Translate

Thursday, August 27, 2015

SIGH.......

Looks like we'll have to break that stupid pilot bearing to get it out.  We can move it but it still will only go so far.  Spent last night with my dad yanking on it.  He's thinking I should get a metal chisel and break it-don't have one at the moment-with hopes that it won't damage the crank shaft.  We'll see.
The dean agreed with my professor, so I'm stuck taking that class again next semester-too late for this one, I've already got it set up-and still hoping to graduate in april. I hope...
Rode my scooter to work tuesday after my dad bought me a new battery for it.  Rather nervous for a number of reasons, but it went rather well I thought.  It's still hard to get that thing up on the stand, and back it into the garage.  I've worked out a way to get it up every time-involves standing straight up on one foot on the lever, but it works.  Takes a bit of a balancing act but I think I've got it down.
Can't use it for school, just can't go fast enough on the highway to be efficient for travel.
My sister got the riding lawnmower working, which I think my youngest brother is using at the moment, but it could be our neighbor who has a similar one.  So much to do....

Monday, August 24, 2015

Why?

got the clutch off, then the flywheel-which my dad got turned so it won't wear on the clutch faster than normal-now the pilot bearing(what's left of the thing) won't come out, so that's today's headache.  And the other bearing inside the bell housing needs to come off.  But that's nearly done so I should have my truck back this week, wednesday I hope. Have two blisters from tightening down the bolts for the bed, so turning stuff was not fun saturday.
New tip: loosen all bolts first, then the order of removal doesn't matter.
School starts next week, and I hope I've got it worked out so I can pay for it. Saw a really pretty woodpecker this morning, but I'm not sure I got a good video of it.

Friday, August 21, 2015

What?

My dad managed to remove that last bolt last night with very little effort.  When we got the transmission off and out of the way the bolt my sister cut the head off of came out by hand.  Goes to show that we really pinched the stupid things.  So now I can change the clutch. Just have to replace those two bolts when I put it back on.  The clutch is still mounted on the oil pan area by six bolts, which hopefully won't be near as hard-or I'm going to be very annoyed-to remove.
Word for future reference: when getting the transmission off take the top two bolts off first or you're in for a lot of trouble.  Even if you don't think they're there, they are.  And getting them off last is not a good idea.
Of course I still need to tighten down the bolts holding my bed in place-gas tank's already back up and the new filler neck in place-and get the transmission back on, but we're waiting til there's more than two of us to do it.  Took three of us to get it out of the way.
School starts in a week, which is going to be tricky paying for it.  Got enough saved that it shouldn't be too hard, but we'll see.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Finally

Getting somewhere with my truck, even if we had to cut off one of the bolts-again-to get there.  Having to break the second one, which is the focus right now. But we're a lot closer to changing the clutch. But running out of time, so hopefully today it gets done.  But I would still have to get the new bolts-up to three different kinds now-and the clamp lock for the center support bearing. That can be done once the clutch is replaced though.  And shouldn't cost too much...
Heard back from the dean about my grade, and for the moment they are agreeing with the teacher.  Still talking about it though.
Work is getting interesting, as two of the night shift people I work with are leaving-the one on a mission is really only coming in to help when we have missing people(seems a lot of my coworkers are getting their wisdom teeth out this summer)-so we've got more hours opening up for the rest of us, but it leaves us a bit shorthanded.
Rather hard to mow the lawn-kind of fell to me since all my siblings are too busy and my parents are not quite up to it-when the grass is wet so I have to wait til this afternoon.  Got attacked by ants while weeding this morning.  Only the small black ones, but they were biting so I quit a bit early. Sigh...

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Ow...

Okay, been a long week.  My dad's afraid I'll have to tow my truck-we've taken it apart enough that I'd have to tow it there-to a auto place as the bolts are still not coming out. My sister's found a few techniques she wants to try before we give up though.  Here's hoping they work, but its still a one person job so I can't help.  She just keeps me informed because it is my truck.
So kind of water line repair construction is going on up and down our street, and at the moment we're stuck in our house unless we want to walk-and I'm not sure they'll let us do that-along with our next door neighbor due to a hole in front of the west exit of our driveway and the equipment in front of the other end. Out neighbor was out there talking to them when my mom and I discovered this-she needs to get her car from a bus stop area and asked me to drive her there-but so far we're still stuck.
Work was a bit crazy tuesday as we had a rain storm that showed my dad's cement wall worked, but now we've got other leaks. Sigh...and the disposal isn't working, the clothes washer doesn't want to work-need to do laundry saurday...-dryers are iffy and the dishwasher still doesn't work.  So we've got stuff piling up. But work was a bit fun despite that.  I did get off late-big surprise-and the manager for that shift accidentally knocked a stack of trays over onto the sandwich maker behind them, scaring all three of us-they were helping me with a rather large stack-and pausing things while we got them back in place.  No injuries and not really a mess, so it was just funny.
Went to an amusement park with my parents and siblings-oldest brother didn't make it, and the second youngest had to work-which was fun but had its rough moments.  I got jammed against the side of a tube boat during a water ride and bruised my thigh, sister-married one-got a bit sunburned, miscommunication resulted in spending and hour trying to find each other.  Then we got on a few spinning rides for my nieces-the few types the youngest could get on-and spun a bit too much so we adults were a bit dizzy.
Could be worse I think...

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

AGH!

It flooded us again! We got a microburst while I was at work friday, which blew out a park booth thing my mom was doing with her painting, and of course guess what we had to drag out to dry saturday? Yep, those big black rubber mats.  My poor dad threw his back out the first time, so he had to stand and watch while the rest of us did it. My brother's fiance helped dig canals while it was raining and she got soaked.  My dad's tired of it so he built a cinder block wall to hopefully hold the water out next time. He used the dirt-our soil is mainly clay and so far is holding but it hasn't rained enough to test it-to hold them in place.
My truck is still not out of the garage! Thanks to the rain we've had to focus on the once more drowned workout area which takes a lot of the energy the truck uses.  One bolt on the transmission-okay, two actually-won't come out and its in the worst spot! Sigh. My sister's trying to get them loose right now. Two people can't fit in there so its a one person job.  No leverage either...
School starting soon, savings low....

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Oh Great...

That rain we had on monday did have a downside.  The drain spouts for our roof got clogged and so it flooded the workshop/workout area and part of the laundry room.  My siblings and I spent a good half hour trying to block it out of the laundry room-failed to realize just how bad it got the workshop til after it stopped-and prevailed using pool floaties.
Problem with it flooding the workout area is there was good wood in there-we managed to save the stuff that got wet, the rest was out of the way-and those seriously heavy black rubber mats they use in gyms and such.  Anything larger than say a foot square needs two hands, and most of ours are at least 4x4 or bigger. Which requires two people dragging them to move.  They are dry now, but we don't have the man power to put them back in place.  So they're in a stack waiting for more hands.
My sister got the bolt off that I cut monday, and so we were able to remove the drive shaft-YES!-and drop the back end of the transmission.  It got too late last night to change the clutch, but it's ready and waiting for today.  Still need new bolts and am waiting for the new filler neck, but I might have my truck back this week!
She also got my dad's old motorcycle up and running-temperamental from sitting for so long in the garage-and so he hopes to get that registered and insured so they could use it before it gets to cold.  Reminds me of getting to my scooter, but I don't have the money to register and insure it right now....

Monday, August 3, 2015

Rain!

It was threatening yesterday, but only sprinkled for a bit.  This morning its full rain and humidity-we need it, but it made sleeping a bit interesting.  Hope it helps the potatoes...
Met my brother's future mother and grandmother in laws, which was fun.  They enjoyed touring the backyard and talking about the garden-nearly got the weeds out, but the rain is preventing that this morning-as well as our fruit trees.  Say that the apple ones have worms-big surprise-and our pines have boring beetles.  That would explain the holes dotting the trunks.
Tilted the bed of my truck to get at the gas tank saturday, so now it looks like a dump truck with a shell.  Just had to remove the four front bolts on the floor and loosen the back two and tilt it up.  Things heavy with the shell and all, but my dad and I managed.  However, as my dad put it, they didn't design the gas tank to come out.  Even after we tilted the bed and disconnected the hose line-found out why it can't be a full tank, the refueling hose is cracked right around the top of the tank-as well as the fuel pump, the rear axle blocked any attempt to pull it down and out. Sigh.  Thinking of removing the bed entirely and going the opposite way, but that requires more than my dad and I to do.
Had a crazy dream about it last night too, where we'd removed the shell-probably need to if we're removing the bed-and I was backing out a truck just like mine and hit the front drivers side of my truck(in the dream I knew it'd crushed the battery)and was then trying to figure out what I could do about it.  Glad when I woke up and knew my truck was still in the garage and undamaged.
Not sure how paying for school's going to go....