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The Garage

Well, I just put 3 bags in the freezer to get them ready for my next batch of wine. The production has slowed down a bit to about a 1/2 gallon bag in the morning's picking. But so far, 11.5 gallons picked this season. Gotta trade some out as Fig season about a month away and I have a tree load of them looking like.
 
Finally, more mechanic type work besides making wine and picking berries ( season over ) and picking figs ( just getting started good ).
Been wanting to replace the steering wheel on my '03 Chevy Silverado 1500 as it was wearing a good groove where where I held it with my left fingers. So, Ebay sighting on a used leather unit with air bag and all for 100 bucks.

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So it comes in and I'm gonna get it on quick as I have a couple steering wheel pullers.
WRONG! To YouTube I go and see where this guy made his own grinding some bolts. Well, off to Auto Zone I go and nada on having anything that would work. So, dig up a couple 5/16 by 1 1/2 bolts and nuts. Grind them to an oblong shape sticking out one side. UGH!!!!!!! Dummy, bolts too short to a set of 2" bolts and grind them. Cut a piece of 3/8 X 2 in flatbar and drilled holes for the bolts.
Get it rigged up , get a bind on it and tap it with a hammer and off it comes.
Now, the airbag connections are different so cut and butt connectors took care of that. Snap all into place, connect the battery. Horn works . Yea! Air bag light cycles and goes off, Yea! Start truck and turn it back and forth. All is good.
Now , next project is bottling some dew berry wine. LOL!
 
Changing spark plugs and wires on my '03 Chevy 5.3 liter was not a lot of fun. And my arms had some battle scars. But, I do promise you it's still near a dozen times easier than my '03 Vette. Sigh.
 
Changing spark plugs and wires on my '03 Chevy 5.3 liter was not a lot of fun. And my arms had some battle scars. But, I do promise you it's still near a dozen times easier than my '03 Vette. Sigh.

I've changed them on some vehicles that I thought were bad, but I know I haven't done any of the real bad one's. It amazes me the bodies that we shoehorn some of these engines into.
 
Well, finally got tired of having to put a charger on the truck after it sat for about 18 or more hours. So, had to step up and un-retire this mechanical/ electrical head. Sigh! 1st was a new battery as this one was a bit over 6 yrs old. And it did have a bad cell according to AutoZone. I really think the truck was jealous because I had to treat the Vette to a new battery a few months back.
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So, with new battery fully charged with Battery Tender before putting it in the testing began. Company gets here and testing prolong till the next morning and truck was down on voltage big time. So, Battery Tender back on for the day. The next morning > still the same 11.73 volts. Wow, that's some draw.
So, disconnect the Neg and back on charge and next day back up to 12.7v so the hunt begins after rigging up the vom on 10A scale from Batt Neg to Neg lead for truck. Yes, pulling some good amps. So, start pulling fuzes and when I pull the 10A A/C fuse, bingo. Got you. A/C relay sticking.
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So, 20 bucks later from the Chevy place, that's a done deal and my electrical system has been happy every since.
 
Presently watching the Truck A/C unit as I had to add a can of freon to it and don't like the pretty high Low side. But it's back cooling , but have not had it on the road for any time yet. It had froze up last time I had to do a 72 mile round trip so, the jury is still out on that.

And then there is the drivers side front tire on the Vette wearing way to goodly on the inside. So, off to my Buddy's front end shop for some more professional opinions since he does the alinement work on our vehicles. Yep, it's worn bad, how many miles on it now. 25K miles . But was a gap in procedures from 1st aliment when bought the car 2.5 yrs ago and then came new tires, new shocks, new wheel bearings. And near 18K miles since front tires on and notice uneven wear on the fronts. So had them alined. But damage to the tire structure was already done so the wear continued. So, a front tire change is coming up in the not to distance future.
 
So, update on the Vette happenings. Toyo tires from Walmart was a total of 213 bucks out the door for the pair. Then back home and jack up the front and pull the tires off and all is ready for the morning appointment to have changed and balanced at a friends shop that does a good spin balance. Next was putting them back on the car and torqued to 100 ft lbs. Put about 20 miles on them and then a date with Alinement. Around 50 bucks for Tire swap and balance and another 70 cash for the alinement and we happy with all now.

Did take Da Truck out yesterday for about 80 miles with the a/c on and it did good on the cooling and no icing at the evaporator so we just may be good there.

Only tragety lately was my 15 yr old Dixon Lawnmower have the left side hyd drive go away. Check all I could on it to no avail and since it's not made anymore, parts rare and even more, price of the hyd drive unit is 1200 bucks for one side. Husqvarna bought Dixon and shut them down years back. Sheesh!!!!!!!!!!. Be like Ford buying Chevy and quit making Chevy. So, parked it near the side of the road and told a few yard maintenance people that were working the hood that if they wanted it , come get it. Went on a few erronds up town and when I got back it was gone with a note on the door of whom picked it up.
With my small yard I really didn't need it anymore so not replacing it. My old ( 2004 ) Craftsman self propelled does the job and I can still get parts for it. And, when I gotta fix something on it, I reorder the parts I used so they be in stock. Last parts I had ordered took about 3 weeks to receive.
Well, think that about catches me up on the happening in the garage as Suzuki, Kawasaki , generator and power washer all doing just fine. ;-)
 
So, update on the Vette happenings. Toyo tires from Walmart was a total of 213 bucks out the door for the pair. Then back home and jack up the front and pull the tires off and all is ready for the morning appointment to have changed and balanced at a friends shop that does a good spin balance. Next was putting them back on the car and torqued to 100 ft lbs. Put about 20 miles on them and then a date with Alinement. Around 50 bucks for Tire swap and balance and another 70 cash for the alinement and we happy with all now.

Did take Da Truck out yesterday for about 80 miles with the a/c on and it did good on the cooling and no icing at the evaporator so we just may be good there.

Only tragety lately was my 15 yr old Dixon Lawnmower have the left side hyd drive go away. Check all I could on it to no avail and since it's not made anymore, parts rare and even more, price of the hyd drive unit is 1200 bucks for one side. Husqvarna bought Dixon and shut them down years back. Sheesh!!!!!!!!!!. Be like Ford buying Chevy and quit making Chevy. So, parked it near the side of the road and told a few yard maintenance people that were working the hood that if they wanted it , come get it. Went on a few erronds up town and when I got back it was gone with a note on the door of whom picked it up.
With my small yard I really didn't need it anymore so not replacing it. My old ( 2004 ) Craftsman self propelled does the job and I can still get parts for it. And, when I gotta fix something on it, I reorder the parts I used so they be in stock. Last parts I had ordered took about 3 weeks to receive.
Well, think that about catches me up on the happening in the garage as Suzuki, Kawasaki , generator and power washer all doing just fine. ;-)
:thumb: Read every word, I don't know why!
 
Well the latest to the Vette is getting oil leaks stopped and the dampner/pulley changed out by a shop I trust after checking out the work place and talking to the owner and mechanic. Not having the set up to do this and my old ailing body leads to letting others I trust work on my car.
So, after a week or so in their care, Front seal, pulley and cover gasket changed. Plus new water pump gaskets in the process.
Then the rear of the engine was seal and cover gasket. Then both oil pan gaskets Lower and upper.
Then the valve cover gaskets.
Then all the fluids replaced including the transmission.
2316 bucks later and a very happy camper with the car and the work performed.
 
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