Legion Mowed, Weed Whacked and Grass Clumps Removed

There is a painting class scheduled at the Legion today, so I mowed the lawn, weed whacked and moved most of the clumps into the run that I spun down by the low spot months ago.

Master Cylinder Holding Brake Fluid

 It's been about 6 hours since I last posted about the new master cylinder being installed in my 1987 Chevrolet (Chevy) G20 Sportvan.  I checked the level again and the master cylinder is holding the same amount of brake fluid.

Master Cylinder and SLA Battery Charging

 I bench bled the new master cylinder for the my 1987 Chevrolet (Chevy) G20 Sportvan.  I hooked it up to the lines to the proportioning valve.  I know that the front lines are getting fluid because the lines coming from it going to the front calipers were leaking fluid.  I just replaced those lines and used compression fittings.  When I replaced the upper, lower ball joints, front brake calipers and front brake lines, I did it all in one big project.  But I left three of the compression fittings loose, so I tightened all four today.

This was my first time bench bleeding.  When they say put it in a vice, I put the stem of the master cylinder in there and locked it down.  But a video that I saw said not to do that because it could cause problems inside the stem.  Instead, the vice should be locked on to the bolt hole flange.  I corrected that and then did the bench bleed, but I'll be monitoring the level for the next few hours to see if there are any changes?

There is no change to the vehicle's odometer mileage since the last log.

I have The Wilderness Chapter of the Buckeye Trail Association's sealed lead acid battery for our walk behind, DR field brush mower downstairs on a trickle charge.  Apparently the battery can only handle 2 amps?  I could have swore that I jumped it with the van before?  And last time, I tried to use the 10 amp automotive battery charger on it, but for some reason that didn't work?  Today I plugged the trickle charger in for the first time and the "bad battery" light came on.  But when I unplugged the charger and plugged it back in, it didn't light up.

Batteries Charged and Charging

 The battery on my 1990 Buick Riviera is charged. And I started charging the one on my 1987 Chevrolet (Chevy) G20 Sportvan.  Both have been sitting for a while.

The Rivi might prove to be something of a wild goose chase?  It only has a 4in lift and I was getting a new GPS track for the east side of the Archers Fork Loop in the Marietta Unit of The Wayne (National Forest).  I was on foot, but I needed some place to lock my bicycle up to.  I did that on the north side of the loop on Irish Run Rd/ Township Rd 58.  But the road was much rougher than I remembered and the Rivi bottomed out hard a couple of times.  And the road was so narrow that there wasn't anywhere to turn around (often times, I can do it on the road itself).

I got the bike to the site and locked up on on the side of the road, then got back in the Rivi and drove it to the south side of the south side of the loop and parked on federal property on Wards Rd (Bell Cemetery Rd) on the south side.  From there, I hiked the east side of the loop, got on the bike and rode back to the car.  When I got in, I started up the Rivi and drove off.

About 10 miles later, the car stalled and wouldn't turn back on.  I was out of cell signal, but luckily somebody was outside right where I broke down.  I used their telephone, called AAA and got it towed home.  Now, I think I'm going to have to do diagnostics on everything I can possibly think of?  And pretty much, it would probably all entail things that I've never done before.  I think I have to jack up the back end and see if there's a box near the gas tank?  What if it was crushed?

The Rivi's digital odometer has a short.  Sometimes it comes on and... much of the time, it doesn't.  I think that one of the first things I'm going to do is hunt down that ground?  And I'm probably going to replace the bolts in the positive and grounding tee's?  But my van has what you might call a fusible link?  There's a ton of wires grounded to the lower side of the 305/ 5.0L engine behind the right exhaust manifold.  I see myself checking every one of it's numerous relays with a volt, or ohm meter.  I remember with my 1989 Chevy Beretta GTU that I had a bad one and it was located underneath the passenger's side door trim.  My public library at the time had access to an automotive database that put me on the right path to those. 

With the van, I botched the replacement of the right lower ball joint.  And I think the new left upper ball joint isn't greasing like it should?  I've never done these before and I used sheer "mechanical aptitude" to do this job (I didn't consult the repair manual).  But I took a Sawzall with a Diablo metal cutting blade to sever the ball joint studs, then I just disconnected the tie rod ends and removed the steering knuckle.  I said to hell with grinding and chiseling off the stock rivets on the upper ball joints in the wheel wells and just removed the upper control arms and did that with it on a vice.  But the installation of the new ball joints is very picky about proper procedure and I already botched two of them.

In my G20 van, I realized that I can pop the ball joints with the tie rods dismounted if I used a 1.5 ton scissor jack.  There's just enough space to use it upside down.  I cranked it with the stock bar and those things just popped right out.  I'm going to wait on doing anything more on the van until at least a couple days from now.  In the meantime, I'll begin what is likely to be a "wild goose chase" on the Rivi.

Ball Joints 20220523

 I got the all of the ball joints on my 1987 Chevrolet (Chevy) G20 Sportvan replaced and mounted.  But I'm not happy with the upper left one because I don't think that the grease injected into the boot?  As for the front brake calipers and hoses, I'm going to wait for another day.  Right now, I'm just happy that all four wheels are mounted and on the ground.

Ball Joints 20220520

I've been working on my 1987 Chevrolet (Chevy) G20 Sportvan lately.  I'm busy replacing the upper and lower ball joints.  I took a Sawzall with Diablo metal cutting blades to the ball joint stems and disconnected the tie rod to remove the steering knuckle.  Then I used the chisel bit on my air hammer and angle grinder to get the rivets off of the upper ball joint.  But I used a screw driver and hand chisel to pry the uppers off of the upper control arm while that was secured to a vice and that wasn't a good idea because it warped the front a bit.  It may or may not matter much?  If it does, I may still be able to doctor up the upper control arms at the upper ball joints with JB Steel Stick?

But I've never done ball joints before and since I'm replacing both sides at the same time, the sequence of events  is getting me.  On one upper and one lower, I've been getting the boots pinched and torn.  I got another upper, but I'm out of money for a new lower now.  It's been slow work, but I'm eager to get the front side of the van back down with all four wheels on concrete.  I don't have a garage and I'm sure it's not making my nice neighborhood look good having it all pulled apart for weeks on end?

I was using a ball joint puller kit from the auto parts store, but I just now discovered that I could have gotten them free by removing the tie rod from the steering knuckle and using a scissor jack rated for 1.5 tons upside down to get the lower one to pop out.

The nothing on the left side is mounted yet.  But on the right side, I used a ratcheting strap with one end wrapped around the steering knuckle while the other end was hooked to my car in order to line up the bottom ball joint hole with a straightened stem on the new lower ball joint.  If the steering knuckle isn't just right and the stem turns, it seems that it could cause the boot not to mount and pressurize right when it sits into the lower control arm?

Hydrostatic Pressure

I got a 12" concrete drill bit and 5 cans of DAP Max Fill spray foam.  I drilled into the floor and except for one hole, it was nothing remarkable.  But there was considerable space in the lower NW corner of Compartment SE at the floor.  And then there's a huge cavity under the under porch hatch door in Compartment SW.

The ladder one and possibly others are going to require a supply of polyurethane foam that greatly exceeds the cans that I bought today.

I filled seep holes in Compartment NE.  One of them looked like a rodent tried to burrow there because it was wide.