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Driving down the road the other day the brakes begin to lock up on the beast until they were so tight that the 8.1 engine would not move it.

All four wheels were locked and it wouldn't move till she called me and I had to open a bleeder valve on both the front and the back.  One GMC forum said they had had this problem with a defective master cylinder.  Parts store says no way.  Only thing it can be is the hydroboost. 

I replaced the master cylinder and solved the problem.

The only time this has ever happened to me was with a 71 Fiat roadster.  In freezing weather the brakes locked.  That was because it had too much water in the brake fluid and froze.

BTW, we didn't do any mileage tests on this run but it doesn't seem to use any more gasoline at 65, pulling the trailer, than the older suburban with the 5.3 engine.  The 8.1 has 373 gears and I'm guessing the old one had 355 or there abouts.

We finally got to do a road trip, pulling one horse to a rodeo about 2 hours away from home.  Parking was in muddy parking lot.  Tracy got to put it in 4x4 for the first time but it wasn't bad enough to spin any tires. 

It has no problems pulling one horse at any speed.  I put a serpentine belt on it.  Just like any GM product.  The plug and play brake controller is not getting power to the brakes.  I'll have to do something about that.  It does have an automatic leveling system.  It seems to work very well.

i told them it had a 1966 farm tag.  They said that on vehicles that hadn't been registered in the last few years they treat it as being from out of state and I can either get it inspected or take it to an auto theft task force office.  Not one in this county.  She gave me some phone numbers.  None of them service this county.  So, I'm gonna have to load it up and take it somewhere.  Hopefully I can take it to an inspection station and get the same form as for an out of state vehicle.  It just ain't gonna pass the inspection.  If that doesn't work then the closest task force office is Conroe.

I've hit a snag again on this.  They tell me that the truck was never registered in Texas so I have to get it inspected or get a form 68A from an auto theft unit.

Inspection is not gonna happen so the next question is where do I have to go to get a 68A from a auto theft unit.  Is this supposed to be DPS, County, City or what?

Best I can tell we don't have an "auto theft unit" in our county.

Truck did have a 66 farm tag on the front bumper so I may try to get them to search again.  The VIN was originally inside the glove box on a paper tag and stamped into the left front frame rail.  There is a tag on the firewall that is a body number.  I think it is possible that it was registered with the body number.  I'll call them and see what happens.

Quote from: crazzywolfie on January 01, 2016, 03:16:35 PM
almost sounds like you are in the wrong line of work .

I'm thinking that will have to go on the 57 if I can ever get the title.

So, in the last few days I have been saving the bacon for some very non-thinking red necks.  Our employees have stuck our pavement only forklift several times.  I have winched it out twice with the 94 jeep and the 12,000# Harbor Freight winch.  I had to tie the Jeep to a tree once and park it in a ditch the second time to keep it from being drug across the field.

Then a guy in a new ferd with a round bale trailer buried up in a neighbors yard.  Then some guy in a diesel Ram buried himself while hooked to the ferd.  We winched out the Dodge by tying a tractor to the back of the jeep for ballast.  Then, when we went to pull out the ferd and the trailer, we had the snatch block on the ferd and ran the end of the winch to the Dodge to get enough weight to pull him out.

I tripped the 150 amp circuit breaker twice that night but the winch motor never got hot.  We would have taken some pics but it was too dark to find a camera...

End result:  I'm very happy with the Harbor Freight winch and new bumper I built.  And, I suggest a good re-settable 150 amp circuit breaker to go with any winch.

Richard, What would one cost from pick and pull?

It's a 46re or s 518.

My son-in-laws 95 1500 has lost its transmission. Anyone have one available?

We ARE on a budget!

I'm gathering a few parts but the rules for a bonded title state that the vehicle has to be intact, with basically a drivetrain and a body.  I have submitted my first paperwork to the Regional TxDMV office by mail.  We will see what happens next.

Supposedly they will value the vehicle because it is over 25 years old and, if nothing excites them in a title search, I will have a year to get a bond (minimum is a bond on $4000) and thirty days to submit to the tax office after securing the bond.  Best I can tell, the bond should not cost over $100.

Has anyone been this route before?

Riding lesson was only a couple of miles from our pasture.  They were supposed to make a play day out of town but we've had so much wet weather the horse has an abscess on his foot and couldn't go.

We do have it riding level and it looks good.  Does that count?

Quote from: SixGun on December 04, 2015, 02:09:25 PM
   
Sniffle sniffle ... That's OK

I found those parts in storage today...  I'll keep them for you.

Richard had gotten me some front bumper parts that were missing, then I just threw it away and built a new one.  Thanks anyway Richard...

Some of you know that I bought 3 Jeep ZJs at impound auctions, 94.96 and 97.

Only the 94 was a 4x.  We turned the 97 into a parts car and my grand-daughter is driving the 96.  I put the 97 grille and bumper on the 94 so basically it looked identical to the 96.  I bought a set of plans and built the winch bumper that's on it now, eventually adding pull points and moving the license plate to a flip up cover over the faring and winch and rope hook.

I put turbine wheels and 31x10.5 tires that my daughter bought from Ryan on the Jeep, having to space them out 1.5 inches to clear the sway bar.

Next I added a Rough Country 3.5" lift to get it to the last look.

Still left to do is a skid plate under the transfer, because I'm not breaking another one and a skid plate under the gas tank, because there's fragile electric pump parts in there.  Also, there is one more plate under the bumper, from the bumper to the factory skid plate.

It has a 4.0, 373 gears, a 242 transfer case that gives it full time and part time and it starts regularly.