What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[Old Man Roger]

She's fugly, but fairly solid with good bones. 304/auto from the factory; not an AMX.

More details here - https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/the-ultimate-vintage-24-hours-of-lemons-entry.323184/

Normally that would be something I would consider junk, but they are getting rare.

 

[bulletpruf]

Normally that would be something I would consider junk, but they are getting rare.

It's far from junk; you just need to look past the patina and realize that this is a solid Texas car.

 

[welder4956]

If it is anything like the Briggs on my Craftsman mower, you may be in for a cam replacement.

I hope not. I bought it used for $400 about 10 years ago. I may suffer through the hard start till it won't turn over any more before I tear it apart. The auto compression release is a spring loaded lever on the exhaust cam that opens the exhaust valve slightly below 700 rpm. Once it starts, the rpm is high enough for the lever to move and restore full compression. I'm guessing the spring is broken or loose. A stronger starter would eliminate the need for the compression release.

 

[Old Man Roger]

It's far from junk; you just need to look past the patina and realize that this is a solid Texas car.

In that case, it probably shouldnt be in a lemons race.lol

 

[rd65]

I hope not. I bought it used for $400 about 10 years ago. I may suffer through the hard start till it won't turn over any more before I tear it apart. The auto compression release is a spring loaded lever on the exhaust cam that opens the exhaust valve slightly below 700 rpm. Once it starts, the rpm is high enough for the lever to move and restore full compression. I'm guessing the spring is broken or loose. A stronger starter would eliminate the need for the compression release.

Yep, same type of thing. Mine totally broke off. I had pics but lost them when my hard drive stb. My mower wouldnt even turn over.

 

[KwikFab]

And we have movement!

 

[rd65]

Cleaned up and sharpened the spare mower blades. Made an unplanned trip into the house vacuum. Retrieved the sock and cleaned up the beater bar of hair, pulled the bar bearings and cleaned/regreased them. Actually put all tools used away, clean benches.

 

[Snip's]

Well, just outside the garage anyway...
It's 68F and 54% humidity today, so a nice time for a 5K oil and filter change on my wife's Explorer...

 

[bulletpruf]

In that case, it probably shouldnt be in a lemons race.lol

Too far gone to put it back on the street without throwing way too much $ and time at it.

 

[rcktpwrd]

Finely had a chance to change the mower blade and belt.
I did the blade change then mowed the lawn/weeds, wanted to get that done before it got too hot. Old blade was quite heavily worn! It was the original and the mower is about 5 years old.

New blade works great!

I replaced the drive belt after wards as it required a good bit of disassembly. The belt is trapped by a cover that isn't accessible until the gearbox is turned over...

 

[driftpin]

Like rd 65, I spent time on a couple of house vacuums. One is a Dyson given to us by our son & his family. They buy different appliances of various types and we get the old ones. A Dyson DC 07 corded upright vacuum cleaner needed some things serviced. I ordered the two disc filters off Amazon Prime, 1/3 the price of the OEM filters. A couple of youtube videos to ensure I was approaching the disassembly OK and into the guts of the machine I went. The two round disc filters were dirty, and not worthy of being washed/returned to use, hence the new filters.

I also removed hair from the beater bar & the small rollers in the beater bar holder ***'y. Three were frozen in-place, they got popped-out and the axles were sent to the benchtop grinder/wire brush for a quick cleaning of corrosion on the axles, and back together it all went. The machine works much better now!

I also did something similar on a Shark cordless 'stick' vacuum. It's labelled as a 'Power Detect,' and it seems to have an increase in the speed of the motor/beater bar when it encounters more debris to pick-up. When my wife bought it, I only had memories of old (think, 'last century') ni-cad cordless stick vacuums, and I didn't think it was going to be a good purchase. Surprise! It works well, and is light but powerful. It also has several accessories like extensions and brushes for different uses, and a crevice brush/tool to configure it to be much-shorter, for fitting into smaller spaces, and is useful for car/truck cleaning.

I figured that since I removed all the hair that was causing the small rubber wheels to drag, that it didn't need every single hair removed, so I didn't. These small rubber roller wheels didn't pop-out like the Dyson ones of similar size/location did, so removing every single hair was more-difficult, and I deemed the results I got w/the Shark to be 'good-enough.' Picture, below.

The beater also got cleaned as did the vanes which are part of the debris collecting mechanism, yielding enough dog hair to knit a Barbie sweater.

[The End]​

 

[Old Man Roger]

Too far gone to put it back on the street without throwing way too much $ and time at it.

You cant have it both ways.lol

 

[69charged]

Today more work on the boat. Trying to get it ready to hit the water when it warms up in August!! Been cold and windy here with the exception of 2 days that were in the thirty’s!!
LED light install today.

 

[welder4956]

Replaced the discharge chute on the riding mower, then attached a cord so that I can raise it when mowing close to the landscape stones around the flower beds.







After that I sorted 5 more boxes of books from my previous job and set them by the door so I can donate them to the local community college welding school.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

Ran some PEX for a utility tub and a garden hose on the far side of the garage. Only about halfway done, but we've got a few rainy days coming up this week.

 

[PWC Repair]

Finely had a chance to change the mower blade and belt.
I did the blade change then mowed the lawn/weeds, wanted to get that done before it got too hot. Old blade was quite heavily worn! It was the original and the mower is about 5 years old.
New blade works great!

I replaced the drive belt after wards as it required a good bit of disassembly. The belt is trapped by a cover that isn't accessible until the gearbox is turned over...

Between the last 2 days I went and got my sons mower that quit moving. It shredded the trans belt and he claimed he couldn't pull it out.........NOPE!! That sucker ripped apart and the cords were wrapped every which way under the pulley....in the fan...under the fan.....AND, there is NO way possible to reach in there until you pull the deck, unbolt some bracketry, and drop the axle!!! Then I cut and pulled belt cords for a solid 30 minutes. After that I popped out the lip seals in the idler pulleys and repacked with fresh grease. Finally put on the new belt and some new blades so he could finish his mowing. Then I got one weed eater running and managed to shred the pull cord on the other one (YAY, another repair job). And finally just finished up putting a new stator and magneto on a Seadoo.........yep, tucked down underneath that huge exhaust pipe. Whew!

 

[Fix Until Broke]

...
After that I sorted 5 more boxes of books from my previous job and set them by the door so I can donate them to the local community college welding school.

I've got a ew of those books - Hopefully someone will actually read them where they're being donated.

 

[Jay__Dub]

Put the self propelled back together, and cut the grass. Works great. Now I'll work more.

 

[DGersic]

I replaced the drive belt after wards as it required a good bit of disassembly. The belt is trapped by a cover that isn't accessible until the gearbox is turned over...

Looks a lot like mine. I had the whole thing apart, put it all back together, then found that I had missed that cover. So it all had to come apart again.

 

[DGersic]

Back from being out of town, finishing up stuff I started before leaving. Got my patio furniture reassembled and out of the garage and on to the patio.



Sharpened the mower blade.



Reassembled the mower.



Didn’t get a chance to mow. Wife wanted to go buy and plant some flowers, so we did that.

Cleaning up and putting things away. Staining stuff, tools from the mower, tools and supplies from the trip.

 

[rharman]

Last night I needed to do a quick cut on some 1/4" hardboard. The battery in my Dewalt circular saw lasted about 2". Finished the cut with the battery from my drill.

So, today I rounded up all my chargers and did a mass charge of my inventory of 12V, 18V, and 20V batteries. Needed 3 rounds of charging since it's not 1-1 ratio of chargers to batteries.

 

[bugnut]

Yesterday morning, gathered parts for a trip to the restoration shop. The vdo gauges, oil temp, head temp and volt. Added to the pile were the rear kick panels, misc bolts and trim parts. Delivered and then back home, decisions on what to salvage and what to toss, then did the clean, flung and put away. Spent a few minutes staring at the pcs for the interior of the baja, trying to determine exactly what to make.

 

[jblnut]

I messed up one of the hoses on the extendo cylinder on the mini a while back and since it’s raining and soggy out I decided it was a good day to tackle it.


What a greasy mess in there !! I may need to clean all that crud out before reassembly.


Goodness this thing is a mess !! Gonna take a 55gal drum of brake cleaner to clean it up

 

[Old Man Roger]

I know it aint safe, but that looks like a job for something flamable. A rag soaked in deisel fuel or gasoline makes some jobs so qiuck it's worth the risk.lol

 

[Outlawmws]

Grez-Off would make short work on that gunk.

 

[JEFFREYWisconsin]

Starting unhooking everything to get the old radiator out of the Jeep.

I watched a couple of videos to make sure there was no single "gotcha moment" where I would wish I hadn't started this project.

Didn't really seem to be any.

Long story short, it sucked and people making videos on youtube are liars.

People saying this is a one wrench out of 5 wrenches simplicity.... oh takes about an hour! Yeah, ********.

My hands are large and there were times in the removal process that I swear I was gonna get stuck and have to start yelling for help.

Anyway, got it out, need to get the new hoses and a few new bolts and some various body clips that broke when I had to be less than gentle.

I could probably do it all a lot faster now that I know the locations of all the bolts.

I will post a picture in a few days when I get the new one in and all hooked up.

If I don't post a picture, please call for help, because my hands are probably wedged in the grill area jammed against the frame somewhere!

The picture is the old one in the tub and the new one looking like it will never fit back down there, much less get bolted back in.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I know it aint safe, but that looks like a job for something flamable. A rag soaked in deisel fuel or gasoline makes some jobs so qiuck it's worth the risk.lol

In the day, scraped, washed in gas, scrubbed with a gas soaked ScotchBrite/steel wool, painted with Rustoleum thinned with gas, spray gun cleaned with gas. Different times. Now you gotta be all safe n clean n whatever. I wear nitrile gloves.

 

[Old Man Roger]

In the day, scraped, washed in gas, scrubbed with a gas soaked ScotchBrite/steel wool, painted with Rustoleum thinned with gas, spray gun cleaned with gas. Different times. Now you gotta be all safe n clean n whatever. I wear nitrile gloves.

Paint gun and gasoline, sounds like a decent start to building a flmae thrower.

 

[Hooked]

Inside and just outside the garage...

I was looking at buying a zero turn lift so I could get to the blades and scrape the underside of the new mower. Those lifts are kinda price for what they are, so I said, "self, let's see if we can use what we got". 2 seconds later I had the front of the mower up on 3 ton jack stands. I had to use my DIY 2x6 drive on ramps to get the deck high enough to get my 3 ton jack under it. My jack had just enough lift to get the front end high enough to put the jack stands under each end of the deck. And the jack stands were just tall enough to reach the deck at that height. It felt more secure than I thought it would. Threw some chocks behind the wheels so that the brake wasn't the only thing keeping it from rolling and then proceeded to go ahead and scrape the underside of the deck.

Took longer to spray all the crud off of the patio and back into the grass than it did to clean the deck.

My only concern is if the deck to frame components are OK for supporting the weight of the machine. It didn't look like the deck flexed or anything when I was lowering the weight ono the jack stands or when I was lifting with the jack. I know there's at least a few lifts I was looking at that looked like they grabbed onto the deck to lift, which is where I got the idea to just try using my jack at the same lift point. The rest all look to use the front wheels to lift from.

I'm probably over thinking things for the once a month I'll need to do this.

This is how I lift mine for under deck maintenance. One thing I do prior to lifting is place a couple blocks on top of the deck under the front wheel arms to prevent damaging any of the covers/spindles/etc. on top of the deck.

 

[ATC]

Worked on cleaning up ‘the pile’

 

[niget2002]

This is how I lift mine for under deck maintenance. One thing I do prior to lifting is place a couple blocks on top of the deck under the front wheel arms to prevent damaging any of the covers/spindles/etc. on top of the deck.

Great idea. I knew someone would have something.

 

[jblnut]

I know it aint safe, but that looks like a job for something flamable. A rag soaked in deisel fuel or gasoline makes some jobs so qiuck it's worth the risk.lol

I put it in the shop sink and went after it with some diesel and a rag. It was raining so I didn’t want to have gas stink in the shop. The shop sink drains somewhere. A tank I think.

Grez-Off would make short work on that gunk.

I’ll have to look into that stuff !!

In the day, scraped, washed in gas, scrubbed with a gas soaked ScotchBrite/steel wool, painted with Rustoleum thinned with gas, spray gun cleaned with gas. Different times. Now you gotta be all safe n clean n whatever. I wear nitrile gloves.

I have a pail of old gas I use for cleaning. It works better than most things you can buy !!

 

[jblnut]

I was looking at buying a zero turn lift so I could get to the blades and scrape the underside of the new mower.

Get yourself a forklift !! All kinds of handy !! This one needs the main lift cylinder resealed. I put the approved 2x4 safety stop in there though so it’s all good.


Sharpened and balanced all three blades.

 

[GrayFlattop]

In the day, scraped, washed in gas, scrubbed with a gas soaked ScotchBrite/steel wool, painted with Rustoleum thinned with gas, spray gun cleaned with gas. Different times. Now you gotta be all safe n clean n whatever. I wear nitrile gloves.

My father taught me how to clean paint brushes with gasoline (pre latex paint). After the brush was clean, use the gasoline for killing the weeds along the center strip of the driveway. As a bonus, light it on fire. Those were the days!

 

[Old Man Roger]

The shop sink drains somewhere. A tank I think.

I hope you don’t mean you just turned your septic tank into a bomb?

 

[jblnut]

I hope you don’t mean you just turned your septic tank into a bomb?

Diesel isn’t explosive unless it’s under pressure

Besides, there is way more methane in there than diesel fumes

 

[kaymccampbell]

Put the Dingo n Burg out. Put the tractor on the lift. Scraped the **** outta the deck. Sharpened the blades. Headed out. Later, put the Burg on the lift and the Dingo away.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Diesel isn’t explosive unless it’s under pressure

Besides, there is way more methane in there than diesel fumes

I hadn’t thought of it that way, still, probably not great for the biome of the septic system.

 

[Jgaz]

Back from being out of town, finishing up stuff I started before leaving. Got my patio furniture reassembled and out of the garage and on to the patio.



Sharpened the mower blade.



Reassembled the mower.



Didn’t get a chance to mow. Wife wanted to go buy and plant some flowers, so we did that.

Cleaning up and putting things away. Staining stuff, tools from the mower, tools and supplies from the trip.

Your patio furniture came out awesome

 

[jblnut]

I hadn’t thought of it that way, still, probably not great for the biome of the septic system.

It’s a tank in a shop with no drain field. If gets pumped out when full or before winter, whichever comes first. So not a big deal either way. No biome needed