Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

There is no cure for stupid. There's a lot of idiots up here and I'm always glad on July 5th that nothing burned down the night before.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Moving away from there probably won't help, as you well know. We should form a conclave neighborhood where no cray-cray is allowed, and when they are ferreted out, they get evicted. Wait, that sounds like an HOA. Never mind. #can'twin

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Ancient and primal man discovered fire and learned how to manage it to benefit civilization.

Fast forward to today and so many people have no understanding of fire, how it works, how to keep it safe, or what to do when things go bad. They just know they can go buy a Bic at 7-11

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

I live off a two lane highway. There's a reservoir about 10 miles away, and lots of people towing UTVs, so lots of trailers. The firemen and I suspect some idiot was dragging tow chains and caused it. We think that as there were a couple of spots where the fire started and came together.

Fortunately, I keep the area around the house as clear as I can. The fire departments that responded were really happy with the work I had done. They worked, but not nearly as hard as what they would have had I not kept the area cleared out.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Been some years ago during the extreme summer heat someone pulling a trailer down the split 4 lane was dragging a chain and as hot links were grinding off they landed in the grassy median starting fires as he went. That went on for about 40 miles. I called to report it and apparently I wasn't the first. The 911 operator was not happy!

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

We had a field fire a few years ago, last drought we were in, and a bush hog blade sparking on a rock started it

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Late response but, just getting around to catching up.

I live, somewhere near you, in Rowlett. That 107 doesn't reflect the heat index that I believe was around 115 that day. It was close to the same at the lake house that day and just couldn't be smart enough to NOT power wash the house siding.

I am damned near 70 years old with covid lungs, to boot and that heavy air impacted me more than I thought...until I was gasping for air. The Queen was more than pissed at me. I was lucky that I didn't get sick...or worse.

I wound up with half of it done. The next day my youngest daughter and her husband came up and finished the job. Wouldn't even let me pour soap into the pressure washer. LOL!

Overheating and heat stroke can be killers. Drink lots of water and stay safe out there. We are not as bullet proof as we think we are ...at any age,.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

we're doing a school roof right now in low to mid '90's, but in all probabilty it's over a hundred on the roof.
that's pretty normal for us, but this school has galvanized wall cladding all over it- like being under a magnifying glass all day. not to mention blinding on the eyes, can't go up there without some kind of sunglasses.

to cool off last night i pressure washed my fence....my ocd was kickin' in on the way the fence looked after the fire
Attachment 2277190

dang, now the side fence don't match....
Attachment 2277191

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

You know what I didn't do on my truck today ????_______I didn't go out and look at it today because it's not there , I sold it .

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

I sell carpenter bee traps I make on Marketplace. Mad rush through May, then slowed to nothing during this lull period in their activity. They have picked up a bit here last week. I get a message from a woman who had enquired previously who wanted 4. My listing states cash and pick up here.

I tell her I can meet here before 10am or after 7pm. She mentioned where she lives, it's an hour or more up in PA. I had a need to go look at some work better (for her) than halfway. The homeowner where the job is was gone till late afternoon, or would be home all day the next. So next day was my preference.

The bee trap lady said she could meet at 3:30 at a corner store I suggested, so I decided to do it, then meet the homeowner with work. This required changing the day's other plans. I talked to another homeowner in my town (opposite direction) about meeting them to fill the time gap. Ok, so a day of looking at future work and sell a few bee traps for cash in my pocket.

I had an hour drive to meet this woman. Our communication was all messenger, so once I'm driving there's no communication. Traffic was slow. The entire route was straight up MD27 for an hour, but this was a bit slower. I saw I would be a bit past 3:30 getting there. I hate to be late meeting someone. I pull in at 3:37, look at my phone and see "I'm here" when I park. Then, "Oh well, I have to work at 5". I send "I'm here" and nothing. I know I was late, but ho-ly, can't wait seven minutes after driving a good way to get what you need? Better to wait than all for not! I know how to deal on Craigslist and Marketplace but I sure slipped up here. I plan my day around taking 45 minutes off her one way drive for $32, not even an hour's wage. At least I did look at potential income, so didn't waste the whole day.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

I sell carpenter bee traps I make on Marketplace. Mad rush through May, then slowed to nothing during this lull period in their activity. They have picked up a bit here last week. I get a message from a woman who had enquired previously who wanted 4. My listing states cash and pick up here.

I tell her I can meet here before 10am or after 7pm. She mentioned where she lives, it's an hour or more up in PA. I had a need to go look at some work better (for her) than halfway. The homeowner where the job is was gone till late afternoon, or would be home all day the next. So next day was my preference.

The bee trap lady said she could meet at 3:30 at a corner store I suggested, so I decided to do it, then meet the homeowner with work. This required changing the day's other plans. I talked to another homeowner in my town (opposite direction) about meeting them to fill the time gap. Ok, so a day of looking at future work and sell a few bee traps for cash in my pocket.

I had an hour drive to meet this woman. Our communication was all messenger, so once I'm driving there's no communication. Traffic was slow. The entire route was straight up MD27 for an hour, but this was a bit slower. I saw I would be a bit past 3:30 getting there. I hate to be late meeting someone. I pull in at 3:37, look at my phone and see "I'm here" when I park. Then, "Oh well, I have to work at 5". I send "I'm here" and nothing. I know I was late, but ho-ly, can't wait seven minutes after driving a good way to get what you need? Better to wait than all for not! I know how to deal on Craigslist and Marketplace but I sure slipped up here. I plan my day around taking 45 minutes off her one way drive for $32, not even an hour's wage. At least I did look at potential income, so didn't waste the whole day.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Bought a smoke machine for evap diagnostics my Toyota kept throwing a code and as long as there is a code it won’t pass inspection. Works great found the problem in 2 seconds I used argon for pressure don’t like pumping air into the fuel system

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

My '05 Corolla had the same problem. The NAPA guys used the scan tool and got that evap code. Only real moving part in the system is the gas cap. Didn't do a smoke test, but replacing that cap took care of the problem.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

There are 10-15 rubber hose connections in the system . It’s not building pressure with the cap to leak at any of the hoses so I’ll buy a new cap and do the test again .
I have the scan tool but it really only tells me there is a leak in the system somewhere

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

NY has a rolling 25 year emissions inspection this year it’s 1998 and older get the safety only inspection. Next year my 99 Ranger will be emission’s exempt.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

I wish that they had that here. Exemption is 1975 or older in CA. and it's a PITA.

I worked with a guy and he inherited a 1976 C/10 from his dad. I forget which model it was but it was a nice one. He told me that he'd sell it for $1600 and like a idiot I passed on it because I didn't want to deal with the smog Nazi's or listen to my ex wife complain about it. If it was a 75 then I would have bought it and put up with he mouth.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

you know i should be old and wise enough to NOT get myself into these mess's.evindently old enough but not wise enough(grade 3 was the hardest 4 years of my life) my uncle,old & pensioned off,has a little Hyundai that i keep running for him.he was just in hospital for a month or more after a heart attack and some other problems,he shows up at my place wanting some work done on brakes but says he can't steer the car?also the GPS light is on???i said there's no GPS light,what are you talking about,go look he says,so i do.the EPS light is on.electronic power steering???he says the car doesn't have power steering but obviously it does.i feel like getting involved in this mess about as much as need another hole in my head.leave the car here,i told him then went to work to learn what i could about this crap.turns out a common problem on these cars,a rubber coupler between the electric motor and the column are bad for failing.a $3.00 part,hours and hours and remove the column to put it on the bench cause it's about impossible to work leaning in the door,on your knees,with the seat back and working uphill under the dash.nuts.anyway i do all that,get the column out after disconnected a dozen electrical connectors and stuff,move the computer???on the column to get the motor off,there's angle sensors,speed sensors and on and on.i knew there was a reason i like old stuff?anyway get it all apart,the coupler is mint.no idea what's wrong.tryed to price a motor cause i think that's the problem but nobody has one,not even Rock Auto and i'm not going to start guessing what's wrong,so a few hours to put it back together and back in the car,he'll have to go get it scanned,maybe there's a fault code in there somewhere to let him know what the problem is.another lesson learned.i'll be so danged smart in another 50 years or so,i won't know how to act.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Well now you know what that tin can looks like on the inside. ;)

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

yes sir.i know what the inside of a tin can looks like and i don't like it..

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

I hate to think about having a front impact crash in that car and having all that rigamarow folding in on my legs.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

This is a reason why are simple trucks are getting expensive

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

When it comes to this new stuff, the day has come I am no longer a mechanic. I worried that day would come when I started messing with mechanics. I took to the older simpler ones. Watched as they added non-mechanical aggravation more and more, with zero regard for serviceability. Now here we are, can't even make sure a part they designed to be inaccessible is good enough quality to last. Then again, it is only a part involved in steering the car since they decided to go with drive by wire, which never seemed like a good idea to me... EVER!

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

yes sir.it's a mess.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

i hear ya.it's sad when you have to plug the car into the computer to find out what's wrong.back a million years ago,we'd figure out the problem?long gone now.you can tell by the way they build them,there's no regard for fixing them i'm sure.a couple years ago,we were in New England in our Mustang convertible,the rear windows stopped working.i went into my local Ford dealer when we got home,first thing they did was plug it in to scan it for fault codes?the computers run the power windows i guess?nuts.the last new Harley i bought was fly by wire.i didn't like it for lots of reasons so i sold to a guy who loved it,his first bike so he didn't know what he didn't know.i went to Texas,found a 7 year old Electra-glide with 5000 miles on it.after a couple years riding it,i had a Halifax firefighter bugging me to sell it to him,so i did but then went to North Carolina and found another old Electra-glide with 3000 miles on,like new.then we had our friends Bob and Diane from Ohio,that's my buddy fighting cancer,they came here on their new Electra-glide,we took off for the Cabot Trail,a beautiful ride,sure enough the fly-by-wire throttle on Bob's new bike failed.it would only idle.we got to our hotel,Bob called CAA and they came with a deck truck,took them to Ramsey's H-D in Sydney,Nova Scotia where lucky for Bob,they had the parts,new take offs from a customers bike who made a bunch of changes.it all worked out but fixing what we used to fix in our shop or even on the side of the road,may be gone forever?

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

I ran a 5k foot race this morning in Overbrook Ks. My fifth race of the year. I took 4th place. Two 20 something brothers and a 30 year old fella from Topeka beat me out of a podium spot. I ran a 22:47. I’m hoping to get my time down to 21:xx by fall for the 5k. I took off with them, quickly realizing I couldn’t keep their pace. So I down shifted into old hobby jogger gear. Also know as granny gear.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Hey, there's no shame in taking the lighter pace. You can tell anybody who says anything, you've already been there. ;)

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Yep, I can run with the young guns… for about a 200 yards.:lol:

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Kind of a fun day today.
First a local car show in the MN town of Osakis MN. About 125 cars by 10 AM. Then lunch at the body shop I help at a couple days a week. Then after lunch a walk around at local resort the has an antique boat show every year. Maybe 40 totally restored wooden boats.
The work to restore these boats are incredible.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

I spent 17/18 years at Ni ss an plant in TN starting at 24 years of age'

I thought I Knew about cars and trucks.
Because I had been working on them at age 10/14.;)

I was a tech working on the line.

I am no Where close to the level Keith Seymore is on Factory stuff with chevy trucks and the Knowledge he provides about these trucks.

With this being Typed.;)

The Dash assembly was assembly on a sub-assembly line.
Then they stab it in all assembled as a complete assembly.
With a Robotic type Arm.
The technicians Right and left side, will shoot a couple of bolts to holp it up till the next station.
Then the other stuff gets connected.

The Engine and transmission is stabbed in from the bottom going down the assembly line.

They dont care if you cant change the parts out after the fact:uhmk::uhmk:

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

It has long been my observation the auto makers start with a 2 bit fuse and build an entire vehicle around it as tightly as possible. :devil:

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

The rant, or one of the rants, I come up with while spending 2 hours to get to a part that takes ten minutes to change or when the fastener that needs removed is out of sight and you can barely get your hand in to touch is:
Then... Back in the day engineers were given a list of objectives and they'd come up with a design. They get all done, then one says, "How will a mechanic be able to access that for service?". They others all tap their head and say, "Damn, back to the drawing board".

Now... The same thing happens, and they all laugh and say "Screw 'em"

Actually, that was at first. By now no one even asks about the mechanic so no laugh, just design in this sad state of affairs we have to deal with.

New vehicles are great (mostly/usually) when new and it ends there. Lower income people have always taken vehicles those with more money are done with. How can someone on lower wages afford to pay crazy high service costs for dumb little things? How can they do the work themselves without scanners and all other special tools needed these days? No consideration for any of these things.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

it finally stopped raining,i could hear the grass growing over the noise of the rain drops,a beautiful day to spend some quality time on my little Cub Cadet.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

brought home this box, I was hoping it wasn't assembled so i could get it where it needed to go, but they had assembled it. Was a bear to unload by myself and get it to where it needed to go.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

That is a Big box.

It has become second nature to me when I am moving a toolbox,

To take the drawers out.
Just the drawers drop quite a bit of weight.

Most of the time when I move a box it is full of Stuff.

Wow That thing has 6 Wheels:lol:

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Nice! That thing's a monster. I bought something similar and removed some drawers before loading it up, and I had help. It had no tools in it. I'm also working on a display case for my eldest son to display his challenge coins. 10 years so far in the USAF, he's a TSGT (E-6). Beat me by one rank so far (I was Navy, though).

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

I wanted a nice big box, even if I don't fill it up, I don't think I will regret getting one this size. I also am waiting on 2 of these

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

such a nice spot you have. I didn't realize that was a creek next to you, running into the sea.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Today I changed the intake air heater on my 2016 GMC duramax one ton.
55xxx miles, bought it new, never seen snow or ice, and not a lot of rain. Threw a code when I cranked it up to go get the oil changed and they read it at the dealership. So, I ordered the heater and gaskets, changed it, and still the same. I guess I changed the most likely suspect and guessed wrong.
So today i wasted a couple hundred bucks because these new vehicles are too dang smart for me. I guess I will keep the appt I had at the dealership to look at it.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

Your yard makes me want to play golf.

Re: What did you do today not on your truck...
 

yes sir,it's a nice spot.we love it,especially now that we know our old place,my old shop burned to the ground along with 200 other homes in those wildfires that roared through our old neighbourhood near Halifax 6 weeks ago.if we hadn't moved to this place 3 years ago and built a new shop here,we'd be in a world of hurt right now.
this property,about 8 acres has a brook at the base of our front lawn that actually comes under the road at the sharp bend,from across the road from down in behind my Grandparents property.they had about 6 acres across the road.our property has Coal Mine Brook the runs down behind my shop here and the 2 brooks meet and head to the beach.both properties,ours and my Grandparents are sort of shaped like a piece of pie with the pointy end down at the beach with the road between them.