Shocking

Anxious to get under the truck and do some actual "wrenching," I stopped by Home Depot and picked up this aluminum floor jack/jack stand combo I had seen on sale for $75. Word of advice: not worth it. The very first time I jacked up a corner of the truck, the ram seal(s) failed and all the hydraulic fluid bled onto the garage floor. That was it. Toast. So as much as I liked the jack stands, this will go back to HD today. I should have known better than to buy "Husky" tools.



I also stopped by Sears and got a creeper:



And some cheap factory replacement shocks from Advanced Auto Parts. These Monroes were about $16 each. Unfortunately they are yellow (I would have preferred black, or something less flashy), but this should be a budget-conscious improvement to the ride quality. There is at least 100 pounds of dirt on this truck. Performance will probably improve slowly as I scrape all the crap off, if for no other reason than decreased weight.





Cost: 70
Running total: 701