What Did You Do In The Garage Today?

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to add - there will be ANOTHER toy in the garage very soon.
And then three more 2-wheel'd toys.
Its about to get full in there!

Another reason Im spending time today organizing and cleaning etc
 
The starter in my '05 Ranger has been acting up. It will engage briefly before grinding. It doesn't sound like solenoid, relay or current issues, so I went to the auto parts store and bought a rebuilt. Hey, the truck has 283,772 miles on it.

I've changed starters before, it isn't that bad. I watched a couple YouTube videos and it seemed pretty straight forward. Access from the driver side wheel well, remove three bolts, remove, reverse steps 1 through 3.

I got underneath (video was an '03), and realized access is from beneath, the top bolt is inaccessible without an 18' extension with U-joint (which I don't have) and completely blind, I'd have to get it by feel. If I could detach it, I had no idea how to remove it because my truck has a transfer case in the way - the video was on a 2wd.

I decided I'd better let someone do it that had practiced 100 times on someone else's truck.

The dealership just called, they're done, it's ready.

Had to vent.
 
I also made me a hotrod push mower today. I had this nice little lightweight 3.5 hp 20" Troybilt mower that ran but had a bent crank. Seems my BIL had hit a big rock and bent it just enough it vibrated like a .... well big vibrator. My buddy Dean called and said he had this big oleCraftsman 22" self propelled monster that had stopped self propelling and had been put under his deck ohhhh, about 10 years ago.....

So, I deduced that, in true hotrodder style, I would put the big 6.0 "Gold" Briggs on my little svelte pusher. Worked like a charm and looks cool as the motor is physically a good bit larger than the one it replaced. I put in some fresh fuel, changed the oil and it started on the 3rd pull after sitting that long. Ran it into some really tall grass without a hint of slowing down. It was even red, awesome.


 
Lawless said:
I also made me a hotrod push mower today. I had this nice little lightweight 3.5 hp 20" Troybilt mower that ran but had a bent crank. Seems my BIL had hit a big rock and bent it just enough it vibrated like a .... well big vibrator. My buddy Dean called and said he had this big oleCraftsman 22" self propelled monster that had stopped self propelling and had been put under his deck ohhhh, about 10 years ago.....

So, I deduced that, in true hotrodder style, I would put the big 6.0 "Gold" Briggs on my little svelte pusher. Worked like a charm and looks cool as the motor is physically a good bit larger than the one it replaced. I put in some fresh fuel, changed the oil and it started on the 3rd pull after sitting that long. Ran it into some really tall grass without a hint of slowing down. It was even red, awesome.


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Nothing like a lightweight deck on a walk behind. I had my grandmom's alloy deck Snapper for years till I wore it out. You could about push it with one finger , and it wasn't self propelled.
 
fieldgrade said:
Nothing like a lightweight deck on a walk behind. I had my grandmom's alloy deck Snapper for years till I wore it out. You could about push it with one finger , and it wasn't self propelled.
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I used to have a 2 cycle LawnBoy that could not have weighed more than 20 lbs. Aluminum deck and handle bars.
I lent it out and it was ran without oil in the fuel ....:(
 
Rear brake job on the 82 F350 flatbed dump truck, and an oil change.

New wheel cylinders, brake shoes, 2 new bearings and seals, and turned drums. Oh, plus four new tires (my tire expenses have really sucked these past few months!)

Haven't totaled it up but somewhere around $1,200.
 
Went to get milk from the frig in the garage. Didn't find any.

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I volunteer on this expedition of finding milk in there, You know, to help a brother out...
 
Added two more bikes to it...
three in, one more to get moved

 
I don't have a garage and do all my work on a car port and my work bench is my tailgate. Tools are either in the shed or attic so I spend more time getting everything out/putting up then rotating my tires. Air compressor was a craigslist score due to no pressure build up. Turns out it was a reed valve out of place so an easy fix. Same scenario for mower where clutch would not engage the blade, $30 fix. Found I had some uneven tire wear and alignment was out. Put the money I saved rotating the tires myself towards the alignment instead of ammo this time. I also torque the lug nuts versus cranking them down with the impact wrench.

New to me house has a two car garage and I can't wait.

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Chased down the reason behind a non working AC/heater blower motor on a 2005 Chevy Colorado.
Checked the usual suspects first...have continuity through the motor windings, the resistor on the switch pigtail is still good.
Turns out, there's a ground block bolted to the frame beside the air box under the hood that provides the ground for several circuits. Pulled it apart and cleaned all the contacts...blowing cold air again now.
I hate working on cars...a five minute fix that took an hour and a half to find lol
 
Changed hydro oil in the zero turn and replaced a noisy bearing that was going out in the pto clutch. New clutch at dealer was $190, new bearing at bearing house $25, I decided try replacing just the bearing and worked like a charm. Worst part was dealing with the belt tensioners and getting belt routed back right.
 
Had to travel to Indiana to bury an uncle last week...my last uncle who served in WWII.

A/C had quit working...probably a slow leak, so I thought I'd put a can of freon in to last me the trip.

"Hmmm...what's that hissing noise?"

Looked down at the $25 plume of freon shooting out from the bottom of my condenser...

The good news? I found that Craftsman wrench I lost last time I worked on the car. It was resting right up against (you guessed it) my condenser, where the plume was.

Just had it fixed yesterday. With all the other cr*p on my plate, I decided my time was valuable enough to pay someone else to fix it. I now have an ice machine in my car.
 
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HMP said:
Depending on situation, building might be better option.

Can never have too much shelving
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You are 100% correct. I can easily build exactly what I want for a fraction of the cost of what I'm seeing online and at the big box stores.
 
Converted a bandsaw from 220 to 110.

Looked at the lift for m,y wife's keep hardtop and wondered when it would be getting bolted to the ceiling. Might just hire a guy.
 
Not just today, but I've been sorting as well...
Still trying to get this mess,

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Into this

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JimB said:
Looked at the lift for m,y wife's keep hardtop and wondered when it would be getting bolted to the ceiling. Might just hire a guy.
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Ladder is still here. :D
 
Worked on more de cluttering for a garage sale Saturday. Really need the space to actually work on something and raise a little coin for my C10 project...
 
BigWaylon said:
Ladder is still here. :D
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I'm thinking levitation, if that fails then I'll fall back to a ladder. The truth is that I screwed up my back and can't lift the cordless drill above my head anyway so getting up there won't matter for a few weeks. Seriously going to end up paying someone to do this job.
 
There is nothing in my garage but a car and a small truck, with white painted walls and an epoxy floor. Nothing.

I guy and his wife were walking down the street and when they passed my driveway I could hear him say to his wife, "Ethel, that's sick!"

He wishes he had a 1000 sq ft walkout basement (that's full).
 
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Mirac said:
Not just today, but I've been sorting as well...
Still trying to get this mess,




Into this

image_20.jpeg
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Very nice, but looks like you got some empty slots that need filling!
Off to the hardware store for you!
 
That is a project I've been working on for a while now. Still need more hardware to fill up the holes though!
 
Fuel pump, filter, regulator, fuel level sending unit & float, it's all attached to the access plate.


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Here's the filter ( the shiny thing ) plugged into the pressure regulator.


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Is that a Dyna? The tank looks like my '04 Low Rider.
 
It's a pretty simple process to swap the filter out ( once you have everything out of the tank ). After I had everything back in with a new gasket, final step was to torque to 18-24 inch pounds. No problem if you have a Wheeler Engineering Fat Wrench.


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Since I knew I had to drain the tank for this job I ran the fuel level down to where there was only abut a half gallon left. Drained it into an empty jug I had for my mower. Refilled the motorcycle filling through a coffee filter. That was a slow process, takes time for the gas to percolate through the paper filter, But I feel better doing it that way.

Anyway, all done until the next "scheduled service".


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replaced the tps on the crx (thanks for the non removable honda, you dildos), which didnt fix the intermittent miss i was having. decided to do a tune up (less than 20k on the last one, but cheap enough to try). replace cap and rotor, and as i pull the plugs to begin swapping them one at a time, i notice its soaked with oil. turns out 3 of 4 cylinders are soaked with oil. i'm honestly surprised the car ran as good as it did. so looks like i need to do lower spark plug tube seals once i have a garage again.

but i did get all the oil out and put a buttload of dielectric grease on the wires to keep the oil out for now.
 
Have not picked it up yet, but I bought a torch and tanks from Mike here on the forum.
 
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