Surprise Surpise....
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:59 pm
OK, so I'm at Lowes today purchasing a hand pop rivet gun. Reason, to attach this piece of canvas type material to my inner passenger door to prevent it from swinging open too far. At some point in time, the arm mechanism that holds the door from hitting the fender, disaappeared, and someone riveted this canvas to the door and the cab as a makeshift stop. I figured I could use an existing hole in the door to reattach this piece so I at least can stop worrying about someone opening the door and letting it hit the fender. So when I got home, I started looking around the door with a flashlight to make sure the rivet I install won't interfere with the window opening and closing. I'm peering down from the top in the recess of the window when something catches my eye lying on the bottom of the inside of the door. It looked like some kind of little arm. First thought was that I just found the arm that opens the cowl vent. Now why I thought that I don't know, although I am missing that as well, but why would it be in the bottom of the inside of the door? Anyway, a second or two later the mind kicks into high gear and I realize what I'm looking at is actually the missing door arm that I thought was long gone. I then removed the access cover and reached in and pulled out the arm, two rubber stops and a piece of metal with a slot cut in it. Next thing I did was to go over and look at the driver's door to see if I had all the parts. What I found out was that the piece with the slot is obviously a homemade attempt to copy the missing piece that guides the arm when the door is opened to keep it away from the window when the window is rolled down. I now noticed that at some point in time the passenger door had some jerry rig work done in an attempt to fix the door stop, but evidently this attempt failed and then bubba just riveted the aforementioned canvas in place, which itself later failed.
I am not sure I can find this guide piece as it seems to be an internal part that may not be available, however I think I can fabricate a useable item that I can then weld in to take the place of the homeade mangled guide. I had heard that this arm assembly is a hard to find item, so I consider myself lucky that I found most of it. As long as I can end up with a workable door stop that will prevent to door from flying open, that is good enough for me. Almost 5 years down the road and I this truck is still surprising me.
I am not sure I can find this guide piece as it seems to be an internal part that may not be available, however I think I can fabricate a useable item that I can then weld in to take the place of the homeade mangled guide. I had heard that this arm assembly is a hard to find item, so I consider myself lucky that I found most of it. As long as I can end up with a workable door stop that will prevent to door from flying open, that is good enough for me. Almost 5 years down the road and I this truck is still surprising me.