1996 GMC 5-speed

[Dan Barlow]

Sorry to hear Louis passed on . Losing friends is tough .

[silver_bullet]

Our condolences on the passing of your friend, thoughts and prayers are forthcoming!

[Barry Donovan]

thanks guys.

there will be a funeral, his ashes thrown from a bridge that makes path to indian island.

he did not speak of his own family history much.. I just knew him as white as can be, beard included.
a pale kinda guy.
he has kids from here to puerto rico.. all stemming from his military tour.
talked to no one...
I had encountered his mentality in my own tour. Erasing a past to psychology and physical combined.

dynamical man he was.

rest in peace


I finished my rocker today.
22 years have gone by for this truck.. now with stainless and weld..
how much longer could it go?
body on frame is a surprising answer.

rust is for people who believe in it


I have decided, I will be making amove myself... somewhere south of new jersey...north of of cuba
it is a matter of time.

I just got my federal version of veteran ID, leaving my state license out of the proof equation.
reveals less data...

not long to go. Before I pretend to erase a past... but never do have to stay so silent.

[Barry Donovan]

the tension in the air

---

first part since the starter I killed myself being an idiot at 21 below in january...
going from 85f in sebring florida to a truck that had been sitting through 20 below for 17 days was not fun.
my aircraft crew chief mode kicked in to shave a few years off.. those will catch up in the end.


A tensioner sqaueaking. My super slicked secret did not make it this year.
just squeaking, wd40 stops it for a time...
The bombs away truck cleaner was the trigger some weeks back.
got the engine real good

the 90mph to houlton maine on a desolate highway in the heat with a/c on still could not kill it.


ebay to the rescue.

this season from jan to august is the most extreme that i can remember in my 30 years here.

-23.6F and 96.1F above is on one thermometers memory this year.
january to today..no reset yet on the memory.

at midnight it is 73F where I am in the middle of the cold maine north woods.
the odors are incredible, the living growing vegetation is surrounded only by a town of 700 people.
I took the truck on woods lands open to public, and walked around in the silence of just birds and critters and know why the scream of death and destruction is in my past as I stand alive in the place I began.

This place creates a strength. All while believing you are weak the whole stay...

my last years here in this location are now... I want to remember this town that took so many due to the extremes of nature and self worth.
including machines...

[DanStokes]

the tension in the air

---

Truly terrible pun - congrats! My kind of high-class humor.

Dan

[Barry Donovan]

Truly terrible pun - congrats! My kind of high-class humor.

Dan

I replaced it to find the old one is as mint as my super slicking rocket science made it. A little off alignment.. but give on the pulley kept the serpentine good.
the engine acts so young..
just 1 rain storm I got iron squeaking near the water pump. a micronic layer of rust.
nothing wrong whatsoever

Need to drive it more.


My neighbor has a 2002 ford windstar, low miles, right rear wheel well annihilated.
$1000.

looking it over, its complex japanese shapes to hold up 200,000 american van pounds.
all loaded upon that wheel well.. first thing I thought of was the million hour hammer weld of total rebuilding of my subarus right rear
from the very core of its existence, all the way back out..I humored the whole thing with american gauge steel.


I said to hell with it. I may never do a job like that again...
the inner liner that would have kept the sheet metal masterpiece does not exist.
I voted.. let the junk go extinct.
poor van.
got alot of miles left in the super tight engine bay with a crammed in sideways 3.8 liter wobbling v6

my hammer welding stopped at an 87 subaru AWD..
self balance engine and a unibody...why oh why do I keep that ricer.

A road crew came through my rural area.. the steam roller has a frequency that shakes the ground.
As odds have it I am on the ground under my truck, hands on the new stainless compilation of a rocker I made 50 feet away in the driveway... and realized something amazing...


ZERO vibration in my hands as the steam roller shook the ground and sent shivers through my back.

Body on frame FTW.

and even more so.. the energy suspension poly mounts I put in a couple of years ago.
I am never going unibody again...
this ford can't even stay together as a 2wd

poor old ford.

for my area it is not even rust in the past 20 years.. the last thing left is the grinder action.
they do go a long time, many makes and models today.


still some weirdos left.. ford ought to make a liner for the right rear, I'd weld 'er up then.
Else it is just going to repeat, unless I went stainless 304 food grade polished wheel well.

[Barry Donovan]

cab corner

---

A hole emerged the size of a golf ball just 1 winter after welding.. it then spread like wildfire.. I mean I could smell iron dust it was rotting so fast.
my GMC is not known for this...

the lower quarter is already stainless, all the way wrapped to inside under cab.
I cut it open further and got my fingers moving around inside..
found it.

a weird chemical compound, like someone attempted a foam that did not expand.. rubber puffy weird stuff.
one tug.. the small patch came right out.



I knew right away I got it. the weld smelled healthy, no extra smoke.
gave it more stainless. Notice the 2 screws as handles.



wanting this rough and tough to hang 400 pounds of arctic ice in a Maine february...
I did not go super smoothy on the finish.

..and i do mean arctic blue phenomena... daylight can bring a weird melt right back to -24F at night

I LOVE this GMC.

[Barry Donovan]

painting with KBS

---

I'll update with photo. there is many sightings of old frames in their own uniqueness.
I have one.. turned itself into something I have not encountered.
the way electrons and molecules flow..the whole vehicle being iron anyway
except trans ..and that driveshaft that looks like fake carbon fiber.

it looks like you can smash some places and get flakes.. and it doesn't give any.
Where I left off a couple of years ago, and all this driving later...

one generation newer KBS from the last light coat a couple of years ago... nearly knocked me over as soon as it hit the steel
When will I learn.

my arms are puffed up right now and breathing was difficult... but got the back half done, my ugly welds and tire crossmember.
Nothing budges... like the paint on my hands right now.. it aint coming off for 20 to 320 years.
I left the first paint there..the cat yellow from 2015 I believe.
The bed wheel wells are going to get a modern trick.
I'll share after it is done

my dad and I got laughing today about his stuck rig and what I did against all 4x4 rules to get it out...
I put the loop on the ball and ran near full throttle on the stretch rope to tug the 17000 pounds out of its icy hole.

that slight bend is still there today at the ball.
Still ready to go beyond factory specs by a couple hundred or 12 thousand pounds...

I really wanted to paint my ugliness. Gloss black now as the cat yellow never did fall off..
one more chore done.

I'd like to know the real metallurgy values... hardness, tensile etc...
they all change.

my manual trans for example, it needs these late august days and 95F air and hot pavement to be very very quiet.
I do not like quiet manual trans.. but it does tell me it worked its way for a whole year of new england and stayed there for 22 of them

it knows 24 below and it knows hot as the damn sun

[Barry Donovan]

tighten the Hurst, winter is coming

---

heard a wiggling metal noise, almost vibration

the shifter.
We went from air conditioning on to the tropical, then to a cool 45F and brisk breeze and trees that changed over night leaving piles of leaves to the quick burst of freight train rain and the wind...

I understand that flat hurst shifter design at times like this. It wins the extreme bi-metal occurrence in thermal and barometer changes.
outside the cab from a warm trans to inside the cab on the cozy shifter...
the grippy teeth and two little screws...they can stay loose and still keep you going


I tightened them , never extreme, a cheap allen wrench

that is the extent of my winter preparation for this 96 gmc.

[Barry Donovan]

clear parking lenses

---

Did not like these when I got them.. must be a couple of years anyway. Preparing to move I took 600 pounds of Subaru parts out of my apt and put them in my truck to go to a borrowed shed.


found the clear lense still new in box upon taking a closet apart
I have had a flickering passenger side scenario like a ground was loose since i got the truck. Found one LED bulb broke its own wire yesterday.. and the headlamp on the same side did as well this early spring.

I beelined to focus on the parking lense itself..

it is as mysteriously lit as me.
Went fresh with the clear lense, LED already in place.
decided I liked them and painted the outer black to blend in with my truck.

I am sitting in my truck downtown bangor, main street after going to smoke shop. A guy not looking homeless walks up to me, and I recognized him from 20 years ago.

he was indeed homeless, asking for change.
he was homeless back then too.
First thing he did was compliment my truck.
He chose me to walk up to ..to start off with that said.

I said I was homeless too you know.
Looking right at him..his short term memory went long..and I knew he remembered me from 20 years ago.
His eyes looked wet.

I gave him my pocket change, talked of places to stay when the downtown shelter was full.
I lit my cigar, he did not ask for one..and went about my way...
rowing the gears on the downtown street with my iron v8.


my subaru parts... I gained a lot on my efforts. Glad I found a safe place for them.
truck got it all in one shot.. I remember taking a few trips with my wagon to get those here at my address.

I should be moving 77 miles south. Ground floor.
I learned they did some reference schecking here on me in my current building.
I hope its a green light go.

[Deaf Bob]

Got to thinking yesterday that I hadn't seen you post on "general" lately and with all the weather your way, wondered how you were..
Glad to see you still kicking!

[Barry Donovan]

Got to thinking yesterday that I hadn't seen you post on "general" lately and with all the weather your way, wondered how you were..
Glad to see you still kicking!

thanks bob, hope you are doing well.

got a nasty winter coming, that solar minimum stuff. It gets damn cold.(normal prediction)
got my ebay dash camera working

4 violations on a minute

no parking fire zone,
pressuring a cripple to walk faster
running a red light
speeding

realized i went bad ass without intention in my own dash video


I only took off fast to a throttled up subaru opposite in the intersection.
not sure what it was trying to do there.
I know it got green, darted out within half a second on purpose

If my subaru does not sell, I'll rip it in half with my truck and post on you tube just for the tough girls that drive them.


our low for this season before fall is done is 22F... that was a few days ago.
heavy frost.
the worst season here was single digits by thanksgiving (30 years of memory)
it may match it this year...
keeping the records and cameras up to par. this place is amazing.
truck is ready to go. got the kbs paint on the rear framing. Even the suspension noticed it.

[Barry Donovan]

have not updated in a while.
Truck is excellent. needed nothing this dramatic season.. only begun.
The startups are fantastic. I fixed that last year.. turned out to be a hole in the coil covering. Responded to wet weather.

with an ebay xmas gift card, I thought of something it needed...
the passenger side remote mirror.
broke when I bought it, obviously smacking into something like a mailbox.. it still remained useful, the glass never left it.. just layed down low. where I like it anyway.
last year, well.. I hit a mailbox with it, so it did not change it in any way..still useful.
taking the same beating twice, I decided I'd try fixing it once.



it is handy.. first I ever saw of remote mirrors was in my own 1987 subaru wagon. Still original 32 years later.
anyway, installed with help of a die grinder. I did not have all my proper tools to get at the nuts.
I quickly changed the angle ever so slightly.. to a good view.


I can now say everything works on my 96. No errors what so ever.
I am now contemplating yet another vehicle, this one needs to be a barn find story of epic proportions.

hope you all had a merry xmas, and new year to come.
The slower I get, the more I admire all the stories and actions here.

[Barry Donovan]

something to weld

---

upon my maine steel intuition,
I beelined under the truck to the spot on photo today. the high temp was about 15F.
I was waiting for something to emerge after the angle iron install and needed some 10-15 below weathers on a cold bed sitting still. it is frozen right now with the snow in the back...
it has been about a year..
perfect time to check it.

Between the rivets, this is a fatigue spot on high milers. Some leave it a fancy shape, some fill it back in. I will go with filling it with a plate, and only popping the bottom rivet to swap to a grade 8 bolt as part of it .. simple plate.

the same time I learned this spot I learned the rears of trucks... this 96 is no different. I'd wager on 50 or more years.... the same result same spot.
mine is the size of a quarter... I like to jump on these chores anyway

This is also a spot on very high mile leaf spring tractor trailers. inbatween the rivets of the hangers on the frame.. they will make their own channel as a perfetcly shape hole of some kind. It is the pressure of the rivets between two different types of steel.

a very easy fix, can even use just bolts and plate. I like to weld.
I am actually giddy over a pickup truck going this far. I can smash any part of the frame with a hammer.. and there is the classic fatigue spot you can find on a 1million mile IH 9670 cabover .


the truck is running perfect and smooth as glass. I love to drive it. I have weight in the back, 38 pound bags.. this was also a reason I could not wait to check it and find what I was waiting for today.

setting it up for the spring time short list... this truck needs nothing.
I may do something fancy with the gas strap. I already made my ten times stronger version.. but will humor something more like gm instead. I want to remove tank for this chore anyway. GM's version of strap could unhook itself on bumpy dirt roads... another decades long problem with these trucks. It is something to laugh at. I think I shared what I did with that.. but will search.

Anyway, a hint to know to check it? the ball in the steering rack is very responsive, steering straight, ride very smooth.. This means frame has no wiggle. I built a brick..but was still waiting for that extra something to settle in. I remembered all the spots to wait for. It took a year and many 20 belows... but I got it: straight and hard rails, all 20 feet of each side.
Now is the time to lock in with whatever I want...climb it to 500k miles or more perhaps...

our lows for the past several days are below zero. last night was 13below. Truck starts with half a whirl on the starter..a bit slower half whirl of course. it is god dam cold out there

[Barry Donovan]

strange intuition

---

my brother is a couple hundred miles away..at least the time it takes to get there is like that.
A frigid cold start at noon. I decide to go for a ride. I am in my indoor shoes,
a shirt, barely dressed.. but I did refresh my cell phone.
single digits. loving the heater, loving my truck.
Never called anyone, or told anyone where or why I was driving away.
Just felt like driving.

I get on the highway south, and just kept on going to the last rest area in maine. Kennebunkport.
I figured i'd call my sister.
She said " this is very weird. I just talked to your brother from the emergency room. His lung collapsed again or something."
I said " I don't know where I am exactly in relation to him."
she looked on a map to tell me I was 5.7 miles form the hospital, and to go visit. With no instructions, 130 miles from home...only knowing north and east and west and south.. I took a winding road right to the place, found his truck in the big parking lot, went inside, found his room and had a seat.
All this within 5 minutes of the last call.
my sister said. "she called you two twins for a reason"


you see. my brother was dying. I did not need a phone call until I did.I had no reason to drive that far.. none.




where the saco river meets the sea
those are moorings on the beach washed up by storms.
They look heavy.
I think of my brother and me.
we could only each have our own nation
worlds apart and the same destination.

whatever is in between, has no place to anchor.
my mom would be all emotional on a day like today.
my brother is sick. The first one in our family to ever have pneumonia.
Get well mike... I am more than a phone call away.

I stayed overnight, checking out arundel area. I love that place, reminds me more of southern new england, where I am born and raised.
I think I'll move there.

the subaru he got for free blew my mind. I may take a video of it.
where there is money, there is money passed around I guess.

back home, 22mpg right by the book. Added half a quart unnecessarily..
waiting for yet another storm and a crazy plow routine.

there is one more corny thing that happened..was going to leave it as a daydream for my younger self.
I am in the hospital parking lot, my sister calls me as I am walking. So I am looking down at the ground, walking around..
I heard a scuffle of a shoe. Looked up to this very attractive woman about 5 feet away..who also looked up the same time i did .
We were walking towards each other.
the pause as we seemingly stared at each other for eternity was equally bewildering.
if one of us did not look up..would we have run into each other in the giant parking lot like two cars at the salt flats doing 250 miles an hour perdendicular to each other?

if so. I would have thrown her over my shoulder and taken her home, had a standoff with police yelling about fate and destiny and ignoring the kidnapping and hostage charges....

all for love.