Newbie to the First Gens

[CumminsChick]

Well after wanting and admiring them for a long time, i just bought my first First Gen saturday, so i'm new to this section, tho i've been on TDR for a while gathering information on my suburban rebuild. i thought i'd introduce myself because i'm sure i'll have a million questions. Just picked her up:



1992 250 4x4 5 speed

all stock except K&N air filter



~bernie

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

Beautiful truck. Nice find... a lot of guys here would kill to find a first gen like that. Anyway, welcome to the club... fire away with the questions, you came to the right place.



Man, the day I meet a girl who owns her own first gen I think I'd need a defibrillator...

 

[CumminsChick]

Thanks, i defiantly found a diamond in the ruff w this one. i dont konw another girl with one, but i dont know many girls with jacked up burbs putting 24Vs in em either, so i may be a rare find too, lol

here's her sister who's waiting the 24V transplant and a buddy's truck:

~bernie

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

Eh, its all good... I have one love for right now and it weighs 6500lbs. Anyway, congrats on the truck.

 

[JGrefenstette]

shucks, i agree with you tippin. when i saw the name under the title my heart skipped a beat! hah. beautiful truck tho. how many miles? Im not gonna ask you age cause thatd seem like a stocker :-laf

but i will say its good to have some more youth in the group. at least in the 1st gen. ring of guys. (i guess girls now too) welcome and well do all we can to help out. im just gonna make a guessm but ill say that your questions will be answered quicker than most of the rest of us, especially with a name that noticable i think youll find us to be a pretty reasonable bunch to deal with tho.

 

[Rebel Ram]

I have been saying all along that "Chicks dig 1st Gens!" My GF has taken over my 92 dually and calls it hers. I never get tired of being right.

 

[CumminsChick]

shucks, i agree with you tippin. when i saw the name under the title my heart skipped a beat! hah. beautiful truck tho. how many miles? Im not gonna ask you age cause thatd seem like a stocker :-laf
but i will say its good to have some more youth in the group. at least in the 1st gen. ring of guys. (i guess girls now too) welcome and well do all we can to help out. im just gonna make a guessm but ill say that your questions will be answered quicker than most of the rest of us, especially with a name that noticable i think youll find us to be a pretty reasonable bunch to deal with tho.

she has a lil over 200K on her

i'm 23, lol, thanks for the compliments on the truck, my two diesels are my only loves as well and i wouldn't trade either for any man i know!!

i guess i'll start with some basic ?s i haven't found answers to by searching but:

where can i get a latch (lock) for my rear sliding window, mines broken? (i've tried my local auto store)
my odometer quit workn a few months before i got her, how do i fix it?

~bernie

 

[stoneagemaxx]

nice truck, welcome to the forums

 

[Rebel Ram]

where can i get a latch (lock) for my rear sliding window, mines broken? (i've tried my local auto store)

my odometer quit workn a few months before i got her, how do i fix it?



~bernie

The latch and stuff like that is easiest to find at Pick-n-Pull type junk yards. Usualy they can be found on different brand truckd too. As the sliders are made by common MFGs. As far as the odo, I've replaced my inst panels off of gassers to get them working and some others the computer stopped opperating the odo while the spedo still worked. Having a few trucks and a wrecked doner in the back helps allot for switches like that.

 

[JGrefenstette]

sounds like its got resonably low miles. did the owner you bought it from tell you the odometer recenlty quit? when i bought mine, i was driving it home from the deal, and the odometer quit. along with the speedometer in my case. is your speedometer still working? if not, ther is a gear reducer in the side of the transfer case. it picks up and reduces the rpms and sends it through an electrical lead. ive been messing with mine since ive had the truck. im gonna have to just tear apart the whole reducer and try to rebuild it in any way possible. but when it first happend, the previous owner assured me it had never happend. this was after i gave him the cash. i have noe clue how many miles she really has on her.



hmm, 23. well considering ill be 18 in may, and your a few hundred miles away... id say you dont have to worry :-laf

also i hope to be married by the time im 21 and Lord willing having kids by the time im you age. but back the the trucks... .

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

The odo and speedo can also be a bad wire from the sensor. I had that problem intermittenly at first... it would kick in and out, then the first time I had my transmission rebuilt the guy must have finally really messed it up. They replaced the harness that went into the sensor and that fixed it, but they must not have insulated it well and anytime it snows they throw salt down and the thing shorts and I lose my odo and speedo again. This will also affect cruise and OD on an auto if you have either one.



My latch is broken too. My buddy was climbing into the bed while I was driving once and took the latch with him... don't ask... It makes a nice way to get into your truck if you ever lock the keys in it though, provided no one else knows its missing. Although I already know how to break into my truck if I need to, and I'd be glad to share that info with you if you want it... its really not rocket science.



JG, I feel a little unaccomplished now, as I am almost 22 and unmarried. Hell I don't even have a prospect. Eh, at 21 I wouldnt have it any other way. The bar is more fun single... You got me beat though. I bought my diesel a couple months before I turned 19, and no one my age around here had a diesel so I was the cool kid on the block. Either way, no one my age around here owns anything as B. A. as I don still, so I'm alright with it... As B. A. as a truck thats sitting in the shop awaiting a transmission is I guess...

 

[JLEONARD]

There is also a gear in the dash unit that is notorious for breaking... mine broke a couple of months ago at 177K.

If you do an archive search you should find the thread on how to fix it.

 

[CumminsChick]

well the speedo works just fine, its on the odometer and trip meter. i'll do some more searching on that. he has a dated picture with the odometer w about 200 less miles on it (the one he used when he listed it) so i'm assuming it went out shortly after that. the date is end of dec 07.

i found a latch for a ford and latch for a gm in the "help" parts in Pepboys, any idea if either of them work? yah i'd prefer no one could get into my truck, lol, except ME.

as for my age, i'm about to start for my second engineering degree and have no desire to be married while going to school. i bought my first diesel (the burb) when i was 18 and haven't turned back since, tho i've been around heavy equipment all my life.

~bernie

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

What kind of engineering? I'm working as an engineer right now. I guess thats always kind've been in my blood.



I'd guess you'd have better luck with the GM latch, but don't quote me on that. Fords, depending on the year, used a bigger metal latch. The one for your Dodge is all plastic. Odds are you still have the bottom half of it still screwed into your window with two flat head philips screws. Pull it off and take it to pep boys to check the hole spacing. If the holes are right it'd probably be a safe bet. Once again... don't quote me...

 

[CumminsChick]

in may i'll have my BS in civil engineering and then i plan on starting for a BS in mechanical engineering.

one sliding window has the black part the goes the whole vertical length of the window (the drivers side) and the part the goes across to the other window and latches. but the passenger side doesn't have the long black plastic vertical part or the receiver end of the deal... .

~bernie

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

Wait, so is there a bare edge of glass there then? I'm having trouble trying to figure out what your missing. I've seen a lot of first gens with the latch snapped off, but the base of it is still on like I said before. There the vertical black plastic (possibly metal?) edging on the window that goes top to bottom and I believe also holds the seal, which as I recall is rubber. The latch is one molded piece of plastic that screws into the center (vertically) of that edging. From your pic looking head on, it looks like you have the edging... I think I'm just confused and need to go back to bed and try again tomorrow...

 

[JGrefenstette]

Although I already know how to break into my truck if I need to, and I'd be glad to share that info with you if you want it... its really not rocket science.



JG, I feel a little unaccomplished now, as I am almost 22 and unmarried. Hell I don't even have a prospect. Eh, at 21 I wouldnt have it any other way. The bar is more fun single... You got me beat though. I bought my diesel a couple months before I turned 19, and no one my age around here had a diesel so I was the cool kid on the block. Either way, no one my age around here owns anything as B. A. as I don still, so I'm alright with it... As B. A. as a truck thats sitting in the shop awaiting a transmission is I guess...

Yea i am curious about how to get into the truck? at least with out breaking anything... .



Yea i got my truck round about a month before my 17th birthday. i dont no if diesels are more a southern thing or what, but round here its about 50/50 diesel/gas. most of my buddies have diesels. theres a LOT of PowerChokes. get this, by best friend is 17, and SHE, thats right SHE, has had a 96 F250 powerstroke since just before i got my cummins. hers is on 38. 5 boggers. thats how its done around here. :-laf she aint the only gal with a truck that big neither. i still have yet to find a girl with a cummins tho. us cummins boys are few and far between. at least 1st gens.

naw dont feel under accomplished. im the youngest of 4. none of em are married yet. oldest is 28. mama always told me that id be the youngest to get married tho. i figure she'll be right. we'll have to see tho. reason i want to start so early is, cause i figure sense im wantin to have as many kids as possible (10-12+) i better get a jump start if i wanna ever retire. other reason. this fall im moving to NC to go to diesel mechanic school. Lord willing ill graduate just before my 20th b-day. so ill have nothing better to do that start making babies and raisin a family:-laf

 

[Tippin Spotted Cow]

I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you...



No I'm kidding, I'll tell you, but maybe not so much in the public forums here. If you want I can email you. It's not really a huge secret. I locked my keys in my truck with it running once and a buddy at work broke in for me. When I asked him where he learned that, all he said was "I wasn't always a machinist. "

 

[JGrefenstette]

haha, yea i see. just pm me if you would like. id apreciate it. i have 2 sets of keys on my ring for that very reason. if im in a unfamiliar town i can lock my truck with it still running and have all my keys on my belt, with the detachable one inthe ignition.

 

[CumminsChick]

Wait, so is there a bare edge of glass there then? I'm having trouble trying to figure out what your missing. I've seen a lot of first gens with the latch snapped off, but the base of it is still on like I said before. There the vertical black plastic (possibly metal?) edging on the window that goes top to bottom and I believe also holds the seal, which as I recall is rubber. The latch is one molded piece of plastic that screws into the center (vertically) of that edging. From your pic looking head on, it looks like you have the edging... I think I'm just confused and need to go back to bed and try again tomorrow...

yah its just bare glass, and there is a gap now...



~bernie