'88 RCLB C3500 "Roscoe P. Coltrane"

[0xDEADBEEF]

If you can get your hands on an induction heater it may save those parts.

 

[454cid]

Are those bolts actually Torx, or are they something like Torx Plus? I think there is another one that GM is known to use, but I can't think of the name.... they all look basically the same. The difference is in the details.

 

[MrPink]

Are those bolts actually Torx, or are they something like Torx Plus? I think there is another one that GM is known to use, but I can't think of the name.... they all look basically the same. The difference is in the details.

Torx Plus are new(last decade) and wouldn't have been used on a GMT platform

 

[Erik the Awful]

"Torx Plus" ...because we really needed another set of sockets. Whatever engineering and accounting team came up with that can eat poo and die. They're never used to hold more torque, they're always used to keep people like us from wrenching on our own stuff.

 

[454cid]

Torx Plus are new(last decade) and wouldn't have been used on a GMT platform

There's another one though, and I can't think of the name. I've heard it's actually what a lot of GM bolts really are, and that regular Torx will "work" but often strip. Could have started with the 800 or 900 in quantity??? I wish I could think of the other fastener name.

 

[454cid]

"Torx Plus" ...because we really needed another set of sockets. Whatever engineering and accounting team came up with that can eat poo and die. They're never used to hold more torque, they're always used to keep people like us from wrenching on our own stuff.

It's so the tools don't cam out. Automakers are using lots of torque to yield stuff now. It allows them to use a lighter fastener because of the precision installation. The hole run down of the bolts are monitored.

 

[DonYukon]

I used a impact with lots of wd40 and Ugga duggas . I MEAN ALOT

 

[Erik the Awful]

It's so the tools don't cam out. Automakers are using lots of torque to yield stuff now. It allows them to use a lighter fastener because of the precision installation. The hole run down of the bolts are monitored.

I would believe that if they ever used them for anything more than the top layer of fasteners. That's the excuse they use when they get called out for trying to eliminate our right to repair.

I used a impact with lots of wd40 and Ugga duggas . I MEAN ALOT

I just got back from Pull-A-Part, and while those bolts take a bit of force, I was able to get seatbelts out of the junkyard trucks with a simple torx key. The bolts in Roscoe aren't coming loose with a 1/2 breakover bar. I think heat is going to be the answer.

Speaking of Pull-A-Part, I had to go in to my Reserve unit and sign some paperwork, so I grabbed my toolbox and immediately headed to PAP after the signing was done. I scored a Scottdale-grade rubber floor mat, a pair of good seatbelts with intact trim pieces and unboogered hardware (one red, one blue), two door sill trims, glovebox innards, some other trim, a good condiion moonie cluster (WCJr's odometer doesnt' work), and a Temp/Compass mirror and sensor. When I went to check out, the power was out - the power pole out front was arcing and making sizzling sounds. The guy couldn't ring the parts up on the register, so he jotted notes on a notepad and said "$30". Shazam! Living right does me another solid.

Also, while dragging the floor mat out of the truck, change began falling out of it onto the ground, and I had to wonder how many of us have checked out at Pull-A-Part and paid them with the very same change we nabbed out of their trucks fifteen minutes earlier?

 

[Erik the Awful]

Today was fairly frustrating. I got a lot done, but...

One of these things is not like the other.

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I had to use my propane torch to heat up the bolts, and the pipe wrench and cheater pipe was the only thing that would turn them. Unfortunately, only one bolt came out intact. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to drill out the other. The B-pillar trim is still in great shape, but the seatbelts are garbage.

Once I got the seatbelt mounts out, I removed the B-pillar trim. This doesn't look good.

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I got the back roof panel out, and the dome light is intact with a good lens! Then I took the headliner and threw it in the trash - it's unsalvageable. Unfortunately, what I found underneath is unsettling.

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Ugh. Now I really need to get my shop wired for 220v. I think I need to source that sheetmetal from a wrecked truck instead of trying to make patch panels by hand.

Finally, I also have this piece to contend with in the door jamb. I've known about it since I got the truck, but I haven't worried about it until now.

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I did get work done on the floor pans. I'm about half finished primering them, and over the last few days I painted a significant amount of the trim.

 

[RedneckWithPaychecks]

If that’s how bad rust is on the roof on a Oklahoma truck; I’m never going to even look underneath the headliner on a Wisconsin truck