

Grats on the new ride!

 

[unicutie]

Need to find a better, nicer name for her than 'Tank'....  

I called my van the 'Big White Money Pit' for the first few months (and with good reason) but then realized that much like ourselves when given nicknames, they tend to live up to them!

ah but tank is a boy! X) X) and I hope he's as tough as a tank edit: also a good friend of mine has a dog named Tank and he's the sweetest.

I also considered calling him frank. after frankenstein's monster. because he's big and green and everything is oversized giving me room to work on it myself if need be just like dr. F.

 

[BradKW]

Well congratulations, big move!

Maybe Tankess has a ring to it...

 

[unicutie]

my van didn't come with the owner's manual so I grabbed a chilton book on it (was surprised they had it in the store! that felt like a win since my van is older It has pretty decent info to get started with. I'm going to subscribe to alldatadiy when I get into more serious repairs. This book has helped me already to answer some questions and examine the details of some of the systems I hadn't checked yet. I'm a car newbie and am using this van to learn on.

I've looked around it more in the past couple days just checking things out. I'm kinda going one system at a time. Yesterday I looked at all the parts underneath. Today, I checked out the components under the hood. Tomorrow when it's daylight I'm gonna pop off the engine cover and check things out in that area.

I discovered a few things - first the cooling system has been worked on at some point. The radiator hose to the engine is new, and the cap might be new also. The coolant is green and I haven't checked thoroughly for leaks but I haven't looked thoroughly the a/c runs cold and some of the parts look possibly-new. The belt looks good/replaced but something is squeaking. It goes away after the engine runs a few minutes. I haven't messed with it yet. Underneath, the suspension looks good no leaks. I noticed the transmission pan is all greasy and covered in sludge. but i don't see any fresh leaks. 

also i'm wondering about the suspension/steering components. a lot of the bushings under there are caked in greasy grime. what should I do about this if anything? I already am going to replace the pitman arm(and maybe the idler but idk it looks okay). should they be cleaned and greased?

another thing the chilton book has that an owners manual would lack, is diagrams for all the body pieces and instructions on how to take the interior trim out. that's going to come in handy. also the first section tells you what tools you should get

 

[highdesertranger]

you can wipe the excess old grease off of any grease joint with a rag. but it's a messy job. you can also pressure wash it of, also a messy job. after you pressure wash make sure you lube everything to force any water out that you forced in. or you could just leave it, it really doesn't hurt anything. in the future when you lube everything wipe the excess off this stops the build up. highdesertranger

 

[Gary68]

if the goo on the transmission pan is black it is motor oil from the engine,trans fluid is red

i find that is best to just replace all the steering parts at once,to do it yourself, a couple good sized sockets/wrenches,some muscle and take measurements,put things back together to those measurements then alignment

here is where you get your parts from
http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/gmc,1995,g3500,5.7l+v8,1154898,steering

 

[Headache]

another thing the chilton book has that an owners manual would lack, is diagrams for all the body pieces and instructions on how to take the interior trim out. that's going to come in handy. also the first section tells you what tools you should get

I'm not sure if Chilton upped their game being it's been so long since I bought one but I've been a Haynes manual gal for decades.  You might try to take a look at one and compare them.  More knowledge never hurt anyone. 

 

[Vagabound]

Hello everyone. I got the title today for my van, so now that it's officially mine (woop!) ...

Congratulations on your van!  Nice looking.  I saw one similar with a roof rack pre-installed.  Was a City of Seattle government work vehicle at auction.  Fleet maintained. I was salivating. Unfortunately, that was too early to buy for me.  Went for about $7,500 as I recall.  A bit more than I wanted to spend.  Love the color though!

Vagabound

 

[unicutie]

I'm not sure if Chilton upped their game being it's been so long since I bought one but I've been a Haynes manual gal for decades.  You might try to take a look at one and compare them.  More knowledge never hurt anyone. 

I looked for the hayne's book but they didn't have it. So I picked up the chilton book since it's better than nothing! haha. I will get it from amazon at some point. I too am curious about how they compare.

 

[ArtW]

Nice van! welcome and I hope it gives you much good service

 

[unicutie]

Ok so i just moved to a new place which doesn't have a concrete driveway. Could i construct pads with cinder blocks buried in the dirt for tires and Jacks /stands? Anyone ever done something like this? -Bren

Sent from my LGMS345 using Tapatalk

 

[Almost There]

You could probably get away with 2' lengths of 2x10 to place the jack stands on rather than having to try to dig in to what is probably harder than hell driveway surface to bury concrete blocks. JMHO

 

[highdesertranger]

good heavy plywood works good. 3/4 inch or better. notice I said good plywood, do not use OSB, particle board or any other junk wood. I have done this for years. having worked on farms and ranches, concrete to work on was a luxury. highdesertranger

 

[masterplumber]

I use micro lam beam cut offs under my jack stands as my driveway is dirt. It's like good plywood on steroids and 1 3/4'' thick. Check some construction sites in your area during the framing stage. These cut offs usually just get thrown away as they're no good for firewood. Ask at lumber yards also as they usually buy the beams in long lengths and cut them to order for the contractors.