Good idea Merc. And put some grease on it too. A channel lock wrench will also help.

 

Excellent ideas... but no joy. And now I'm down a grommet

I had a heat gun, so that was good at making the plastic a bit softer; however, the channel lock wrench made short work of it. I was able to get it into the lever, but then when I went to put the pin it - it pushed the grommet back out of the lever. I was able to force it onto the pin (which really mashed it up), but could then not keep the pin IN it when pushing the grommet back into the lever as there was nothing to bite onto.

I really feel it's a pretty stupid thing, but I'll wait another few days as they order ANOTHER one in... $7 a pop for a plastic grommet.

I'll order it from NAPA, then combine a little grease, the heat gun, and I'm going to pick up a small C-clamp and see if I can't squeeze it all together that way!

 

Good luck man.

 

Try the grease without the heat gun first.

 

She worked. Some grease and a C clamp put it all together nicely. Tossed the wheel on, gave it a test after adjusting the linkage and she seemed great. Picked up a rivetting tool for the plastic rivets on the cheap and put it all back together. Sweet.

Still not driving the truck until I finish picking out the front end parts and ordering them, but I'm happy to have that much together!

Thanks for all the help and advice, folks.

InfO.

 

Great news, glad you got it. Don't forget more relevant thread title's for the tech section in the future.

 

Trackin', sorry about that. If you want, I could put together a new thread as a DIY. I've enough pictures and can write enough on the topic.

InfO.

 

Do it up and we'll see.