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

[A1971Blazer]

Machined a Harley S&S crankcase for 124" cubic inch cylinders

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by Gregski

replaced the flux capacitor on our home AC and friend tells me saved at least $300 bones on a service call

The AC went out at our rental house, and one of the tenants went ahead and called in a repairman, who replaced the start and run capacitors. My wife nicely explained to the renters that that sort of repair is not authorized, and that if something goes wrong, like the repairman gets hurt, we have no protection. We don't know if the person doing the repair was insured or licensed. I've replaced capacitors in my condensing unit; it's a piece of cake. $50 for two capacitors. I haven't seen the receipt yet, but I do know that it is over $400. They're good renters and are taking great care of the place, so I don't want to chase them off. They just need some education. Once that kind of thing starts, it can snowball, and they'll be making other unauthorized "repairs" for which we could be liable.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

The AC went out at our rental house, and one of the tenants went ahead and called in a repairman, who replaced the start and run capacitors. My wife nicely explained to the renters that that sort of repair is not authorized, and that if something goes wrong, like the repairman gets hurt, we have no protection. We don't know if the person doing the repair was insured or licensed. I've replaced capacitors in my condensing unit; it's a piece of cake. $50 for two capacitors. I haven't seen the receipt yet, but I do know that it is over $400. They're good renters and are taking great care of the place, so I don't want to chase them off. They just need some education. Once that kind of thing starts, it can snowball, and they'll be making other unauthorized "repairs" for which we could be liable.

as en ex landlord I 100% agree, too many laws favor the tenants especially here in Cali so I got out of that business

oh but I do miss the rental calls: "How many bathrooms is it"

Me: "One"

Them: "Are you sure, could you go and check"

😳

[DeadheadNM]

How do you diagnose a faulty capacitor? Asking for future reference.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

How do you diagnose a faulty capacitor? Asking for future reference.

AC does not blow cold air, the capacitor bulges like a bad laptop battery, the top raises and looks domed not flat

they are also cheap $25 bucks online so even if you replace it and it still dont fix the problem you know you wont be paying $400 for a service call for something simple

home ACs only have four components, the capacitor being one of them

[DeadheadNM]

Check. Thank you.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

How do you diagnose a faulty capacitor? Asking for future reference.

If the power is on, and the fan in the condensing unit won't spin, or looks like it's trying to spin, the start capacitor is bad (usually).

A start capacitor is used to briefly shift phase on a start winding in a single phase electric motor to create an increase in torque.

[DeadheadNM]

Thanks!

[72c20customcamper]

Raining today so I worked on the bathroom . Put in a Schluter kerdi board shelf unit in the shower . Even with the carbide tile attachment it was slow going . Good ventilation and a mask are mandatory

[PAWS 72]

I finally have home health coming to me now. So it was Physical therpy for me 4 times a week now. Ihad a stroke 3 years ago and I've noticed that my rite side has been losing all the stregth I once had in it plus my left knee has gotten worse about not wanting towork like it should. after 6 falls in a month I realised it was time to do something.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by PAWS 72

I finally have home health coming to me now. So it was Physical therpy for me 4 times a week now. Ihad a stroke 3 years ago and I've noticed that my rite side has been losing all the stregth I once had in it plus my left knee has gotten worse about not wanting towork like it should. after 6 falls in a month I realised it was time to do something.

I hope you get some relief!

[72c20customcamper]

Hope you feel better. Therapy is very important my wife is certified yoga therapist and works with many people who are afflicted with body restrictions the results are amazing . I've even started and feel the difference in movement.


Yesterday put a new patio slider at the rental. Just need to trim it out

[special-K]

Originally Posted by PAWS 72

I finally have home health coming to me now. So it was Physical therpy for me 4 times a week now. Ihad a stroke 3 years ago and I've noticed that my rite side has been losing all the stregth I once had in it plus my left knee has gotten worse about not wanting towork like it should. after 6 falls in a month I realised it was time to do something.

Jason, sorry to hear about your twist of fate. I hope the therapy helps you along. We never know when things can change like that. I look ahead to the possibility of me not being able to do what I can do now. I don't take my good fortune in health for granted, I can guarantee you that. I'm working toward getting myself better situated for if and when that time may come.

We had off and on rain on Wed and I went for it with digging out, forming, and pouring some concrete to allow for next doing the steps at the rear corner of my little garage. They are my way of dealing with the garage being built into the hill. It's pretty slippery on the grass when it's wet, too, so I always wanted to do the steps even before the garage. I will also do a sidewalk and curb to deal with the grade along the uphill side. I realized I better get going so I can get some grass growing before it gets cold. Not a lot of sun on those areas and my hopes (dreams) are to be ready for market come spring. Got to keep shifting priorites.

[Boog]

K, I wish I had your skills and energy level.

[special-K]

I got all excited about putting the SWB in it's new garage, thinking now I'll get moving on it. But reality set in and that is I need to stay focused on getting the property in shape to sell. I tend to make little of what needs to be done, because I just do it then it's done. But there is a ton to do. I need to use all the space in the garage I can to move things out of my barn and side shed. That maple tree has grown into the building, not good, and it is only getting worse. I have moisture in the lower barn now and upstairs is starting to smell musky. The building needs to move away from that giant tree. And, the roof needs to be replaced with a metal one. I've been waiting until after I move it. Might tear the shakes off, then move, then put metal on.

My screen house has been turned into a storage shed for parts. But the first reason I moved the picnic table out was to store a bunch of cherry boards I had been given 4 or 5 years ago. Selling it would make sense, but what's that? I really want to get a woodshop set up at my next place and I want to have that wood. I also had a sheet of 3/4" CDX and another 3/4" sheet of birch solid core... both very heavy!. I put those on the truck frame and loaded all the cherry on. This made space for the woodshop tools to move in from the barn. Before moving the plywood I put my transmissions, transfer cases, steering boxes, and master cylinder/boosters under the tail end of the truck.

It's been a lot of heavy moving and the work has just begun. I got all the woodworking tools moved and emptied out all the lumber from the shed to a pile I have tarped. Now I need to build a rack over the SWB to store that. I'm not sure I'll have time anyway, but even with all I'll be cramming around the trick I can still work on it from cab forward. I want to install the engine & trans. Great way to save space! I'd like to put the front clip on too, and lay the bedsides on top of the cherry. It's so much stuff, I'll still need more space. The initial plan is to empty the shed side and dismantle. After that is when the challenge of what to do with everything else will hit. There's an upstairs floor you know!

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Boog

K, I wish I had your skills and energy level.

Heck, I wish there was a contractor out here that wasn't booked up a year in advance!

I got bunches of stuff to do out here. We're trying to decide whether to fix up our current garage (1 bay with attached room) or tear it down and build a 4-5 bay garage into the hill with half high concrete walls at the back and sides ...

[Boog]

Daaaang. Like I have said for years, the more storage room you have the more things you will hang onto creating the need for more storage room.

[special-K]

I moved here 34 years ago. Lived here over half my life. It looks like so much because I don't have enough room. I had a barn I rented for years for shop and storage. But in '07 the place got sold, so it's been tight ever since.
Anyone need any good cores? There was a pile of lumber in front of that


First picture is the cherry in the screen house before moving any. The third is same spot filling back in with woodshop tools. The second one is the dirt floor in the shed where the transfer cases had been (on metal roof scraps). The fourth is in the barn before I moved anything. Last one is the radial arm on it's way up.

Originally Posted by Boog

K, I wish I had your skills and energy level.

I wish you could come help! I need to get all this done, sell, then fix the next place up while I still can. Moving all that lumber, drivetrain parts, and stationary woodshop tools wore me out. All stiff and sore last evening. You saw my hand truck. That thing makes it all possible. But it was all uphill hauling. Those tools are heavy!

I went out there after posting and it's all so bewildering looking at what to move next, when, and where will it go. I decided since this is prepping to sell, and I'm only doing this as a remedy to the deterrent of the monster tree growing into the building, I'm going the minimal route, leave the shed side standing, take 3' - 4' out of it, and move the barn over to it. Cheapest, quickest, and easiest. Cutting the tree down would be an enormous expense, it makes good shade, could use some serious trimming, but not a deterrent to the sale. I'll have a good bit of space for things in the lower barn to be moved to under the shed.

I also plan this winter to gut the master bedroom I have never touched since I moved in. I never thought about it with all the other work I've done. Just a place to sleep. Plus it's still original plaster. I insulated from outside way back when. I was kind of thinking it would be cool to leave a room original. But again, for the sale I need to make the master bedroom an attractive feature, not be deterrent #2. The ceiling is low and I plan to tear it out to frame it higher, then use the old hand-hewn ceiling beams exposed underneath. I'll wire it, put a floor down, new closets, trim. Nothing fancy, but fresh and more spacious feeling.

I'm probably being unrealistic thinking I'll get it on the market next spring. I'd sell as is but all this work is more work than money, and that's what I do and enjoy. It's not your typical house for just anyone. But I want everything right because it's value is in that it's going to really appeal to someone, like a classic vehicle you just have to have. It needs to be in "no excuses" condition. I don't want to hear words like "fixer-upper" or "lot's of potential".

So, the other big thing I plan (other than new main roof... no biggie) is line the entire dug out cellar with block. That's deterrent #3. I've got the block, so just need mortar and time (bad weather days). The roof is a deterrent I was going to live with. The lower roofs are all new. No leaks in the steeper main roof but the cedar shakes look very tired. I know it will be called out by a home inspector. Shakes have gotten crazy high and I'd really like to see them replaced. But I decided to go with metal like the rest. It's four separate sections, so I'll start with the front (biggest), it's just straight across. Talk talk talk. I need to get back out there.

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

Heck, I wish there was a contractor out here that wasn't booked up a year in advance!

I got bunches of stuff to do out here. We're trying to decide whether to fix up our current garage (1 bay with attached room) or tear it down and build a 4-5 bay garage into the hill with half high concrete walls at the back and sides ...

I keep hearing the same thing from my sister in Idaho. Around here it's more like too much competition and too many big companies. Well, a lot of not so big companies who try to appear as big mostly. People fall for it and a big company seems to be what they prefer over big skill. They want polo shirts with logos and trucks with wrap jobs. I've been around to long to want to deal with putting on a front or any other BS. Just show me the work!

That's the crossroad I was at for a long time. If I was staying I would have taken the barn/shed down, not built the single car garage, and built a bigger building in line with the driveway all the way back. Where my garage is would have been a carport off the front of the left garage bay. I'm looking forward to a place with a real shop when I move. I hate having this set outside.

[Boog]

Brother your to do list sounds long. If we were closer I'd sure try to give you a hand. I see your hand truck and smile. The last time I went junk yarding I took our hand truck. I bungie corded two milk crates to it to put my parts and tools in. It got tiring pushing that thing all over acres and acres in this heat but it sure beat trying to carry everything.

[1976gmc20]

I've got a huge pine tree about three feet from the end of our garage/room. Healthy tree, nice shade, and far enough from the wildland that it's not really a fire hazard. But to add on or replace the garage, or even build a carport beside the garage, the tree will have to come down. I can do it no problem but the cleanup will be a big job and I hate to see it go. It's about a cord of firewood, though

I really want to do something to get our two newer vehicles in out of the weather.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Boog

Brother your to do list sounds long. If we were closer I'd sure try to give you a hand. I see your hand truck and smile. The last time I went junk yarding I took our hand truck. I bungie corded two milk crates to it to put my parts and tools in. It got tiring pushing that thing all over acres and acres in this heat but it sure beat trying to carry everything.

It really is a big to do list. I've thought of this place as when I first got it all fixed up being so much better then when I bought it. Then one day it hit me potential buyers won't see it that way. They never saw it before and to them it would appear to be about ready for a remodel. I wasn't concerned about the fix'em ups and wanted them fresh before the sale. Plus I've been broke for so long. I was hoping to get some good jobs so I could do the bigger things, like the tree, but that never came. Really wanting to move out of this area and getting no closer, I decided to stop focusing on what I can't do and do all the things I could. I've been picking away at the work using a lot of the materials I've had stowed away and improvising/compromising a lot. I've done an awful lot in the last year or so.

Moving the barn, it seems, is pretty far fetched to the people I tell. It's a pole building and only 12 x 20. It does have a second floor and I put oak flooring down. But I think I can dig the footers, pour them and the 3' of slab, support, cut posts, brace up, and slide it on over. I may use pipe to roll it on and push with a skid loader. I moved the screen house (10' x 14') 3' with a come along. That has a second floor, too, and the first floor is framed with decking boards.

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

I've got a huge pine tree about three feet from the end of our garage/room. Healthy tree, nice shade, and far enough from the wildland that it's not really a fire hazard. But to add on or replace the garage, or even build a carport beside the garage, the tree will have to come down. I can do it no problem but the cleanup will be a big job and I hate to see it go. It's about a cord of firewood, though

I really want to do something to get our two newer vehicles in out of the weather.

We have seen how much nicer vehicles stay when parked under shelter. Also nice to not have a ton of snow or ice to clear off. I can't imaging how much firewood is in that maple tree. It's like 18 trees in one. The trunk is ungawdly awful huge. I also have a big white pine I'd like to take out. My older some planted it after winning it at an auction he went with me too. I had to let him plant it, but boy do I regret it. If I had gone ahead with moving the barn uphill in line with the garage to swap sides with the shed roof, I would have had to take a really nice Hemlock out. I have on old steel porch glider against the shed and under it. Makes for a real nice peaceful nook. Feels like back up home in the mountains.

So here are the transmissions and transfer cases before I put the steering boxes with them


This is the screen house now.


The barn somewhat cleared out.


And the SWB hauling it's first load before it runs


The pile of lumber from the racks in the shed side. I will build a rack in the little garage to move all that. It is a PIA but I need to use most of it on the house. Moving and storing is cheaper than buying

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by special-K

I got all excited about putting the SWB in it's new garage, thinking now I'll get moving on it. But reality set in and that is I need to stay focused on getting the property in shape to sell. I tend to make little of what needs to be done, because I just do it then it's done. But there is a ton to do. I need to use all the space in the garage I can to move things out of my barn and side shed. That maple tree has grown into the building, not good, and it is only getting worse. I have moisture in the lower barn now and upstairs is starting to smell musky. The building needs to move away from that giant tree. And, the roof needs to be replaced with a metal one. I've been waiting until after I move it. Might tear the shakes off, then move, then put metal on.

My screen house has been turned into a storage shed for parts. But the first reason I moved the picnic table out was to store a bunch of cherry boards I had been given 4 or 5 years ago. Selling it would make sense, but what's that? I really want to get a woodshop set up at my next place and I want to have that wood. I also had a sheet of 3/4" CDX and another 3/4" sheet of birch solid core... both very heavy!. I put those on the truck frame and loaded all the cherry on. This made space for the woodshop tools to move in from the barn. Before moving the plywood I put my transmissions, transfer cases, steering boxes, and master cylinder/boosters under the tail end of the truck.

It's been a lot of heavy moving and the work has just begun. I got all the woodworking tools moved and emptied out all the lumber from the shed to a pile I have tarped. Now I need to build a rack over the SWB to store that. I'm not sure I'll have time anyway, but even with all I'll be cramming around the trick I can still work on it from cab forward. I want to install the engine & trans. Great way to save space! I'd like to put the front clip on too, and lay the bedsides on top of the cherry. It's so much stuff, I'll still need more space. The initial plan is to empty the shed side and dismantle. After that is when the challenge of what to do with everything else will hit. There's an upstairs floor you know!

Make sure to hold onto that cherry wood. Just go check current prices on it. Not for the faint of heart, though it's probably a lot cheaper back there where it grows. Here in California, it's just stupid expensive.

[1976gmc20]

This morning I fixed the drive through electric gate again after somebody apparently tried to drive under it with too tall of a vehicle

[special-K]

Doggone census takers!

[57taskforce]

I don’t blame you for wanting to leave Tim, the area has changed so much over the last 20 years. I left in 2013 and although I miss family and the mountains I really don’t miss much else. Every time I come home and go even a little ways East I don’t recognize much of it at all anymore. I’m like my space from other people, that’s getting hard to find in that immediate area. Dad is getting his place ready to sell as well. He’s got 2 years left before he retires and plans to sell the house and rent for a little bit before he leaves for good.