who is wrenching today?

[skyking]

I put the left and right edges on the cleanup bucket the other day, and then scarfed off the 4 wear strips in preparation to straightening the dented bottom.

 

[herm0016]

Rebuilt this band saw this week. Auction price: 40.00
McMaster Carr invoice: 110.00

Cord, guide bearings, switch, and hand wheel on the vice. An hour with a nylon brush, hose and simple green and she runs great.

 

[skyking]

There's an old jet saw here at work that needs all 10 of the guide rollers replaced I'll be working on that soon.

 

[herm0016]

There's an old jet saw here at work that needs all 10 of the guide rollers replaced I'll be working on that soon.

10? this one has 3 each guide. 2 side and one back. is there 4 side and 1 back on each guide or something??

just an old buffalo saw, but probably still better than a new harbor freight and I only have about 150 into it, and all the bearings are SK's and its a nice heavy duty cord.

 

[skyking]

yes the sides are double stacked. It looks like maybe 10 of the same part number which would be handy.

 

[mztykal]

Changing lower control arms on my TSX for the second time…

 

[herm0016]

upgraded the tool situation. Tekton / Rousseau cart. super heavy duty. should be the last toolbox i ever buy.

 

[skyking]

the work truck has been a little slow cranking, so I pulled one battery cable and checked voltage.
one battery was 12.7, and the other was 10.8!
There is the culprit. I will pick up a fresh pair at Costco tomorrow.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm not wrenching, but in a continual state of "deciding".

I had recounted in detail my experience per my Trooper and a Repair Shop of Horrors and its Mechanic from Hell back in summer 2019. The guy did two or three successive levels of damage in an assignment to replace my Trooper's valve cover gaskets. He broke the ports on my heater-core, deceptively looping the engine cooling ports with a single hose. Then, to fix that under repair warranty, he blew the fuse to my window-wiper-washer system, broke the connection to my steering-wheel horn switches, left a coolant leak at a small hose connecting engine cooling jacket and the intake manifold or common-chamber. About that time, I began to notice the icon-idiot-light on the dashboard going on too frequently, which is a little gas-station fuel pump and hose to indicate that the gas tank is almost bone dry.. Everything else about the instrument cluster is working properly.

So for a couple years, I kept worrying about the fuel-delivery system. Why was that idiot-light going on too often, when the gas-tank was between 1/2 and Full? The regular gas gauge works fine.

I found another solid-gold repair-shop and mechanic, but they couldn't explain the idiot-light; they only assured me -- to the point of losing patience with my suggestions -- that my fuel delivery system, the pump, the fuel-pressure switch -- all of it -- was working great. Then, they retired. I found another solid-gold repair-shop and mechanic, and this time they had a mechanic who was veteran of an Isuzu dealership. He knows his stuff.

So I asked them, offering to pay for reading my e-mail and "consultation". In October, I'll be running the car into their shop for routine air-conditioning inspection and a vent-cleaning operation they say will increase the flow of cold air in the passenger compartment.

Service advisor consulted with the Isuzu mechanic. He reported back that it is probably a loose connection at the instrument cluster on the dashboard, and nothing more than that. With the Repair Shop of Horrors, I'd fixed my lack of a horn with a rocker switch on the dash and a connection circumventing the steering wheel to the horn-relay. Scars of battle, I call it.

Right away, the service advisor suggested that I just put a piece of electrical tape over the idiot light. As long as the regular gas gauge works, the idiot-light serves little purpose anyway. But I suggested the possibility that they might eventually pull the dashboard, fix the idiot light, fix the steering-wheel horn-switch connection, and even replace the old light-bulbs in the instrument cluster.

I explained to the service advisor about my wiring job for an in-dash MP3 player, a dual-QC-USB (rocker-switch-design) and the rocker switch which turns it on and off, with my own understanding -- and his -- that aftermarket installations pose problems to mechanics. If I go through with it, I will have to check every aspect of my wiring job to make sure nothing will get pulled loose when they pull the dashboard.

So I'm thinking. This car is 25 years old. Everything else is working fine. The engine at 192,000 miles almost seems to run better than it might have after 30,000. Maybe I have to practice my quick-draw routine for hitting the horn switch on the left-side of the dash near the steering-wheel, but it isn't really a major concern in my satisfaction with the old Trooper.

I've got a right to spend my money and save my money as I see fit, and I love this old car despite the 14 mpg gas-mileage (slightly worse with the AC running).

I can't yet make up my mind as to what I should do, and doing nothing is a viable option. I might even do the thing with the electrical tape. But if I choose to have the repair-shop and their veteran Isuzu mechanic do the work, I may have to fiddle with my DIY wiring and hope that they don't leave me with additional DIY repairs which -- of course -- they wouldn't be responsible for.

So -- not wrenching. Just weighing pros and cons for deciding . . . I'm just glad I have a repair shop that offers honest information with advice to cover an idiot-light with tape because the fuel-empty indicator is sort of like a person's appendix. It's almost an unnecessary and vestigial feature of the car. Maybe if I buy my EV eventually, I can worry more about the Trooper just as a sort of hobby..

 

[Paperdoc]

Working on a 2007 Hyundai Accent - need to pass safety inspection, and it has small issues:
Three small holes in rear wheel wells that are through to interior of trunk - filling / patching with epoxy "steel" putty, will smooth, primer and paint. Not a body shop quality job!

Poor battery hold-down clamp because replacement battery is slightly smaller than original. Used a piece of angle iron as an extention / wedge from the existing clamp.

New brake rotors and pads for front discs.

Headlight lenses too foggy - will use a grinding / polishing kit from 3M to refinish. I used this kit once before on another car and it works very well.

 

[herm0016]

Flat drive tire on the tractor. Filled with bio ballast. Probably 400ish lbs. Take off, roll to hill, back up pickup, push over into bed. 2 days at a tire shop an hr away that does ag/construction equipment. Back up to tractor, lever out of pick up and keep it upright, bolt back on. What a pain. A 9.5x24 r1. Almost 4 foot dia. 24in wheel.

 

[Meghan54]

Flat drive tire on the tractor. Filled with bio ballast. Probably 400ish lbs. Take off, roll to hill, back up pickup, push over into bed. 2 days at a tire shop an hr away that does ag/construction equipment. Back up to tractor, lever out of pick up and keep it upright, bolt back on. What a pain. A 9.5x24 r1. Almost 4 foot dia. 24in wheel.

Better you than I, Gunga Din.

On the other hand, I’ve got a new left front brake caliper to put on my truck. Have had it for a month or so and yet it sits in its box. Hate being lazy. Also hate brake fluid (and trans fluid). And working outside when it’s over 90.

 

[BUTCH1]

Did new front rotors, calipers, pads, sway bar links, and struts. doing the struts was a huge pain, Monroe instructions didn't mention that the three upper mounting lugs are not evenly spaced, they can only fit in one orientation since 1 of the lugs are "4 apart and the rest "4.5. Puting in these heavy components multiple times wore me to a nub, not one you tube vid mentioned orientation either, if your doing a GM car watch for this. Rides a ton better, clunking noises gone and new brakes bite really well. Guess since these components age slowly you don't notice how crappy things really are, you get used to crappy LOL.

 

[Fenixgoon]

replaced the battery on my mazda3 today. it dropped dead overnight - no warning at all.

 

[Paperdoc]

When a battery goes dead really fast, it MIGHT be because it was already weak and getting lower slowly, and just crossed a cliff last night. BUT also look for whether something that drains power was left turned on by accident. Could be an interior light in the roof, or a partly-open door or trunk lid / light that kept a bulb or two running. THAT cause will drain the new battery if not fixed.

Last two times I had a battery go dead were for different reasons. Last one was the OE battery on a 5-year-old Mazda3, simply froze in late january when overnight went down to -36C (that's 33 below in F). It must have been on "last legs". Several years before that on a '04 Mazda 3 hatchback I could not get the battery to turn over the engine in mid-winter cold, and even hooking up two extra batteries with jumper cables did not get it to work. My mechanic spotted the real cause: the outermost end of the starter shaft just runs in a bore in the end of the case - not a real bearing as such - and that bore was so badly worn (at least 3/16" oversize) the shaft end was moving sideways so the armature was rubbing inside the field coils, drastically increasing frictional forces on the starter rotor. The battery was not the real problem that time.

 

[Paperdoc]

Butch1, I know your feelings. I'm in my mid-70's, so I gave up doing suspension items like that a couple years ago. Too many larger bolts with high torques, especially when seized up with rust. Luckily I have a really good mechanic running his own small shop a block from our house, and he has ALL the equipment and know-how to do the jobs well. But brakes are less effort, so them I do. I did the '07 Accent (brakes and other items) above last month. Earlier I did front brake pads and rotors, plus one caliper only (seized slide pin I could not free up) on a 1999 Toyota Corolla.

 

[BUTCH1]

Bitch1, I know your feelings. I'm in my mid-70's, so I gave up doing suspension items like that a couple years ago. Too many larger bolts with high torques, especially when seized up with rust. Luckily I have a really good mechanic running his own small shop a block from our house, and he has ALL the equipment and know-how to do the jobs well. But brakes are less effort, so them I do. I did the '07 Accent (brakes and other items) above last month. Earlier I did front brake pads and rotors, plus one caliper only (seized slide pin I could not free up) on a 1999 Toyota Corolla.

A little while ago I bought my 1st torque wrench and I was thinking it would make things easier, it did help tremendously removing the huge 18MM nuts that hold the strut to the knuckle, unfortunately it didn't help getting things installed and finally aligned, my back will be a wreck tomorrow. I also had one caliper with a seized slide pin and one was a weeper, at just $35 for remanufactured ones from Raybestos I just replaced them. Wanted to do outer tie-rods too but after I got one separated from the knuckle it was frozen tight to the inner so I gave up and stopped the attempt, I don't have a torch to heat anything with and if you maul the old tie rod trying to get it off you've now immobilized the vehicle and it will need a tow to a repair shop, ugh.

 

[BUTCH1]

replaced the battery on my mazda3 today. it dropped dead overnight - no warning at all.

That can happen to any batter over 3 years old but keep an eye on the new one, I bought a digital voltage display that plugs into the lighter on Amazon for about $9, this way I always see where the battery is at. On GM vehicles you have "afterblow", (you can't make this stuff up), if you've run the AC it will run the blower motor for 5-10 minutes after the car is turned off, I brought it back to the dealer while it was still under warranty thinking the AC control was going bonkers, problem is the blower is a huge drain on the battery when the car is not running.

 

[skyking]

I temp welded some channels on the big bucket, then I heavy tacked that to a junk 2' rock bucket so the damn thing would sit still. The 4' bucket rolls on its round ass and was also too low to work on.

I cut a slice in the bucket two ways to relieve it for straightening.
I started heating and beating with the 12 pound sledge.
After a while the hard bucket metal quit agreeing with me, so I popped a few holes and used some channel and bolts to pull it into shape while I worked it.
I pre and post heated it when I welded it back up to relieve the welding stresses.

I replaced all the wear strips on the back I had scarfed off. Sorry no after pictures of that.

 

[skyking]

Throttle pedal had rotted off on the dump truck.

 

[skyking]

They have a 25 year old office trailer that gets towed from job to job. It had no brake or tire attention for who knows how long. One of the bearings sounded like gravel when I spun the wheel, so I knew I had a fight on my hands.
I bolted a 10' section of 3/8" chain to the drum and used the chain as a slide hammer. It works for truck axles as well. Just slack it up then give it a heck of a yank, and the slack comes out and hits it hard.

That tore the seal out, and then I cut the bearing cage and race off the axle with the scarfing tip.
No harm to the axle or brake wiring when done right.

 

[BUTCH1]

They have a 25 year old office trailer that gets towed from job to job. It had no brake or tire attention for who knows how long. One of the bearings sounded like gravel when I spun the wheel, so I knew I had a fight on my hands.
I bolted a 10' section of 3/8" chain to the drum and used the chain as a slide hammer. It works for truck axles as well. Just slack it up then give it a heck of a yank, and the slack comes out and hits it hard.

That tore the seal out, and then I cut the bearing cage and race off the axle with the scarfing tip.
No harm to the axle or brake wiring when done right.

Wow, those bearings look older than me!.

 

[desy]

Lol at skyking
I was pissy that I had to take the passenger tire off to replace my oil filter on my new car on the weekend

 

[RearAdmiral]

Lol at skyking
I was pissy that I had to take the passenger tire off to replace my oil filter on my new car on the weekend

Despite owning my '19 WRX for a year or so I barely put enough miles on it for an oil change, yay no commute now. Changing the oil on this vs the '10 WRX then '11 Legacy I had was so much easier. The top mounted filter on the FA engine is handy and there is no stupid skid plate blocking access to the plug.

I also had to change the low beam bulb on my wife's '11 Rogue. It was a Xenon bulb which I didn't realize until after I received the normal bulb and realized my mistake. 50-60 bucks for a bulb is rough but in fairness it did last for a decade. The fun part was fishing out the tiny piece of glass that had broken off the old bulb and was sitting in the tube where the bulb goes.

 

[desy]

Exactly and those stupid push pins break pretty easily too, I had to remove 5 of them to get everywhere,
First world problem I know