My 89 K1500

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VIKING_MECHANIC

GMT 400 obsessed Swede.
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Bad luck strikes twice in the same day!

On Saturday I took to the salvage yard on the hunt for a decent radiator since I don't really want to spend $100+ on a new one, and some decent rotors/pads. I found a radiator out of a 89 1 ton and it still had coolant in it! I also came across pretty decent rotors/pads as well and all this for $110!!

A few hours later, I was back at my work with the truck on the lift. I flushed the radiator out with water and swapped them. I also took the "new" rotors and pads and cleaned off the surface rust with some emery cloth.

Here's where the bad luck showed up.

This radiator I got had some damaged fins, but overall seemed pretty good. I did noticed some green corrosion(?) at the bottom of it when I pulled it out, but didn't give it much thought. With it in the truck and the engine running, It is dripping on a constant rate. But I didn't lose a measurable amount while it was in the truck, so for now while the truck is at my job, it will work.

Now the bigger problem...

As I was putting on the rotors/pads, I noticed the driver side caliper had significantly more rust on the cylinder than the pass side. It also took far longer to compress it back into the bore when I installed the pads than the pass side did. When I went to back the truck out, the driver side front tire would not move, and I barely got the truck to move with the pedal to the floor.

With the truck in the air, I took off the tire and the rotor rotated freely, but with it on, the tire would not rotate at all. I'm guessing the weight of the tire/wheel is to much to overcome the friction of the cylinder stuck against the pad? I feel like the caliper has seized...

I do have a set of calipers laying around that came off my C1500 that I'll probably throw on here and my drums and shoes came in Saturday, so it looks like I'm doing a brake job on this sooner than expected...

Side note: anyone know how to change a thread title or do I need help from an admin?
 

VIKING_MECHANIC

GMT 400 obsessed Swede.
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VIKING_MECHANIC

GMT 400 obsessed Swede.
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Over the last week, I've been able to fix some problems, and discover some new ones. I'll start with the major one.

Since I suspected a rod knock, I took off the oil pan (which was a challenge in its self) to see if any of the rods would be knockin' and sure enough, bearing for #8 was completely gone!

Now, at the time I was doing this, I didn't realize that there is no temporary "fix" by slapping a new bearing in there and calling it good for now. No matter what size bearing I put in there, it would destroy it within minutes.

So I thought about my options and decided to have a local machine shop recondition the crank and rods along with the heads. So I went in on Saturday and pulled the engine out. With the 4" body lift and big ass tires it has, getting the engine out was kinda interesting. I had to take the hood, both front wheels off and lower the truck damn near to where the rotors were touching the ground in order to get enough room to clear the front of the truck. And even then, I still had to pick up the engine and lift it up and over the core support to get it out.

Since I have a parts washer at work, I can save some $$$ by washing the intake manifold, oil pan and some other components.
 

VIKING_MECHANIC

GMT 400 obsessed Swede.
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Here are the bearing(s) from #8, literally thin as paper and the bottom of the piston hit the counterweight on the crank and there's tiny chunks of aluminum all over the engine.

You can also see where #8 made contact with the head multiple times. And for the overheating issue, I'm not sure yet. At first glance the head and gasket seem to be intact but I haven't taken off the driver side head yet. And the coolant you see in #8 is from when I took off the head, I don't suspect it was burning coolant. At least not yet.

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