What are you doing today? [Part II]

[BrianF]

Busy day after some night shifts. Had been soaking the rear hub on my quad in anticipation of hitting it with the puller. Ended up rotating heat, cooling spray and a ballpeen to get that hub removed. Took a bit as that bimetal corrosion and rust did a number. Then got the axle tube and then axle out.

The tube seal was MIA and the bearings were absolutely thrashed. I have to get a long set of snap ring pliers and then a long punch to knock the old and absolutely seized bearing races out.

Then make a comprehensive list of bearings, seals, brake parts and so on to rebuild the thing.

 

[northcreek]

Bought a new imac at BB, so I'm deleting a lot of junk from my old unit before I take it in for trade -in and Geek Squad information transfer (i'm old okay!) .
Old unit knows that I'm shit canning it and is painfully slow today....

 

[Mooseman]

Yesterday, worked on the sled that's been in the garage all summer. It's a basket case that I'm doing for a guy who reached out to me on the Yamaha forum. I already posted about the exhaust and brake work I did in the spring but then I got busy with work and life stuff and now Mrs. Moose is "bugging" me about it.

Yesterday, attacked the rear suspension. Most of the wheel bearings are thrash but some of them they aren't replaceable so the whole wheel has to be replaced. The bushings for the front pivot are worn out and found a crack in a slide rail. At least is not a big crack. Took the rail to a welding shop and ordered more parts.



Yeah, like I said, a basket case. More to come.

 

[BrianF]

Success!! Able to free up the snap ring and then knock out the old races. Used a length of steel pipe as a punch and able to drive the remnants out.

Have a bit more cleaning to get done. In the process of cleaning out the splines and diff surfaces in prep to get some new seals installed.

 

[Mooseman]

More work on that sled. Good and bad. Was making good progress until I changed the oil. Put back together the chaincase after replacing the oil pipe that was causing an oil leak. The updated version has a longer pipe and grommet. Then the brake. All good so far. Replaced the fuel pump relay with an electronic version that is not affected by cold (imagine that on a snowmobile!), then updated the ground block to prevent a possible meltdown. During this time, I had the garage door open for some fresh air, which was a mistake. My nosy and annoying as f*ck neighbour was walking by and stopped to "chat" . Usually I tolerate him and he just flaps his gums endlessly. He has a hard time taking hints.



Then I went to drain the oil from the oil tank. The drain plug bolt was tightened previously by Kink Kong. It was so tight that the bung just ripped right out of the tank. Shit! All the while I still had the neighbour bugging me. At one point, short of actually telling him to eff off, I had to tell him to that this was not a good time and he should leave.



I looked for over an hour for a spare tank I had from a parted out sled but I must of sold it a long time ago. Anyway, I JB Welded the bung back on. I'll give it the torque test and if it fails, I'll see if I can get it welded but it's pretty thin aluminum. Otherwise I'll have to find another tank.

Kept going and flushed out the cooling system. I don't think it has ever been changed in 16 years, it was a dark dirty green.

I regret taking on this job

 

[northcreek]

Put a little of that jb weld on your neighbor’s trap…if it holds there it’ll hold on the bung…

 

[azswiss]

Cleaned up after a big wind & dust storm. Big tree limbs came down in our yard and both neighbors'; cleaned them all up as both neighbors are out of town for the long weekend.

 

[BrianF]

Well I dug deeper into the Magnum. I wanted to see if the diff bearings were any good before putting in my parts order. Wow was this thing simple! A few bolts and she slides right off the input spline.

Now, even simpler yet was the diff. Yes it's a gear case, still don't cate about the terminology. Just unbolts and it's sealed by O rings. It's not a helical gear and it's depth is set on the pinion itself. Turns out it was all in great shape, save for needing new seals. Cleaned it all up and set aside.

Tried to place my order online that just kept coming up errors. Fck you I say. Took my oldest out for lunch and then I hit up a few local shops. In ten minutes I got the bearings and seals at a bearing and farm supply.

Using copious amounts of antiseize and assembly grease, it was back together with minimal effort. In fact, if I have to tear it down again, it would take maybe an hour. That easy.

The rear brake is still knackered but usable for what I need. There is some side play in the axle, not sure why but I think I can make a shim or two to clean that up. Anyways, it's back together and runs great. Next up I will get some A arm bushings and front hub seals.

 

[Mooseman]

Got some more work done on the sled from hell (with the door closed ). The JB Weld held up nicely. I looked up the actual torque for that plug and it's just 11 ft-lbs. Also pulled the pickup tube and found some junk on the screen. Some brake cleaner and back in it went. Put the tank back, hook up all the hoses, fill it up with oil and let it sit.



Then went on to some other things since I still couldn't start it. Replaced the spark plugs, which can only be done with the gas tank removed, re-installed the gas tank, the seats and finished the install of the temp gauge. Put some gas in it and fired her up. Ran good and adjusted the idle speed. Got up to temp until the fan kicked in. Exhaust is also nice and quiet with those new flex pipes replacing the worn and loose flanges and gaskets. Rechecked the oil tank and level, perfect, and topped off the cooling after it burped some air.

Have to wait on the replacement wheels and the welder to fix the cracked rail. Won't be till next week now at the earliest with the holiday.

Tomorrow, I may sit the rear end on jack stands and try to work on the loose steering. That's gonna be a lot of work. Pretty much everything has to be replaced and modded to tighten that up.

 

[flyboy2610]

My son, his GF, and my grandson came down from Omaha today. They went with my wife up to her moms for Labor Day. My MIL hasn't yet seen her great-grandson.
Son asked me to take a look at his GF's car, a 2008 Dodge Avenger. The front passenger side window is down and won't go back up.
Trying the switch, I can hear the motor work in both directions, so I know the switch was okay. I had a real good idea it was the regulator, or more specifically, the wire cable that the motor spools on and off a drum to raise and lower the window.
Took the door panel off. Yep. The wire cable was a tangled mess!
$80 and about 3 hours later I had a new regulator in it. If it happens again it's going to cost them a lot more, because they're taking it to a shop!
That regulator setup is pretty typical of Chrysler's "Let's do everything as cheaply as we possibly can" mentality.

 

[Mooseman]

More work on the basket case. The steering and front suspension is taking it to a whole new level. The previous owner didn't take care of it properly. Lower A-arm bolts on one side were loose egging out the holes in the frame, one linkage joint mount was also loose, egging out the hole in the top pivot, both lower ball joints and outer tie rods are done and I already knew of the inner tie-rod linkages that needed to be modified with a kit. This video sums it up:

That upper pivot I was already replacing with a larger heim joint so I have to drill it out. Unfortunately I have to remove (again) the seats and gas tank as I forgot I have to replace a linkage near the top called a dog bone and the steering shaft plastic bushings. I have become quite adept at removing them.

 

[BrianF]

OK Moose, that thing is bloody complicated! I had been looking at Yamaha sleds not to long ago, I may just look elsewhere....

 

[Mooseman]

The steering is a problem on all Yamahas because of the multiple links and these are just about the worst. Luckily, there is a forum that has info and ways to mod them to make them better and more reliable. The electronics and fuel injection is second to none and the engines are as solid as a brick shit house if properly maintained. The engine was well maintained, the rest was not. It was neglected or not worked on right. Once fixed up, she'll be as reliable as my old one was.

But don't get me wrong, these aren't your old Ghosts. But they also haul a lot more ass!

 

[BrianF]

Well so..... as I sit here and think, why is there that bloody play in the rear axle? It's got to be half an inch or so. Nothing was trashed other than the bearings. Somethings amiss.

So before, during and after this repair, I had been online and going over the parts diagrams. I must have missed something so I looked over my pictures and noticed a collar on the axle that's between the innermost bearing and axle lock ring. Exactly where I was going to put a shim. Sweet Jesus I'm stupid. I tossed that shit out with the burnt out bearings, thought it was a race.

So 11:30pm I'm dumpster diving and sure as shit, there it is. I went back to my diagram and found the bastard, part 28, to the right of where the diff sits. Well as dumb as I may be, I have a hard time giving up without answers. So tomorrow or Monday I will have it all back together.

 

[Sparky]

This weekend, I got my new 44" tool cabinet. Now to load it up.

Also got my new miter saw and table saw back out for the first time in ages (wife got them for me over a year ago and I haven't had a chance to unbox the miter yet). Holy crap I should have made it a point to get it out a long time ago, so much better to chop boards for a project than a circular saw. Straight cuts every time.

The '13 Civic decided to seize up the alternator and start burning the belt when I tried to start it Saturday. Yanked the belt (nuisance to do under that tiny hood) and got it moved under battery power without smoking everything. Weird, normally when bearings are going there's some warning. Went looking for bearings instead of dropping $260 on a whole unit and found that apparently on these Civics the clearances between rotor and stator are so tight that it doesn't take much corrosion buildup from sitting to get it stuck enough to not let the belt spin it. So I stuck a breaker bar on the pulley and POP it broke free without much fuss. Snaked the belt on it, started it up, purrs like a kitten. Go figure. Ordered a new belt to replace the old cracked n burnt one.

 

[flyboy2610]

At 11:00 this morning I go to the optometrist.
Yep. Time for new peepers. It's been longer than it should be since I got my current ones.
Did you hear about the optician who fell into his lens grinder?
He made a real spectacle of himself.

 

[Sparky]

Bah, our Whirlpool fridge decided to stop making ice. No water in the cube tray, but water comes out of the dispenser on the door. Valve frozen? Guess I get to take it apart. Another thing added to the list.

 

[BrianF]

Status quo for this guy. Had a bunch of days off, got to see my youngest do really well at a jumping show this past weekend. Had one day of work today and then three more days off.

Got the spacer put back on the quad yesterday. It took an hour from walking in to walking out. It's amazing how quick stuff goes when you are no longer fighting rust. Now she runs like a top. And if she doesn't? No more dumpster diving.

Then starting to look for new horse trailers.... my God prices are big...

 

[Matt]

Monday I installed a new Kenwood HU and backup camera in Connors Forester. Now he has Android Auto and all the good stuff.

 

[BrianF]

Did oil and driveline fluid change on the Wolverine x2. Then took some time to knock out the buildup of hay and dirt. It's used daily for chores.... and it shows.

Then did an oil change on my Magnum. Then found the front brakes were dragging, with little movement in the caliper. Easy fix as the slide pins needed silicone grease.

That rounds up my last day off. Back to the grind tomorrow.

 

[BrianF]

Here are some random pictures of the grey crap from the diffs, the upsized oil filter and the amount of junk built up.

 

[Matt]

Driving to Baltimore today to take Connor to the Ravens opening game tomorrow.

 

[mrrsm]

For the benefit of any SCiFI Buffs out there... I recently stumbled across the YouTube Audio-book for the 1956 SCIFI Classic "The Invasion of The Body Snatchers" and the Narrator happens to be the son of the Director of the Original Movie Classic by the same name with Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynters. If they ever give out Oscars for Voice Narration... THIS Dude deserves a Shiny, Brand New One:

...and from the Internet Archive... THIS is the High Definition Colorized Version of the Old B&W Movie:

https://ia804703.us.archive.org/21/items/invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-1956-colorized/Invasion%20of%20the%20Body%20Snatchers.mp4

 

[BrianF]

So my 13 year old did well at her jumping show the other week. Good enough that we got the call the other day that she is invited to Provincial finals next weekend. So she's been back practicing hard again. My 14 year old whips up a jumping course off the top of her head and away we go today. My 13 year old worked some rust off, got her confidence up and absolutely crushed it! So I must say, my wife managing a multi million dollar indoor riding facility has its perks.

 

[mrrsm]

Even after nearly 50 Years of Marriage... "The Lil' Woman" still manages to find a way to "Get In Her DIGS..." from time to time. I just opened up a packet from the US Mail and found THIS inside:



Funny enough... It was sized by the Brass Adjuster to fit my Coconut PERFECTLY... So I don't know whether feeling a sense of appreciation... or chagrin is in order as a response to such a Cool, Black, Stone Washed 100% Cotton Baseball Cap... Oh well... "If The Foo Sh*ts..." as the Chinese often say...

 

[Mooseman]

Work was busy as unholy hell! We knew that the church next door, where we park our personal vehicles, was getting their asphalt redone today and to not park there. What they told us this morning "we gotta move ALL the cars!" as a good portion of the dealership's asphalt was also getting done. Talk about fun in the rain. Some cars were dead, no tags, flat tires, no keys. An old Cruze wouldn't start. After a boost, the starter still wouldn't engage, just heard the solenoid. Wound up just dragging with the old truck they have for such occasions.



And that's on top of the usual shuttle drives and trying to find customer's cars in the mess. As you can tell from the pic, it really needed it. I just hope they'll paint some reserved parking spots for the shuttle vehicles

 

[Sparky]

Feeling like I'm going 10 different directions at once with stuff at work and at home

 

[Blckshdw]

Was rummaging through the garage for one thing, and came across some old leave-behinds from the previous owner under a shelf. Couple of dirty and sun faded bottles, one of which happened to be a nearly full gallon of muriatic acid Calcium deposits and buildup is a big nuisance, especially in the toilets above the water line. So far my best solution was to inflate a balloon in the bowl to be able to fill it with water and pour vinegar to let it soak and loosen things. Somewhat effective, but less than ideal.

Had heard about using this stuff, so decided to give it a try. Threw on some gloves, grabbed a scotch pad, poured maybe 12oz down the fill tubes in the tank, and basically wiped all the deposits off in 10 seconds. Did make the mistake a couple of times of leaning forward to get a better look in the bowl, and caught a whiff of those fumes. Will grab the respirator next time, but this is definitely the way to go from now on.

 

[Sparky]

Found the problem with our ice maker. The wire harness at the bottom hinge gets flexed and pulled back and forth until the wires start to break. Hmm, sounds familiar - GMT360 liftgate harness anyone? The official fix is replace the entire $1200 door because the harness is routed through the adhered insulation and you cannot take the door apart. The other fix is to splice in some new wire to provide some slack so it doesn't tear the wires. I guess I get to lay on the floor working on the wiring at some point...

 

[Redbeard]

Wife made a cheese cake today to go over to our friends house this evening. Then she made the mistake of asking me to take it out of the oven. So I added some eyes to it.

 

[Mooseman]

You should use that as your avatar

 

[BrianF]

Not much, just surviving another night at work.

My wife stopped in on the return leg of her 14 hour round trip. She went to southern Alberta to look at and then ultimately buy a used horse trailer. She just sold our trusty but rusty 2001 Trailswest 5 horse and found a 2007 lightly used but very well equipped 6 horse Trailswest. Its.... well.... significantly bigger than our old one.....

Pics to come but its in great shape, very well equipped but needs a couple touch ups such as brake adjustment and double check seam seals. Its very nice and something she worked hard for. Saved up her overtime from the new job and got something she really wanted.

 

[BrianF]

So my wife told me that some vehicle projects will have to wait. The Trailblazer is on hold because she wants that persistent P0111 in our 3500 gone. With the new trailer, she has plans to put some miles on.

Not sure if i mentioned the issues but the code only pops up in the warmer mo ths, say 15 or 20c and warmer. No drivability issues, just a random IAT temp jump by 30C and all is well for a couple hundred km. All I could find was it was associated with the IAT sensor on the airbox. Cleaned/changed the sensor with no change in problem.

So recently i began digging more and found that the IAT display is not the sensor in the airbox but rather another sensor hidden on the intake shelf by cylinder 5. Other than the issue of access, got the sensor out and found some issues. Sensor was coated in EGR gunk and the main engine wiring harness was resting on the sensor harness, putting pressure on the connections, rubbing the insulation and bending the wires.

Got the sensor cleaned, not before dropping it into the abyss and cursing my good luck. Liquid electrical tape to fortify the wires and zip tied the main harness to keep the bitch from sitting on it. Just a quick test and no codes so we will hope its fixed.

 

[mrrsm]

@Redbeard ...Back in the days when I could still Eat Cheesecake... The WORST Piece of Cheesecake I EVER Ate... was WONDERFUL...!

 

[Mooseman]

Finally finished that sled. Just sent the guy the final bill. Even I was surprised I spent almost 54 hours on it! And we agreed on $25/hour so it's a hefty bill. And there's also another $600 in parts on top of that. Like I said, basket case. I really hope he didn't pay too much when he bought it because he clearly didn't know what he was doing. We'll see how he reacts.

 

[Sparky]

And the projects keep piling up.

I started tearing the drywall off around the windows in one room because an old water leak from a few years ago I knew had to have caused some damage, and the cold air in the winter just blows through there. One of those things I need to fix but have dreaded taking apart. Well, I started. Took the window sill off and the inner end is all spongy and rotted out, and at least some of the wood underneath is damaged. Blah. Really hoping this doesn't turn into a "rebuild the wall" project complete with pulling the windows out and reframing things, though if I had to go that far I could at least fix a stupid mistake the builder made when installing them and make it much less likely to ever happen again (I've never done windows before but even I know that two windows side by side should not be tipped towards each other!).

 

[Mike534x]

Making a visit back here after.....a very long hiatus. The last year and a half has been...a journey to say the least. Been dealing with health problems, settling into a new job, and a lot of personal matters that are only partially wrapped up.

Hoping to get make regular visits again on here, but will say. I almost left the GMT family after the neighbors tree made an appearance in our backyard over 4th of July weekend, and almost took the garage out on the Envoy, and the other GMT360 I've been slowly working on.

 

[Sparky]

Well I got a nice bit of drywall cut out around the double window and what I've determined so far:
- Sill boards are rotted and loose and need replaced
- Vertical support boards are damaged, unsure of extent or if they need replaced yet
- OSB sheathing behind the siding is rotted
- The bottom 2x4 of the wall is rotted some, unsure of extent
- The subfloor is damaged, unsure of extent

The real kicker is there is NO flashing around the bottom of the window! The builder just stuck the windows in the hole in the house without proper flashing 20 years ago. No wonder it leaked and ruined stuff!

 

[TollKeeper]

I bought a BRAND NEW truck..

And my heart is about to jump out of my chest. Not from excitement, but from being scared. The anxiety is real!

I have never purchased a new car before, and in fact, I never intended to ever buy a new car.

I have never paid more than 10k for a car.. This is quite a bit more than that!

I am a car guy/wrench head. I love turning wrenches. My body.. Not so much any more. 1 blown disc, and 4 semi-blown discs will do that... And having 2 kinds under the age of 5!

I think its a 2023, year is not confirmed, may be a 24... Might even be a 22..

But its a Rivian R1S Quad Motor Launch Edition, LA Silver Paint, Black Leather, 20inch AT rims and tires.

This makes the second largest check I have ever written. One for my house at 120k, and then this for 76k.

 

[BrianF]

Did some work on the skid steer yesterday. Popped the cab and several access panels on the belly pan and then proceeded to wash the chassis. 760 hours...... she was filthy. Got a majority washed out and then fixed one of the sound insulation panels affixed back to the cab bottom.

Today, in the mail, got the first shipment of ATV parts. This one for my Polaris. Rear brake pads, A arm bushings, starter rebuild (was dirt cheap and why not?), coil spring inserts to stiffen the front up with a snow plow and a new belt. When i rip her down iver the next few days, I'll pull out the seals for the front hubs and struts to get new ones sized up.