This was a low key weekend working on my Diesel pickup. I installed a set of bucket seats and center console from an 87 Suburban. I also replaced the dash light bulbs and the blower switch pigtail. The blower failed during the February ice storm and I never got back to it until today. I replaced the three belts and charged the air, adding some infrared green dye to find the slow leak. The truck was assembled in 2005 and the a/c was good until last year. I can almost get a rig back in the shop and on the hoist so maybe this Summer I can rebuild the front end. It needs axle u-joints and brakes before Winter. Working like an old fool at work, I hope to see the ad for a third mechanic for my shop this next week. All these hours are hard on an old man soon to be 66. Take care friends!
Andy

 

You go, Andy! You're a year older than me and just spend 3 days helping a friend put in a new vinyl plank floor in the sunroom in their house and my knees and shoulders are killing me. I'm getting too old for this kind of stuff. I'm not even going to mention how my back feels. LOL

 

Nice! I love square bodies.

I replaced the bench seat in my '82 C20 with one out of a '73 F-350; would love to have buckets in there though. If the C20 were 4WD; I would have built that truck up instead of the Crown Vic.

 

Well, this weekend we went to the dump with the trash trailer. Almost made it home and there was a pop and the transmission had many neutrals. Called my wife and she towed us home with the Navigator. Went back for the trailer and coasted the truck into the shop. A little research showed either a pump exploded or the input shaft broke. It was the input shaft broke but the pump is ok. I removed and tore down the trans and I also tore down a core tranny I had in the shed. I ordered a book and lots of parts plus a TCI input shaft/drum combo. TCI builds race car transmissions and makes a couple levels of replacement parts for automatic transmissions. I chose their street/ high torque shaft/drum not their race car only setup. I guess my 6000 lb truck with a 6.5 Diesel and 4.56 gears qualifies as high torque. I have lots of high dollar stuff in this trans already so a good input/drum is only a little bit more. This repair I will do myself since I have lost touch with my retired transmission man. Hence the need for the book, I have a fsm but it does not cover the assembly of the trans only diagnosis. I also had to purchase a special tool for the teflon sealing rings, it stretches them and then resizes them after installation. This forces some much needed repairs now that the truck is in the shop. It has needed axle u-joints and front brakes for a while, I also discovered that the front drive line needed a center ball kit on the double cardin joint at the transfer case end. So it will get a complete rebuild, all new joints, lube the splines under the boot plus the ball kit.
So we roto-tilled the raised beds in the garden and my daughter and grandchildren planted most of the summer garden today.
Next weekend we will start on the 100 broiler chickens that are 8 weeks old. We bought a plucker a couple years ago and boy is it a time saver. I was in California last year working the fire so my daughter had to have last years birds processed at a commercial processor. With all natural organic food the birds weigh about 6-7 lbs ready to freeze. Home grown chicken sure is better than store bought.
Life is good but never dull, always something to do.
Thank God the Saturn runs fine!

 

Your life contains quite the diversity, sir.

Personally, I find it refreshing to learn about how the lives of those I keep in touch with differ from my own. We all take a different path through life, living differently in different places for different reasons.

Everyday life, although I'm sure there is some overlap, is so different for all of us with respect to each other. This is not something that ever seemed overly important to me when I was younger but as I get older I am truly beginning to appreciate the diversity of my friends. The regulars on this forum obviously included. Andy fights fires in California, I'm wiring up a small 3D printer for a machinist I met two years ago. He has the mechanical background I will never have, and I have the electronics background he will never have.

More than anything I have learned that aside from a significant other, life truly involves teamwork on so many levels. Aside from my marriage I've been more or less a semi-loner ever since high school. I am much more outgoing now, but I am straying off topic so I will shut up for once.

Andy, thank you for sharing some of the everyday things that matter to you and your family. I have no idea how to pluck a chicken and never will, which makes me respect these kinds of things that much more. And it's not about just having knowledge of how to do everything and anything. It's about knowing that others routinely do things that I would never think about otherwise.

Hope your transmission rebuild goes well. Hope I never gain as many neutrals as you did. I'm sorry but I had to laugh at that comment as I have never heard anyone refer to it as such. I reserve the right to borrow that. I shall find a way to remunerate you for your brilliance.

Keep on pluckin'
Peace

Derf

 

You are truly a busy man, Andy. I suspect that you'll never retire and probably die on the job or working on one of your beloved vehicles. Not all of us will be that lucky!

 

This has been a long weekend, three days of processing chickens. We had about half and half, the chickens that identified as male were larger than the half that didn’t. We cut up the larger birds into breasts, thighs and wings. The carcasses are getting cooked for broth. These took two days to do, the other 50 we did today. These we just cleaned and bagged as whole birds, the plucker is such a time saver. Back to work tomorrow I will enjoy the rest. The truck parts are starting to arrive so in the next few weeks I will work on that project pls finishing our new deck.
Andy

 

Hey Andy, I've seen guys on the internet use an air compressor with a ball inflator on the tip to skin animals with. I wonder if that would work on a chicken. You simply force the inflator tip under the skin and turn the air on. The air blows between the skin and the muscle and separates it. You can probably pull it up on youtube if you're interested.

 

Thanks for the visual dude.

Right before dinner

 

You're quite welcome, derf. LMAO. This is how it works.