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jakemac

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May 21, 2013
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Location
New England
So, after getting soaked and freezing on the ice, you find out that you could have pushed it inside and worked on it dry.

I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS !!!!! :tantrum2:
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Southern Maine
The F-700 would not have been easy to push inside, but it could have been done. Of course after all that, I find out that I used the wrong starter, so I will have to do it all over again. :(

The two starters are identical as far as I can tell, but the one for the F-350 has a threaded ear and the one for the F-700 has no threaded ears. F-700 threads both bolts from the front into the engine block, F-350 has one from the front into the block, the other goes through the block and threads into the starter. I can hear a bit of grinding, like it needs to be shimmed, so I figure it may be that the bolt ran up tight to the ear, but didn't pull the starter tight to the block. I think that I can use two of the ones from the F-350 ($30 cheaper), but I will have to drill the threads out on the threaded ear for the F-700. Go figure. This is why I like Chevrolet engines, small block, big block, 267 to 454 (not sure on the 8.1) are all the same from like 1950 to 2002.
 

xtremek

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Apr 13, 2012
Messages
11,603
Location
St. Johns, Mi
I totally get the soggy bit. I was traipsing around a 100 acre bone yard looking for parts for my '52 with my Dad. I started raining just before we got to the yard. Dad was soaked to the skin after an hour. I had a leather work coat on, but from my crotch down I was soaked after 3 hours. My work coat was still soaked this morning. At least I wasn't lying in it.
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Southern Maine
I came home and couldn't get warm, still have a chill, so most likely will end up with a cold. :(

At least my back is not as freaked out as I thought it would be. Tomorrow I really need to get the house cleaned up before I can get back to the shop. I am figuring that I will be in the office on the second, been neglecting that part of life and I need to get things moving again.
 

Bighead38

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Joined
Nov 11, 2012
Messages
5,612
Location
Rockland County NY
That’s terrible. I have a soft mat and the bottom is waterproof. I use that instead of a creeper most of the time. Still get the dripping water torture though.
 

LaneRover

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Jan 19, 2014
Messages
301
Location
Maine
Strouty,

There is a newish Chiropractor in Scarborough called Mend Health. I have heard people say that they were the first chiropractor they had been to that actually really spent time with them, they also don't just assume that an adjustment is what you need first off, trying to focus on soft tissue issues first.

I had a problem with my heel and they told me to stretch in a way that I never would have thought of, it works every time I need it.
 

Kev442

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Jan 15, 2009
Messages
5,386
Location
Wi
Wow. All that stuff you own and not one sheet of OSB or plywood to put on the ground.
Glad you sucked it up and got it done anyway.
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,215
Location
Southern Maine
Lane, thanks for the heads up.

Kev, not sure OSB would have helped, most of the water was from above.

Big, about 2 hours from where I am.
 

Maineiacmoose

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Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
134
Location
Maine
Car Gurus, they let you sort by mileage, that was the best way, I just put 2005 to 2007, then searched for under 90k miles, it was the best way to search. I spent hours searching the inter webs, then five minutes with car gurus and we were on our way to test drive the car.

sweet thanks!
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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38,215
Location
Southern Maine
Nothing to report, went to the shop to drop off some trash, spent about ten minutes there, then headed home. It reinforces the fact that I need to get living in the new house ASAP.
 

Hubscrub66

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Joined
May 24, 2017
Messages
107
Location
Tennessee
My dad was an auto tech for 40 years and he despised a ford. :lol_hitti He worked at a chrysler dealership last before he retired. But still prefers to drive a GM and so do i. Working out in them conditions is so discouraging but what do ya do but do it.:willy_nil
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Location
Southern Maine
New year, new shop? For some reason it looks just as bad as it did last year, except there are more trucks parked out front.

I am going to work on that a bit today, it is in the 40s again, so starting trucks should be easy. Well, assuming the starters work. I need to clean up inside a bit more, I started yesterday, but had a lunch meeting with a buddy, then went to my brother’s house for a bit before coming home. So not much done yesterday, but I wasn’t expecting much to get done either.
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Southern Maine
On top of all this, my New Years resolution was to post less on the GJ. I have about a dozen core threads that I pay close attention to, so I am going to concentrate on those for a bit, I am in one of those information overload mindsets and this causes me to just stop, you know, paralysis by analysis. Basic perfectionist problems and excuses, plan is to work on these issues along with my health.

I won’t neglect this thread, I just may not be as visible outside this thread.
 

bimmer1980

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Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Messages
2,104
Location
York, PA
I can understand that.... I'm plagued by similar things in relation to social media.... It can be helpful, but sometimes it can be discouraging...

Anyhow, happy new year! Hopefully it is a productive and fulfilling year.
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Southern Maine
Right now it feels like a mess, it snowed about 2” last night and then rained, so there is a layer of slushy snow on top of the mud, then huge puddles mixed in, it is 40 right now, dropping into the low 20s overnight. Now of my plows work, so this will turn into a frozen mess/skating rink in short order. I wish it would just get cold and stay cold, these up and downs ****. I am sure many of you are in a similar boat and I feel for you.

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Strouty

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I don’t dare move the trucks around back until it freezes again, last time I left some huge wheel ruts, I wish I had never even moved them. :(

Messing with the maroon burb, broke a connector on my harness, trying to find a new one now. It has oddball alignment slots to keep people from plugging it the wrong thing.

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Strouty

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Southern Maine
I will say that I love my milwaukee M12 under hood light, it works very well.

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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Southern Maine
I think I am back to too many projects, probably never left that place, but now I am feeling it. Every project I touch has something else that needs to be done to finish it, gets real frustrating real quickly. I just want to finish one thing, guess I am going to have to start really small and easy so I can have that initial feeling f completion, hopefully it will snowball from there, I am afraid that since I know this, it won’t actually work for me. I also know I feel this way every winter and should probably take a real hard look at this moving forward. Finalizing the house deal may be enough to get me motivated again, I can get lots accomplished with little effort over there.
 

Hubscrub66

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May 24, 2017
Messages
107
Location
Tennessee
Good luck in the new year, i enjoy following this thread because i have so many of the same issues. I need to make this year best ever. Work on loseing weight,finshing projects. I did fix the porchlight today that ive been putting off. It seems i can't get motivated to do the most simple of things because i get overwhemed by all the stuff i need to do.:dunno::Violent:
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Southern Maine
Thanks Hub, I am working on my lists tonight. I can't come up with one project that is easy yet, they all have lots of steps and moving pieces. I know I can break it down, but it never feels like anything gets finished and then I am back to square one again.
 

Kev442

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Jan 15, 2009
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Wi
I sometimes think you over analyze everything, thus your mountains remain mountains. You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time.
Getting my beater AWD ready for winter involved 4 things. I didn't try to do them all at once, I did then one at a time on different weekends (the only time I can heat the garage and get anything done), they took anywhere from 1-4 hours each time. When things were taking longer than anticipated, it really didn't matter as that was the only job to be done that day.
I will say I started before I actually needed AWD, so I could work at my leisure rather than behind the 8 ball. That is the number one thing that comes with age, starting soon enough that you can work with no extra pressure.
 
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Strouty

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I sometimes think you over analyze everything, thus your mountains remain mountains. You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time.
Getting my beater AWD ready for winter involved 4 things. I didn't try to do them all at once, I did then one at a time on different weekends (the only time I can heat the garage and get anything done), they took anywhere from 1-4 hours each time. When things were taking longer than anticipated, it really didn't matter as that was the only job to be done that day.
I will say I started before I actually needed AWD, so I could work at my leisure rather than behind the 8 ball. That is the number one thing that comes with age, starting soon enough that you can work with no extra pressure.

The worst part is I started out with a 4 wheel drive suburban, and a snow plow that worked. Now I have two snowplows that don't work, a suburban that starts when it wants and multiple vehicles in the wrong place. As far as over analyzing things, absolutely, it is part of my perfectionist issues. In the end it is easier for my mind to trick me into doing nothing than it is for me to trick it into doing something. :headscrat
 

rmalkow2

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Jun 26, 2009
Messages
4,087
Location
Brighton, MI
Maybe it's time to cut bait on some of the old stuff and step up to newer vehicles and less of them. I know you've mentioned going south to find better trucks. Maybe now's the time. Obviously I can't know for sure how bad your equipment is but it sounds like you may have reached that point where some of the vehicles are eating up more money and time than they are worth. Best of luck figuring all that out.
 
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Strouty

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RM, I am thinking that way. I started to map out what I am looking for as far as vehicles and equipment go, here is my list that I started.

Forklift - Clark - Repairs to do: Finish Lights, Add windshields, fuel filter, change hydraulic fluid, new oil filter setup, chamfer wheels for lug nuts, paint, new longer forks

Knuckle boom - setup on nice truck, looking for rust free freightliner FL70

Flatbed/fifth wheel/gooseneck hauler - Looking for rust free freightliner FL60

Bucket truck - Buck - replace front cover on 5.9 engine, fix additional oil leaks, remove rear body, replace with flat bed, make road legal

Suburban - one decent running, decent starting truck, most likely will be the maroon burb after some more work

Excavator - use existing machine- repair two rams from blade, repair blade, repair main boom ram, clean up hydraulic lines running along boom, misc small fixes

Ford F700 4x4 crew cab, - this could become the knuckleboom truck, but I need to find out how tall the frame is, may have to extend the outriggers, but this is more of a long term project and I think that would be a bad idea.

Dodge M37 - long term project for sure

Bombardier J5 "mini tank" - can be sold, not as interesting as my other toys, at least not to me.

Gooseneck deck over trailer, was planning on using it, but could be sold, needs rust repair and other things to be right. Ultimate goal is to have this style trailer in conjunction with a truck to haul treasures.

Ambulance - scrap yard

Bev - separate body, make quick flatbed, sell

Black suburban, sell

Small trailer, keep for now, sell later once I have a flatbed gooseneck in working order

F-350 snowplow/dump - sell, sell, sell
 
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Strouty

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There are more projects, but these are the vehicles and that seems to be my biggest issue right now. I had originally planned on using Bev as the gooseneck hauler and using the existing trailer in conjunction, but I am mad about the rust and I just hate the idea of doing all this work to rusty stuff. I figure selling them will get me decent money, enough to get the rust free stuff, then I can start fresh.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is all going to happen overnight, it may take a couple years to move through this list, not including the long term projects. I just need to work on my main goals, right now the maroon suburban is top priority, then the excavator blade, from their I think it would be Bev, then Buck. I don't think I want to try and plan any further than that for now. Of course I still need to swap starters on the knuckle boom truck and get the F-350 movable again, then the lights/plow situation for the black burb. There is no one direction, I either trip over one thing to get to the next or I give up and just get rid of stuff.
 
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Strouty

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The funny part about all that thought process is, those are all wants. In reality now that I have seen my list on paper, if it were to snow 6", I would be screwed.

So I need to move the trucks out back, get the snowplow working (probably get the black burb setup, not the Ford F350), and then worry about the maroon burb. Then I can pick away at things one at a time, not that anything will be easy, winter always ***** because things don't always want to start in the cold, batteries go dead, things get stuck, snow gets in the way. So this is my plan, even if it means not doing it perfectly (like I could do that anyways).
 

86turbodsl

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Jul 1, 2005
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Location
Michigan
I don’t dare move the trucks around back until it freezes again, last time I left some huge wheel ruts, I wish I had never even moved them. :(

Messing with the maroon burb, broke a connector on my harness, trying to find a new one now. It has oddball alignment slots to keep people from plugging it the wrong thing.

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i have a packard catalog at home i can probably help find the right connector if you need it.
 

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Kev442

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I was beyond completely baffled when you dropped working on suburbans and plow trucks to work on a lift truck. I have absolutely no idea why a knuckle boom became a priority.
This is why I rarely comment anymore, you get all these attaboys for bouncing around like a ping pong ball, bringing home mountains of projects, buying tires and axles for projects that are practically pipe dreams for the foreseeable future, etc.
I dunno, I see a ton of Bill in your actions, buy ****, never complete it, scrap it, repeat. Today's posts are more of the same.
I sincerely hope you do better with the house instead of running around in circles with it.
Happy New Year from the resident grouch!
 

Wanna Ride

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Jul 28, 2010
Messages
2,790
Damn Strouty… I feel for you on changing that starter outside and on the ground. I can tolerate working in a lot of crappy conditions when necessary, but outside, in the cold AND wet?! Hate that for you brother!

Hope you don't get sick, and glad to hear the back's not as freaked out as you expected.
 
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Strouty

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Kev, while I agree with you on the scatterbrain way I purchase things, that first projects list was in no particular order, just listing them off. Forklift was definitely not ahead of anything. Just happened to remember I need to order the windshield gasket. I agree that most of my projects are a stretch (and then some), pairing things down is what I have been slowly doing, a bit like two steps forward, one step back. Most of my frustration comes with the cold weather, when I am stuck with the realization that I don’t have the space to do these projects easily. In the end, I will either learn to adjust or turn into the hoarder that some think I already am.

I use this thread as a way to say things to myself, seems like half the time I don’t actually here what I am thinking or how bad my thought process is until I type it out and read it. So a lot of times you guys are seeing the inner workings of my messed up brain. Do I have a tendency to jump from project to project, absolutely, I used to think this was because I could multitask, I now know it is because I have a hard time finishing things, not because I can’t finish them, but because my brain tells me that if it isn’t perfect it isn’t worth doing. I don’t always see this, but when I do, it is obvious to me. Kev seems to be the opposite of me or at least has the ability to see where I go wrong and that is what I am trying to learn. I don’t want people to think I am trying to rationalize these projects or my perfectionist ways, I am trying to overcome them the only way I know how.
 
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Strouty

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i have a packard catalog at home i can probably help find the right connector if you need it.



I think I found one, it looks like there were three styles depending on what MAP sensor you had, they are more expensive, but not that bad. I think I will order a couple spares since the shipping is the worst part.
 
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Strouty

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Damn Strouty… I feel for you on changing that starter outside and on the ground. I can tolerate working in a lot of crappy conditions when necessary, but outside, in the cold AND wet?! Hate that for you brother!

Hope you don't get sick, and glad to hear the back's not as freaked out as you expected.



It wasn’t any fun, but I am glad I got it installed so I could move the truck, I just wish I had realized the starters were a bit different before I got things hooked up. I probably would have slowed down and thought about it more if I hadn’t been in a big cold puddle. As for getting sick, looks like I beat that too.
 
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Strouty

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Today I have office duty, no shop time at all.

I honestly think a good portion of my issues will resolve themselves once I move into the new house, having the commute really seems to add a layer of pressure on me, I can’t just pop in the shop to do a few minutes of stuff, I can’t easily take five minutes to clean up if I am not feeling motivated. When I head there, I feel obligated to do something and there are plenty of times that doesn’t work in my favor as it gets me all stressed out, then I feel obligated to stay since I will spend over an hour driving to and from the shop. Might seem silly, don’t really know how to combat it, my brother is always telling me that he loves being able to walk out to his garage, so five minutes of work, then either get motivated or go back to the house and do something else. I look forward to that day.
 
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