Wrenchin... Adventures under the hood... Put em here.

[fatnslow]

Hardly wrenching but I wanted to chime in and say it's a giant pain in the ass just to change the low beam headlight bulb on the passenger side of a 2008 Saab 9-5. Had to take the air filter hose off completely and could still barely get in there. The driver's side looks like 10000 times worse with more parts removal. They really made those fuckers hard to get to.

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I had to pull the bumper cover for the driver side xenon bulb replacement on my 08 9-5. It's not as bad as it sounds. Took about an hour total.

[ill-advised strategy]

Well, I put a crack in my exhaust somewhere while doing some probably ill-advised desert driving in my protege. Totally worth it for the climbing, though. It's got a nice throaty roar now .

fast and furious!

[Skidog]

I had to pull the bumper cover for the driver side xenon bulb replacement on my 08 9-5. It's not as bad as it sounds. Took about an hour total.

I'd imagine the placement is the same in my car. I quickly looked over and couldn't see an easy way to do it from the inside of engine bay. A fucking hour for a bulb, especially a headlight seems excessive.

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[tripice351]

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[GBB]

I sold my '04 Outback and bought a 2000 4Runner a few weeks ago. The Outback had 180,000 on it and was running fine but it was time for something else. The 4Runner was purchased from the original owner with 152,000 miles, factory rear diff lock, and new timing belt. It was too good to pass up.

That said, lower ball joints and radiators are two of the known trouble items on these vehicles if not preemptively addressed. This made for a good excuse to buy some new parts, call some buddies, and get our hands dirty this weekend. We changed the radiator, flushed the coolant, installed a new thermostat all without issue. The fun began when we started refilling the radiator with coolant and it started spilling out of the thermostat housing after about 3/4 of a gallon. I did some feeling around and noticed that I had pinched a house between the thermostat housing and block when I was reinstalling the housing. Cleared the wire, reseated the thermostat, and reinstalled the housing before I continued filling it with coolant. We ran it for about 15 minutes with the heater on full blast and everything checked out.

We also replaced the lower ball joints without issue. My original goal was to replace the outer tie rod ends at the same time since you have to break them free in order to replace the ball joints. However, we had to postpone that since the nut connecting the outer to inner tie rod was seized and we were unable to break it free. That write up will be forthcoming.

[basinbeater]

I should have taken a before pic, but I had a little bit of clear coat failure on the fender flare. So, bit of sanding, a little black paint, a little more sanding, a bit of clear coat, a little wet sanding and a quick buff, and whoa, nice looking flare.

[plugboots]

I'd imagine the placement is the same in my car. I quickly looked over and couldn't see an easy way to do it from the inside of engine bay. A fucking hour for a bulb, especially a headlight seems excessive.

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The new normal. Of my three cars, only the Honda Odyssey was a five minute open the hood, pop off the wire clasp, replace bulb kinda job.

[ill-advised strategy]

whoa, nice looking flare.

[MarcusBrody]

In the opposite of an adventure, I failed to replace the brake rotors/pads on my Honda Fit when I couldn't for the life of me get one caliper mounting bolt loose. I tried a box end wrench, a socket, sprayed it with WD40 and penetrating oil, nothing. The other three came off, but one beat me. I didn't even get to the rusted out rotor mounting screws (but I was willing to drill those out). The bolt head started to deform and so the car is now in the shop.

On the other hand, just removing the caliper from the other side and banging at the mounting screws with a manual impact driver for a bit (I just wanted to see if they'd by chance budge, I wasn't going to only do one side with the bolt stuck on the other), totally fixed the brake squeal issue that was bothering my wife and sparked the effort in the first place. If I'd really wanted to, I could have gone a while longer without changing the rotors.

[ill-advised strategy]

I spent a lot of time last weekend being "helper boy" for an actual professional mechanic in an actual professional shop. I was shocked how good he was at dealing with rust and stuck hardware. This stuff that completely stops your project and ruins your day is like all day every day for this guy, it was crazy watching him just plow through it.

[Alaskan Rover]

Here's a little ditty for all you home garage wrenchers out there.

[fatnslow]

I spent a lot of time last weekend being "helper boy" for an actual professional mechanic in an actual professional shop. I was shocked how good he was at dealing with rust and stuck hardware. This stuff that completely stops your project and ruins your day is like all day every day for this guy, it was crazy watching him just plow through it.

About 10 years ago I stripped the set screw on a rotor and was stumped. I took it to a 70 year old Japanese mechanic down the street and he had that damn thing off faster than it took him to take the wheel off. He charged me $30 and laughed at me.

[tripice351]

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[Gerome]

OMG, yeah, I would like to shadow a professional mechanic and watch how its really done.

I finally got to replace the front drive axle of my F-250. Over last winter I lent my truck to my friend, and within three months two people had (slow-motion) crashes into him, and the u-joint failed on the 4x4. The wheel, brake caliper, manual hubs and rotor were easy to remove, but I spent about 45 minutes annoying the neighbors with a sledge hammer and a block of wood to remove the spindle. It sure is a trip hammering away at a precision piece where wheel bearings spin to remove a part. The truck is finally back on four wheels, and now I can start on the real project, replacing the pistons, doing a tune up and replacing broken parts on the snowmobile.

[Gerome]

Does anyone know why Ford built the F-250 with reverse shaped leaf springs on the front? And is there a cheap, but still proper way to put a 2 or 3 inch lift on an old truck that isn't really worth much?

[Bronco]

Does anyone know why Ford built the F-250 with reverse shaped leaf springs on the front? And is there a cheap, but still proper way to put a 2 or 3 inch lift on an old truck that isn't really worth much?

I had ‘98 F-250 and my understanding is that truck is not a candidate for a simple lift due to a finicky front end.

No clue why the springs were designed like that but it sure rode nice. I miss that beast.

[Gerome]

Damn, yeah that split front axle is weird. When I was at the truck dismantler shop picking up the front driveshaft, they said a solid front axle was around $1500 out of a junked truck! This truck rode well carrying a Six-Pack camper, but its a little firm without it now. I'll just have to start offroading as it is then.

[ill-advised strategy]

that scissor action frontend is awful. I can see how they ran that on the 1/2 ton, but to put that on a 3/4 ton was ridiculous.

[snowaddict91]

Yup. The real problem with the ttb on the 250s is that its combined with leaf springs. When the axle cycles it wants to twist the springs, and then the axle wants to move forward with the front shackle. WTF.

I really should have just ripped mine out instead of doing ball joints, but a D60 from a 350 is $$$.

If you don't have clearance issues, I'd skip the lift.

[Mazderati]

[Gerome]

The dirt every day truck lift looks just right, but the twin traction beam sounds too complicated to bother with. I was still able to put 35" tires on my truck without a lift by pushing the front bumper forward using about 100 washers and longer bolts to hold the bumper on. Interesting that that truck will get about $7k with the lift, 37" tires, rear locking diff. and winch. I picked up my truck for $3k about 7 years ago. It would probably take another $4k to get a winch and lift, and I still don't actually drive the truck more than a couple hundred miles a year.

[zartagen]

Finally got around to fixing my exhaust pipe. Here's the front pipe with the broken flanges:



There was a good bit of rust to fuck with (from its first few years in Ohio), but I managed to replace the pipe, gaskets, and downstream O2 sensor with only minor shenanigans. No more sounding like a "souped up" high schooler's Honda Civic.

[tripice351]

Broke an exhaust stud today. Almost had it all the way out. Patience is the hardest skill to master. Much cussing ensued

[shafty85]

Trying to finish changing the glow plugs on my 06 Sierra 3500. Changed 6 a while ago and working on #2&#4 today. #2 is behind a hose (which if anyone can tell me what it is, much appreciated). Got that one out and back in but couldn't get a torque wrench on it so went with what I could. #4 is behind the steering column and worries if I break the harness nut off I won't be able to get the plug out with only a 12mm box end (can't get a deep socket on cause of the steering column). So, contemplating how to proceed (can't close the garage with the truck inside so thinking attempting the last plug outside is best so at least the garage can be closed if thing go sideways).

Changed the oil and tires to winter (having the tires off spurred on the glow plug change) on mine and the gf's vehicles.

[shafty85]

Photos


What is this pipe?

Damn steering column - right in the way.