There are just some days I wish I didn't turn wrenches

[OR VietVet]

Helped out an American Legion member friend of mine yesterday. He is 90 years old and likes his very base model 2021 Wrangler. Only has 10k miles on it. I installed new side steps on it for him and his girlfriend.

 

[OR VietVet]

I know I have talked about my shop owner friend that I help at the shop sometimes. He is on instagram and is at "autotech.life". If you are interested, please check it out.

 

[OR VietVet]

Several months back, my shop owner friend and I did a Ford crate engine and local transmission build on my neighbor's 2006 Ford F150 5.4. Here are the first oil analysis results from Speediagnostix which is a company owned by Lake Speed Jr. and he is all over you tube.

 

[OR VietVet]

May 1, today, met at 3:30 with my Primary Care Physician at the VA. I do have a double Inguinal hernia and right side is the worst of the two but there is nothing showing "coming thru" and even the right one was very hard to find. So, they said that if I keep doing "strenuous" mechanical work, I will need surgery. I may need surgery anyway, eventually, but I may be able to just go about the rest of my life and never have to have the operation. Basically, I can still do mechanical work that is not strenuous, like oil changes and changing spark plugs but stay away from doing water pumps and brake work, where I would have to handle taking tire and wheel assemblies off and back on. These are just examples and I will just have to learn to be picky and keep on doing what I want to do.

Also, I do have arthritis in my right hip and that will limit some of my movement.

I also have a prostrate problem and they are going to do a "consult" with a urologist. I gotta go in when they set up the time.

At this point, it looks like I can decide to have double hernia operation and 2-3 months recovery later, I may be ok to go back and work on what I want but will still be limited with the right hip. That can mean hip surgery and that will mean that I will still be limited after that surgery.

At this point I am going to talk it over with my girl and I may be selling my big Snap On box and lots of some tools and specialty tools. I would be keeping my US General roll around cart and some basic tools for light duty work.

Just thinking out loud at this point. It may take some time before I make any solid decisions but I am just putting it out there.

 

[OR VietVet]

Well, I did just talk to my friend that owns the shop just outside of town in Junction City, Or. He wants me to come work for him on a part time or daily basis and he will initially talk to customers and collect their money but needs me to do all the rest of the in between stuff.

Take his info he gets up front and what his diagnosis is and build the work order, look up and price out all the parts and labor and fees and keep up with the flow of work order info as it works thru the repair process and eventually get the ticket ready for him to collect and talk to customer at the end. I can do most of this at home. I will call parts houses and arrange for parts delivery. If I need to fill in a little on a mechanical job, he is aware of my limits. Any of my existing customers that I bring in to the shop, I will get a percentage of the ticket on top of my other wages.

If I need a week or so off for a trip with my girl, no problem at all.

 

[OR VietVet]

Landlord's 2018 Suburban LT needed front pads and rotors. Pretty bad pulsation. Took apart and found both inner pads were wearing at an angle. Took a long breaker bar to break loose the bolts that bolt the caliper brackets to the hub. All fixed and is now smooth. Pics are of the new rotors after I cleaned the coating off with brake clean, caliper slide pins cleaned and lubed, new pad hardware...

 

[89Suburban]

Nice.

 

[OR VietVet]

Landlord's 2018 Suburban LT needed front pads and rotors. Pretty bad pulsation. Took apart and found both inner pads were wearing at an angle. Took a long breaker bar to break loose the bolts that bolt the caliper brackets to the hub. All fixed and is now smooth. Pics are of the new rotors after I cleaned the coating off with brake clean, caliper slide pins cleaned and lubed, new pad hardware...

View attachment 457722View attachment 457723View attachment 457724View attachment 457725View attachment 457726

Just in case some one else does brakes on those series trucks, be aware that, in the hardware pics you can see the long spring fingers on the inner area of the hardware. When you load the pads in, from the outside, those fingers are designed to lay/push against the pad ear from the inside and those fingers, at top and bottom, are designed to push the pad away from the rotor after brake pedal is released. They are not designed to ride under the pad ear. Also, be aware that there is an inner pad and an outer pad. They are different.

It will be important to lube the hardware where the pad ear rides to allow those spring fingers to do their job of the many miles of use.

 

[OR VietVet]

As it turns out I would be selling all of it, including the US General roll around.

You can view it all at CL.

https://eugene.craigslist.org/tls/d/eugene-snap-on-mac-matco-sk-proto/7846558791.html

Snap On, Mac, Matco, SK, OTC, Gearwrench, OEM-add on pics - tools - by owner - sale - craigslist

Since I am limited to only 24 pics of what tools I have to sell, I am adding this to the other post and this gives you pics of specialty tools and cases that go along with the other CL ad of my...

eugene.craigslist.org

 

[Tonyv__]

Just in case some one else does brakes on those series trucks, be aware that, in the hardware pics you can see the long spring fingers on the inner area of the hardware. When you load the pads in, from the outside, those fingers are designed to lay/push against the pad ear from the inside and those fingers, at top and bottom, are designed to push the pad away from the rotor after brake pedal is released. They are not designed to ride under the pad ear. Also, be aware that there is an inner pad and an outer pad. They are different.

It will be important to lube the hardware where the pad ear rides to allow those spring fingers to do their job of the many miles of use.

Them spring tabs got me the first time I did my brakes on the 2015 Yukon. Don’t know how I missed it , but on both sides, the springs were wedged between the pad and the rotor.