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What did you do "IN" your garage today?

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Wrench97

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
12,154
Location
Southeastern Pa
Decided to locate the oil filter in the '21 Escape as I'm only looking at around $40 total for me to do it, $70 at least if I pay my mechanic. Ford put it on the bottom of the motor behind the radiator. I may need a longer flex-head and an oil filter socket to get at it. I think my bent flex-head SK Tuff-1 may work.

Same goes for that broken park light on the edge of my '98 Ram headlight. I will likely end up standing on a stool and buying a flex-head 1/4 as well.

OK, looks like I've got an excuse to buy those new Icon ratchets I keep eyeing....
I use this style on the escapes
1748995082622.png
Just be careful of the coolant hoses below/next to it.

At least the newer ones use all the same size screw on the bottom cover.....as opposed to the 10mm, 7mm, torx head and 2 push bottons.
 

Beerhippie

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2023
Messages
10,006
Location
Far NE Oregon
I had occasion to use this old power drain snake (the orange frame) yesterday:

54566552178_356a9bbe82_o.jpg

It weighs about eighty pounds and has horrible balance for carrying. I concluded it needed wheels. So I put it on wheels.

The cart was something I made years ago for a digital floor scale for the brewery--from a cart I built years before that for a pump. The brewers eventually broke the scale (parts of which I incorporated in my vise stand build) and the cart has sat in the boneyard for the last decade or so, waiting for something to ride upon it again.

The SS upright held the scale readout, so I had to cut off the mounts for that. I found a handy piece of SS tubing to make a handle. The frame of the snake had rubber feet--I removed those. The mounting holes for the feet only went through one side of the square tube, so I drilled them through, then drilled the rails of the cart to match. Some 5/16" bolts and nuts and the snake was mounted.

My heavier Milwaukee M18 drill has a cheap-*** chuck I bought to replace the cheaper-*** one Milwaukee used. It cannot be clamped down tight enough to drill metal with a 5/16" bit. Fun.

Welding the thin-wall tubing to the thicker-wall square section... need I talk about that?

At some point, I'll replace the miserable front casters and the under-size rear wheels. But not today.

Another fifteen minute job. I feel a beer break coming on....
 

Beerhippie

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2023
Messages
10,006
Location
Far NE Oregon
I got back to the snake cart after a beer break. Those front casters... sometimes you see something and just go "what the F?" No matter what I did, the brake levers dragged on the ground--ungood. I replaced them with the same size, but with brakes that don't drag on the ground. Gotta have brakes on a snake cart... no one wants a runaway snake.
 

rd65

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
2,827
Location
Granite Falls, WA
Plan was a quick RR of the mower blades, 30-45 minutes. Nope, almost filled a 5 gallon bucket with debris, swapped the blades. Thought I was all done but found the drive belt was starting to come apart and an idler pulley with a loud bearing. Grabbed a spare takeoff belt and removed the pulley to lift the seal lip and squirt some lube in it. It got much quieter, should be ok until the new belt and pulley arrive next week. Amazon for a Husky belt and aftermarket, Raisman pulley.
Oh, and somewhere along the way I stopped long enough to enjoy a beer.
 

PhantomEB

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 6, 2006
Messages
6,817
Location
Medicine Hat, AB, Canuckistan
Unloaded trailer for cleaning and packing up for next time. Changed up the list of things I want or need to do for future trips.

New tires on truck we’re awesome to the point I no longer care about brand names. Motormaster Eliminators Xtrails are plenty good for me, wish they made em in the 40” range and I would put them on the bronco too.

put both trailers in the yard and straightened According to the fence line…..now I see it all and said its crooked and needs to be parallel with the garage!

Time to clean up shop then focus on bronco.
7D61B6D8-A98A-4404-985E-045619E3FB57.jpeg
 

Jay__Dub

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 19, 2024
Messages
1,256
Location
Cold Country, Canada
Oil change and inspection on my old Vibe. Checking my schedule, we're going to be spending a **** ton of time together on the road, this month and next. It is really just about done. But I'll try and get the summer out of it. It's a Toyota engine, runs like a top, but the rust bug got ahold in places I can't fix. So it'll see the boneyard, sooner than later. Great cars though, I have zero complaints.

First time using a Baldwin filter. It's all they had locally. I usually stock up in the city with the higher end Fram stuff.

2 mowers out of commish. I'll dig in to those next week after I get the starter on my truck.

Wake up, see daylight, say thank you, and carry on.
 

Skyman

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 9, 2021
Messages
1,222
Location
Central Maryland
Oil change and inspection on my old Vibe. Checking my schedule, we're going to be spending a **** ton of time together on the road, this month and next. It is really just about done. But I'll try and get the summer out of it. It's a Toyota engine, runs like a top, but the rust bug got ahold in places I can't fix. So it'll see the boneyard, sooner than later. Great cars though, I have zero complaints.

First time using a Baldwin filter. It's all they had locally. I usually stock up in the city with the higher end Fram stuff.

2 mowers out of commish. I'll dig in to those next week after I get the starter on my truck.

Wake up, see daylight, say thank you, and carry on.
I happily use Baldwin filters on everything I own.
 

Fixr

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 23, 2012
Messages
9,709
Location
SW VA
Steering rack and pinion on a Tacoma not how I wanted to start Monday and starting with only 25 hours in the pay period due to business being so slow. And getting screwed on it even more because it’s warranty. I mean it pays 3.5 but I’ve been working on it since 8am. So I’ve lost time on it because I don’t know anyone who can do it in 3.5 hours. Hopefully going in is a lot better. I had to take a lunch break because I needed food and had to cool off because I was furious with the stupid designs of these things. Luckily my coworkers have been helping me too. Customer pay on this would be 8.2 according to our pricing system. 8.2 sounds way more reasonable lol.
IMG_2057.jpeg
Ain't flat rate warranty work awesome?
 

Wrench97

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
12,154
Location
Southeastern Pa
Oil change and inspection on my old Vibe. Checking my schedule, we're going to be spending a **** ton of time together on the road, this month and next. It is really just about done. But I'll try and get the summer out of it. It's a Toyota engine, runs like a top, but the rust bug got ahold in places I can't fix. So it'll see the boneyard, sooner than later. Great cars though, I have zero complaints.

First time using a Baldwin filter. It's all they had locally. I usually stock up in the city with the higher end Fram stuff.

2 mowers out of commish. I'll dig in to those next week after I get the starter on my truck.

Wake up, see daylight, say thank you, and carry on.
The Baldwin is probably a better filter.
 

BlakeTheCarGuy

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Oct 10, 2018
Messages
9,384
Location
Roanoke Virginia
Ain't flat rate warranty work awesome?
It definitely is awesome. Kidding of course lol. But my prayers got answered somehow it started working properly overnight and worked fine when I test drove it 3 times today. So boss said ship it and if it comes back then I’ll just do it again for the 3.5 hours. I don’t know if it just had a large air bubble or needed to sit in or what but it’s mint now. So glad I didn’t have to do it over again.
 

Burt Shaver

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 7, 2023
Messages
1,278
Location
Iroquois, Ontario Canada
It definitely is awesome. Kidding of course lol. But my prayers got answered somehow it started working properly overnight and worked fine when I test drove it 3 times today. So boss said ship it and if it comes back then I’ll just do it again for the 3.5 hours. I don’t know if it just had a large air bubble or needed to sit in or what but it’s mint now. So glad I didn’t have to do it over again.
Are you only being paid the 3.5 hours to do the work on the Tacoma?
 
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Burt Shaver

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 7, 2023
Messages
1,278
Location
Iroquois, Ontario Canada
Yeah since it’s under warranty. Warranty pay *****. It would be 8.2 if it was out of warranty. I’d get another 3.5 under warranty if say this rack also ends up going bad too.
Wow, this almost sounds like me doing property restoration after floods and fires for insurance companies. They just pay what they want to pay. Sorry for the questions Blake, so you’re working for someone? And working longer than 3.5 hours on this and being paid your hourly rate for 3.5 hours. Or do you own the shop?
 

Outlawmws

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
39,321
Location
The Badlands
Pictures?

Haven't been taking any. I'm pretty disgusted with how bad the sun beat this thing in 7 years though. Partly my fault as I'm not a wash and wax guy at all, but its also been idle for almost 3 years now. Finding cracked paint on the bumpers from people bumping them is really ******* me off. no structural damage, but the paint is flex cracked.
 

BlakeTheCarGuy

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Oct 10, 2018
Messages
9,384
Location
Roanoke Virginia
Wow, this almost sounds like me doing property restoration after floods and fires for insurance companies. They just pay what they want to pay. Sorry for the questions Blake, so you’re working for someone? And working longer than 3.5 hours on this and being paid your hourly rate for 3.5 hours. Or do you own the shop?
Yeah, I work at a Toyota dealership in Southwest Virginia. And I’m hourly with commission for every hour I turn so the 3.5 hours still screwed me because I spent almost 10 hours doing it in total and where the job only pays 3.5 I only get commission for 3.5 hours. The warranty pay is set just like flat rate pay so if I had done it in 2 hours I’d still get 3.5 and since I done it in like 9.7 hours I still get 3.5 regardless. So yes they just pay what they pay. It *****. The actual service manual says to drop the front differential, had I done that I’d probably have still been working on it today.
 

Fixr

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 23, 2012
Messages
9,709
Location
SW VA
Yeah, I work at a Toyota dealership in Southwest Virginia. And I’m hourly with commission for every hour I turn so the 3.5 hours still screwed me because I spent almost 10 hours doing it in total and where the job only pays 3.5 I only get commission for 3.5 hours. The warranty pay is set just like flat rate pay so if I had done it in 2 hours I’d still get 3.5 and since I done it in like 9.7 hours I still get 3.5 regardless. So yes they just pay what they pay. It *****. The actual service manual says to drop the front differential, had I done that I’d probably have still been working on it today.
Back in the 80s, I worked at a VW dealer. Warranty work not only paid about 1/3rd the hours as customer pay, but the hourly pay rate was like 2/3rds of customer pay, so it was double suckage.
 

zmotorsports

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
21,452
Location
Northern Utah
At the shop's door, my bride removed the twelve-50Lb. bags of Quikrete from the truck bed and placed them on a pallet inside the shop.
I supervised as I'm a product of a recent rotator cuff surgery. ;)
IMG_1867.jpg

Hope your recovery is going well. I jacked my shoulder up almost two years ago now and have been working to strengthen it back to somewhat usable condition to avoid surgery. I'm far from 100% but much better than I was a year ago.
 

rd65

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
2,827
Location
Granite Falls, WA
Yeah, I work at a Toyota dealership in Southwest Virginia. And I’m hourly with commission for every hour I turn so the 3.5 hours still screwed me because I spent almost 10 hours doing it in total and where the job only pays 3.5 I only get commission for 3.5 hours. The warranty pay is set just like flat rate pay so if I had done it in 2 hours I’d still get 3.5 and since I done it in like 9.7 hours I still get 3.5 regardless. So yes they just pay what they pay. It *****. The actual service manual says to drop the front differential, had I done that I’d probably have still been working on it today.
Do you get to add Extra time for cleaning, gasket removal, and the like. We did with Yamaha, could always add and extra .5, more with a phone call and autho from them. They were really good at making sure you got paid fairly, even their service bulletins had good labor times on them.
 

rd65

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
2,827
Location
Granite Falls, WA
Thanks. :)
It's been a bit over 3 weeks since the surgery and I've begun PT, stretches for motion and exercise for strengthening.
It's rough not being able to use my right arm. Happy that my bride is able to do heavy lifting. (y)
I am 6 months post op today. Still have some soreness going but my repair was small compared to some shoulder work. Medium subscapularis tear and bicep tenodesis. I finished PT end of March, and then slacked on my home PT (lots of home projects in spring months for me). Dominant arm surgery *****.
 
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