Monday, June 05, 2006
Morning folks. Hope you all, oops,( ya'll) had a good week-end. Things were fine here, except for the weather. Yep, still raining. Being from the Wet Coast I'm used to it in a way, but enough already! Oh well, when I finally hit some nice weather I'll enjoy it all the more, until I start complaining about the heat.
For those of the female persuasion this might be a good time to hit the EXIT STAGE LEFT button, because I'm going to talk about "guy" stuff. NO!, not that kind, car stuff. You're more than welcome to stay, but be warned, there's going to be a lot of grease, breaking of wind, scratching, spitting, dirty jokes, and all of the other things that go into "male bonding".
Put the car on the hoist Saturday morning and gave it, besides a service, a real good going over. Took the wheels off, hand-inspected all brake and steering components, trouble-shot the entire electrical system, hydromometer checked the battery, checked the A/C system for leaks, adjusted the tension idler on the serpentine belt, etc., etc. Don't say I did'nt warn you!
Because I'm completely anal about my vehicles, which is a good thing, it bothered me that I was'nt able to inspect the front wheel bearings. With a rear-wheel drive car it's no big deal to pull the bearings, wash and inspect them, put them back on the spindle, re-pack with grease, and you're truckin'. Not so with a front-wheel drive. On these vehicles it's a different matter. The bearings are part of a sealed unit, so you really can't inspect them. It's a fairly big job to replace them, and also pricey. About $1200 for this car, including a re-alignment. OUCH! Oh, did I mention it also involves the constant-velocity joints, and, gasp, BALL JOINTS? I heard that! heh heh heh.
Knowing the way I am, I realized I'd fret over it so I ordered the parts and will replace them Tuesday. Besides, that amount would be a bargain if my "baby" ends up on a hook somewhere between Timbuk One and Timbuk Three.
There is one thing worth trying though that will only take me 15 minutes. I'm going to drill a small hole, thread a zerk(grease fitting), and pump grease in there. Total cost...50 cents. If I can get grease in I'll feel better about it and will hold off on replacing.
Now, are'nt you sorry you did'nt hit that button? As one who spent his life around vehicles, it's just nice to talk about something I know a little about. You don't want to get me going on trucks.
If you're still here, thanks for letting me natter. See ya tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3 broken drill bits later I still think it was a good idea, but I'm not sure even Boeing would have a bit that would penetrate that case-hardened steel. Oh well, grin and bear it.
Trucker Bob
blogged at 3:14 AM
|
