What did YOU do today?

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Your level of optimism is an inspiration to us all

Oh I know I was being really generous with that. Not so much optimist. More generous. Fridge temperature is probably more accurate.

 

[sgtsandman]

It's not just ford.

I had a Honda dealer tell me they couldn't tell what kind of battery was in a Honda civic without the VIN, absolutely 100% impossible to know.

"Can I just have the same battery as I have here, it's the original battery."

"We have no way to look up what the part number for this is"

"What about the part number on the battery?"

"we just don't have any way to check that, we need the VIN"


"Great, thanks anyway."


Off I went to the auto parts warehouse around the corner to buy a replacement battery without the VIN.

I had one change the rear lower control arms because the bushings were bad. It was under warranty, so if they wanted to do the extra work instead of replacing the bushings, no skin off my nose. When you do that job, you have to disconnect the brake lines because of how the suspension and braking system is designed. They never bled the brakes after installing the new control arms. It was late in the evening when I picked up and drove it home and I had to work the next morning. So, I bled the brakes myself, on ramps, in the driveway, with a torpedo heater pointed under the vehicle because it was F^&*ing cold. The person who called later for a customer satisfaction survey regretted making the call. The same with the manager that called later to follow up. I never used that service department again.

 

[JoshT]

Already covered it in another thread, a lot more long winded than this one, but today I messed up again...

Doing a partial rebuild on my car's front end. New CV axles, wheel bearings, and brakes. Basically throwing the buckzooka at it to get rid of a persistant squeel when in motion, and replacing the CV axles while in there since a boot was bad.

I started teardown a week ago. First time doing wheel bearings on a car like this. It's got a single bearing that presses into the knuckle from the inside, then the hub into the bearing from the outside, then once installed the CV stub shaft kind of holds it all together. Not really possible to remove the hub without destroying the bearing. One if the inner races stays stuck to the hub and not practical to try to remove it. When you take it apart you're pretty much replacing both. Read that before starting, but my first time seeing how it all comes apart first hand.

All went well on disassembly. Got the knuckle assemblies broke down. In process of reassembling the first and pressing the new hub in something felt funny. Turns out I Was pressing in the wrong spond and trashed that bearing. Strike one bearing and hub set. Knew what I was doing and the second went well. Went home and ordered more new parts to try again, then out of comission (for shop work) for the rest of the week due to medical.

FF to this afternoon. Didn't sleep much last night and should have just went home after work, but I want to get this thing back together. Got the messed up hub broken back down. New bearing smoothly presses right into the knuckle. Get the new hub pressed in about half way and realized I made a mistake. The disc brake dust shield is still sitting on top of the tool box, it has to go on between installing the hub and bearing. OOPS! Only way to install it now is remove the hub, and removing the hub is going to ruin the bearing and possibly the hub too.

I put everything down for the afternoon and went home. Hopefully by the time I get off work tomorrow I'll decide how to proceed.

A) Continue pressing hub in, forget shield until next time, and finish in a few evenings.

B) Order another new hub and bearing from RA for $60 (same as previous sets) and wait another 1-2 weeks to finish.

C) Buy another new bearing and hub locally for $130 and finish this weekend. (I've only got $120 total into the two sets I messed up for same brand parts.)

Worst that is likely to happen from not reinstalling the shield is premature wear on the bearing. If I take it back apart now I definitely destroy bearing. Leaning towards plan A, get what life I can out of the bearing and fix it next time. That is if there is a next time, it is a 200k mile Kia.

 

[Rick W]

Already covered it in another thread, a lot more long winded than this one, but today I messed up again...

Doing a partial rebuild on my car's front end. New CV axles, wheel bearings, and brakes. Basically throwing the buckzooka at it to get rid of a persistant squeel when in motion, and replacing the CV axles while in there since a boot was bad.

I started teardown a week ago. First time doing wheel bearings on a car like this. It's got a single bearing that presses into the knuckle from the inside, then the hub into the bearing from the outside, then once installed the CV stub shaft kind of holds it all together. Not really possible to remove the hub without destroying the bearing. One if the inner races stays stuck to the hub and not practical to try to remove it. When you take it apart you're pretty much replacing both. Read that before starting, but my first time seeing how it all comes apart first hand.

All went well on disassembly. Got the knuckle assemblies broke down. In process of reassembling the first and pressing the new hub in something felt funny. Turns out I Was pressing in the wrong spond and trashed that bearing. Strike one bearing and hub set. Knew what I was doing and the second went well. Went home and ordered more new parts to try again, then out of comission (for shop work) for the rest of the week due to medical.

FF to this afternoon. Didn't sleep much last night and should have just went home after work, but I want to get this thing back together. Got the messed up hub broken back down. New bearing smoothly presses right into the knuckle. Get the new hub pressed in about half way and realized I made a mistake. The disc brake dust shield is still sitting on top of the tool box, it has to go on between installing the hub and bearing. OOPS! Only way to install it now is remove the hub, and removing the hub is going to ruin the bearing and possibly the hub too.

I put everything down for the afternoon and went home. Hopefully by the time I get off work tomorrow I'll decide how to proceed.

A) Continue pressing hub in, forget shield until next time, and finish in a few evenings.

B) Order another new hub and bearing from RA for $60 (same as previous sets) and wait another 1-2 weeks to finish.

C) Buy another new bearing and hub locally for $130 and finish this weekend. (I've only got $120 total into the two sets I messed up for same brand parts.)

Worst that is likely to happen from not reinstalling the shield is premature wear on the bearing. If I take it back apart now I definitely destroy bearing. Leaning towards plan A, get what life I can out of the bearing and fix it next time. That is if there is a next time, it is a 200k mile Kia.

Can you slot cut the shield and work it around the assembly? Just a thought.

 

[JoshT]

Can you slot cut the shield and work it around the assembly? Just a thought.

Not the way this one is made. Creating a slot that would fit would leave a large enough gap in the protection that it would defeat the purpose of having the shield. If I wanted to take a few day completely reengineer the shield with a removable section I could probably do it, but that isn't a reasonable option and could cause problems if that section it wanted to yeet itself going down the road.

Only viable options are tear it down and replace everything again, or run without.


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EDIT: More detail...

Here's the brake shield or one very similar to it. There is a raised lip around the center portion that cups and encircles the bearing 360°. That lip prevents any chance of being able to slit it and slip it in. Both in space available to work and the shape preventing flexability.

To squeeze it in with the hub as is I'd have to cut out and remove this whole portion.

That would remove 1/3 of the protection for the bearing. It's also decrease regidity of the piece (probably wouldn't matter much), and be open at the location where debris is most likely to enter since there is no other shield there and it's open around the caliper. Since the front calipers sit forward and slightly high of center, it would probably give a perfect path for debris to enter that space and get trapped. IMO without the remain 2/3 of the bearing shield there, any debris that enter will have a better chance of falling back out instead of being trapped.

 

[superj]

It's not just ford.

I had a Honda dealer tell me they couldn't tell what kind of battery was in a Honda civic without the VIN, absolutely 100% impossible to know.

"Can I just have the same battery as I have here, it's the original battery."

"We have no way to look up what the part number for this is"

"What about the part number on the battery?"

"we just don't have any way to check that, we need the VIN"


"Great, thanks anyway."


Off I went to the auto parts warehouse around the corner to buy a replacement battery without the VIN.

my wife would have had us leave after that conversation because she knows i would have told them how stupid they sound and how that generally doesn't help anyone's cause (though it makes me feel better).

 

[Rick W]

Not the way this one is made. Creating a slot that would fit would leave a large enough gap in the protection that it would defeat the purpose of having the shield. If I wanted to take a few day completely reengineer the shield with a removable section I could probably do it, but that isn't a reasonable option and could cause problems if that section it wanted to yeet itself going down the road.

Only viable options are tear it down and replace everything again, or run without.


---------------------------

EDIT: More detail...

Here's the brake shield or one very similar to it. There is a raised lip around the center portion that cups and encircles the bearing 360°. That lip prevents any chance of being able to slit it and slip it in. Both in space available to work and the shape preventing flexability.

View attachment 141949

To squeeze it in with the hub as is I'd have to cut out and remove this whole portion.

View attachment 141950

That would remove 1/3 of the protection for the bearing. It's also decrease regidity of the piece (probably wouldn't matter much), and be open at the location where debris is most likely to enter since there is no other shield there and it's open around the caliper. Since the front calipers sit forward and slightly high of center, it would probably give a perfect path for debris to enter that space and get trapped. IMO without the remain 2/3 of the bearing shield there, any debris that enter will have a better chance of falling back out instead of being trapped.

Understood. I’m not pushing my point, I’m just “blue skying” hoping it helps.

Question: does this get pinched in the assembly, pinched in place? Or do the three bolt holes hold it with bolts behind the rotating assembly?

If behind, for the area you indicated with the red cross marks, could you cut that through on one side, and cut it from the inside out about halfway on the other side (or maybe just cut into the bolt hole), and then fold out that piece, put it in place, and fold it back, and then hold it in place with a dab of JB weld or something like that on the front and on the back of that shield?

Maybe heat the area if you’re going to bend so it doesn’t fatigue crack, when going out and coming back in.

And, Yes, I started my professional engineering career in Africa, but I was working for the British…

As always, hope it helps

 

[JoshT]

Understood. I’m not pushing my point, I’m just “blue skying” hoping it helps.

Question: does this get pinched in the assembly, pinched in place? Or did the three bolt holes hold it with bolts behind the rotating assembly?

If behind, for the area you indicated with the red cross marks, could you cut that through on one side, and cut it from the inside out about halfway on the other side (or maybe just cut into the bolt hole), and then fold out that piece, put it in place, and fold it back, and then hold it in place with a day above JB weld or something like that on the front and on the back of that shield?

Maybe heat the area if you’re going to bend so it doesn’t fatigue crack, when going out and coming back in.

And, Yes, I started my professional engineering career in Africa, but I was working for the British…

As always, hope it helps

Naw, I appreciate the spit balling and brain storming. Unfortunately the ideas proposed I've already considered and dismissed.

Even the suggestion there. That inner circumference fits snugly around a raised lip on the spindle, and not enough room between the hub and knuckle to slip it past and drop down over lip.

I order to fit it around the raised part of the assembly I'd have to cut one side and bend it around greater than 90 degrees so that it makes a U shape and can slip past the knuckle.

Even if I did that I wouldn't trust it to remain in place once back on the road. Even if I cut across the bolt holes I wouldn't trust it. I'd rather a pebble get in there and fall back out than the shield turn loose and get wedged between the rotor and knuckle or caliper. That's exactly what would happen if it turned loose.

Pretty much decided to run without for now. It may lead to a shorter bearing life, but if I remove the hub to install it, the bearing is destroyed anyway.

 

[Rick W]

Naw, I appreciate the spit balling and brain storming. Unfortunately the ideas proposed I've already considered and dismissed.

Even the suggestion there. That inner circumference fits snugly around a raised lip on the spindle, and not enough room between the hub and knuckle to slip it past and drop down over lip.

I order to fit it around the raised part of the assembly I'd have to cut one side and bend it around greater than 90 degrees so that it makes a U shape and can slip past the knuckle.

Even if I did that I wouldn't trust it to remain in place once back on the road. Even if I cut across the bolt holes I wouldn't trust it. I'd rather a pebble get in there and fall back out than the shield turn loose and get wedged between the rotor and knuckle or caliper. That's exactly what would happen if it turned loose.

Pretty much decided to run without for now. It may lead to a shorter bearing life, but if I remove the hub to install it, the bearing is destroyed anyway.

Again, understood. Let me be the first one to step up and say I think you screwed yourself!

Just keep in mind if this kind of thing is the worst that happens to us we’re in good shape

 

[JoshT]

Again, understood. Let me be the first one to step up and say I think you screwed yourself!

Just keep in mind if this kind of thing is the worst that happens to us we’re in good shape

Nope, I think you're the second. I'm pretty certain that was close to the next thing out of my mouth after "well... sh!t". Like I said, pretty well got my bases covered on thinking through this one.

I agree with you second line.

My BIL used to be a dealership mechanic working on cars similar to this one, so I picked his brain this afternoon to see if he might have a trick to getting it apart. No joy, and he pretty much came up with the same solutions that we did. Also said he ran his car (Honda) without shields for years with no issues. Pretty sure I'm going to reassemble as is, and rock on. Gots a lot of big stuff happening in the coming months, and need this little project off my plate and out of mind. The knuckle isn't that difficult to remove, so I might fix it next time I do brakes (assuming the new bearings last that long). At least then I'll have put some miles on it instead of tearing up a new bearing.

The quick version of the big stuff coming is that is my sister and I are about to become joint owners on just under 90 acres of land Almost 15 acres good for building (more like 8-9 mostly cleared) and a bit over 70 mostly wooded on the other side of the railroad tracks. It comes with a few extra challenges including existing structures, zoning, and a conservation agreement, but I think we can get through all of that. At currenty we're both intending to build there, they are wanting to start building within the year, I'm probably a couple years out. Fortunately I think we get along well enoug to coexist on the 15 acre side. Lots of stuff to do and figure out including helping mom get things cleaned up and organized at her place so that they can sell and move in while building.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So aside from seeing a pair of bald Eagles flying in formation about 30’ away today…

I finished putting the brush hog together and cut more than I expected off the driveshaft I had (nothing like cutting a $300 plus driveshaft twice to fit ehh?), I mowed most of my property for the first time this year.

The brush hog apparently needs work yet. Driveshaft clearancing, bigger front skids, tail wheel adjustment (it fell off on the third lap) and some deck repair because it started to tear. Relatively minor things.

The good news is that I finally got to actually work my 1950 farm tractor a bit and it did great and the brush hog is impressive. I also could use a brush guard on the tractor, lol. But it will cut. Boy will it cut. Don’t run over anything you don’t want mulched. It also mows way faster than my lawn tractor. 6” wider cut than my lawn tractor but it makes a difference. Only stalled it once, think I hit a bigger stump bit, lol. The restart powered through. I was only a little off idle the whole time. Used less gas than the lawn tractor too. Just had a cigar to celebrate.

 

[JoshT]

I finished putting the brush hog together and cut more than I expected off the driveshaft I had (nothing like cutting a $300 plus driveshaft twice to fit ehh?), I mowed most of my property for the first time this year.

The brush hog apparently needs work yet. Driveshaft clearancing, bigger front skids, tail wheel adjustment (it fell off on the third lap) and some deck repair because it started to tear. Relatively minor things.

That's part of the other projects too. Haven't fired my mower up to cut the yard yet this year. Also need to get things situated so I can load up dad's tractor and brushhog and go cut the new property. It's not bad considering, but a cutting would help with ticks and stuff while we're getting other things sorted.

 

[Things2do]

I love when things go right!

That thing did... But I also bought a multimeter last Monday on eBay. The USPS tracking says that it was delivered last Thursday, but I still haven't figured out where it went. No one in the building has seen it and I haven't been able to catch the mailman to ask if he remembers putting it somewhere. Luckily it was only $16, so I'm not out a whole lot if it was stolen, but we've never had package theft problems here and it should have been a relatively small and generic looking box.
The printer isn't perfect. It sometimes lays plastic down a little funny, the printing surface of the bed is pretty well shot, and trying to get it leveled is an ongoing adventure.

I popped the cover off today and my motherboard is compatible with the leveling probe, which I can get from Creality's official outlet eBay store for $20, so now I have to decide if I want to more than double my investment to trick it out with an automated leveling probe and a new hot end and stuff to at least double the print speed or if I want to leave it alone. Since I don't have a practical use for it in mind leaving it alone would be smarter, especially when my Ranger needs pretty much all of the suspension gone through, but it would be fun. It's already quieter than my roommate's year newer Ender 3 Pro, and for what he paid for his in 2021 I believe that I can make mine print more than twice as fast as his does while still being quieter. And I don't even have the motherboard version that somehow makes the stepper motors significantly quieter.

Got a MicroCenter nearby?

There's one about 25 miles clear across Denver. With traffic that's probably at least 3 gallons of gas.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

That's part of the other projects too. Haven't fired my mower up to cut the yard yet this year. Also need to get things situated so I can load up dad's tractor and brushhog and go cut the new property. It's not bad considering, but a cutting would help with ticks and stuff while we're getting other things sorted.

All of my mowing devices have been some form of broken since the fall. Most of my property is no problem for a lawn tractor but there’s a lot of brush/saplings that I want to clear out so the brush hog seemed the better thing to fix first.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Well it’s been a day…

Been planning a fuel run possibly plus some other stuff in the F-150 and it’s due for an oil change so I figured I’d take care of that, give it a once-over, and possibly knock out a couple little issues on it. Been trying not to spend a lot of time or money on it because it’s in rough shape these days. Well, the drivers side radius arm mount is toasted. Explains why it felt like something wasn’t right the last time it was out. Both bushings are also junk. Really didn’t want to deal with this but here we are. Called over where my cab and frame are stored (because the township won’t let me have it here where I need it) and had them check on my frame, said the mounts are good, so I guess I’m going to chisel them off the frame tomorrow.

Moved on to the oil change. Got the pan drained and moved to the filter. Tried to be careful but I dropped the filter anyway. It nailed the pan and everything scattered. Pan flipped, oil filter bounced around slinging oil…

Oil is now changed. Also replaced a blown fuse, I suspect it got blown from faulty trailer wiring that’s since been replaced but I never checked the fuses so I didn’t go looking for more problems. Stuck a couple screws in my shifter boot that’s been loose for the last like 10 years. Put some more baling wire on the exhaust.

Then I loaded up the Choptop for tomorrow’s adventure of fetching parts. I need the green Ranger fixed, the Choptop makes for a poor service truck with its currently non-functional tailgate. If you’re wondering why I don’t just fix the tailgate, it’s because the fix is going to be a bunch of sheet metal work to both sides which is going to be a bit tedious and I just can’t justify taking it out of service long enough to deal with that right now. That and I’m already irritated with all these side quests that keep getting in the way of working on the green Ranger.