www.usautoseatcover.com
So, Mike... Gotta ask ...what's on your playlist?Wrapping up the Christmas week, I brought he wife's daily into the shop and gave it a full service as well. It was within a few hundred miles of needs a service but seeing as how I had time and I want to get a few other side jobs going in the shop, I figured I'd knock out the service and it should be good for a couple of months.
So Saturday morning with coffee in hand, I headed to the shop and cranked up the stereo to enjoy a few hours of quality time in the shop.
I moved the two cooling hoses out of the bracket to gain access to the transmission fill plug, then removed it and stuffed a rag over the hole to allow it to vent while draining, yet keep dirt out of the fill port.
A couple of engine covers removed and fender covers in place to protect the paint.
Oil filter was replaced while the engine oil was draining.
New drain plug seal was installed and lower control arm and K-member wiped down to remove oil droplets from the filter replacement.
Then attention was turned to the transmission drain plug. Oil still looks nice and red in color and no odd smells.
Only a small amount of normal deposits on the drain magnet.
Transmission drain plug cleaned, old seal/washer removed so a new one could be installed.
Nice day to be working in the shop with it snowing in the mountains and raining outside. Nice and warm in the shop with tunes playing. Doesn't get much better.
Stay tuned for a few more pictures.
Classic Rock streaming on Amazon Music or Classic Vinyl on Sirius XM for me. I do listen to one radio station occasionally, but get tired of all the ad pretty quickly.Scott, are you asking what music I listen to in the shop? I really don't have a play list per se as I just use an old FM tuner and play the cards that are dealt me, or tunes that are carried over the airwaves rather.
Mike, thank you for taking time to give us the rundown at the ol' "underated" shop! happy new year to you & looking foward to seeing what you will be up to 2025!
Happy New Year Mike. It was great seeing your grandson in the shop with you guys. Hard to believe your coach is going on 22 years old! It looks great!
Hey Mike, don't sell it. I've followed everything you've done on your coach because I studied diesel pushers for a few years before I ended up with a 2005 Monaco Dynasty, 40' with tag axle. My mind was made up that it had to be a Monaco product or a Country Coach. Since both of them stopped building their semi monocoque coaches around 2009 it's nearly impossible to find something that compares today... unless you're considering something in the 7 figures price range.
Thank you very much for the comments.
I look at the coach now parked in the RV bay and realize just how valuable my research was back in 2006 when we were looking to upgrade from our 1991 38' Beaver Contessa on the Gillig bus chassis. That was a great coach and we put about 70k miles on it in the 7 years we owned it, but we wanted a few things in the new to us coach. I was fortunate to have had quite a bit of experience working on various makes/models previously to know what to look for and although a Prevost conversion has always been on my radar, it was well outside of our budget back in 2006 when we began our search, hell, if I'm being honest a Prevost conversion is still outside my budget. But a man can dream....
When we began our search in the spring of 2006 I was solely looking at 1998-2001 Monaco Signatures or Executive or Country Coach Affinity or Magna models. This was because they had the semi-monocoque chassis, Roadmaster and Dynomax chassis's respectfully.
I felt like at the time I was able to get as much coach as possible and as close to a bus conversion as we could at the time. In February it will be 18 years we've owned it and I still think it is one of the best coaches on the road as far as build quality and amenities, so I'm thankful I gave it so much thought all those years ago and did as much research as I did.
Well done Mike, I got the very same banner from my rep.I received a text from my Snap-on rep yesterday asking if he could swing by and drop off a package. He brought me a nice sized Snap-on banner for my shop.
When I unrolled it I thought "holy hell, that thing's massive and where will I put it". It measures 3' by 8' and looked huge on the welding table.
I then thought I'd move my GM Performance Parts banner to the adjacent wall and hang the Snap-on banner directly over the long workbench. Once hung, I stood back and realized it looks quite small hanging there.
The GM Performance Parts banner moved over above the Warn banner.
After moving banners around and getting the shop where I am happy with it going into the New Year and foreseeable future, I looked around to see if anything else needed attention before I close up for the night and close out 2024.
I then remembered when my son was vacuuming out his truck the other day, he mentioned my outlet wasn't working near the oil drain barrel. He switched to the adjacent receptacle and it worked fine. I thought that was odd and if the GFI had tripped, then nothing downstream should have worked either. I had forgotten about it until I sat looking around the shop so I grabbed my meter and began testing. I discovered I had line power coming in, as well as power going out to the protected receptacle(s) down the line, just nothing at the actual GFI outlet. Of course, I didn't have one in stock, so I had to run to the local big box store and grab one to replace it.
New GFI outlet installed, tested and cover replaced.
Confirmed by plugging the light in and everything seems good again.
That is pretty much closing out 2024 for me in my shop.
I also wish everyone and their families well and hope you have a safe and prosperous 2025 and beyond.
Personally, I'm not one for "new year's resolutions" as I try to improve every day and become a better person today than I was yesterday, although I know I'm far from perfect and I slip and stumble more often than not. As I sat there looking around the shop last night waiting for my wife to arrive home, I was feeling so very blessed for what the Lord has poured out upon me and my family, and I couldn't help but to think about how I want to go about things tomorrow and next week and every day after that. I hope to take lessons learned from each of you on this forum and apply them to my life and take on each task with the desire to become better at what I do and improve upon my skillset day over day. When I stumble, I need to get up quickly, recover, evaluate where I went wrong and move on without dwelling. I need to look at it as a learning opportunity and not overthink it. That is my goal for tomorrow and each day afterwards.
Happy New Year everyone.
Well done Mike, I got the very same banner from my rep.
Ha! I got Mike's old Harley Davidson banners and I didn't even have to visit a tool truck.Well done Mike, I got the very same banner from my rep.
Ha! I got Mike's old Harley Davidson banners and I didn't even have to visit a tool truck.
And the same to you and yours, Mike.
Thanks and Happy New Year my friend!That's awesome Anders, I figured if anyone else had one, it would be you.
Have a Happy New Year my friend, although you may already be into 2025 by now.
Electrical Discharge Machining?Literally had me LOL’ing
Our workshop is a mix of octane, hip hop nation, and EDM, mostly edm though.
My wife said I did that just to get a rise out of my MIL, but I didn't understand the question. Mike, I wasn't around during the day to watch my wife interact with our daughters when they were young. However, I retired before our first grandchild was born, and have had the joy of watching my wife interact with all 4 since they were born. She s just simply terrific, and was obviously put on this world to be a Lolo (her grandma name to all the kids)!! After watching her play on the floor with one of the grandkids, I asked her if she put that same effort into our girls - the answer was "You weren't around to see it during the day, but yes!" It gave me a better appreciation for what a positive impact her interactions had on making our girls the phenomenal women they are today! She used to "put herself down," at least in her own mind, when she described herself as a stay at home mom. I never knew she felt that way until the last several years, but I have tried to elevate that feeling to one of pride given the terrific job she did!!
