2006 Silverado SS Intimidator resurrection

[someotherguy]

02-15-2023 Redneckinator dash dimmer switch gone flaky and cleaning it didn't help; contacts too worn. Brand new official GM switch is a one-size-fits-many application, doesn't match...so some quick surgery to swap stuff around and she's better. Couldn't swap the plastic dimmer wheel though as the contacts are molded into it, so about an 80% victory. I'll take it.

(Original gray switch on the left; new black switch on the right)








Richard

 

[someotherguy]

02-23-2023 Yep, Redneckinator water pump gave up the ghost. Noticed on arriving home from work the other morning, just parked it in the garage and ordered the new pump without checking first (hot engine and needed to get to sleep) ... time to get busy



Yep, once pressured up, it's dripping down from failed seal on rear cover of pump



Messy job, this orange coolant stinks



F###n plastic crimp collar on special made heater hose gave up too POS; replaced with a regular clamp



Back together, hosed down, little fill with Dexcool and distilled to warm up then pressure test



Richard

 

[someotherguy]

10-13-2023 Lifetime warranty comes in handy when the part is 80 bucks and lasts about 3 years

3 years and 1 month to be exact. Last time it was "all fan all the time" even with the key off. This time it was "NO FAN FOR YOU"







Speaking of warranties..

02-07-2024 The past week, Redneckinator will start ok, or start slow, or not start. Figured battery going bad. Yep, 11V is not "good" OTC.





Richard

 

[ORVietVet]

08-31-2022 Little job for today, replace the seat bottom leather on the Redneckinator SS. Wasn't too bad but I learned a few lessons, so I get to re-do it again in the near future. Foam felt OK but once I got the old cover off, I could see it's starting to crumble at the edge. Heating element has burnt spots so it needs to be replaced. Truck is my daily driver so I went ahead and put the new leather on and will have to order more goodies to do it "right" the second time around. About 1.5 hrs from door open to door closed, including a little vacuuming. Oh, and some fighting with the cover to get the middle stitch lined up with the top part of the seat, still getting it wrong, then realizing the factory did a crummy job, too.

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Richard

So, removing the seat area, without removing the whole seat, correct? Any pics of those steps or process? Or type out the steps?

 

[someotherguy]

Couple failed attempts to start brought it down to showing just under 9V. Warrantied it out with Pest Boys, only had about 6 months left on the 36 mo warranty.





We did discuss in here at the time that the 130A rating on my load tester probably isn't really sufficient for doing automotive batteries. It's not like it's gonna replace a professional level piece of shop equipment like the old Sun VAT-38 at the shop I learned at back in the 80's. However, it didn't take much for this little OTC to indicate a weak battery, so it did at least let me narrow it down before guessing at other parts of the system (again.)

Next up pulled the radio apart (again) and touched up solder joints on the connector, sprayed the sockets with DeOxit, and gently bent the little ground tabs on the chassis so they'd touch the faceplate a little better. It was buzzing after hitting bumps in the road and pissing me off



Hooked it back up and it still works, so I guess I didn't break it. We'll see if the symptoms are gone later.. (and yes, no more display drop-out, no more buzzing!)



Richard

 

[someotherguy]

So, removing the seat area, without removing the whole seat, correct? Any pics of those steps or process? Or type out the steps?

Did all the pics not show up? I've noticed sometimes on here that every once in a while *some* pics show up, but others simply show as their filename, until you click them or refresh the post.

The seat has to come out to be able to disassemble it. Seat out of the truck, flipped over, after you unplug all the connectors it's pretty easy to remove the bottom cushion from the frame. The only real issue is being super careful to not slice your fingers open because all of the stamped out sheetmetal that makes up the frame has SHARP edges!

Edit - I see now that the 2nd pic may not tell the whole story because of the framing of it; if you look closer you'll see that's the whole seat assembly laying on the work table, with the bottom cushion already removed. The focus of the pic of course being the bottom cushion.

Richard

 

[someotherguy]

07-31-2024 Redneckinator has developed an intermittent death wobble while braking, and wearing the front tires funny. Steering linkage is 175K original and there's play in most of the joints...





So I start with the tie rods. Pretty easy but let's be sure to clear the center link of old thread locker so it won't clog the tiny grease passage in the new inner tie rod. (pic of course is the old tie rod, but shown as an example of the crust I also found in the threads on the center link!)



Both sides eyeballed for matching length to old parts, installed, greased.



Richard

 

[ORVietVet]

Did all the pics not show up? I've noticed sometimes on here that every once in a while *some* pics show up, but others simply show as their filename, until you click them or refresh the post.

The seat has to come out to be able to disassemble it. Seat out of the truck, flipped over, after you unplug all the connectors it's pretty easy to remove the bottom cushion from the frame. The only real issue is being super careful to not slice your fingers open because all of the stamped out sheetmetal that makes up the frame has SHARP edges!

Edit - I see now that the 2nd pic may not tell the whole story because of the framing of it; if you look closer you'll see that's the whole seat assembly laying on the work table, with the bottom cushion already removed. The focus of the pic of course being the bottom cushion.

Richard

I was assuming the entire seat had to come out but there was no pics of that, so I asked. I hate assuming.

 

[someotherguy]

Went to do the idler arm and can't get it out of the center link. Might let the alignment shop do that one since it's gotta go over there anyway. Don't wanna beat on it til it craters but might still be stuck, ya know?
Tried my air hammer but the OEM stud has the long skinny unthreaded part so keeping the bit on target is very tricky.

08-08-2024 Took another stab at it and did finally get the idler arm out.. just had to get mad at it



New one installed and greased. It came with that remote greasing hose kit but honestly there's easy enough access in here that I didn't install it. Maybe when I go to grease it the next time or two, I might change my mind...



08-14-2024 Redneckinator alignment accomplished. Guy says everything is pretty tight, so I'm not gonna worry about the pitman arm anytime soon. I did upper and lower ball joints a while back, as well as wheel bearings. Just did inner, outer tie rods and idler arm w/bracket. Now it just needs 2 new tires..



08-15-2024 Oil change and minor A/C work for the Redneckinator. Service ports were leaking a little bit so I replaced them, got it on vacuum for a while then will charge it up.



Richard

 

[someotherguy]

I was assuming the entire seat had to come out but there was no pics of that, so I asked. I hate assuming.

Yep. It's just out of frame on that 2nd pic. Here's the whole assembly back together before I put it in the truck - sometimes I take a lot more pictures than I post. Other times I think I post too many.



The seat job is really pretty easy; they may seem intimidating if you've never done one but The Seat Shop has some youtube videos you can watch that are very helpful. The #1 reminder though and I really can't stress it enough is to watch those sharp edges. I knew fully well about them but it was nearly impossible to avoid them 100%. Some of the various connectors under the seat are very tight and you find yourself wrestling with them and finally feel like you're making progress, get just distracted enough by that and *pow* you've sliced your hand open.

Richard

 

[someotherguy]

10-26-2024 Auto-dimming side mirror on Redneckinator went bad; the electrochromic juice inside is loose! This results in a distorted, multiple image. Not good.







Replacement glass is $130 (auto-dimming, heated, w/turn signal) so ya gotta be careful popping the new one into place.



With the old one out, moving it around makes the bubbles inside skate all over the inner surface. Like a really crummy lava lamp.



Richard

 

[ORVietVet]

Yep. It's just out of frame on that 2nd pic. Here's the whole assembly back together before I put it in the truck - sometimes I take a lot more pictures than I post. Other times I think I post too many.

View attachment 1494

The seat job is really pretty easy; they may seem intimidating if you've never done one but The Seat Shop has some youtube videos you can watch that are very helpful. The #1 reminder though and I really can't stress it enough is to watch those sharp edges. I knew fully well about them but it was nearly impossible to avoid them 100%. Some of the various connectors under the seat are very tight and you find yourself wrestling with them and finally feel like you're making progress, get just distracted enough by that and *pow* you've sliced your hand open.

Richard

I have had the complete seat out of my girl's 2002 TrailBlazer and seemed pretty easy and clumsy at the same time. I am thinking about adding some foam to the outside edge of the driver's seat in the new to us 2004 Silverado.

 

[someotherguy]

10-02-2024 Couple days ago the A/C is blowing HOT and I mean hot like the heater is on. As I started moving, it got cold again. Sit at a traffic light and it starts blowing hot.

I asked over on PT dot net and got some unexpected answers - apparently more than a few people have had blend door problems with these trucks, and the need to reset the controls. Someone else guessed the refrigerant charge was low. A couple members wondered whether my engine cooling fans were working.

I wrote the fans off as it's been pretty warm out and the coolant temp seemed normal. So I tried the blend door re-learn (turned the key on, set the panel to "auto", turned key off. Pulled the 10A A/C fuse in the underhood fuse center, then re-installed it. Started the truck, the temp on the panel defaulted to 74 as I expected, didn't touch the controls and let the engine run for 2 minutes. Turned the key off for 15 seconds (at least 10, not more than 30, is what I read.) Nope...

Hooked up the gauges to see what was going on, and it became apparent pretty quick. When the compressor kicked in, high side climbed steadily up to about 450psi before the high pressure switch cut it out.

Wondering if I had a failed compressor and an orifice tube full of compressor guts, I pulled the orifice only to find a small amount of shrapnel, not the plugged disaster I expected:





Replaced it and vacuumed the system. Waited for evening for it to cool off a little and started charging. Coolant temp came up to 200F and stayed steady through the whole first 12oz can - but the fans never came on. I pulled the scanner out to read the data stream to be sure the gauge wasn't lying to me. It hovered right around 201-203F. High side pressure seemed a bit much for just 12oz but it had reached the point to where the compressor was running steadily without cycling. I put my shop fan in front of the grille and the high side dropped a lot.

Pulled the cover off the aux panel where the fan relays and fuses live, fan #3 relay for the whole fan circuit is really hot. It's got two burnt terminals and corresponding sockets. Grabbed that relay from the other truck and the main fan came on. I continued charging the system up with another 12oz and coolant temp stayed steady around 201F and main fan ran full time. Second fan never came on. Swapped the fan #1 and #2 relays, no difference other than the main fan shutting off with the relay out. Checked the fuses with my meter, they're good.

So far, it seems like the second fan has died, and put an extra load on the first fan and the system in general, which has melted the relay.

During all this I've got 60F at the center vent with 24oz in the system, 201F coolant temp and only 1 fan blowing, just under 90F inside my garage, and the recirculate function not working. Low side pressure seems a bit high around 55psi, high side 275psi. This is about what it was doing before I noticed it blowing hot. So, obviously I dug into the system when I didn't need to, based on a bad assumption, but that's OK. I got to replace the orifice and re-visit the charge amount. There's conflicting info out there on 24 vs. 26 oz.

Ordered new fan assembly instead of just a new motor for the dead one, assuming the other one has been carrying the load for long enough it may be stressed/worn.

Richard

 

[someotherguy]

Sorry for that whole book in the previous post! It took some thinking to get on track with what was going on when I should've noticed in the first place the fans weren't running. I guess at standstill it wasn't quite hot enough to get over temp, and moving was enough airflow that the A/C even got cool.

New fans showed up - Agility / APDI 6016157 and the factory packing is so skimpy that UPS destroyed them with ease. The housing is busted up and one of the tabs is broken off.





I need my truck back so instead of returning this crap (and paying double for one locally) I decide to swap the new fans into my old housing.



Spun by hand, the new blades are warped stupid bad, just really low quality. Maybe they'd be OK? Didn't wanna take the chance; swapped my old blades back on.



Plugged them in and test fired, fans spin backwards. The motors are wired backwards internally.

Richard

 

[ORVietVet]

I used to do a bunch of a/c work when I lived in KC, Mo. Hot and humid in spring and summer. I don't even have gauges now, here in Eugene, Oregon. No humidity and heat is minimal. If I need a/c work, my shop owner friend lets me use his equipment.

 

[someotherguy]

Agility includes some super cheaply made adapters with the wires crossed. I don't like the idea but I want my fans working so I hook them to the truck harness, but they won't plug into the motors. The new motors have keys inside the socket, and the adapters they included aren't shaped correctly to fit. They fit the OLD motors (where they're not needed), but not the new ones (where they ARE needed.) Ridiculous.





I swapped the wires around in the truck's harness to get things working right. So if years later someone ends up with my truck, and the fans go bad, you replace them and they're spinning backwards? Check the harness, and thank Agility / APDI



Everything working now, and nice 40° air out of the vent



Richard

 

[someotherguy]

I used to do a bunch of a/c work when I lived in KC, Mo. Hot and humid in spring and summer. I don't even have gauges now, here in Eugene, Oregon. No humidity and heat is minimal. If I need a/c work, my shop owner friend lets me use his equipment.

Yeah, I figured with 4 vehicles to maintain in the Texas heat, as well as the need to do the full A/C rebuild on the '93 to replace bad components and simultaneously upgrade to all the parts spec'd for a '94 so it's "R134a from go" - it seemed like a good idea to go ahead and invest in a vacuum pump and a gauge set.

Almost half a lifetime ago I had just embarked on the journey of learning automotive A/C figuring it might be a decent specialty for a young man to earn a few bucks at, then at the same time, Texas decided to regulate A/C techs and require that you get licensed, and own a $2500+ recovery machine. This was.. late 80's? I was a broke teenager with no hopes of swinging a $2500+ investment in 1988 dollars. So instead of being a shady side-job type, I gave up on the plan for the time being. I had learned *just enough* to be dangerous, studying from an old AC Delco A/C service book my mechanical mentor/mad scientist buddy Dennis had given me, and here 35 years later I'd forgotten most of it so I had to do some quick re-learning.

It's definitely paid off as a small investment to get the '93 from inop A/C to nice and cold fully functioning A/C without the use of any conversion fittings, all new parts including the condenser and evaporator core. Then being able to service the '06 SS when the service ports were found to be leaking, and later when I thought the SS's compressor had grenaded so I opened the system up to check/replace the orifice tube. I think the pump and gauges have absolutely paid for themselves already.



Richard

 

[someotherguy]

10-18-2024 Marking the biannual washing of the Redneckinator. It's all swirl marks, water spots, and dead clear on the roof.

Need to find someone I can trust to buff this stuff out. Also thinking about having the roof re-cleared, or probably re-painted if necessary, as it really takes away from the overall look of the truck. Wheels need a good polishing, too.





12-12-2024 Things upcoming in the immediate future.. (maybe later today once it warms up a little?)

Gotta do the rear brakes as I think they're finally down to metal. Brand new Wagner e-coated drums and Centric shoes in the house, ready to install.



"GM Genuine" headlights have hazed, yellowed, looked like crap for years now, just did not stand the test of time past the first year. VERY unimpressed. Ordered in some TYC CAPA certified ones because the ones I got for my wife's truck still look good years later.

I guess I could be out there in the garage doing that stuff now but it's 36° F and the wife is asleep..

Richard

 

[someotherguy]

12-12-2024 Dove into the rear brakes today, which I've been procrastinating forever.. I HATE doing these style drums, with that evil W spring and the crazy parking brake cable attachment.

Anyway looks like I caught them just in time; the front shoe on both sides was just about to the metal, but not quite. (it's a little thinner towards the bottom edge)







The original drums actually looked pretty good, no real lip and no grooves. I don't have anything to measure them with to see if there's life left in them and I already had the new drums as I suspected these were shot.. but since they might be OK, and are OEM, I stuck em in the boxes on the shelf "just in case"

Got everything back together, initial adjustment, and wheels torqued. Drove it around the neighborhood a little bit and I can tell I need to adjust a little bit more.

Then swapped out these Chinese GM headlights that barely made it a year before hazing/yellowing, and put some TYC's on.

Funky old ones


Also gave the turn signals a quickie polish with some Scratch-X; they weren't bad but needed a tiny bit of loving so they'd match the new headlights better. New lights installed and aimed.



Richard

 

[someotherguy]

01-14-2025 Front brakes demanding attention. Squealer tabs, although in the correct orientation on this truck, didn't warn me that one of the pads had gotten thin enough it was just hitting metal on metal and grooving the back of the rotor. Hadn't had them cut since buying new a few years ago so I had the rotors cut, and installed some new pads.



Did a quickie mild acid clean on the wheels to knock the brake dust off.. and scrubbed a grease spot out of the driver's side floor mat. Hoping to get the truck detailed in the morning as I've got what seems like a potential buyer.





01-15-2025 aaaaaaaand it's gone (South Park investment banker dude voice)

Met up with the buyer this morning and he was for real for real. Hell he had the cash pulled out 2 days ago (receipt from his credit union was in the cash envelope.) Took it for a test drive and then we went back to my house and did the paperwork. It's gone!

Richard