I was thinking of checking that out. The old Dodges had easy to get to fuses. The fuses are right next to the flasher unit. Then if that doesn't work I am going to check each bulb out. Sure warmed up, today.

Oh, man. I can't believe I did that. I was checking each fuse out and was looking at the flasher unit. I thought that looks just like the one I took out. I put the new flasher unit in and the blinker works great now.

don't worry,i won't tell anyone you did that

Thanks, Jt. You are a real pal. I was checking out the van to see what all the rattling was about in the front. The front shocks are bad. Shocks are easier to replace than struts though. I know when shocks go bad it causes other things to go bad. I think the van wouldn't have cv joints since there are shocks in front. I will check the pitman arms and see if it has upper arm supports.

yeah usually if there's any noise coming from the front end,the first thing you want to check is the shocks.

Have you ever restored a vehicle before, Jt? I guess there would be partial and complete restoration as money would definately be a factor in a restoration. With an older vehicle the availability of parts would have to be a factor. I know in Arkansas the Watts line is a good place to start. I remember from talking to a guy in a garage he could get online and check the availabilty of parts from different distributors nationwide. From going to different car shows I know that some have spent a bundle to do restoration to classics and antique vehicles.

well i've never fully restored one but i've helped friends restore vehicles.i'm not worried about getting parts for once because my brother's father-in-law in Blue Eye can get pretty much any part you need for a vehicle,so i can get parts through him

I bought this 1967 Le Sabre Buick once for 400 dollars and before it was all said and done I had managed to sink 2000 dollars in it. It was fun at first but then I just couldn't keep up with it because just as soon as I would fix one thing another thing would go wrong with it. I ended up selling it for 50 dollars. On another occasion I was really getting this 1965 Pontiac Catalina looking good and then let a friend drive it. He wrapped it around a telephone pole. I have always liked the looks of the 1960 Pontiac Star Chief. I have seen some beautiful 1957 Chrevolets. It is good to have a mechanic friend. I always thought it would be cool just to go to a junkyard with a bunch of tools and just build one from parts.

Pontiac Star Chief?never heard of one before

I saw one in a junkyard in Valley Springs on the other side of Harrison towards Marshall. It wasn't a real junkyard but just this guy's yard. Was back in the 80's when I saw it. I was looking for parts for the Catalina and finally found some in Botkinburg just before you get to Clinton. Back then the Botkinburg auto salvage was the only one I knew of that didn't smash all their older vehicles. I got to see a 1951 Buick car with the dynaflo transmission which was the forerunner to the hydromatic transmission or one of the early automatic transmissions. The dynaflo operated on a cone set up. Interesting transmission to read about. Used to be you would see older vehicles out in fields where when they quit they were just parked. Some enthuiasts have even restored vehicles that have burnt.

Found out the van has struts and not shocks. Struts cost more. Did some checking around and so far 43 bucks a strut is the cheapest I have come up with. I have a cousin who is a manager at Tire World in Harrison. He put the struts on the back of my 1990 Lumina car. Going to see what kind of deal he will give me or might check out Walmart. The Lumina and the Caravan has the same tire size and should interchange. Will have to pick up another jack but a spare came with the van.

yeah i've been to Botkinburg a few times.have you ever been in the gas station there?i hate those people.they won't give you napkins unless you buy something and they are pretty rude!

It has been a while since I went through there. My stepdad used to go through there when we lived in Marshall. If I remember right he spent a night in jail closed to there. He got thristy on his way back from Center Ridge and it was the closest place to get liquor. The Budweiser didn't have a chance to get hot. Mom had to go bail him out. My stepbrothers did pretty good in profit on aluminum cans back then. There were usually enough cans to make an aluminum driveway. My one stepbrother got wise and would just take the old Datsun pickup and run over them because it seemed faster than flatting the cans by hand.

I am starting think, Jt that this van is becoming a restoration project. Called my cousin and it going to cost me 30 bucks per side to have the struts installed. Was talking to my brother-in-law and he says that is a cheap price. Struts can be dangerous if the spring slips and have found on this particular model the brakeline hooks into the struts. My brother-in-law remarked that the struts will just stop the front of the van from bouncing up and down. The rattling is a bad ball joint. I figure I am going to be out some for the van at this point. But I guess it is like that with older vehicles.

yeah but 30 for each side is pretty cheap and for the ball joint,maybe try a salvage yard?.putting the ball joint on is still going to be a pain but atleast getting it from a salvage yard would be cheaper for the cost of the joint.

I had to do that on the Catalina. The upper arm support gave way and the wheel went down on it's side coming down the hill by what they used to call Dry Jordan in Harrison. I was lucky I could get the ball joint from Arnold's salvage yard on Hwy 7 that meets up with Hwy 43 going toward Bergman. I am going to have my cousin look at the underside of the van when it is up on the rack while I am at Tire World tomorrow morning. I then plan to see if Mullin's salvage yard between Yellvile and Summit has any 1986 Dodge vans.

a man and their toys..

Yup and this toy is starting to get expensive. They must have seen me coming as my dad would have said. I felt like Tigger the van bounced all the way to Harrison. The mechanic said he never seen struts in such bad shape. He figured the rack and pinion steering axle and the two cv joints that I am going to have to get with labor at about 500 more dollars. Caveat Empeor for sure and let the buyer beware.

u only payed 500.00 right???