What did YOU do today?

[Curious Hound]

You need a permit to sell aluminum? Why? I can see for cats because theft...

Any non-ferrous. Copper gets stolen when thieves take wiring and AC units, same with aluminum. We've all see reports of people stealing cats. It's crazy and a royal PITA. I might have to register the explorer just so I can sell the cats. Might not be worth it.

 

[sgtsandman]

Got a bore scope from Amazon recently and finally pulled # 1 plug to take a look inside my 130k 3.0L. It runs great so I didn't expect to find anything, just wanted to see how the cylinder walls looked and look at the valves. Here's what I saw. Not to bad.

There is something in your spark plug hole that shouldn't be there. That might be a problem.

 

[JohnnyO]

Failed in my attempt to get to the World Of Wheels car show at the Convention Center. Pirate Fest is going on at the same time in the other half, everybody is going today because, you know, blizzard tomorrow, so Downtown Pittsburgh is gridlocked and every parking lot and parking garage is full.

 

[racsan]

Watched the livestream of the funeral today for my sister’s husband, double checked things are ready for the weather coming in. Was waiting for a rockauto order for my escape, noisy idler bearing for the serpintine belt. went & ordered a tentioner & belt also. needed the grooved idler & was sent the smooth one instead. Right part # in box, wrong part inside. Guess Im not doing that job tomorrow. Still looking at 9”-12” snow , guess I will be busy enough with that to deal with. Still fighting this cold & cough too.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Went with my brother to help one of his farmers market friends with their tractor, there's a thermistor that holds a fuel solenoid in that had gone out so that took some soldering and stuff... then we got back to my brothers and extracted a valve core that had broken in the rear tire on one of his tractors. Then he came with me to my house and we set some gopher traps in some mole tunnels (mole traps are harder to set correctly) then we got to the camper project, started off with sledge hammers breaking stuff up then switched to the sawzall which is where things went sideways, while cutting by the bed from inside sounded like a good idea at the time and I ended up riding the mattress down . I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow but I tucked in my arm instead of bracing, would have been on my bad shoulder so wouldn't have been good... after that my seam for that project was gone so we switched to making a burn barrel out of a water heater for the guy whos tractor we worked on (he had the water heater around, we offered...), he also gave me a fullsize truck aluminum diamond plate tool box.

Shortly I'll go back out to the shop to keep putzing around...

 

[JohnnyO]

Changed the oil in my wife's Pacifica today. It was 9* F outside. Luckily it was not windy or snowing yet.
Pretty easy to change the oil in a Pacifica, just drain it and the oil filter is on top of the engine.

 

[superj]

Dang, temp changed like they said it would wind chill is high 20s, supposedly. All i know is it sucks outside with the drizzly rain and wind.

ranger stuff:
Order 1" lift shackles for the rear.
Ordered the rapter looking grill
Aired the tires up since the cold droppwd the pressure down to 30

 

[Bill]

I decided to fix that leaky faucet. So, I drove over to Home Depot for some bibb washers and found they had a very limited selection. Someone working there suggest I buy the entire replacement valve for $29 each. I just told him I would go over to one of the independent hardware stores for the washers. His reply was, "you are going to waste an hour driving across town to save a few cents?" I briefly mention that I only need the washers and a pack of two will probably cost a dollar. That's saving $57 over buying a two new valves to fix a one dollar problem. He looked at me kind of befuddled as I walked away, and I started thinking that big box stores probably do this on purpose to get people to spend more over just replacing replaceable parts.

I got home, installed the new washers, no more leaky faucet. Then, I finally got to use the Made in USA cast iron cookware I ordered from Lodge and made delicious fajitas.

There was a little flyer in the box about a road trip series of cast iron skillets. So, I took a look.

American Road Trip Series

Did someone say road trip?! Celebrate America's 250th, the 50 states, and Washington, D.C. with commemorative, collectible skillets, launching between 2026 and 2028!

www.lodgecastiron.com

I think I want all 50 states, but I am going to have to settle for one or two. I think the California, Tennessee and Texas skillets have the best designs.

 

[Li'l Work Truck]

I've been sitting here all night, waiting on icy chaos. And waiting. ...and waiting. Nothing's happening. We got a little mist. It's 27°F outside, and quiet. None of the normal traffic. Nothing in the air. It's been really damn nice. I have wagered a Bojangles biscuit that it's not going to snow, and so far that's held. We'll see what the evening brings.