johnd393

I know, it's been like 16 months since I was here but here's an update
I did buy my first SUV.
10 months ago, I bought a 2004 Trailblazer LS, RWD, I6 with 177k miles on it, for $1250. It's almost rust free on the body, there's scaly rust on the frame but it seems solid. There's just a tiny bit of bubbling paint on the very front edge of the hood which is more obvious if you pop the hood and look at the seam under it. Rocker panels are mostly covered by plastic trim, but no rust I can see. Engine sounds good, It passed the emissions test and got licensed on the way home. The interior is perfect except for a missing radio and a non functioning lumbar feature on the driver seat. Tires are good.

I've spent the last 10 months slowly rebuilding the front suspension. Kept original springs. fixed a power steering tube leak by splicing in a piece of hose. New rear shocks. Inner tie rods seemed okay so didn't change them. Hubs, shocks, control arms, ball joints, outer tie rods, links, brake pads, some caliper pins, all new.
There are some wheel rim leaks. I bought a harbor Freight bead breaker tool and fixed the worst one. I couldn't dismount the tire from the wheel but I could push it away from the rim enough to clean up the rim and apply some bead sealer. I tried to do a wheel alignment. It's too hard to do. I got the toe close and the steering wheel straight. It still need an alignment.

Last week I finally pulled it out of the garage and insured it. We've taken a couple trips to town with it.
It don't feel right. It feels like the rear end swings like a pendulum with any steering correction. I hope a alignment helps with that. I've not done any work on the rear end except new shocks, cus it was cheap and easy. For now it doesn't feel safe. I think what I'm experiencing is severe oversteer. But it feels like some weight, vs spring vs balance thing.

Still to do,
alignment.
make sure the spare wheel will drop down,
Fix the seat lumbar thing.
Install a radio (I have 2 factory radios that need to be programmed to the car).
Trans fluid & filter,
Service rear brakes.(there were some stuck slide pins on the front so I expect the rear will need some attention)
Edit Aaargghh.just found something new. Wipers don't work on high. lower speeds work. High wiper is s separate circuit.
After I put a few more miles on it I'm gonna get a oil analysis to get a better idea of the condition of the engine. There's a date on the oil filter and a oil change sticker on the windshield with a mileage on it. If I assume the mileage on the sticker is 3k miles from the last change, that would mean there's about 1000 miles from the last oil change.