Craig posted on October 03, 2010 00:38
In my last post, I described how I wound up getting a free RRC.
I had the vehicle towed to Dan’s house in Bothell where Dan and I would work on it together to get it driveable. After we got it off the flatbed, Dan and I started poking around a bit. The most glaring mechanical problems are that it had a dead battery and was stuck in park. We threw it on a battery charger immediately.
After a bit of reading and talking to a few people the theory was that the shifter was stuck because of either:
a. Bad brake switch
b. Shorted brake light circuit
c. Bad solenoid lockout
Immediately, I noticed that there was a blown fuse on the brake circuit and replaced it. Beyond that, there wasn’t much to do until the battery was charged so I went home and surfed the web for photos of RRCs. Late that night Dan sends me an SMS saying, “I couldn’t resist… IT’S ALIVE”. Great News!!!
A couple days later I headed back down to start working on the stuck shifter problem. Stepped on the brake pedal and the taillights lit up… brake switch works, and there isn’t a short in the circuit; must be a bad solenoid. We went to inspect the solenoid and noticed that the previous owner wasn’t able to remove the shifter handle. After scratching our heads for a little while as to why, Dan observed that the shaft, that actuates when the button on the shifter handle is squeezed, wasn’t sliding up/down freely. A few taps of a hammer got it to go down, but it was still bound up. We were able to remove the shifter handle so we could work on it though.
The inside of the shifter mechanism was so filled with rust that it we couldn’t get the shifter button to slide the shaft, and once we manually lifted it we still weren’t able to slide it from P –> R –> N –> D… A little PB Blaster and some *persuasion* had it moving, but not well. We spent a couple hours with PB Blaster, grease, and sweat trying to get it to unbind. We finally had it to the point that we could get it in gear, but it was clear that the shifter was pretty much worn out… The shifter would work, but barely. We still had to put the plates on, re-assemble the interior, and I needed to call the insurance agent anyway. So, with some progress made, and satisified that we could shift it out of park I went home, while the RRC stayed at Dan’s.
The next day Dan emailed me that Gordon at Lamorna Garage had a shifter in good working order for $40. Great price even for my budget build, so this morning I headed to Seattle to get the part then over to Dan’s to replace the shifter entirely. That job went pretty fast, and not too much later we were putting on the new license plates, re-assembling the interior, washing it, and doing some tests to see how well it would buff out with rubbing compound. After re-assembling everything, we were ready for our first test drive… Anticipating that everything was going to work great I turned the key and … click. Nothing, zip, nada. Dead battery again!? Really? We tossed it on the charger and headed out to get some Mexican food and beer.
Upon returning it still wouldn’t start. After a bit of poking around, It turned out the key/ignition switch is a bit fickle and re-assembling the dash seems to have upset the circuit. A bit of fiddling and we had it started and I was driving it around the block. Other than the key, it starts great, runs great, and stops great! Yes!
At this point, I’m thinking “How am I going to present this truck to my wife?” I’ll be candid, it’s ROUGH looking. While it’s an excellent candidate for a restore, it’s been sitting outside in Eastern, WA for a long time now. Covered in pollen, oxidized from the hot son, and it’s 21 years old. The question is, how well is this thing going to clean up? Dan took his magic rubbing compound recipe and spent 2 minutes on a small area. The results were inspiring. These are phone photos, but I’m quite confident that the truck will clean up nicely.
We spent 20 minutes giving it a quick wash before I headed home to get my wife to come get it. The wash didn’t remove as much pollen as I’d hoped, but it was dark when we picked up the truck so I don’t think Julie’s noticed yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it buffed out tomorrow.
The drive home was extremely smooth. The truck drove well, the engine pulled strong. There are a few rattles and a few items that don't work, but the truck drove great! I'm extremely happy to have it parked in front of my house.
**Special thanks to Dan for all his help on this. It was fun and that little buffed out spot you did is my motivation to bring this thing back. NPR can’t have her yet!