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the blazer

I bought a truck the other day from a “mechanic”. I knew that there would be work that needed to be done, I did not know that he was such a poor mechanic I cannot recommend anyone ever use him, and if they have I would have to suggest they take the vehicle elsewhere for an inspection. I wont name who it is.

The truck is a 1987 K5 Blazer with 35 inch tires and an 8 inch lift. Its hard to tell from the photo but the hood is almost 6 feet tall, this means that most cars are below the window line and hard to see.  Its got the 350 horsepower 5.7l engine, so there is plenty of power to tow things. The engine appears to be fairly sound, however I have noticed the following problems:

• When he did the lift, he disconnected the parking brake because the cables werent long enough
• There was only one working brake, he insisted that the good one was the problem (it pulled hard to the right when braking).  It turns out that both rear pads were so worn they couldnt even hope too make contact, and the front drivers side was so worn that there were grooves in the rotor
• The dash has an electrical problem that prevents some of the lights from working, replacing them and reconnecting the cut wire caused an overload which resulted in a small quantity of smoke to be present.
• The power steering is not right, it leaks, there is even a disconnected hose!
• The steering was messed up when the lift was added, it needs to be replaced (I knew about the steering problems when I bought it though)
• minor body damage and  surface rust (its so light you can sand it off and repaint)
• it had gotten wet inside and the insulation on the floor was still damp a week or two after I got it
• The fuel sending unit was not installed, he did provide me with one (I do not know if it works yet though)
• The 2 dome lights do not work, one I can see the wires are just disconnected I do not know about the other yet

I am sure there are other things that I will discover aside from regular maintenance.  I bought this truck knowing it needed some work, and had planned on this in part so that I can fix everything and learn every component of the truck in the process.