Category: Past Indiscretions (Page 21 of 25)

Valuable, if hard, lessons learned

Disco

October 9, 2005 / Roger

This is my “new” Discovery…it has 107,000 miles, but all in the hands of the original owners, who seemed to take care of their machine. More or less.

It has a slight ding to the rear bumper. The LSE used a chrome version of the regular bumper. $1250 to replace. The normal black item is $250. I’ll probably be living with it for awhile.

The only glitch so far was dicovering that the plastic fill plug for the radiator (cost: $1.50) was broken off by the last shop to work on the car, and just sort of left in place. Because of that, I was more than a quart low on coolant, and the heater had zero fluid in it. I replaced the plug with a 69 cent fitting from the local hardware store, and it seems fine now.

Blow Up!

October 9, 2005 / Roger

The F250 that I just sold blew up on the way home for the new owner. I wish I could feel good about the timing, but it sucks all the way around.

Click No More

September 24, 2005 / Roger

Well, sold the ’68 F250 with mixed feelings today. I just wasn’t going to get around to fixing it, and I think it went to a good home. But I’ll miss it, it was in many ways “the perfect truck” for me, as far as specification, color, year, etc. goes. But realistically, I never would have gotten around to it. Sigh…

Landy?

September 22, 2005 / Roger

Despite some advice to the contrary, I think I’m going to see exactly how painful owning a Land Rover as my “winter car” will be. The one I’m considering is a 1998 Discovery LSE in British Racing Green. It has just over 100,000 miles on it and was covered under warranty through 100K. It’s one owner and appears to be in good condition.

There are lots of these machines around with 150K miles on them, and it would take me years to get there. We’ll see. It will be handy for hauling dogs and junk around, and especially good for those occasional trips into Seattle and outlying regions.

Carport of Doom

August 14, 2005 / Roger

This is what a carport should look like. Reggie, Fireball, and Fergie. Old Yeller sits outside, knowing that come winter he will take the place of the two fair-weather machines. Or something like that, anyway. Bike is running OK, though the blasted carb is really a piece of junk. Time to try a different one, me thinks.

“Just Drive Up in That Truck”

August 7, 2005 / Roger

I met a potential contractor for our new house at our property on Friday. I was lamenting that I rarely get good deals because I put out some weird “sucker” vibe or something. He said “show up to a meeting in that truck and they’ll know you don’t have any money.”

My poor truck gets no respect–and it’s a perfect disguise (not that I have any money, in any case, but still).

PTO – Poorly Tackled Operation

July 30, 2005 / Roger

The PTO seal on the fergie was leaking a bit, so last week I drained the 8 gallons (!) of hydraulic fluid from the machine and changed it. I was feeling very proud of my efficient work, and only noticed at about gallon seven of the refill that the new seal was leaking like a sieve…way worse than the old one.

My short-term solution? Park the tractor on a steep hill to prevent the expensive fluid from pooring out. Today, a week later, I pulled the PTO shaft and examine my work. (I always buy two of any seal I replace on anything mechanical so I have a spare in case I screw up.) Well, it was leaking because I essentially destroyed the new seal putting it in last time. Doh!

My spare is on, installed correctly, and seems to be working fine. Took about fifteen minutes, by the way…

Summer Job

July 20, 2005 / Roger

I’ve got a lot of car-related tasks to do this summer, but rebuilding the front end of my truck has got to be up there on the priority list. The springs have sagged a lot, and there is a ton of slop in the steering. I think I’m just going to do it all while I’m in there…tie rod ends, bearings, discs, springs, shocks, king pins and bushings. I suspect at least some of the slop is in the power steering, but that project can wait for another day.

Ferguson Work

July 17, 2005 / Roger

I mowed another couple of acres today up at Pony Hollow, and I’m beginning to believe I’ll have to rebuild the hydraulics on the tractor. They work but they also don’t have a decent range of adjustment, which suggests either wear or bad seals.

Healey Moments

July 14, 2005 / Roger

It’s funny what you remember about certain cars and what you don’t. I’m going to see what I can come up with in a few minutes for this car, the Healey 3000 tri-carb I owned in 1995 or so, ten years ago (!).