What did YOU do today?

[SenorNoob]

I hear rumors of those things. My truck has only visited a shop 3 times in it's life. Twice for alignment and once to get fuel pressure checked cause I didn't have a tester and neither did the 2 parts stores in town. I take my wheels in for tire changes these days. It's just safer. I've heard a couple co-workers say they've been told that anything over 10 years or 200K is off limits. Every shop in town can afford to be kinda picky these days. Most have work lined up for at least a month.

 

[sgtsandman]

One thing that I've read is shops are flat out refusing to do anything on cars over a certain age or mileage. I had one here that told me they wouldn't do an alignment on high mileage vehicles due to wear on the suspension. When I told them I replaced everything, they said they don't do alignment on vehicles customers worked on themselves. Anyway, this is an Escape.

Which leads back to my one comment about them not wanting to do the work, so throw out an outlandish quote to discourage the customer.

 

[sgtsandman]

I take my wheels in for tire changes these days. It's just safer.

I do the same. There is less questions and second guessing that way since none of my tires are the stock size or, in the case of my girlfriend's vehicle, is not available to take to the shop for a tire change.

 

[superj]

Filled up the 04 today. 2.53 a gallon

 

[Blmpkn]

We got 6-8" of snow over night.. so in preparation I brought the ranger over to my uncle's where it'll live the rest of the winter in his garage yesterday afternoon. Apparently didn't get all the air out of the cooling system when I dumped the water and filled it with antifreeze awhile back.. air bubble right at the sensor had the guage pegged the whole ride over lol.

Took another rip on his twice-by-side too... RZR 1000 turbo.... That thing is innnsaaaaaaane. 170hp in something that weighs under a half ton... I really wish I had more money for toys.

 

[Robertmangrum.rm]

Sure, there are a lot of variables and shop rates are higher here. But, I read posts from all over the country stating similar things, and some odd things from shops. One thing that I've read is shops are flat out refusing to do anything on cars over a certain age or mileage. I had one here that told me they wouldn't do an alignment on high mileage vehicles due to wear on the suspension. When I told them I replaced everything, they said they don't do alignment on vehicles customers worked on themselves. Anyway, this is an Escape. It's not like parts are hard to find. The work that needs to be done on it is easy work. I would really prefer working on an Escape than some of the cars that are designed to take 10 hours to remove 34 things to replace a $35 part.

Another thing I've noticed is pricing for maintenance things are hourly now. No more $200 per axle brake jobs (for most vehicles). The shops are also charging insane prices for parts. The rotors that are $50 on Rockauto that are $110 at Autozone are costing the customer $200.

Funny story. When I ordered my carrier bearing. I called the local dealer, we buy parts at a discounted dealer price through and they wanted $98 for the part. I called the dealer I bought the truck through and it was only $65. Funny how much is the difference between 2 dealers less than 20 miles apart for the same part.

 

[Rick W]

You guys know how cheap I am. When I added the axle to the Road Ranger the clutch was slipping a little bit. I got to thinking about that trailer and carrying a load, so I went to a stage three clutch like you’d use in the dragster. I bypassed the stage two, because the stage three I got with bolt right in. Now that I’ve had it, it’s actually just right.

But, the reason I’m mentioning it, that’s when I was still pretty sick and beat up so I took it to some “friends” in a NAPA shop that mostly works on classic cars. I didn’t ask the price in advance. I provided all the parts, and it was only $1200 to pull a trans out put it in and put the trans back. I think they did something else little. It was 50% more than I paid for the truck! Haven’t been back since, and I found all kinds of energy to lay on the ground and do some more myself.

 

[Rick W]

I struggled if I should put this in what did you do today or what did you do to your Ranger today. “Do“ implies that you got something done. That really didn’t happen. And what I did to my Ranger, was I put over 35 miles on it going to the office depot that’s 3.8 miles from my house.

I have a beautiful HP 7740 printer. 11 x 17 all in one print, scan, etc. It’s absolutely gorgeous. It doesn’t print, but it’s a real beauty. I need the 11 x 17 for my engineering work.

When I bought it several years ago, coincidentally, there was an HP rep in the store when I went looking. When asked about using remanufactured ink or refilling the ink, he said “HP doesn’t like it, but you can do it.“. So I bought it. I’ve been very happy with it for the first four or five years.

Then HP started doing updates that have nothing to do with the functionality of the printer, they are to defeat the aftermarket ink cartridges, which are 1/3 the cost of the HP cartridges, and there is no discernible difference in the quality of the printing.

Up until a week or 10 days ago, I could push a few extra buttons, and the remanufactured cartridges would still work.

Side step, I bought a new computer/laptop because my old one kept choking on “not enough storage.” I had it about a month and a half and still hadn’t changed my stuff over, so I bit the bullet and went to the computer store and they changed everything over and set it up for $150. Money well spent.

While they were doing it, they looked at the memory in my old computer which I want to keep and use for a sign cutting machine for graphics for my toys, and they said it really didn’t have a problem with the memory, but almost 40% of it was HP stuff. When they took out everything except the actual printer drivers, the old machine worked fine.

I hooked up the new one to the HP printer, which was working fine with remanufactured cartridges a week ago, and I got an error message.

In the last two days, I have bought about $150 in genuine HP cartridges, and I have spent almost 6 hours on tech-support on the phone. Lincoln got to ride around in the truck, but on the fifth trip, he was a little bored. And now all the cartridges appear to function properly except the red cartridge. And I did get another red cartridge and swapped it out.

View attachment 122395
If you look at the top, you’ll probably immediately realize that this call was incredibly swift because I had already learned a lot of the system from the previous two phone calls.

I firmly believe, if I spend enough money, in the next two or three days, I will be able to print a single sheet of paper.



If not, I think I’m going to put my big toe and granddaddy‘s vice and crank it until it’s flat as a sheet of paper while I put a salty pretzel in my eye as deep as my ear. It will take less time, be less painful, and just as productive.

Later tonight, I’m going to see if I can rig something to reach inside and clean the printer side contacts for the red cartridge…..

I never could get the 7740 to print. I think it may be a hardware glitch where the red cartridge plugs in. I broke down and bought all HP cartridges, but it won’t recognize the red.

I had an HP 8610 downstairs. With my old laptop in the bedroom, I could print out on that printer on the other side of the house. The last time I did it was 10 days or two weeks ago. When the 7740 wouldn’t print, I brought it upstairs and I plugged it into the new laptop with all cable.

Wouldn’t do anything, wouldn’t even recognize the printer was there. The new laptop was just cross loaded from everything that was on the old laptop, and it still had the same cartridges in it.

I spent a couple hours and finally downloaded the printer assistant software and driver. I don’t want my laptop or printed connected directly to HP through the HP smart app. smart for them, not so smart for us. Finally bought some new aftermarket cartridges. It recognizes the three color ones, but won’t recognize the black.

but I finally figured out how to get color on my paper. If I open the 8610 and put a sheet of paper on the glass, and then I lay my head on the glass, and then a friend throws the 7740 on top of my head, I can get Red on the page. A whole lot easier than trying to deal with HP.

I have two perfectly good printers and I’m going to look for a printer tomorrow. I need one that will do 11 x 17 for my engineering.

I feel like I’ve been in a street fight

 

[Blmpkn]

Spent all day taking down industrial shelving. Woulda given OSHA a fit lol.. party poopers.

Everything is scrapyard bound so I snagged myself a few good 8 foot sections of 1x4 3/16" c-channel.. rough guestimate on the dimensions. Whatever it measures out to be.. I figure it's good steel to repurpose into the off-road camper I've been dreaming of building for awhile hell yeah. Just need an axle kit and figure out what to do about a tounge that already has numbers and a registration.

 

[Rick W]

I never could get the 7740 to print. I think it may be a hardware glitch where the red cartridge plugs in. I broke down and bought all HP cartridges, but it won’t recognize the red.

I had an HP 8610 downstairs. With my old laptop in the bedroom, I could print out on that printer on the other side of the house. The last time I did it was 10 days or two weeks ago. When the 7740 wouldn’t print, I brought it upstairs and I plugged it into the new laptop with all cable.

Wouldn’t do anything, wouldn’t even recognize the printer was there. The new laptop was just cross loaded from everything that was on the old laptop, and it still had the same cartridges in it.

I spent a couple hours and finally downloaded the printer assistant software and driver. I don’t want my laptop or printed connected directly to HP through the HP smart app. smart for them, not so smart for us. Finally bought some new aftermarket cartridges. It recognizes the three color ones, but won’t recognize the black.

but I finally figured out how to get color on my paper. If I open the 8610 and put a sheet of paper on the glass, and then I lay my head on the glass, and then a friend throws the 7740 on top of my head, I can get Red on the page. A whole lot easier than trying to deal with HP.

I have two perfectly good printers and I’m going to look for a printer tomorrow. I need one that will do 11 x 17 for my engineering.

I feel like I’ve been in a street fight

Me (sort of):

Lincoln (sort of):

After about two weeks, after buying four sets of printer cartridges, and breaking down and buying a new printer…

I PRINTED TWO SHEETS OF PAPER!

TWO SHEETS!!!

(that’s about $250 a page so far.)

 

[2drxploder]

i have been mia for a minute. trying to make better decisions in general. 3.5 weeks no cigs/nicotene
edit: i feel great n yes im bragging no shame on this one

 

[mikkelstuff]

My lovely wife Liz passed away Monday after a 5 year battle with ovarian cancer. Please be sure your women know the warning signs for this silent killer.

Today was a day to finish up notifying friends and to begin that awful chore of rounding up the stuff no longer needed, meds, etc.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

My lovely wife Liz passed away Monday after a 5 year battle with ovarian cancer. Please be sure your women know the warning signs for this silent killer.

Today was a day to finish up notifying friends and to begin that awful chore of rounding up the stuff no longer needed, meds, etc.

My condolences

 

[sgtsandman]

My lovely wife Liz passed away Monday after a 5 year battle with ovarian cancer. Please be sure your women know the warning signs for this silent killer.

Today was a day to finish up notifying friends and to begin that awful chore of rounding up the stuff no longer needed, meds, etc.

What does one really say to that? "I'm sorry for your loss" doesn't seem to cover it.

We'll try our best to be there for you as much as an online group can be. Aside from private messaging, we also have a section for talking about mental health and dealing with issues. That may or may not be an option that interests you.

 

[Rick W]

Prayers, prayers, prayers…

I firmly believe it works, I firmly believe it helps, it doesn’t cost me anything, and there’s always room for everyone in need.

I hope it helps