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Stop on in for a cup of coffee!

Saturday morning started with a little breakfast, 3 cups of coffee, then I dove into frame repair on my Colorado. The bushing for the leaf spring shackle was coming off the frame because of rot.

This is the inside of the passenger side frame rail where the bushing sits, the top of the shackle can been seen in the bottom of the pic

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Part of the inner frame rail
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Here is the bushing again and the hitch

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This is the bumper bracket, the side of the hitch can be seen in the background. The bumper bolts actually came out. I cut the hitch off, I don't think I am goint to put it back on. I use my plow truck if I need to tow anything.

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This is the inside of the frame after the repair, the back side of the bumper bracket

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Repaired frame rail and shackle bushing welded back in place

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More of the repaired frame rail

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More of the repair


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The outside of the bumper bracket

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Some of the welds are not my best work and don't look the prettiest, but they are strong
Damn road salt. I just junked a 96 Dakota because the frame and body was rotted.
 
I went to my local Tool shop and checked out there welding department. I am thinking about the Mig 180 Amp model - takes a 15 pound spool, which is tons, and I can use gas also. Bottles of gas are on a Buy & exchange basis when required - buy one bottle, then get an exchange one when empty. That is what most guys do around here apparently now. The big Gas suppliers made it too difficult for the little guy doing small jobbing work.
Depending on how often you use it and how humid your shop is, a 2# spool of wire might be better. If it rusts up you are only throwing 2# away.
 
2 cups to start the morning, then I went to the shop for more rust repair. This time the victim was my kids 04 Saturn Vue. The area where the LF rear trailing arm mounts was rotting away.

The trailing arm is removed, this is looking back towards the rear tire

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The rot looking forward
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Reinforced the mount for the trailing arm

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New bushing installed
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New metal in place and a coat of undercoat sprayed on. This is looking forward

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Looking rearward


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Trailing arm back in place

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The rockers are rotten, but this will keep it running until he can decide what he wants to replace it with. 301,000 miles on it
 
I finally got around to cleaning my coffee maker, much better end result! First time I used it in months.
 
2 cups to start the morning, then I went to the shop for more rust repair. This time the victim was my kids 04 Saturn Vue. The area where the LF rear trailing arm mounts was rotting away.

The trailing arm is removed, this is looking back towards the rear tire

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The rot looking forward
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Reinforced the mount for the trailing arm

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New bushing installed
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New metal in place and a coat of undercoat sprayed on. This is looking forward

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Looking rearward


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Trailing arm back in place

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The rockers are rotten, but this will keep it running until he can decide what he wants to replace it with. 301,000 miles on it
I assume it still runs good or you wouldn't be doing that to a rot bucket? Glad I live in the south! My newest vehicle is a 97 Dodge 2500....and absolutely no rust.
 
Picked up a couple different varieties of Death Wish today, they didn't have the regular flavor in stock.

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I assume it still runs good or you wouldn't be doing that to a rot bucket? Glad I live in the south! My newest vehicle is a 97 Dodge 2500....and absolutely no rust.
It still runs great, you would never know it has over 301,000 miles on it
 
I had 2 cups to get started moving this morning, stopped in the McD's drivethru to get a 3rd cup on my way to plow snow. After I got home I went out into my shed and looked at this for a little bit.

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Not that I need it right now, but I would like it running just in case. A friend of mine gave it to me, he didn't need it anymore. They bought a different house and he now has a whole house generator.

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It's a older unit, but it should do the job. The spark plug was clean, but no spark. I pulled the cover, cleaned the points and spark was restored. I need to make a mount and cables for the battery, if I don't want to pull start it. My feet started to get cold so I called it good for today. I have to get some rec gas anyway
 
Grilling burgers on a breezy cloudy day when the temp is 39 (way below the norm) but it's now 43 but supposed to hit a very hot high of 45. Can't stay in the house but the temp swings here is nuts lately. Supposed to be in the 60's for a high tomorrow but raining. Eh, got more to grille so long as the wind isn't blowing it up under my shop carport. High temp is supposed to be 70 on Tuesday but even more rain is predicted. I love this place!! Don't like snow either....
 
I sat around this morning drinking a few cups of joe and watched some you-tube, I went out to my plow truck to go clean up a couple of parking lots and I say something hanging from the e-brake cable. Turns out it was a bushing with some steel, I started looking where I came from and found the front mount for the rear leaf spring rotten and the top of the spring eye broken.

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This is what I had to repair, I did a quick repair

I dug around the shop and found a new bushing, and cleaned the outside piece of the old hanger in the sand blaster

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I cut a new piece with the plasma cutter to put in the hole

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I welded it in from the back side

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The bushing in place, a piece on each side and one on top

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Not my best work, but it's functional. I didn't spend a whole lot of time on this repair, I need to get it together to plow some more. I am going to be working on the replacement for this truck soon.
 
What the hell kind of salt do they use in Michigan?
The kind that causes rust? ;) Lots of rust. Any more the only time it gets driven is to plow or tow something, and it doesn't get washed like it should. It really needs to be washed off each time that I get done plowing. With out a garage at home that is hard to do, I could rinse it off at work, but I still have to drive it home
 
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