Sunday night, Feb. 15, 2026

Spent some time this afternoon working on the driver’s door windows on the 55 wagon with mixed results. Basically, I have the screws on the left side of the window bracket removed, while the two screws securing the right side both have stripped heads now.

I was applying plenty of pressure on the screwdriver to keep it from rounding off the phillips heads, but once it strips, its pretty much game over. They are rusted TIGHT. So tomorrow i suppose I’ll be drilling them out in order to remove the window. I have already installed a new bracket on the replacement window, and I may just order at new track to replace this one in the process. I can order it at the same time I order the new window regulator.

DURANGO WINDOW REHAB, NEW BRAKE CALIPERS. I have owned a 1998 Dodge Durango for many years, and for the past six or seven years, its been parked and not driven. I have had brake issues with the Durango. The last time my son and I used it, one of the front calipers was so tightly clamped it made the thing pull to one side and heated the rotor like crazy. So I have two new calipers on hand to put in on the vehicle. While its been parked, the driver’s door power window has broken, and the window fell inside the door. For now I have plastic over the window.

Now the issue is that my 1987 Dodge D150 truck is blocking the east-facing overhead doors to the garage. To work on the Durango, I need to move the truck. And my plan is to repair the Durango and then gift it to my son-in-law, who, for the past 3-1/2 years, been driving my 2007 Dodge truck. My 1987 Dodge hasn’t run during that time, and I need a damn truck! My truck!

When he and my daughter moved here from Washington, DC, neither of them owned a vehicle. They had sold them and used public transit. Well, that shit won’t fly here in rural Kentucky. I lent my daughter my 1995 Suzuki Sidekick, which she had driven years earlier and hated, and so it was really motivated her to buy her own vehicle.

Unfortunately, my son-in-law is not so motivated. He has a nice decent-looking red Dodge truck. My daughter has made a couple of comments that “he’s looking for a truck he can afford.” Ok, I get that, but I gave $2000 for the truck on Facebook Marketplace, and there’s a fairly steady flow of old trucks on there all the time. What’s he waiting for?

My guess is he wants a newer truck. I get that. So do I. But you drive what you can afford. I need my damn truck to be quite frank.

While my son was home for Christmas break, I made a discovery that might lead to my old 87 Dodge returning to service. The starter relay contacts were corrodio so bad, they were blocking current. If I hold the relay plug in place tightly, the starter turns over with the key — and that hasn’t happened in years.

Another guess is that the relay is bad, and/or the contacts on all five wires on the connectors need to be cleaned up. I would be happy as hell if the old 87 would run again!!

Then I could get the Durango in the shop for brake calipers and a drivers side window reguglator.

TO-DO MONDAY, FEB. 16, 2026. Well, my chore tomorrow is to drill out the two stripped screws on the track attached to the driver’s door window.