Robb, aka "tnblazerk5"

[shifty]

Had a run-in with tnblazerk5 today to pick up a late-70's front end and rear axle/pumpkin (with tires, all steering components, brakes, etc.)

Robb gave me a stupidly low price on the whole load, he helped plop it into the truck and we shot the breeze for few. Cool guy, great deal, look forward to hanging out in the future! This was really refreshing after recent deals.

Thanks man! The stuff you sold me was priced just right and is basically the last chunk of stuff I needed for my truck! Got a good chance to look at it when I was refueling on the way home (5.5 hours of rain, crosswinds and tractor trailers!) and it is even nicer than I thought. You can actually see the original steel on most of the crossmember!

[redneckgirl]

Robb is an awesome fella. Glad you had a good deal for a change shifty...

[Mudder]

Real good guy.

[Liz]

Robbs is my weekend getaway place. Hes got loads of awesome parts, trucks and trinkets. He has a view to kill for and is one of the best friends anyone could ask for.

Sorry you had a crappy trip home... wish we woulda known you were goin up there this weekend.

[LUV2XCLR8]

Just a Nice Good Ol TN Redneck

[tnblazerk5]

Originally Posted by shifty

Had a run-in with tnblazerk5 today to pick up a late-70's front end and rear axle/pumpkin (with tires, all steering components, brakes, etc.)

Robb gave me a stupidly low price on the whole load, he helped plop it into the truck and we shot the breeze for few. Cool guy, great deal, look forward to hanging out in the future! This was really refreshing after recent deals.

Thanks man! The stuff you sold me was priced just right and is basically the last chunk of stuff I needed for my truck! Got a good chance to look at it when I was refueling on the way home (5.5 hours of rain, crosswinds and tractor trailers!) and it is even nicer than I thought. You can actually see the original steel on most of the crossmember!

glad ya liked it and sorry bout the weather on the way home for ya , that had to suck and look forward to meetin ya again and i want a ride in the truck when ya get it done !!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by redneckgirl

Robb is an awesome fella. Glad you had a good deal for a change shifty...

thanks red and i am glad he got a good deal too

Originally Posted by Mudder

Real good guy.

it was great to meet ya at norwood , look forward to meetin you again

Originally Posted by Liz

Robbs is my weekend getaway place. Hes got loads of awesome parts, trucks and trinkets. He has a view to kill for and is one of the best friends anyone could ask for.

Sorry you had a crappy trip home... wish we woulda known you were goin up there this weekend.

whan yall coming back over here ???????????

Originally Posted by LUV2XCLR8

Just a Nice Good Ol TN Redneck

hehehehehe yup


thanks everybody and havea great day/nite

[woodridge]

A+ for Robb, in the 4 years I've known him he's always been up front and honest. Tops in my book.

[shifty]

man, he does have some killer parts, though! (read on)

you'll get a chuckle out of this - my friend Mary needed to take her truck back up to Chatanooga @ noon today, so basically i woke up at the crack of dawn (in my world - on a day off - that's 9:30am) and went down to the truck. got the engine hoist, lifted the rear axle/drums/wheels/pumpkin out of the back of the truck and got it on the ground, rolled it out of the way. then i took to disassembling the front end. took off both shocks, cut the tie rod sleeves, unbolted idler arm and PS gearbox. check! removed the brake and fuel lines. check! unbolted the lower control arms, and removed the springs. check! unbolted the uppers and took both the wheels out with LCA and UCA attached and flopping around. check! slid the framerails and crossmember out. check! 1 hour's time and i'm almost done.

get out the ball joint fork i have with the expectation this is gonna be a breeze. oh my, how wrong was i?

after much PB-blaster, i managed to use my pickle fork to separate the upper ball joints. got my hand once, but not bad. had to run errands, so i picked up the 15/16" socket i seem to have misplaced, and got a 1-1/16" wrench and socket as well.

get back. soaked the lower balljoints in PB-blaster before leaving several times...come back to try and get them knocked out, after an hour, i'm fed up. head to the parts store for a gear puller. bent the gear puller in half trying to get the damned thing out of the spindle. go back to parts store for bigger fork. "we don't have one - but you can rent this entire kit for $30!"

it has everything i need and attaches to an air chisel. sweet! too bad i have a low-impact one only (won't even remove rivets on a frame)

get it home. 10 minutes of pounding with a huge ballpeen BFH, i finally get one separated. set it to the side.

move along to the next one. 25 minutes of pounding, going nowhere! will not budge. take heat to it. nothing.

finally, i wedge the fork in there really good and go to swing at is sideways - which is what busted the last one loose.

WHAMMO!

nailed my knee, right in the side, smacked the crap out (the head of) one of my lower leg bones on the side of my knee. i have huge pain threshhold, but this put me on the floor. the sound was enough to make someone vomit.

not much swelling, but i think i cracked a bone, so i'm going in for x-rays this week. i was so pissed off ~90 seconds afterwards, i slapped the fork in there and started pile driving it. whacked my hand once really good, but after 5-6 blows, it finally separated.

ME: 0
Lower balljoint: 1

i didn't get around to working on anything else, but was very happy to see my ECE GenIII mounts are a spitting replica of the 73-87 engine mounts, have all holes drilled, so this entire front end is going on my truck.

if my knee is actually cracked, i'll come back in here and post on it. i'm laughing about it in retrospect, don't feel bad for me - i'm hoping you all can laugh at my stupidity.

"killer parts" lol

meanwhile, the parts look great. the only weird thing was the driver side LCA shock mount was twisted a bit, but i think i can bend it back w/o any problems.

thanks again bud - you get an A+++ in my book. i think this entire setup just made my job stupid easier - new calipers are $19, new rotors $25, new brake lines $6, new wheel bearings $3. complete front disc 5-lug setup for, what? $120? sweet!

[shifty]

ps - here's another weird one for you - you know how the previous owner heated the coils all to hell? well, it gets even weirder - they took a section of 2x4 and stuffed it INSIDE the crossmember and used it as a spring perch. :wtf:

[krue]

Robb is a great guy, can't wait to see him again at the board meet.

[tnblazerk5]

dayum shifty ya tryin to kill ya self ????? if i had more time i would have took it all apart for ya and they are sum tricks to it sumtimes lol BFH is handy but not to the knees hope its not cracked or broke or anything
and heatin the springs is a no no they will keep on lowering themselves so i would guess that is why there was a 2x4 in there to raise it back up sum and i had no clue there was a 2x4 in there lol
if we had more time i would have fixed the front bumper bracket on the truck ya was driving and put the perfect bumper in the back yard on there , man i need a shop bad like lol we could have did all that spite the rain . the tractor came in handy loadin it all too i should have got pics of that





krue lookin forward to meetin ya again

[Ron 586]

I met Robb at the Maggie valley show in 06. I hung out with the CGITC group and was pleased with what I was seeing so after the Fat Buddies trip on Sat night we spent 2 hours in a question and answer session. I was impressed by his dreams and visions for it. I signed on to give it my full support and set the hook for getting into a hobby that is more expensive than drag racing. Thanks Buddy. See you at Maggie valley.

[shifty]

Originally Posted by tnblazerk5

dayum shifty ya tryin to kill ya self ????? if i had more time i would have took it all apart for ya and they are sum tricks to it sumtimes lol BFH is handy but not to the knees hope its not cracked or broke or anything

no worries! doc gave me a clear slate, i saw my x-rays. i have really good strong knees from skateboarding all the years i did...i guess it paid off. he was surprised not to find a chip or anything, said there was some swelling, and bruising in my foot from the blood pooling down there, but it's nothing more than a bone bruise. i'm actually quite amazed, i hit it HARD.

i tried every trick i could find here. lower balljoints are just a PITA

[tnblazerk5]

Originally Posted by shifty

no worries! doc gave me a clear slate, i saw my x-rays. i have really good strong knees from skateboarding all the years i did...i guess it paid off. he was surprised not to find a chip or anything, said there was some swelling, and bruising in my foot from the blood pooling down there, but it's nothing more than a bone bruise. i'm actually quite amazed, i hit it HARD.

i tried every trick i could find here. lower balljoints are just a PITA

man i am glad ya didnt break or chip anything
and yes the bottoms one are kinda tough sumtimes

[chipflyer]

Got to meet Robb at Norword, good guy! Glad all turned out well at the Doc Shifty, wasn't it you that cracked the heck out of your pinky toe awhile back?

Jeff

[shifty]

comminuted fracture of the toe, same leg. i'm a little brutal on my right arm and left leg for some reason.

yeah, it was basically a shatter + compression + break. wierd...had to have surgery to get it pinned up. no fun.