tulanejp

Hey. Good tip. The large cup worked! Man, having half the cup not in contact with the control arm, with the pressure I was applying, I never would've thought it would hold up. But it did. I just figured it would slip or bend or something. Thanks again. For anyone else wondering, making sure the press was inline with the center of axis of the ball joint seemed to be necessary. I did this with the control arm on the truck, so the setup was clumsy. Initially, the press slipped out of line a little and didn't press out the jont.

Hey dude. Thanks for responding. Here's a pic of the tool. Here's a pic of the tool with the medium cup fitted. See how it looks like the lip of the ball joint goes out to the edge of the control arm. Here's a pic of the large cup that hangs over the outer edge of the control arm. That doesn't look safe, but may be the way to go.

Hey all. Never tried this before, but decided what the hell? I'm trying to press out the stock lower ball joint on my 04 SS. First question is about the crimps on the stock ball joint. The whole lip, all the way round the top of the ball joint, doesn't need to be bent back right, just the 4 crimp marks? Second question is about setting up the press I got from Autozone. There are 3 cup sizes. The middle one fits right over the grease boot, but I can't tell if it's still on the underside of the ball joint or on the control arm as it should be? That is, it seems like the underside of the ball joint, the shoulder of it, comes all the way out to the edge of the control arm on the front 180 degrees. So, I'm wondering if the press I have will do the job?

Looking for 4 wheel cener caps for stock 20" painted rims - not chrome. If anyone has some laying around and wants to dump them, PM me. Thanks.

Ok. Disconnecting the battery cleared the code. Thanks for the help! ... Now, I guess I'll ebay the universal. In case anybody is looking at this particular one, I don't think it fits this truck even though it was listed on the fitment chart of the website I got it from. It's a USOS-4000 made by US Autoparts network. It's got 2 white wires, a black and a grey whereas the truck has a white/tan and white/purple, brown and pink. The service manual says all four wires service four different circuits, so the question will be, if one is going to try to make this work, which white replacement wire goes to which OE white wire? Regarding the other two wires, best guess from the installation instructions is brown->grey, pink->black. Anyway, probably flat just doesn't fit. Hope this helps somebody!

Ok. I'll try disconnecting the battery. ... Fireman, yeah, I thought that the sensor may be fouled now since it's been essentially disconnected for a couple of weeks. Bought a universal since I plan on changing all 4 in 30k miles or so (just wanted a stopgap). The question came up because the service manual is kind of vague. It lists different types of sensors that will clear themselves and some that won't, and IIRC, there was the category that these sensors fell in which was like a "might or might not" category. In any case, I'll try the battery first, and if not, if I can figure out how to wire the universal, I'll post that info and results. Thanks for the responses.

Hey. I've looked around a bit for this answer, but can't find exactly what I'm looking for. My truck set the p0141 code for the O2 sensor bank 1, sensor 2. Well, I took a look at it, and it looks like the wiring harness came free and got chewed up by the front drive shaft. I've crimped in some new pieces of wire to reattach the connector to the wiring harness, but the CEL is still on. I'm wondering if I need to have the code cleared with a scan tool, or if it's supposed to clear itself when the condition is gone (i.e. there is still a problem). Anybody have an idea? TIA, JP

Hey. Interesting tips. Any tips for removing stubborn bugs?

Ok. The two rims with road rash are sold. The one that's really damaged, but can still hold a tire, is still available. Make an offer, but I'll sell that one for next to nothing in case anyone is interested. More pics. Don't know if this distinction will be useful. The lip of that rim is bent, but the rim isn't warped as far as I can tell. I've also still got a pristine silver rim for $150. That includes a center cap, and the rubber valve stem is still on the rim.

Ok. Got a couple of people interested via PMs. Give me till early next week to follow through on these. Thanks for the responses. JP

-bump- These rims are still for sale. The only change I want to make is to up the charge for the best-of-the-worst rim to $50 for it. Looking at it, it's in pretty good shape. I really want to dump all three, so they're still available for $75 for all three including center caps. Surely, someone either does rim restores or would like a 20" spare. Also, the pristine one with center cap is for sale for $150. Any takers?

Looking forward to seeing the write-up. I wanted to do this just for fun, but according to a guy in this thread, the light bulbs aren't accessible in the manual setup. So, this is looking more like a nice repair/upgrade (to fix broken A/C control lights). Thanks again.

This is a little off topic, but this is a lesson I learned the hard way. Now, I always have batteries, etc. tested when I buy from Autozone, PepBoys, etc. before I pay for them. A few years ago, I went through every battery on the shelf, of the model I was buying, until I found one that tested as OK according to their tester.

I've got a similar problem on a manual HVAC setup. The dealer said the whole control has to be changed to fix it. Here's a thread to keep an eye on blue led post. It's discussing changing the back lights to blue leds.

Great write up! I get some really good ideas from this site. Unfortunately, I don't get around to taking as good care of my truck as most people around here do, so I'm constantly battling bugs on the nose of the truck. The other day, I went out after a heavy rain and found them much easier to remove. I've tried quite a few bug removers (now I'm using some blue stuff a detailer gave me), but none of them work particularly well. I wouldn't call this a tip, but at least an idea at this point. I'm one of those that washes and dries piece-meal instead of all at once. It's so hot down here, the soap dries after I've moved down a panel or two. I'm wondering now if that really matters? I wonder if that water sheeting trick, with the hose without the nozzle, will remove the dried soap and particles...