Garage Hangout

Well, ain't that a bitch.

Missing another good one.

A true loss to our site (and many other as well). He was a straight up guy and we'll miss him.

Godspeed Randy!

Just saw this post on Garage Journal

Hello, I am wantedabiggergarage's brother (Jeff Stevenson). I wanted to post as I saw Ryan's email while I was wrapping up his affairs and as you all were thinking about him, figured I would go ahead and post here. His name was Randal Stevenson and he passed away on 10/28. Here is his Obit: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/randal-stevenson-obituary?id=59926104

Ryan, thank you for reaching out. I am sure it is a breach of protocol, but he wanted me to clean up the last of his affairs and as you had emailed him, I figured you would be ok with me logging in to advise of what happened. Randal had been dealing with colon cancer the last 2 years that metastasized to his liver and that was what ultimately got him. He was 100% convinced he was going to beat it until the last 2-3 months of his life, but the chemo just didn't have any effect other than making him more sick. It is funny that the first 25 years of our lives we never really got along that well but that changed considerably over the last 30....and I so truly miss him now. If you have any questions or need to reach out, you can email me at greymane@hotmail.com as his email will be closed shortly and we won't have further access to the account. I also probably won't be checking back here so if you need anything you can email me directly....just advise in the header that it is about Randal if you send anything as I don't want to mark something as spam by accident.

Thank you for all your concern though....Randal had a number of passions (too many for his time unfortunately) and I am sure this was one of them.

Jeff Stevenson

Thanks Tim! ...and you're correct, these relatively simple fixes would cost a quite a lot to have done at a shop that still repairs things (if you can find one). Dealers won't even touch it because the parts are not available anymore.

Even good shops will only install a used unit and not attempt to properly repair the thing. A used unit is VERY expensive these days, and since it's not upgraded, the same issue will likely occur in the near future.

We folks on the GG are a dying breed. No one wants to repair any components in the automotive field anymore, and manufacturers are happy to oblige. They make more money by not making anything repairable == just throw it away.

Nice work ray! You saved yourself a bunch of money on that repair I'm sure.

Fantastic OCG, and thanks for sharing your wonderful collection of cars. Always a joy to see such great rolling car history.

This is a known issue in this generation of Highlanders. The ribbon cable from control board to the rotator POT develops breaks in one or more of the three thin wires and the car can't turn on the heat or cold settings. The solution is to remove the entire control unit along with the radio and either re-solder the ribbon cable, or solder on new wires. I chose to solder more sturdy and robust 20 gauge wires.





Disassemble the control unit and loosen the POT





Clean up the solder point on the POT and prep for new solder.



I just cut the old ribbon cable and soldered in new wires (more robust that way)







Reassembled everything and this old unit is good to go for a few more years. One thing is for sure, in my old age keeping a steady hand on the soldering iron is not that easy anymore. --- LOL -- oh well!!

Quote from: brockstar on Jun 13, 2025, 12:10 PMHi OCG!  I was at the Cincinnati Concours  last weekend and remember meeting you all those years ago and wondered how you are doing.

Nature has taken its' toll on me at the end of 2024. But I'm on the mend and starting to get may act back together. 

Nice that you  thought of me. That Cincinnati Concours was like twenty years ago... Pleasant to have met you. I remember we had a great time there. My 1933 Buick invited... and received best in class.

Since then I added a few more to my accomplishments.

1933 Buick 88C


1930 Packard 740 Dual Cowl Paeton


1931 Ford Model A rumble seat roadster



1929 Ford Model A coupe.



1986 Chevrolet K10 half ton pickup


1910 Buick Model F touring.. My last work of art..

A necessary, but eh kind of job. Been there done that.

Saturday I cleaned out and reorganized the shed. Put the mower away and got the snowblower out to get ready.