DesertRam
Active Member
- Location
- Southern New Mexico
Installed chassis skid plates on the Ranger. A-arm skids still to go.
General Tech What did you work on Today?
- Thread starter Gravy
- Start date
anderson750
I'm working on it Rose
- Location
- Price, Utah
On 37's my brakes on the Jeep were less than ideal......once I went up to the 39's, I think Fred Flintstone had better brakes. Better brakes were a must, so I bought this Power Stop Big Brake Conversion Kit. After I got some heat built into them they started working really good.
- Location
- West Haven, UT
Hey guys. I've been off-line for a bit trying to get caught up on various projects and side work that I have had promised out for way too long.
Last year really kicked my ass when I had my small medical issue and it really put me behind. I had so much work promised out and I am only now, a year later, finally caught up on side work. While I am flattered that most of the people I do work for trust me exclusively, it presents a problem when there is a hiccup to my schedule. I was hoping some would cancel and take the work elsewhere which would allow me to get caught up, but none did. I guess I should look at that as a good thing though.
I thought I'd give a quick recap of some of the work over the past couple of months. Last I left off with was I think the Jeep Wrangler JK that I did some repair to the bracketry for the front track bar.
After that I had a 2010 GM in the shop doing some diagnosing which turned out not to be good news for the owner.
After the GM truck and with the weather getting nice the wife and I wanted to put some miles on our Camaro that we have had about a year now and haven't really had time to enjoy it. I noticed on one of our Sunday drives that the A/C was not performing as desired so I threw the gauges on it and found it was a little low. I was unable to detect a leak anywhere so I put a few ounces of refrigerant in it and I'll keep an eye on the system.
It was also due for a full LOF service so I racked the Camaro and changed the engine oil and filter.
Then thought I'd address the rear end howl. I have been using Valvoline Synthetic gear oil with the friction modifier in it for nearly 20 years now with excellent results. Never an issue, until this Fifth Gen Camaro. After servicing the rear end last fall I immediately picked up a rear end growl on tight turns at slow speeds when cold. It seemed to get a little better once warmed but it drove me up a freakin' wall. I hate it when my own vehicles have an issue and I am not able to immediately get to them. Maybe that's why I didn't put that many miles on the Camaro in nearly the year we've owned it.
I had done a lot of reading and several forums mentioned that people were experiencing similar issues if not running the OEM GM gear oil with the friction modifier. I wasn't sure I believed it because my history with the Valvoline fluids had been so flawless that it must have been something coming apart in the differential clutches. I thought I'd dump the Valvoline and give the GM fluid a try.
The new GM fluid also has the correct friction modifier, same as Valvoline lists.
Also while I had the car on the rack I figured I'd flush the cooling system and put all fresh coolant in the car.
After a few test drives the car is performing flawlessly and lo and behold the gear noise was gone almost instantly. I'll be damned. If I hadn't experienced it I don't think I would have believed it. I actually didn't believe it at first that is why I was hesitant to just dump the Valvoline and go with the GM fluid.
The wife and I have now logged about a thousand miles on the car in the past few weeks on several drives and it is a joy to drive.
In between side jobs I have been able to get a few tasks on our own vehicles completed but my goal was to get caught up so the wife and I could enjoy our few RV'ing and Jeeping trips this summer.
Last year really kicked my ass when I had my small medical issue and it really put me behind. I had so much work promised out and I am only now, a year later, finally caught up on side work. While I am flattered that most of the people I do work for trust me exclusively, it presents a problem when there is a hiccup to my schedule. I was hoping some would cancel and take the work elsewhere which would allow me to get caught up, but none did. I guess I should look at that as a good thing though.
I thought I'd give a quick recap of some of the work over the past couple of months. Last I left off with was I think the Jeep Wrangler JK that I did some repair to the bracketry for the front track bar.
After that I had a 2010 GM in the shop doing some diagnosing which turned out not to be good news for the owner.
After the GM truck and with the weather getting nice the wife and I wanted to put some miles on our Camaro that we have had about a year now and haven't really had time to enjoy it. I noticed on one of our Sunday drives that the A/C was not performing as desired so I threw the gauges on it and found it was a little low. I was unable to detect a leak anywhere so I put a few ounces of refrigerant in it and I'll keep an eye on the system.
It was also due for a full LOF service so I racked the Camaro and changed the engine oil and filter.
Then thought I'd address the rear end howl. I have been using Valvoline Synthetic gear oil with the friction modifier in it for nearly 20 years now with excellent results. Never an issue, until this Fifth Gen Camaro. After servicing the rear end last fall I immediately picked up a rear end growl on tight turns at slow speeds when cold. It seemed to get a little better once warmed but it drove me up a freakin' wall. I hate it when my own vehicles have an issue and I am not able to immediately get to them. Maybe that's why I didn't put that many miles on the Camaro in nearly the year we've owned it.
I had done a lot of reading and several forums mentioned that people were experiencing similar issues if not running the OEM GM gear oil with the friction modifier. I wasn't sure I believed it because my history with the Valvoline fluids had been so flawless that it must have been something coming apart in the differential clutches. I thought I'd dump the Valvoline and give the GM fluid a try.
The new GM fluid also has the correct friction modifier, same as Valvoline lists.
Also while I had the car on the rack I figured I'd flush the cooling system and put all fresh coolant in the car.
After a few test drives the car is performing flawlessly and lo and behold the gear noise was gone almost instantly. I'll be damned. If I hadn't experienced it I don't think I would have believed it. I actually didn't believe it at first that is why I was hesitant to just dump the Valvoline and go with the GM fluid.
The wife and I have now logged about a thousand miles on the car in the past few weeks on several drives and it is a joy to drive.
In between side jobs I have been able to get a few tasks on our own vehicles completed but my goal was to get caught up so the wife and I could enjoy our few RV'ing and Jeeping trips this summer.
I pretended I was Colton and I mounted up two tires (35’s) manually on some steelies I picked up from Discount Tire Co.
I threw in 3 oz of BB’s in each at an attempt of balancing.
I had one tire that went on super easy, less than 3 mins from start to finish.
The other fought me a little more, maybe about 15 mins start to finish.
I probably only saved about $40-50 doing it myself versus paying a shop but they are just trailer tires so I figured why not.
I threw in 3 oz of BB’s in each at an attempt of balancing.
I had one tire that went on super easy, less than 3 mins from start to finish.
The other fought me a little more, maybe about 15 mins start to finish.
I probably only saved about $40-50 doing it myself versus paying a shop but they are just trailer tires so I figured why not.
- Location
- West Haven, UT
Continuing on with recent work/projects.
A client recently purchased a Ford 6.0 Powerstroke, against my recommendation I might add. However, he was told it recently had the turbo replaced and the heads studded so he felt comfortable with the purchase. I tried to explain that this is not the platform for a newly married young man trying to save money and plan for his future as when these things need repairs they are not a couple hundred dollars at a time, they are thousands at a time. Anyways, shortly after taking ownership he realized it was leaking oil. Upon investigation it was determined that the valve covers were leaking so he hired me to repair.
My worries about stripped threads were verified once I got into it. The back two holes on the driver's side were in fact stripped and wouldn't hold the valve cover properly.
Due to the tight placement I had to get creative to come up with a way to drill, tap and install a couple of Helicoil inserts.
I purchased this aircraft pneumatic drill with stubby bits about 20 years ago wondering if I'd ever use it enough to justify the purchase. Well I have had to use it more times than I can count for situations exactly like this and it has paid for itself over and over again.
With all of the holes in good condition the valve cover with new gaskets could then be installed.
Completed and leak free, for the time being anyways.
While I was working on the Powerstroke a good client called to see if I could do a quick welding job. He brought it over and needed a temperature sending unit bung machined and welded into a new oil pan for his Jeep. I love jobs like this as they are an hour to two jobs that can be squeezed in between other projects. Here is the location the owner wanted the bung and the sending unit he would be using, just a standard 1/8" NPT thread.
I machined the bung with a step the thickness of the oil pan after drilling the oil pan to size for a tight fitment.
The bung welded in the oil pan.
Area sanded and painted with semi-gloss black E-coat.
Thanks for looking.
A client recently purchased a Ford 6.0 Powerstroke, against my recommendation I might add.
However, he was told it recently had the turbo replaced and the heads studded so he felt comfortable with the purchase. I tried to explain that this is not the platform for a newly married young man trying to save money and plan for his future as when these things need repairs they are not a couple hundred dollars at a time, they are thousands at a time. Anyways, shortly after taking ownership he realized it was leaking oil. Upon investigation it was determined that the valve covers were leaking so he hired me to repair.My worries about stripped threads were verified once I got into it. The back two holes on the driver's side were in fact stripped and wouldn't hold the valve cover properly.
Due to the tight placement I had to get creative to come up with a way to drill, tap and install a couple of Helicoil inserts.
I purchased this aircraft pneumatic drill with stubby bits about 20 years ago wondering if I'd ever use it enough to justify the purchase. Well I have had to use it more times than I can count for situations exactly like this and it has paid for itself over and over again.
With all of the holes in good condition the valve cover with new gaskets could then be installed.
Completed and leak free, for the time being anyways.
While I was working on the Powerstroke a good client called to see if I could do a quick welding job. He brought it over and needed a temperature sending unit bung machined and welded into a new oil pan for his Jeep. I love jobs like this as they are an hour to two jobs that can be squeezed in between other projects. Here is the location the owner wanted the bung and the sending unit he would be using, just a standard 1/8" NPT thread.
I machined the bung with a step the thickness of the oil pan after drilling the oil pan to size for a tight fitment.
The bung welded in the oil pan.
Area sanded and painted with semi-gloss black E-coat.
Thanks for looking.
- Location
- West Haven, UT
The next car through the door was a Buick LaCrosse that needed a radiator. I did the timing set on this car earlier in the spring but he called a while later stating he was losing a drop or two of coolant on his garage floor. Upon diagnosing it was determined that the radiator had cracked near the area where the plastic tanks are crimped onto the aluminum core.
This wasn't too awfully bad of a job but I was surprised how much of the front of the car needed to be removed just to get to the radiator.
In between all these projects I was able to get some service items completed on our coach before beginning our travels.
I had to replace fuel filters, rewire the tailights as I was installing new bulb receptacles/pigtails and polished the tail lights then replaced the serpentine belt and A/C belt, although they were actually in much better condition than I imagined but I figured they'd been on the coach for about 8 years now so it was time to replace them.
Lastly, I was able to get some work completed on my Jeep but will post those items over on my Jeep build page.
Thanks for looking and hopefully I'll be back more often going forward.
Mike
This wasn't too awfully bad of a job but I was surprised how much of the front of the car needed to be removed just to get to the radiator.
In between all these projects I was able to get some service items completed on our coach before beginning our travels.
I had to replace fuel filters, rewire the tailights as I was installing new bulb receptacles/pigtails and polished the tail lights then replaced the serpentine belt and A/C belt, although they were actually in much better condition than I imagined but I figured they'd been on the coach for about 8 years now so it was time to replace them.
Lastly, I was able to get some work completed on my Jeep but will post those items over on my Jeep build page.
Thanks for looking and hopefully I'll be back more often going forward.
Mike
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
Mike, excellent work as always. It's nice to have someone bring you a new oil pan. Everytime I've tried to weld on one that was used - it sucked.
- Location
- West Haven, UT
Thanks. Yes, I'm not gonna lie when he called and asked about machining and welding a bung in an oil pan I almost didn't agree to the job based on past experiences with damaged and/or corroded pans but when he said he bought a new pan to replace the damaged one on his Jeep I jumped at the job.
Not the kind of work Mike does, but I got the P/S pump changed out on the 96 4runner today so it stops marking its territory everywhere I go. On a side note, whatever engineer placed the belt tensioning bolt and or the A/C line that blocks it deserves to have every bone in their crotch busted.
DaveB
Long Jeep Fan
- Location
- Holladay, Utah
Well I shouldn't change oil after a long day at work. On my 08 Grand Cherokee with the Hemi, Chrysler put the filter in a horrible spot where you can't see the filter mount very well. I took the old filter off cleaned the mounting surface but didn't notice that the old filter's o ring had fallen off. I put the new filter on and it felt a bit weird, which should have been my first clue. I added 7 quarts of synthetic and fired it up. When checked for leaks I had a gusher and before I could turn it off I lost 3 quarts. So now I have a very big expensive mess to clean up.
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
Well the good news is, it’s still in a horrible spot on the 2018 of the same model/engine.
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
It's a 4x4 so I'll count it.
Wife was mowing and picking up rocks and throwing them to the side. I guess she didn't look where she was throwing them? 🤷♀️
Apparently you can still get new parts for 30+ year old Russian Tractors.
Wife was mowing and picking up rocks and throwing them to the side. I guess she didn't look where she was throwing them? 🤷♀️
Apparently you can still get new parts for 30+ year old Russian Tractors.
Report back on how these do - I have been curious what some real world opinions were on these.
We usually get our flat-plate glass windows just at like Jone’s or similar. Usually a lot cheaper to have them cut a piece than to get from the manufacturer.
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
Tempered glass is significantly more expensive to have custom cut then premade.
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
So, cut it yourself and have it tempered. It’s quite common.
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
For the $28 I paid plus shipping ($38) I won't be cutting glass myself nor traveling, nor paying to have it tempered.
We did make template as a secondary option if I couldn't find the glass premade but soon realized it's such a tight fit that just a few mm too large or small in any dimension and I'd have a fit refitting it. It was already hard enough reusing the old offset window seal.
I wouldnt try it myself as I haven't the tools to uniformly heat glass to 1100+°F and quench it correctly. Interesting to know one could have a custom piece tempered though. Might be a good option for SXS or buggy guys who want a glass windshield.
I'm currently learning some old diesel mechanicing because last week when I went up to install a new cutting edge it wouldn't start. It started first lick and ran perfect the weekend before and I've got plenty of fuel and it will run if I give it some fuel down the air intake so I'm guessing it's got a bad lifter pump seal or the clogged fuel filter or pump or maybe the crush washers between the lifter pump and hard lines are leaking. So it's acting like no fuel or it's got an air pocket. I'm just unfamiliar with all old mechanical diesel components and everything is in Cyrillic...
We did make template as a secondary option if I couldn't find the glass premade but soon realized it's such a tight fit that just a few mm too large or small in any dimension and I'd have a fit refitting it. It was already hard enough reusing the old offset window seal.
I wouldnt try it myself as I haven't the tools to uniformly heat glass to 1100+°F and quench it correctly. Interesting to know one could have a custom piece tempered though. Might be a good option for SXS or buggy guys who want a glass windshield.
I'm currently learning some old diesel mechanicing because last week when I went up to install a new cutting edge it wouldn't start. It started first lick and ran perfect the weekend before and I've got plenty of fuel and it will run if I give it some fuel down the air intake so I'm guessing it's got a bad lifter pump seal or the clogged fuel filter or pump or maybe the crush washers between the lifter pump and hard lines are leaking. So it's acting like no fuel or it's got an air pocket. I'm just unfamiliar with all old mechanical diesel components and everything is in Cyrillic...