Shade tree mechanics

[Cloud]

huh. I thought this thread was about putting in trees. Stupid me.

[jester]

Originally Posted by Cloud

huh. I thought this thread was about putting in trees. Stupid me.

it's ok - don't be frightened:p

[tw]

Originally Posted by Cloud

huh. I thought this thread was about putting in trees.

Same reason why I have so much trouble with crossword puzzles. I thought of tree surgeons who pump those medical chemicals into trees. In the case of American elms - unsuccessfully too often.

[lumberjim]

putting wheel spacers on jinx's Commander:

before:

during:







after

[Undertoad]

These do what now

[lumberjim]

add 3" to the track width. mostly they make the commander look more like a jeep.

[BigV]

Increase the track. That is move the wheel about an inch (little more it looks like) farther outward, toward the fender away from the engine, along the axis of the wheel.



edit: I'm slow...gotta get better coffee in the morning...

further edit: Don't they have dirt where you live? Wow, that is the cleanest wheel removal illustration I've ever seen. Like in the manual. Wait, is that a little splash of mud on the rocker panel above the jackstand? Whew, you may be mortal after all. Very tidy, nice work.

[lumberjim]

jinx keeps a tidy ship.....on the outside, anyway.

[jinx]

...on the outside, anyway.

Oh no you di-ent My car is nearly as clean as yours on the inside. And I don't get a new one every 3K miles, and I have at least 2 mess makers in the back at all times.

[lumberjim]

go take a picture right now then, ms smarty pants. you have 10 minutes or it's bs.

[BigV]

Hmmm... must be bs. :p

So, the saga of the radiator ended happily. I chose the pipe tape, after futzing around with the o rings, dropping them, breaking them, cross crucifying them.. grrrr. I gave up. Wrapped a couple of turns on the pipe tape on the nipple on the hard line, and as I started to back out the brass coupler between the atf hard line and the radiator (the top one, right there, in broad daylight) it slipped and I dropped it. Crap.

Click, clank, nothing. I didn't hear it hit the pavement. I can *see* the pavement. No coupler. Peer under the car. Nothing. Lay down on the pavement with my cheek on the street and my eyeball an inch off the deck. Nuttin. Hmm. Dropped into here? There? I started taking parts off the car the get at places with my fingers that the coupler might have made its way into. I take parts off for TWO HOURS poking around. Nothing nowhere no way. I dropped it directly into the g-d twilight zone.

I sat down on the curb to recharge my supply of curse words. Where did it go? I couldn't proceed without it, since it changed threads from the hardline to the radiator. I was picking at the grass and I saw a toy of SonofV's--a lucky rabbit's foot. Well, what was left of it anyway. Our new dog got hold of it and ate it. Everything but the little brass knuckle that the keychain fits through. [Epiphany!] I picked up that little brass knuckle with the tiny rabbit bones poking out through the remaining tufts of hair and put it right at the connection point on the radiator. And dropped it. Clink clank nothing. But this time I was watching!

I followed it down and saw where it took a right turn into neverneverland, put my hand in there and found it! And the coupler! It had bounced horizontally and landed on top of the front crossmember. Yay!! I guess there was a little bit of luck left in that rabbit's foot after all!

[BigV]

This past weekend was the weekend for rear brakes on both vehicles. The fronts on the truck were fine, and the fronts on the car were really ready, so I figured the rears needed attention too. Wrong.

On both vehicles the rears were >50%, <75%, so I left them. I must say the pad removal routine on the truck is very straightforward. Only two split pins (and gravity) hold the pads in place in the caliper. No bleed nipple to negotiate (of course, since I wasn't putting in thicker new pads I had no need to retract the caliper piston; not a completely fair comparison), no parking brake cable bracket, no "be sure to support the (ten pound) caliper from the mechanics wire and not the brake line" bs. Very slick.

Once in a while you work on something that just has the feel of having been designed by somebody who knew what it was like to work on them too. This is not always the case. For example, on the car, the rears are disc brakes too and the pad removal routine involves a 10 mm wrench for the bleed nipple, 12 mm for the bolt that holds the brakeline to the caliper, and 13 mm for the bolt that holds the parking brake bracket to the caliper. I forget the size of the bolt that holds the bottom (away from the hinge pin) end of the caliper in place, but it was probably 7/16ths. Please. You could hide all these bolts with one business card, they're all so close together. Should the engineers responsible for designing these systems be permitted to hold shares of Craftsman tools? I think there's a conflict of interest here. :grump:

So, I broke the seal on the bleed nipple. I backed off the bolt that holds the brakeline to the caliper. I removed the bolt that lets the caliper swing upward on the hinge pin. I swung the caliper up--ooof. Let's try that again. Upsy--damn. Couple of love taps on that hunk-o-iron that is the caliper to wake up the rust. Froze solid. Damn, I just parked the thing, it can't be completely ossified. It can't be. Unless you forget to release the parking brake. Rats, I hate wasting good cuss words.

Of course, after that little brainstorm it was a piece of cake. Only to find they're in great shape. Oh well. Everything went back together, with no parts left over (which is always nice, doncha think?).

Next week, finding a way to stop the oil leak at the filter on the top of the engine. I'm open to suggestions. I have a new filter, whose seal was lubricated with oil at installation. I have verified I don't have an old seal stuck in place so I'm not trying to use two seals where only one goes. I have used my strap wrench to crank it down as tight as I dare. And yet, after a couple of deliberate, meticulous cleanings, I find a small puddle of oil on the top of the engine directly underneath the oil filter. It's pissing me off.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You have to remove the brake line to move the caliper?

Whatever the oil filter screws on to is attached to the engine in turn. Be sure where the leak is.

[xoxoxoBruce]

There is a new tire and wheel store opened up near me. Yawn.
They list 31 tire brands and 95 wheel brands. Yawn.
You can rent your wheels, tires or both. What!
Check the small print... rent n roll. Says rent?
Check the fine print... oh, rent to own.
Pay small weekly payments while enjoying killer shoes on your ride.
Translation, make a shitload of payments that add up to a ton of money, while hoping they don't wear out before they are paid for. With the likely scenario you'll be paying them a small weekly payment for the rest of your life.

Why do people fall into this crap? Hell in a handbasket, but on 24s, baby.
And every contract comes with a $10,000 life insurance policy. Wonder if they are the beneficiary or they just want to find out who your nearest & dearest is, in case they have to find you.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

You have to remove the brake line to move the caliper?

No, I initially mistook it for the parking brake cable bracket bolt.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Whatever the oil filter screws on to is attached to the engine in turn. Be sure where the leak is.

I don't have a good picture for you unfortunately. On top of that, I don't have a good view of it either. But the filter's right at the top of the engine, and it looks like it's connecting to a casting of some kind, like part of the block. Naturally, the inside is a threaded hollow shaft for the return from the filter that it literally screws onto, but I don't think that was what you were getting at. Clearly the oil's leaking past the outermost seal at the rim/edge of the filter. Can't see it without a mirror or a laproscopic camera or something.