What are you doing today?

[Mooseman]

After driving our 6000#+ trailer home last night with the Avalanche loaded with the front and rear diffs, brake parts tools and other crap, made it home fine. Although she was squatting quite a bit, was able to tow all of it. Only thing I couldn't fit it was the wheels and tires. Still have to unhitch it and and unload everything.

Oh, and the scrap yard is also coming to get my son's 03 Silvy. He decided to get rid of it since it needs too many repairs and is rusted badly.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Laundry and monitor computer for work. popped in some new closet doors for linen closet earlier. Been hammering out home projects cause baby number 5 is prolly soon to appear. He is not due til the 19th, but all the others were 3-5 weeks early.

 

[Mooseman]

Still have to unhitch the trailer and unload the Av since it was raining all day yesterday. Also have to prepare the Caprice for winter storage tomorrow.

And to replace his Silvy, my son bought a 2015 Passat diesel . Why? Only reason I can figure is that he's a heavy equipment diesel tech so...

 

[TollKeeper]

And to replace his Silvy, my son bought a 2015 Passat diesel . Why? Only reason I can figure is that he's a heavy equipment diesel tech so...

People that buy VW/Audi usually like admiring as they go off on the back of a tow truck, or like working on them.. Just my opinion LOL

 

[Mooseman]

Put the Caprice in storage for the winter but did copy its tune into HP Tuners to see what the tuning shop did. I did unload the Av yesterday however also had to clean the rubber bed mat as gear oil leaked out of the Saab's diff being upside down and leaving a pungent smelly mess. The bed itself needs a good pressure wash to get all the sand and dirt out from under that mat. Did notice that the lower tailgate lip has some surface rust on it that will need to be addressed before winter.

 

[m.mcmillen]

Found out I have a partially torn rotator cuff and maybe bicep tendon. Going in for surgery in December. I guess I'll be taking it easy for a while.

 

[TollKeeper]

Yesterday..

As some of you know, I replaced the entire front end on my Envoy. I had 1 lower ball joint, 2 uppers, and one upper control arm previously purchased from Advance Auto Parts. All 3 ball joints were shot. Advance had updated their software at some point, and lost my warrantys. Well I finally got that cleared up, and they refunded the money from the ball joints, and control arm, but only on a in-store gift card. I am needing rotors so thats ok.. Or so I thought.

Today

Shopping Rotors on the Advance Auto website, settled on 4 rotors, and brake pads. Went to go pay, and their system doesnt allow gift cards (from their own company) to be used on the website. WTF! Its 54 bucks more expensive to do it thru a local store. GRR!

 

[TollKeeper]

I have been fighting with Advanced Auto Parts for 5 hours!

I want to buy these parts online, they are 78.99 cheaper online vs going to the store. But I want to buy them with a gift card, but I cant buy them with a gift card. Why wont you take my money!

 

[Sparky]

"In store" is the key there. Home Depot does the same thing, as does Menards. In those cases it is dumb because pricing is identical whether I go in store and get it off the shelf myself or do a store pickup order, but whatever. It is very dumb. And no, they never budge on it, partly because they cannot change how the website works.

I've been working some randomly stupid hours. I cut a hole in the ceiling of one room to hang a ceiling light, but have a few snags getting the wire to it and how to hang the box without cutting a bunch of extra holes in the ceiling. I think I have a solution for box hanging maybe (tho not ideal), but the wire routing could be interesting. Ceilings are textured so that would make patching holes that much more difficult (and obvious).

 

[BrianF]

The kids and I hauled 4 loads of rocks, basketball size and smaller to do some landscaping around our house. The farmer who owns the surrounding quarter had a pile 400 meters from our yard so we made some good time. Starting to look pretty decent

I ripped the carb off the quad, ripped it down and she got a bath in the ultrasonic cleaner for an hour. Wow that thing works!

So the main issues with this girl was it puking fuel out of the carb overflow and low speed fueling. Well the low speed circuit looks damn clean now and the pilot jet looks pristine. Now the needle valve was garbage and so was its removable seat. The needle guides were worn down, allowing it to cant and the seat was oblong. She was done.

Tomorrow I will put the carb back on and see how she goes... thats if my back doesn't completely seize up.. meh.

 

[BrianF]

So the girls and I worked on the quad today. Got the carb in and ran into some issues, which I found out later were avoidable.

I had to prime it through the carb mouth because I did not have the enricher cable tight enough. I got it to fire and she took off to msybe 3000rpm. Thankfully I'm smart enough to have it in neutral.... i pissed around for an hour setting the enricher, checking for vacuum leaks, pissing with the idle screw etc. All this to find that I somehow messed with the throttle cable setting.

Once I set the butterfly, she came to life with no drama. Idles beautifully and instant throttle response. I then set the enricher so she hopefully needs none to very little tuning in the deep winter.

After some test rides with the kids, I changed the hub fluid. Glad I did. Both were low, one was damn near empty and rust colored. I put in some group 4 ATF, which I will burn for a few months and change out again.

I realized I really took nothing for pictures.

 

[Matt]

Probably belongs in the FU thread, but I'll be at home for the next 14 days. One of my son's teachers popped positive so all the kids that had them for a class are quarantined for 14 days. My work (useless local government) has decided that I too should stay home.

 

[BrianF]

Got a few things on the go. My wife is out of surgery for her ankle. Seems ok thus far. The hospital won't allow visitors, which sucks but quite reasonable. Not sure how many days she will be staying though.

Last night on our way down, we dropped off the little chihuahuas at a buddies place to watch them. A couple hours in and one escaped and was on the run all night. This morning I get word that they located him and the chase was on. Most of the small community got involved, the local mounties got in on it, as did the fire chief. Got the little guy and apparently there is some police dash cam footage of this chase past the gas station, liquor store and RM shop.... which I will need to see.

So today I spent some cash. Got my oldest daughter a western style riding jacket for her 12th birthday along with a pink john dere ball cap. Then off the kampuchean tire and snagged a cheap and very small battery tender for the quad. Since its not in a heated shop or has a block heater, this should help on those cold starts.

Then off to princess auto, picked up some run flat wheel barrow tires that I need to adapt to fit my quadivator and some heat shrink to fix all the electrical shit I wreck.

 

[BrianF]

We made it home today. My wife is doing well, the surgery went great and they did everything they needed to do. The little TB was a tight fit with the family, all the crap I picked up and my wife sitting in the back with her right leg all casted and sitting on the center console.

Once she is asleep I need to water all the horses, get the quad blade mounted and then ensure the snowblower is running like a top. We got a huge assed snow storm on the way tonight and my weekend plans include digging us out.

 

[BrianF]

Done for the day boys!! All the troughs are topped up, the snowblower got a new shear pin, topped up with fuel and fired first pull. Runs like a champ.

I fired up the quad and got the blade attached. Its very hefty. The previous owner reinforced the blade and made a very sturdy mount that connects to the rear hitch for the load and has a midship connection for the beam. The winch rips it up and down no issues. I tested the AWD and she engages the hilliards on both front hubs and the override works in reverse.

I attached the battery tender and she is ready to rock and roll!

I don't want it to snow but I really want to test this thing out.....

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Ordering a few things online and hanging out at the house in case baby shows up.

 

[BrianF]

Plowed some snow this morning as a test. Its nasty out. The wind is picking up and it is starting to drift pretty bad.

On a good note, the quad fired up first crank and plowed like a boss. Just needs a shot of silicone or fluid film all over the place to keep this nasty wet, heavy snow from sticking.

I nicknamed the quad The Green Bastard, from parts unknown. Which is a reference to the white trash show, Trailer Park Boys.

 

[Blckshdw]

Took advantage of a slight cool down, partly cloudy skies, and a breezy morning to get out and mow the weeds one last time for the year. Agreed to dog sit for my friend, a few days this week, so less stuff to get in their fur and find its way into the house.

When backing the mower up the ramp into the shed, I lost traction and heard an unusual sound... Glance down, and one of the rear tires was completely off the rim! Realized in the 3 summers I've had it, I haven't once checked the tire pressure. The remaining 3 were at damn near zero lol. So rolled my compressor and air jack to the backyard, wrapped a ratchet strap around the tire to seat the bead and got those pumped back up.

Cut down a bunch of overgrown branches and one dead tree. Normally I'd wait until Tuesday, with yard waste day coming on Wednesday, but the time change stole my daylight post-shift. So all that was drug up to the side of the house, and I'll move those the evening before, provided we don't get much wind from that storm mid week.

Made a grocery run, now I'm relaxing. Thinking some burgers are in order later on this evening

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Hoping these contractions get things done and we can hit up the hospital and pop this baby out.

 

[Matt]

Going to fighting with work in regards to this Covid pay thing. They said that I have to quarantine because Connor is. Now they're classifying me as looking after him which means 2/3rds pay, not full pay.

 

[BrianF]

I spent several hours last night and a few this morning trying to dig out. As I began working, I found we were snowed in. No possible way out.

Took a few random passes with the snow blower where I thought the driveway to eventually clear it. Mostly knee high drifts that were quite solid. I kept getting the green bastard stuck but evetually got enough cleared to where I could plow..... not much. Just too much snow and way to hard.
But..... the wind stopped, a dusting of snow in the air.... yes, will find time to get the sleds going today!!!

 

[Matt]

Going back to Firestone on Wednesday for them to remount the tyres. They didn't use any or enough bead seal and the two fronts are losing 4 and 6 psi overnight. The salt has done a number on the rims over the past 18 years and they need to goop that stuff on.

 

[BrianF]

Couldn't get the Golden Ghost to run under its own power. Fires first pull on prime but i think it has a slight leak in the fuel line near the primer T. The Evinrude fired up on prime and took a bit to clear its lungs. We had a blast blowing out the carbon and getting stuck in the powder.

Also went to put the winter front on the 3500, just to find it swamped with snow.

 

[Mooseman]

Installed a fan bath vent fan in the RV to replace the anemic original one. It didn't come with an adjustable fan speed as that would be another $50. However, got a PWM motor controller on Amazon for $16 and added it. Forgot to get a completed after pic.



Then took all the food and anything else out of trailer, closed it up and took the battery out to put it on the trickle charger for the winter.

Then putzed around with the HU in the Av. Installed a couple of ground loop isolating noise reducers from PAC Audio. Man, they killed the noise along with any audio quality! Killed the bass and made it sound like poop. I'd rather have the noise. Returning them (thanks Amazon!) and trying another one I had gotten for the Saab that worked quite well on it. I'll see how it goes with that one before buying two more.

Also installed the forward dash cam. That went fairly well. It records to both the HU and an SD card in the camera. Turned off the GPS data on it . The app also has a function that lets you know if you leave your lane or get drowsy. Will see how that works out.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Back to work from the house. Was a nice few days off with the new kiddo. He came Sunday and he and momma are healthy and happy.

 

[Mooseman]

I see you got him off to a good start! Congrats to the whole family!

 

[BrianF]

Congrats HARDTRAILZ!!!!

I burnt through work today. Just cleaning up the usual trash. Left early to get my kids from 4H. A friend took them to the greenhouse for the first gardening class. Then on for some groceries, supper and pick up a recliner. My wife is still having a hard time and is in lots of pain. At least she can relax and not have some back pain.

Also we got the assessments back for our girls on their home schooling. Very proud of my wife for facilitating this and my kids for working hard!! My 12 year old is just a bit ahead of where she should be. My 10 year old is only 6 months behind in her math, not a year and she is over 2 grades ahead with her reading and English.

They were way behind, even before all the covid hit. Our province is having several schools closing and scaling back again. Glad we are rolling through it.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Smoking some rabbit to take out for our mini-deer camp for opening day of firearm season tomorrow.

 

[TollKeeper]

Sitting here scratching my head.. Its like a ghost town around here today..

What happened?

Last night..

On my way to work I noticed my front end was really squishy, got to work, and found my front drivers side tire was at 9lb. Aired it up, and after work took it to my tire dealer, where they found a bad valve stem, and that BOTH my front tires were out of balance. They just balanced them 2-3 weeks ago... WTF?

 

[Blckshdw]

Been a busy week over here. Today is day 1 of our system shutdown while corporate migrates all our data to the new platform. Been tinkering in the test system to get a feel for the sections I didn't touch during the data validation phase over the past 2 weeks, but there was also a LOT of slacking off as well.

Sunday I got my new 4K security camera, and since it's a different brand that my other 4, the free software I was using with the other cameras didn't see this one. Tried a few trial versions of popular software packages, and came back around to Blue Iris which I tried before, but was overwhelmed by the number of options, settings and features, plus it was maxing out my CPU. Did a little more research on the CPU issue and found some good tips. Took a few days, but went from pegging my 6 core CPU with only 2 cameras, to humming along at 30-40% load with all 5. Got the web server feature running for remote viewing access, and the most important part, the DVR feature so I can playback all the feeds simultaneously, instead of having to pull video clips and reviewing separately. Still have to tinker with exporting the streams to see what all my options are there, so I can still splice footage together of foolishness to share with you guys.

 

[northcreek]

Sunday I got my new 4K security camera, and since it's a different brand that my other 4, the free software I was using with the other cameras didn't see this one. Tried a few trial versions of popular software packages, and came back around to Blue Iris which I tried before, but was overwhelmed by the number of options, settings and features, plus it was maxing out my CPU. Did a little more research on the CPU issue and found some good tips. Took a few days, but went from pegging my 6 core CPU with only 2 cameras, to humming along at 30-40% load with all 5. Got the web server feature running for remote viewing access, and the most important part, the DVR feature so I can playback all the feeds simultaneously, instead of having to pull video clips and reviewing separately. Still have to tinker with exporting the streams to see what all my options are there, so I can still splice footage together of foolishness to share with you guys.

You lost me at CPU.....

 

[BrianF]

Whos CPU?

My wife had another doctor's appointment in the city today. The weather was shit for the 200km drive. Powder snow, slippery as shit, not a fun drive. We took the 3500 as we would fare put better in a crash. She got squirrely a few times, made this pasty bastard pucker some.

All was well though. The doc is happy to see my wife is heeling good. No issues. New cast for about 4 weeks and then back to a brace.

Then back to work tonight. Was going to work from home.... spent 55 minutes on the phone, mostly on hold to get the laptop signed in.... just to get called out for several hours.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Been busy with hunting, two jobs and a new baby. I try to check in, but time is slipping by me awful fast recently.

 

[aaserv]

Snow, Babies, 4 wheelers, RV's.....No wonder I never been in this thread before you guys are living on some other planet...
Every week this year has been Hell Week and this 1 was no different. I run a mini- old folks home consisting of my mother, my aunt and an uncle. All 3 have major health issues but luckily for the last 3 years or so keeping them together has made things manageable. Im not in pristine condition myself and get virtually no help from the rest of the family so its tough sometimes.....like this week. Mom and I spent Tuesday at the hospital and Weds she woke up even worse so Weds thru Thursday i spent at with her at a bigger hospital where they did virtually nothing but ck her for Covid about 6 times finally yesterday she said she was hungry and ate like a horse and I told the Doc we're leaving. Took her home and shes better today. Have no idea and neither do Doctors as to why these episodes happen but they sure throw a damper on my schedule when they do.
Been working on an Ice Machine that was made by 1 company for another company, that company doesnt sell them anymore and there is little to no information to be had on it....I have to order parts from the original company and just hope they work on it since no one has a cross reference for it. Luckily the customer is a millionaire who could care less he just wants some Ice at some point. Going back today for the 5th trip with another $300 part that I have no idea if its going to fix it. Its that time of year where we run the heat in the morning and the AC in the evening so after that i have 1 of each to ck out.
Took 5 days but yesterday at some point the CEL finally went off on my van , the idle is back to normal and it sure runs a lot better with the clean throttle body. Little 4.8 has some pep that I guess just gradually lost so i never really noticed it until I fixed it. I still need to ck and see where I got the rear shocks at, bought the top of the line ACDelco's and it felt like a luxury car for the 1st 2 weeks. Now its like a log wagon....Got a feeling they were knock offs and I got ripped off but who knows maybe they were just a bad pair. Should have went with Bilsteins..
My house sits off the ground and every year when it turns cold the rats come and get in the insulation underneath it....and while they're in there chew up my water pipes. I've fixed 4 leaks in the last 2 weeks and got rat poison everywhere. Even keep an LED light underneath it and plug it in at dark figuring the rats wont like the light. When I got home yesterday there was a God awful smell in my room so I think the poison might have gotten them.
Sorry the 1st post in here was so long, Ill try to shorten them up when/if I get back in here. Hopefully I get to spend some time on the Envoy this weekend. Maybe tackle that 8th spark plug tomorrow.....Im dreading it cus I just know Im going to break something on those brittle heater hoses that run right over it and end up with even worse problems than I have now but its got to be done Ive put it off for to long already.......

 

[TollKeeper]

@aaserv - Just a quick thing.. Are you talking about the rear plug on the passenger side? If so, take the tire off, and go thru there. Its so much easier.

At work today. The company is sending all non-essential employees to work from home for the next 4-6 weeks... Im essential.. damnit.

 

[BrianF]

First of a few days off around here. First on my list was to figure out why the snowblower drive just quit. I rolled it into my little shed, tipped it and tore into it.

Bingo!! Busted the shear bolt on the drive sprocket. Not sure how but regardless, it was busted. While in there I deglazed the friction drive plate, oiled everything down and buttoned it back up.

I also had to clean up the contacts on the chute switch again. The damn thing never lasts long. Previous times I used silicone grease, which obviously was not great long term. This time I used fluid film, hoping the fact that its liquid will keep the contacts submerged and corrosion free. While a known weak point, at least the switch can easily be torn down.

So the blower is a john deere 1028e, which is a Murray built unit with a big Briggs engine. Other than the switch, its a very well built machine. I even could reuse the AYP shear bolts from my Poulan.

Well i guess I need to resize the pictures....

 

[Mooseman]

Today is our first real snowfall. Because of what happened earlier this week, fell behind with prep but our son has been helping. The Honda lawn tractor with snowblower is ready except that one of the rear tires doesn't hold air for long. They're all pretty weather cracked. All I could do is cover the smokers and the BBQ on the deck.

Also went and picked up a truck box at Lowes that are on clearance. 12" wide by 61.5" long will be perfect for the RV trailer tongue where the battery normally goes so will be able to put two batteries and have extra storage. Even has a gas cylinder to hold the lid open. For $100, it's an excellent deal but it looks like it's the end of the line for all truck boxes at Lowes.

 

[TollKeeper]

Sitting here growling.. Cant do anything because we are in almost total lock down. Cant really say to much because I might "offend" someone. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

 

[Blckshdw]

After talking about PC hardware with some friends, realized how far out of the loop I was on current technology. After doing some research, determined I could get the performance I was after (and then some) from the rack servers, for roughly the same price when all was said and done. So I pulled out my old desktop box, that I built about 10 years ago, and this is gonna get overhauled. First step, yank out the old guts and give it a good cleaning. You can tell I haven't cracked this thing open in a long time.

Later this week, new CPU, motherboard, liquid cooler and RAM should arrive.

 

[Matt]

"Working from home" today and tomorrow. We've been taken off the Covid taskforce and now stay at home "working" on the days we were meant to do that. So, I'm only in the office W-F.