What did YOU do today?

[racsan]

I went ahead & put the new front struts on my escape, wont be as warm next weekend & even though I will be taking the left side apart again to change that cv seal at least it wont be hard to get apart since some of it just was. Decided to not put in those leveling spacers, and because its a complete new assembly it’s sitting higher up front anyways. Measured it after a quick drive and both front & rear wheel well top openings are at 31.5 Before the front was almost 2” less.

 

[Rick W]

I just had the same darn thing with my F250 7.3. I finally got to the point on the to do list to find out why I lost vacuum to the Hvac, and I went out and it wouldn’t open off the remote, no power locks, no dome light. I checked the batteries, and they read 0.0. They’re 4 years old. I’m pretty sure the batteries are OK and it’s the trickle charger that died. I’ve used them for years, and they quit out of the blue, and you can’t tell by looking at them.

I don’t think I’ve driven the truck in 30 or 40 days, maybe more. I’m pretty religious on all my vehicles about using one of the Chinese six amp float charger/maintainers, and I had one on it. I put the smart charger on it and it wouldn’t even read that it was connected to the battery, it kept saying connect the clamps.

So I took out the dinosaur battery charger, and I put that on, on a 12 V/12 amp setting. I believe the batteries will come back to life. I’ve used the dinosaur charger before to get some charge into the battery, and then I swap to the smart charger and it will bring it up safely and level it out. Unfortunately, it usually takes two or three days. Unlike a lot of you guys, I don’t have to rely on the truck for transportation, nor do we have the real cold weather, so starting is a little more forgiving, if the batteries halfway decent.

On a different note, I finally put the distributor in the 88 Town Car. Isn’t it a great feeling when you turn the key on whatever and it actually starts? I have a few other much more minor things to do to that car, but it will be on the road this week. Actually, it’s the first time that cars been out of service for more than a few days since I got it in 2014. And when was the last time you looked under the hood of a 1988 vehicle, and the spark resistance shower cap was still on top of the distributor?

View attachment 120179

And one thing I had completely forgotten was that these two town cars got a few performance upgrades at the dealership, kind of like a Yemk Camaro, but it’s still an old fart car. All you guys and the literature said steel gear on the distributor, but I got it with 12,000 miles and it had a bronze gear that had nowhere on it whatsoever. I didn’t wanna go the cost of a replacement, talk to the dealer and another guy who does nothing but these older forwards, and they said if I had bronze and I knew the history, to go with the cast iron. So that’s what I did. I’ll be amazed if I put another 5000 miles on it before they liquidate it from my estate…

View attachment 120180

I have trickle chargers on the other Town Car and on the 78 Mark V. I’m going to put the smart charger on both of them overnight to clean up the charge and crank them in the morning in preparation for moving them out of the hole so I can clean them up and use them. I’ve been cranking them every two or three months and letting them warm up, but I haven’t driven those two on the road in over a year. I know that one of the town cars is going to go pretty soon. Probably the Mark V also, but I hate to sell that one.

I’m sure you know the situation. I have three Lincoln and three Ford trucks. I have start, stop, lights, instruments, windows go up and down, wipers, etc. Sounds good, huh? Unfortunately, all those features are kind of evenly spread out across the six vehicles, but I’m getting closer….

Update on the F250 7.3 batteries. After sleeping on it, I dug in the file this morning. The batteries aren’t four years old, I put them in in the beginning of 2018.

They had the Walmart Everstart Maxx batteries, group 65, 850 CCA. I have that exact same battery in both of the Rangers, and I think in one or two of the Lincoln’s. Never had an issue.

$139.75 each with a core. So it was $300 walk out the door. The hardest part was getting the bolts off the clamps without damaging anything. I used new green/red felt washers and new bolts. Started right up.

I moved it around back to do what I was going to do in the first place, which was chase down the vacuum that’s missing on my HVAC so it always stays on the windshield. Task for another day.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Update on the F250 7.3 batteries. After sleeping on it, I dug in the file this morning. The batteries aren’t four years old, I put them in in the beginning of 2018.

They had the Walmart Everstart Maxx batteries, group 65, 850 CCA. I have that exact same battery in both of the Rangers, and I think in one or two of the Lincoln’s. Never had an issue.

$139.75 each with a core. So it was $300 walk out the door. The hardest part was getting the bolts off the clamps without damaging anything. I used new green/red felt washers and new bolts. Started right up.

I moved it around back to do what I was going to do in the first place, which was chase down the vacuum that’s missing on my HVAC so it always stays on the windshield. Task for another day.

6 years is pretty good for batteries anymore, the dual batteries in that actually make it worse, once one starts going bad it will drag the other down with it... I've fought mine pretty hard over the years and having matched batteries helps the most... I ran two red top optimas for a while and one of the originals went bad pretty quick and got it warrantied then didn't have any other issues for like 4 years until another went... now I'm running two regular batteries...

Went to another auction today by my moms house, held back and didn't get too much... a .22 bolt action rifle (old JC Higgins/Savage 86), some NOS oil, some battery cables, post hole digger for the tractor (don't have an immediate use but $10...), spare 4kw generator for $25 identical to my other (probably give to my brother or one for the well and one for the house for an outage) then got an ATV/riding mower front wheel jack, one of those scissor transmission jacks ($10) and one of those scissor lift carts for $25...

Oh, it was raining pretty good today during the auction and I just took the '97 4x2 Ranger and they had us parking in a pasture... the road was a bit squishy on the way out but I was able to apply as much logic as possible and didn't get stuck! Conveniently I'd added like 500 pounds to the bed that I'm sure helped a lot... several people had to get pulled out or pushed but I'm sure they stopped for obstacles or used too much throttle instead of just using some momentum and keeping the wheels turning ground speed instead of faster... that and I was able to not follow the ruts, not sure why everyone was using the same ruts...

 

[Rick W]

I’m curious, I’d like to take a little informal survey on this.

The big Walmart near me now has Wi-Fi electric brakes on the back wheels of their shopping carts. The observer at the door to the parking lot has some kind of clicker/remote in his her pocket that deactivates the brakes as you walk through the sliding doors. The signal that locks them up is also present at the perimeter entrances and exits to the parking lot, so the cart can’t be taken off the property without carrying them. It’s the first time I noticed them at Walmart.

The Home Depot a mile down the road from me put them on their shopping cart about six or eight months ago.

I think they are a great idea for loss prevention, but it’s also a very sad indicator of the times we live in.

Do your shopping cards have the smart brakes wherever you live? Might be a good indication of where I want to ultimately retire to.

 

[Jazzer]

None of that here in north Indy but I’d imagine they’d start with the highest loss stores. WM did install alarmed electric entrance gates last year as people were taking cartloads out the in door and the greeters had no communication with loss prevention staff.

 

[snoranger]

I finally got some time to do some work on the oversized butcher block countertop for my island.

 

[racsan]

I’m curious, I’d like to take a little informal survey on this.

The big Walmart near me now has Wi-Fi electric brakes on the back wheels of their shopping carts. The observer at the door to the parking lot has some kind of clicker/remote in his her pocket that deactivates the brakes as you walk through the sliding doors. The signal that locks them up is also present at the perimeter entrances and exits to the parking lot, so the cart can’t be taken off the property without carrying them. It’s the first time I noticed them at Walmart.

The Home Depot a mile down the road from me put them on their shopping cart about six or eight months ago.

I think they are a great idea for loss prevention, but it’s also a very sad indicator of the times we live in.

Do your shopping cards have the smart brakes wherever you live? Might be a good indication of where I want to ultimately retire to.

the local kroger store (bigger one with a gas station) has those, theres a perimeter wire that somehow will cause special wheels diagonal on every cart to lock when you go past “the line”. Haven’t seen them anywhere else. To my knowledge theres no remote that can activate. From the looks of the special wheels, there’s a pin that goes out from the side that will catch the wheel bracket, causing it to lock up. Interestingly enough there’s another smaller krogers across town that doesn’t have that stuff- but.,,, this big krogers is near a housing complex where people used to take their groceries alllll the way home, then just leave the carts -wherever-. I think this “cart control “ has been in place for a good couple of years now. You know, every wheel gotta have batteries of some sort that someone has to change. That would be quite a pain, No idea how many carts, but whatever it is- 2 wheels per cart.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I finally got some time to do some work on the oversized butcher block countertop for my island.

View attachment 120246

Dang... you butcher a moose on that.

 

[Rick W]

the local kroger store (bigger one with a gas station) has those, theres a perimeter wire that somehow will cause special wheels diagonal on every cart to lock when you go past “the line”. Haven’t seen them anywhere else. To my knowledge theres no remote that can activate. From the looks of the special wheels, there’s a pin that goes out from the side that will catch the wheel bracket, causing it to lock up. Interestingly enough there’s another smaller krogers across town that doesn’t have that stuff- but.,,, this big krogers is near a housing complex where people used to take their groceries alllll the way home, then just leave the carts -wherever-. I think this “cart control “ has been in place for a good couple of years now. You know, every wheel gotta have batteries of some sort that someone has to change. That would be quite a pain, No idea how many carts, but whatever it is- 2 wheels per cart.

Home Depot only has them on one wheel. Walmart had them on two. I never tried to take one off the property, but I got stuck a couple times when I was walking out of the store into the parking lot. The gal who watches the self check outs, took out a magic wand and said “OK. You can go now,” and it unlocked. It’s very strong and very sudden for something that’s about the size of a soup can lid. I couldn’t budge the cart when it was on.

Q? On the batteries, is it possible that the wheel spinning on the hub is somehow also a generator? So as you push it around the store it’s charging an internal battery? I think I’m going to research it, I’m curious as hell.

 

[snoranger]

Dang... you butcher a moose on that.

That’s not the plan, but it’s always an option. I need to have the island done for Thanksgiving… I’m sick of the plywood countertop. (But it does make a good work bench.)

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Saturday night I got a call from my friend Lisa, apparently her alternator took a dump. 262k miles and apparently the original alternator. Took the battery with it, it was showing 0.64 volts and refused to take a charge. Of course the alternator wasn’t the common one so it wasn’t in-stock in most parts stores but we managed to track one down. Put a new belt on it while it was apart. Battery was fortunately still under warranty so that got swapped. Did an oil change and got her winter tires on while I was there too. Winter tires needed new valve stems, that was a bit of a pain, I might see about buying the valve stem replacement tool. So that was my Sunday and Monday. Then Monday after I was done I stopped at my buddy Paul’s to finish the crossmember for dad’s Ranger plus the ramps for the tow dolly.

 

[Bill]

I read an article about Advance Auto closing all its stores on the West Coast. It doesn't surprise me. They are the most expensive auto parts store.

https://fox40.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-advance-auto-parts-is-closing-hundreds-of-stores-in-an-effort-to-turn-its-business-around/

 

[pjtoledo]

now that it's cold outside some heavy duty cleaning & maintenance in the basement is in order.
the ways & screws are all gummed up
that table is hea-vy.

 

[sgtsandman]

I read an article about Advance Auto closing all its stores on the West Coast. It doesn't surprise me. They are the most expensive auto parts store.

https://fox40.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-advance-auto-parts-is-closing-hundreds-of-stores-in-an-effort-to-turn-its-business-around/

Interesting. They are about the same as AutoZone and O'Reilly's where I live. NAPA, on the other hand, is more expensive.

 

[Rick W]

Interesting. They are about the same as AutoZone and O'Reilly's where I live. NAPA, on the other hand, is more expensive.

Ditto for me in Atlanta. Advance is a couple pennies more than AutoZone and O’Reillys, but at least by me they have some pretty good experienced guys behind the counters. I really don’t do much with O’Reilly, there’s not one close. I use AutoZone if I can figure out what I need and I can get out of the store with it, not many experienced guys behind the counters, just parts movers.

One of the regional warehouses for NAPA is pretty close to me and they also have a retail counter. The nice thing about going there is they have everything all the time, they have experienced people as well, but they are definitely higher priced.

Honestly, I buy 90% of what I’m going to need online these days.

Having said that, the alternator I got from eBay/parts geek online for the road Ranger crapped out within 30 miles, maybe 50 miles after I put it in. I’m debating taking it apart and see if I can fix it, but that violates the return warranty. It’s the third thing in a row that came in wrong or defective from parts geek, so I may have to retire them from my sources. I’ve had people visiting who leave in the morning, so I’ll figure it out this Sunday