What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[Motorman55]

(Yesterday) Charged up all my 20v tool batteries and put the trickle chargers on the Harley(s). Too cold to do much else.

Should be a warm 50 degrees today (its 1:45 AM in the morning here in South Jersey) so I want to start up the Harley FLH 'Shovelhead' later and take it for ride. The heavy rain storm melted all the snow and washed off the streets so no salt/brine.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Fixed a die grinder drive cable. Cleaned, flung, put away. Worked in lightburn.

 

[Outlawmws]

Those elves are as old as the houses. I can't remember an Xmas without them. my kids "re-branded" them as "Dads Creepy elves" on the box they store in... I've never found any like them, or info on them, and I spent some time on google and Eprey a few years back looking.

I went looking again tonight an found one on etsy or something - Damaged and they wanted almost $20 for it - I can't see it...

I did try a google image search and found more and the idiot AI made claims derived from the sale posts so mostly guesswork rubbish and no actual backup for the claims - the most likely one was they were in line with Putz houses in the 50's (makes sense for the way my parents may have got them - both are gone, so no asking them now..) and the era is right. I did ask my mom once years ago, and she had no recollection of where they got them - possibly "hand me downs" as many things were back then or some 5 and dime store...

 

[bugnut]

Didn't care for the new latching handles on the 25 Ridgeline tonneau cover. Wondered if the handles on the 17 would fit as they are much more substantial to my feel. Took one off each tried the swap, hey it'll work. Continued to remove and trade. All handles done latched and working. The 17 handles had guides to help then track in a linear direction.

 

[jblnut]

It’s been a while since every single one of my chainsaw chains was sharp and ready for battle but yesterday I got them all tuned up. Nice mildly aggressive grind on most of them with a new grind on a few to see how far I can push things to find the sweet spot for speed and longevity for my style of cutting.

 

[PhantomEB]

I just want my chainsaws where they supposed to be. One will live on the bronco’s storage rack, one will live in the cargo trailer then when the echo is refurbished, it will live in the back of the truck.

but yeah I need to sharpen some chainsaw blades too.

 

[PhantomEB]

Finally got the truck wrapped up enough from its recent wiring endeavour. Threw out the spare tire rock guard as I had to pry the 34” tire up into the spot. Waiting to see what I get from my family to see if I going to do the stereo system sooner than later….

then immediately when I got room, dug out the welder and said no more tripping over that superhitch extension or my WDD hitch.


cleaning up a bit this morning as Mom and Sister coming over this afternoon. Will see then if I am biting the bullet to start on my trucks stereo system? Brother says keep it sane…..I take that as keep it clean. 2 JL Audio subs will pound soon enough as I go thru the valleys of the foothills to our camping spots.

 

[Notgrownup]

I’ve been sick but today I decided to go in the shop. My granddaughter got 2 cats and wanted me to make her 2 bowl stands. I had some walnut laying around .. just need to decide what to finish them with.

 

[Beerhippie]

The Brick is in my buddy's shop now:



The ice and frozen mud is all off now--and in a puddle on the floor, but not the end I'm working on--and I need to get back at it. Shop has wood heat, which is nice, but maybe a little worrisome if I need to open a fuel line. I stoked it early this AM and again before lunch, so it should be as warm as it's going to get in there. Beats hell out of working outside with the freezing rain today.

 

[Prospecter]

Finished up the last 2 storage boxes I wanted to get done. Both were made with side of 1/2” Baltic birch. The one with the heavier load, I used the same for the top and bottom. The lighter capacity one, I used cheap 1/4” ply. I build the boxes with all 6 sides glued up, then cut the top off with the table saw.



I use basic **** hinges and these adjustable over center latches, and cheap fold down handles. This 2nd box, I was about finished, and found I’d made it 1/2” short. A piece of poplar fixed it good enough.



Someday I’ll get around to painting these, and that little error will fade away.

Lee

If you call it a decorative feature, no one will know the difference.

 

[Nofries]

Redd up the garage, put tools away, sacked the trash, broke down cardboard.
Spray adhesive my Milwaukee drawer liner with 3M 77 spray. Seems like it will work. Only liner that buches after closing the drawer.

 

[SMOKEYBEAR]

Blew my Craftsman drill press a part. Going to rebuild the one I actually use. I've rebuilt and flipped quite a few, this is one I inherited, it's not going anywhere. It's overdue for a good cleaning, bearings, lube and probably a fresh coat of paint if I can select a proper color. Put the router to the aluminum plate 3/8 round over on the top, and 1/8 round over on the bottom. Better double locking casters get delivered tomorrow. Made the template so I can make a cover to keep debris from falling through the holes in the base..it's in the R&D stage in my head.

Prepped my 2 stroke Mercury to sit till it warms up in the spring. Doesn't take much, ran it to get some heat in it, took the plugs out and a few squirts of 2 stroke oil in each cylinder, trimmed al the way down to drain all the water out. I've been keeping an eye oil an oil seep for a bit, it's gonna need an oil pump. Probably order it after the holidays, Mercury doesn't give those away $$$ and in case of a delay, I want in completed before spring.

 

[SRU1436]

The TH350 rebuild begins. I bought a book as this is my first turn rebuilding a transmission. Homestly, I’m looking forward to it. It was running fine, other than leaking. Figured I’d rebuild it while the engine is getting rebuilt, I’m sending that out for someone else to do.

 

[bmwrd0]

Reassembled the bolt on the Krag, still need to work out all of the misc. pieces such as trigger and sear, whatnot. Did a little more thinking on how I want to run the wiring on the Logan, piled up what got damaged during the flooding. Took more Aleve for the back, sat and read.

Getting old ain't much fun. Better than the alternative.

 

[rcktpwrd]

The TH350 rebuild begins. I bought a book as this is my first turn rebuilding a transmission. Homestly, I’m looking forward to it. It was running fine, other than leaking. Figured I’d rebuild it while the engine is getting rebuilt, I’m sending that out for someone else to do.

I rebuilt the TH400 in my wife's truck a bunch of years ago and it still works! Overall not super difficult but there are a lot of small fiddly parts...
It's amazing how much fluid is trapped inside until you start taking things apart!

 

[Beerhippie]

The Brick is in my buddy's shop now:



The ice and frozen mud is all off now--and in a puddle on the floor, but not the end I'm working on--and I need to get back at it. Shop has wood heat, which is nice, but maybe a little worrisome if I need to open a fuel line. I stoked it early this AM and again before lunch, so it should be as warm as it's going to get in there. Beats hell out of working outside with the freezing rain today.

When I went back over to my buddy's shop after lunch, I lifted the Brick as high as it would go--unfortunately, not quite high enough even for a short hippie--maybe 5' off the ground. Between the low ceiling and the high roof rack, that's about the limit. Got the engine secure



so I can pull the trans and still be able to move the rig out of the way. Pulled the inner CVs, wrapped them in plastic bags and tied them to the frame with tie wire, then went to lower the rig so I could get to the two bolts on top of the trans. The Brick started tipping towards me! The near side was lowering, the far side, not.

I decided this was an excellent time to call it a day. I raised the rig until it was again level. I texted my buddy about the problem--he's out of town today--and hopefully it's just some quirk of this two-post lift--or I'm not holding my mouth right. Probably should have gotten the brand and model of the lift in case any of you all are familiar with the problem--but I didn't.

 

[jblnut]

But yeah I need to sharpen some chainsaw blades too.

 

[bugnut]

@SRU1436 good luck on the trans mission. I noticed the black tray it is sitting on. Can you tell me what it is and where I might find one. Thanks

 

[FLHCHAZ]

Knocked the salt and sand off of the Silverado.

 

[racecougar]

You know you're a gearhead when you start V8-swapping stuff like 5x8 tilt-deck trailers. J/K. It was the easiest way to transport the engine/trans for the '73 Mustang build from one shop to the other (about a mile of gravel road separates them).



Stabbed it in, but I need to make some engine mount modifications before I can remove the hoist.

 

[LeeG]

I'm taking advantage of my extended holiday break and knocking out more shop projects. This was really another yak shaving project. I have a small bench that is home to my Femi bandsaw, and is storage for my small arbor press, shear, and punch. I haven't used these last 3 as much as I should since it's a pain to get them set over on the welding table and clamped down to use properly. I finally got tired of dealing with it, and came up with at least a temporary solution.
I drilled and tapped a 3/8-16 hole in my welding/work table, then mounted the tools to a piece of 3/4" plywood and added a screw to hold the base to the welding table.



I did a similar base for the other 2 tools.



I'll make a knob to tighten them down so I don't have to use a wrench, but already it is a huge improvement. I'll probably make some infeed tables to use with the shear and punch, but for now the roller for my bandsaw is the correct height so I'll just use that.

Lee

 

[SRU1436]

@SRU1436 good luck on the trans mission. I noticed the black tray it is sitting on. Can you tell me what it is and where I might find one. Thanks

It’s one of these. They work great, I put them under my old cars to catch the oil drips.

Amazon.com : large oil drip pan

 

[mrb1]

Easy morning coffee repair. I posted a picture of the new scooper over in the yard thread a few days ago. As I was finishing up, the neighbor walks over. I set the scooper against my trucks rear bumper to head in for a beer and a few shots. Well, I kinda forgot about putting it there I went to back out the next day and heard the crunch. Luckily, that pin was the only damage. No way that clamshell would have survived being run over

 

[pancholasvegas]

Econoline Trailer project rolled into my shop to start working on.



Few things going on here I’m not happy about. Firstly, the junkyard asked if they could have a patch of it before we got it. We agreed, didn’t realize they’d be taking a section that I actually needed.

Second order of business is that the tailgate wouldn’t fit up correctly. I’m not surprised, the bed is smashed up from something along the years. Roll pan area is wadded up and ripped around.

Started off with working on the massive dent to get some of the strength back into what we have - obviously quite a bit of rust to repair and cut out, but I’ll have a better change if things are at least a bit more of the orientation that they should be in…



A lot of hammering, dollying, got us more in shape than we started.



Yes, more to do, but happy with how things are getting into shape, I spent some time on the nasty roll pan. I flattened it out and pieced it back together as much as I could to get the tailgate to fit on both latches.





The bottom of the tailgate actually does protrude from the back of the truck. The bottom is not set in-board like the top. The hinges are external from the factory.

Fortunately I have a new set of hinges to help locate as we do metal replacement.

Next up, I wire wheeled all of the paint off the spot welds in preparation for removal of the top panel - I’ll be buttwelding a new section to replace the missing area before replacing, connecting to the cab corner.

 

[Beerhippie]

I stopped by the auxiliary shop to start the fire this AM and figured out the lift. I just wasn't pushing the brake release cable in far enough to disengage the other side.

I have a problem in the shop here at the brewery to deal with and then I'll be back on the Brick. Our Reelcraft air hose reel has sprung a leak--for now, I'll just put a shut-off valve at he regulator and fix it properly after the trans is out. I don't recall having to work on this reel in the nigh-on thirty years I've been using it.

 

[larry4406]

Econoline Trailer project rolled into my shop to start working on.



Few things going on here I’m not happy about. Firstly, the junkyard asked if they could have a patch of it before we got it. We agreed, didn’t realize they’d be taking a section that I actually needed.

Second order of business is that the tailgate wouldn’t fit up correctly. I’m not surprised, the bed is smashed up from something along the years. Roll pan area is wadded up and ripped around.

Started off with working on the massive dent to get some of the strength back into what we have - obviously quite a bit of rust to repair and cut out, but I’ll have a better change if things are at least a bit more of the orientation that they should be in…



A lot of hammering, dollying, got us more in shape than we started.



Yes, more to do, but happy with how things are getting into shape, I spent some time on the nasty roll pan. I flattened it out and pieced it back together as much as I could to get the tailgate to fit on both latches.





The bottom of the tailgate actually does protrude from the back of the truck. The bottom is not set in-board like the top. The hinges are external from the factory.

Fortunately I have a new set of hinges to help locate as we do metal replacement.

Next up, I wire wheeled all of the paint off the spot welds in preparation for removal of the top panel - I’ll be buttwelding a new section to replace the missing area before replacing, connecting to the cab corner.

WOW!

One man's trash is another man's treasure! I think I am the first man; prove me wrong please!

 

[kaymccampbell]

Few things going on here I’m not happy about. Firstly, the junkyard asked if they could have a patch of it before we got it. We agreed, didn’t realize they’d be taking a section that I actually needed.

At least they took a chunk that you could easily replicate. Imagine if they removed the corner.

 

[pancholasvegas]

At least they took a chunk that you could easily replicate. Imagine if they removed the corner.

Fortunately, since the "Trailer" is being shortened, I've got a few feet from the bow of the bed that I can graft in. I'll be setting new flange on it to reuse the spot-welds from the factory.

 

[pancholasvegas]

WOW!

One man's trash is another man's treasure! I think I am the first man; prove me wrong please!

A lot of patch panels on order.

 

[Beelzeboss]

Continued work on my turbo manifolds - here's the divided external wastegate plumbing

 

[pancholasvegas]

I spread the word to a couple guys that the corner was missing for my trailer project, and look what’s in-route. Score!

 

[LeeG]

Christmas vacation shop projects continue. I had a drawer of pliers that was….not organized.



I used an idea someone posted on here many years ago to make a custom holder. Some 1/4” all thread with pex tubing cut for spacers between some pieces of 2”x1/8” aluminum flat bar.



It doesn’t quite hold everything that was there before, but at least I can find what I am looking for.

Once I get the other drawers done and everything put in lace, I’ll add labels to the drawer side as to what is in that slot.

Lee

 

[Beerhippie]

Back to working on the Brick. Having now figured out how to use the lift, I was hoping to get the trans out and see what else I need to do.

First, 'though, after starting the fire and while the shop is warming a bit, I though y'all might enjoy a brief walk-through of my buddy Rocky's shop. He bought it from an old family electrical/plumbing company here in town--which has moved to much swankier digs but still in town--and it's full of treasures and Rocky's projects.



I think the chopper on the right is a runner.



An oval-window bug being buggied? Oh, the humanity! There are TWO Rigid pipe threading machines behind that Ford hood. One looks damned near brand-new.



What's buried under all that ****?



Warner and Swasey No. 3 in War Finish, as per order L-108. Probably just needs a good cleaning and lube.



Does this trigger my DP lust? Is a bear catholic?



Enough of that.

Now that I'm confident in running the lift--I think the last one I used was powered by donkeys--I can let the Brick fly:



The rear hatch is just touching a piece of conduit on the ceiling, and I can almost walk upright under it. Good thing I'm not an over-size person.

With a lift and a transmission jack, an old hippie can single-handed pull a transaxle in very little time with very little effort and just a little spilled blood:



I probably spent more time running back and forth between the brewery shop and Rocky's shop for tools I didn't know I'd need than I did actually wrenching. Good thing they're about 1/4 mile apart.

The Suby engine swap and various adapters did cause a little head-scratching for a while there, but I fingered it out.

 

[Outlawmws]

I probably spent more time running back and forth between the brewery shop and Rocky's shop for tools I didn't know I'd need

Keeping a list? All those tools belong in a Brick dedicated "road box"

I did that for my 84 "pre Samurai" SJ410 when I swapped the 45 HP 1L and 4 speed for the 115 HP DOHC FI from a Swift GTI, as well as the 5 Speed from a Samurai.

 

[Beerhippie]

Keeping a list? All those tools belong in a Brick dedicated "road box"

I did that for my 84 "pre Samurai" SJ410 when I swapped the 45 HP 1L and 4 speed for the 115 HP DOHC FI from a Swift GTI, as well as the 5 Speed from a Samurai.

Oh, yeah--but I'm really hoping the days of replacing a transaxle or engine on the side of the road are over for me. I may not be retired, but I'm certainly tired.

Been there, done that....

Which is why I just dropped another $500 on new CVs. The existing ones seem OK, but the boots on the outer CVs are completely split. I'm looking for driving the next several years without worrying about the rig mechanicals throwing surprises at me. I have a full clutch rebuild kit, too, so may as well throw that in tomorrow. Working in a warmish shop with a lift beats hell out of crawling under the rig on the side of the road in whatever inevitably inclement weather Ma Nature throws at me... I've done it in mud, in 120F heat, in snow... driving rain... flash-flood... dues paid, damnitall.

 

[jblnut]

Decided the shop was 5yrs old and needed properish air lines ran. So I got to work and built a manifold of sorts to act as, well, a manifold, on the far side of the shop. All air lines ran are Festo brand lines. It’s nice stuff. More to come tomorrow. I gotta make up a few hoses to get the air from the compressor to the first storage tank.

 

[Beerhippie]

Decided the shop was 5yrs old and needed properish air lines ran. So I got to work and built a manifold of sorts to act as, well, a manifold, on the far side of the shop. All air lines ran are Festo brand lines. It’s nice stuff. More to come tomorrow. I gotta make up a few hoses to get the air from the compressor to the first storage tank.

Extra conduits run under the slab? Man, you get some kind of award for that! PLAN AHEAD.

 

[413dan]

Needed my propane torch and went to use it, nothing. Spark working, smells like gas, but nada.
Took it inside to warm up for a few and tinkered with something else. Still not working so I switch bottles with a spare. Nada.

I removed the tip and out came a spider. It took a bit further disassembly with an Allen wrench to get compressed air and a q-tip into it to restore proper function. Not what I expected. This was needed to heat a stuck seized slide pin.


I then proceeded to change out the slide pins in the girls front brakes. I Put it back together and something is scraping. Maybe rust on the heat/debris shield, maybe the hardware holding in the pads dragging on the rotor a bit, idk. Was dark so I quit for the day. Tomorrow or more likely the 24th when Im off I can address it. Test drive and the brakes are functioning properly safety wise stopping me, and only having the metallic squeal when on the brake pedal. the joy of being a home mechanic and not getting it right the first time.

 

[rharman]

I built a brick. Well, actually, a doorstop. Keeps the front screen door from bopping the house.

A cutoff from a 4x4. Sprayed with stone texture paint. Years ago, we painted the mailbox at the front door with the same paint. Our house is terra-cotta and grey stucco so it's a nice match. Added some feet and a bumper cut from vinyl cove base on each end.

 

[bmwrd0]

Cleaned, fiddled with the Krag (by God this thing is horribly complex), put things in Evaporust. And so on.