Greetings Mark!   
      
      
      
    RW>> So, he traded it for this 2006 Duramax 2500, which even has a better   
    RW>> paint job thant the 2009. I thought maybe he wouldn't have to work   
    RW>> on it, but, nope. His first order of business was to get under the   
    RW>> hood and begin working on it.   
      
    MH> I don't mind doing occasional repairs, but constant ones start to   
    MH> wear on you. Also, trying to stay ahead of repairs/issues and not let   
    MH> them get to the point where you have too many things wrong.  Those   
    MH> are the ones that people end up throwing in the towel.   
      
   Well, my friend Harry, who is the service manager at a Chevy dealer about   
   60 miles south of here tells me that there wasn't anything wrong with any   
   of those trucks that a competent mechanic couldn't fix. His dealership was   
   the dealer that R&Red that engine for my neighbor. Apparently the harmonic   
   balancer came loose and my neighbor was the one who had butchered the   
   crank to include a bolt to keep it in place. All Chevy engines have press   
   fit balancers. What he did was drive it too long without the balancer and   
   destroyed the engine in the process.   
      
    MH> In doing my own weekend repairs, one of my other things that I try   
    MH> and do is buy the best part I can.  Nothing more irritating than   
    MH> having done a repair, only to have the replaced part fail and have to   
    MH> perform the same repair again.   
      
   I hear you there. But, when you're on a budget, it helps to have cheap   
   parts available. Best to replace them at your first opportunity though.   
      
    MH> I had that issue with wheel bearings on my Monte Carlo.  I must have   
    MH> replaced 3 or 4 of them before finally getting a decent brand that   
    MH> isn't made in China (Timkin).  Had great luck with them so far, which   
    MH> put an end to my revolving repairs on the wheel bearings.   
      
   I don't know if you're aware, but Chevy started to use sealed spindle   
   bearings around 2000 and you don't replace them with a new set of   
   bearings, you replace the entire spindle. It's a bolt on procedure that   
   only requires disassembly and re-assembly. Best part is the brake rotors   
   are made seperate from the spindle assembly and they can be worked on   
   without disturbing the spindle. OTH, every Chevy mechanic's nightmare are   
   the rear rotors with a parking brake-drum inside of them. My 12yo pickup   
   just turned over 80k and I'm thinking about doing a front brake job, but   
   am reluctant to tear into it and have to do spindles in another 40k...   
      
   Still, the brakes will have to be done before those spindle bearings reach   
   the end of their life.   
      
      
       Have a day!   
      
            R\%/itt - K5RXT   
      
   --- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012   
   --- D'Bridge 3.99   
    * Origin: Anything of Automotive Interest Discussed Here! (1:387/22)