I reminded myself today why I quit being an automotive mechanic

[BReeves]

I was 'inspired' to make it by this store bought unit.

I know it's not that expensive, but I needed a project to do. I made it out of materials on hand. I don't have sheet metal bending capabilities to make something as small as the housing, so I resorted to milling what I needed out of flat stock, machined the wheel out of a hunk of brass, and used low-temp silver solder to hold some of the parts together, and one screw to hold one end in place.

Amazon.com has the "Handee Clamp" as well.

Woody

Thanks for the link, now I get how it works. May end up needing to replace a blend door on my 2010 Silverado and not looking forward to ending up like the photo above.

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Thanks for the link, now I get how it works. May end up needing to replace a blend door on my 2010 Silverado and not looking forward to ending up like the photo above.

I have experienced blend door linkage problems in the past. (About two years ago.) There are plastic 'slides' that coordinates the travel of the doors via slots in the levers, and two of those 'slides' broke. I fashioned new slides out of aluminum and with much finagling and with the use of that 'handee clamp' clone, I was able to replace the broken slides.

What I experienced was smoke coming out of the dashboard vents on my Tahoe. The smoke smelled electrical. It was from the blower motor resistor coils. Those coils rely on the air flow through the ducts to keep them from overheating, and with those doors not functioning, in the 'defroster' mode, airflow was cut off (blocked) due to the defroster door not opening when selected. Deselecting the defroster opened the door that diverts the air to the defroster, the smoke cleared, and it wasn't very long after that that the over-temp fuse in the resistor coil pack blew. That necessitated another excursion behind the dashboard.

Having had problems with the same resister coil pack in my Suburban, I have since bought a supply of those fuses. Next time one of those fuses blow, I won't have to buy a new resistor pack. That said, I'll still have to remove and reinstall the resistor pack to replace the fuse.

Woody

 

[R D Harmon]

I enjoyed the read and glad it wasnt me working on it.

 

[SiGArmed]

Do you have a factory service manual?

 

[GeneW]

Snattler,

I'm not too sure its legal to own extra 10 mm sockets in Oklahoma.

You better send them to me before you get into trouble.....

10mm sockets should be sold by the pound, or packaged in the 12-packs, and they should be bright florescent orange color instead of chrome or black.

 

[AKguy1985]

Lol

 

[dennishoddy]

There are people out there that make a living working on vehicles. I'll give them my money.
Back in the day I built cars from salvage yards, rebuilding engines and transmissions.
Not happening today.

 

[AKguy1985]

I'm going to have to find someone to change the back plugs and wires on my 04 impala. I don't have the tools to do it. The front three are easy. My usual mechanic takes 6-8 weeks to get to my car or cars.

 

[dlbleak]

10mm sockets should be sold by the pound, or packaged in the 12-packs, and they should be bright florescent orange color instead of chrome or black.

I think HF sells 10 packs which reminds me, I need to get some!

 

[dlbleak]

@Snattlerake, if your noisy blend door is the one that is on passenger side near the transmission hump, that is the easiest one to get to and only about $35.