Added a hitch to the Cayenne today. Interesting process.

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My '02 Silverado came as a base model from the factory. Manual windows. Manual just about everything. Right after I bought it in '05, I had power windows installed.

At some point a few years ago the driver's side stopped working. The motor went bad. I bought a replacement and still have it but decided since it was the driver's side, I'd just use a window crank. These window cranks have about a 2 year life until the ribbing wears out. So today I went by my FLAPS to pick up another one. Kid behind the counter asks for all my vehicle info and then says "We have one by Dorman that fits your vehicle for $21." I said - I paid less than $10 for my last one. Let's go look. We went to the window crank section and I picked out the $7 Dorman unit. Purcshased and went outside to install and two minutes later it worked like a dream.

So just out of curiosity I just now look it up on Amazon and it's only $4.36 and I could have it tomorrow with my Prime membership. Oh well....was worth the $7 to get it resolved. The old one was not engaging very well. Works fantastic now.

Amazon is selling the one I replaced today - also a Dorman - for $8.62. Free delivery Thursday.

Installed a 2” level on the Tahoe. Now it’s level front to back.

Also installed wheel spacers to push the tires just a little bit. I’m not liking it, so they’ll come off next weekend.

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Swapped out an irrigation timer that was damaged from an electrical surge. It wasn't sending the 24v signal to the pump start relay. We had a horrendous thunderstorm last week which wreaked havoc in the area for many folks' electronics. This was at a client's property. I was not affected at my property, thankfully.

Decided to switch to this Rainbird ESP TM2. I think the Rainbirds hold up better than the Hunters.

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Also picked up my Interceptor this morning from my mechanic. Had him pull the carbs and replace the fuel supply and vent tubes, due to a fuel leak. I'm not good at carb work and on a machine like this - it gets very tricky.

Here's the new tubes made from T6 aluminum and purchased on eBay and the factory plastic tubes we replaced - the leak was from a small split next to my finger.

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Rode the bike back and runs great - very fast. Make that...scary fast!!! :p

No photos needed for this one:

Sunday evening I noticed the toilet in the guest bathroom was filling just super slow, like over an hour to be ready to flush. OK, another project to do, crap. So Monday at 10am or so I made a quick trip to the local Lowe's and got a new fill valve for under 10 bucks. Cheap and easy.

I knew I had to meet some suppliers and some customers for my business and I did not want to face the toilet valve replacement and get my Polo shirt with my company logo on it sweaty, so I procrastinated, it can wait. We have two other toilets that work perfectly.

Today I had just one delivery and client to meet, and some bookkeeping to do, so I waited until this afternoon. I hate any plumbing work. I went to the garage just once, and got my hand pump to drain the water from the tank, and one pair of channel lock pliers, and a old towel to sop up the drips. The valve was out and the new one in within 5 minutes. It was like an edited TV show and everything went as designed.

I am stunned. Normally when I do plumbing jobs it usually involves 5 or more trips to the store, half of my tool box, and a weekend to replace the toilet handle. I will keep a close eye on it but I think it is fixed. Amazing. I expect to see unicorns and rainbows any minute. It must be my lucky day. A 5 minute project that only took 5 minutes. I almost feel cheated, but not really.

Did the same yesterday at my Mom's house. Used one of those Fluidmaster kits. Weird that the water wasn't filling up very well. Must have had a gasket failure somewhere.

You really don't need many tools.

Channel locks in case the nut underneath is a little tight, a pan to catch the water, a towel to catch the water the pan doesn't, and the kit itself.

Hand tightened everything upon installation.

Hardest damn part was dealing with the freaking chain - getting it in the right link and then into that lever. The engineering design on that part is just terrible.

Before pic from last week - no pics from yesterday.

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I make the hose so it fills the tank and bowl half and half. It saves water. but I also put a few bricks in there or a soda bottle to save water aswell. Just have to allow enough in to fill the bowl and usually its way too much and just goes down the drain

My wife was in a hurry to get to work and backs her Mini Cooper into my jeep wrangler. The only thing it did to the jeep was wrinkled up the bumper cover a little bit. On the Mini she put a big crease right above the bumper and broke out a piece of the bumper cover. It’s an old mini so I just fixed it myself. The paint is from the auto parts store and it is just “close enough” in color.
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Inverter Battery Change. Those are not very good 200AH batteries in very poor shape. I replaced them with 230AH batteries and added 50%. Total, 70% more capacity. About 30-33 kWh of energy storage.

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I need to do this, but also replace the seat under the flapper

I need to do this too.
Those in warmer climates might consider insulation on the inside of the bowl to prevent sweating/drips when it fills up with cold water.
(unless A/C is run of course)

Painted part of the outside garage floor with Lowes Valspar floor paint. Brick red for a little warmth. Supposed to have polymers for strength.
(Floor is trashed so anything is better than the 12yo stuff on there.)
Five days later, and it's still tacky to the touch.
It's still not drying despite all hot dry days. :(
The odd thing is that I also had a newer unopened can that turned into a brick.

Good tip - I have done that before but it's been a while.

Our water is pretty cheap here as well as plentiful. I know that sounds a little irresponsible but it doesn't mean we go around wasting water or anything. I think this is one of those water-saver toilets anyway...whatever that means.....

We have well water its more to prolong the amount of time between regenerating the softener. It used to regen itself but dumped the brine into the septic tank which started breaking down the concrete so now we so it manually every few months and drain it out in the yard which is a bit of a faff. When the water starts getting hard you really notice in the shower when the soap doesnt feel like its doing anything.

James - this is an inverter for your house? Interested in the details. Thanks!

So you replaced the stopper and it's still leaking?

That's a more involved job, obviously. I did it on one of mine and hated it. Rusted fasteners...leaks....etc. etc. :rolleyes:

That makes sense. We're on city water here - at least Mom is and I, at my place.

My last house I had a well and softeners etc. So I can relate.

Actually, a client. They have a Grid+Battery system, dating from 2011. The solar company that installed it went out of business. I've been helping them since 2016.

The UB4D is a poor battery for the application. It does not have a very good life. The C&D batteries are designed for long life (10 years) in standby applications. That system will cycle maybe 100 times in 10 years. Good application for VRLA sealed lead-acid batteries.

OK thanks. Very interesting. They are lucky to have someone like you that's is so knowlegable!

I guess technology for batteries like everything else keeps improving.

Fixing the stickiness in a $450 ThrustMaster joystick not done by the mfr.
(a common problem from what I've read)
Better grease and a few minutes of prep would not have made this necessary.

I used Lucas #2 Marine Grease with Calcium Sulfonate additive which is supposed to be important.
(Advanced Auto had it but O'Reillys and local hardware stores didn't)

You can see the plastic casting/flashing was still left.
The internet guides said to use 600 grit, 1000, 2000.
Lazy me stopped at 600. Whatever.
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Another design incidental: A soldered ground wire runs through the stack making them inseparable.
Not an obstacle but a huh. It could have easily had a connector.
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This part, I forget the name atm, sits on top of the ball stack and slides on the four posts, to apply centering pressure to the ball.
Some people recommended removing the large pressure spring but others tried it and disagreed.

If you use any other spray lubes, such as silicone/lithium, the white plastic plate swells up to pinch the posts and then the joystick is completely frozen up.

This happened to me as well. Maybe it was designed that way.

The fix is to bore out the hole slightly again. Do this carefully. Do not go to the edges of the black.
Stop and check movement. Use light pressure a little bit at a time.

I bored it too much.
Despite the improvement overall there is now a small clunk at the center which is annoying but livable

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New HOTAS joystick bases are available from Thrustmaster (but probably the same original problems):
https://www.mypilotstore.com/MyPilotStore/sep/14116

Another European company makes pricey ones that are supposed to be compatible and superior:
https://virpil-controls.eu/vpc-warbrd-base.html

I was lucky! Had a ball joint fail on the 02 Accord. I could have been along for one hell of a ride, but it happened at the stop sign across the street from my house.

Grab jack and wheel dolly, get the boy to help push it across the street.

Remove wheel and discover the drive axle is also busted, inner joint. Order parts.

Commence whacking on car to remove bad parts. No go. Remove entire knuckle, bang out bad joint from knuckle, stack lumber, brick and 2 inch receiver hitch under arm to knuckle joint, whack down with BFH, remove rest of joint. Reassemble all.

Drives great! I can not wait to do the other side!

How many miles on your '02 Matt?

I've been playing with trains today.
My son and I won an auction for some LGB train stuff on the GW site. Free shipping, well $.01 might as well be free. First box came the day before yesterday. I'm impressed with the robustness of LGB train cars. The box was not well packed, but all survived for the most part. So today I was washing all the cars and track since they were really dirty. Kind of surprised me that toys this pricey can end up the way these did.
Here's an example of my cleaning efforts.
This is a circus train sound car before cleaning:
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This is it after I put it back together:

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Not all the cars were that dirty, but most had some sort of stuff on them.
While I was out in the garage cleaning, the FedEx guy stopped by, and, to my surprise, dropped off another box :eek: from the same order :eek::eek:

It was filled with more track!

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We also lucked out and got two cars with sound and a sound system that is stand alone that has both steam and diesel sound, and it WORKS!

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Couldn't believe he got that lucky, but he did.
All this for under $200. :D

I installed a Salt Water Chlorine Generator for the Pool.

Before install. That is a worthless, leaking "Pool Frog". Its got electrolytes. It's what pools crave. It is a tight fit for the SWCG. But there really isn't any other place.

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Cutting out the Pool Frog.

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Froggy Gone!

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Sanding up the PVC for a clean connection

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Salt Cell and Switch installed

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Making Chlorine!

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^^^ What VFD are you running? I assume it's a 220V single phase pump?

Hayward Tristar 1.85 HP VS pump. I run 22.5 hours at about 40 GPM and 2.5 hours at 100 GPM (skimmers and hot tub circulation). I'm testing the generator right now.

Tonight I'll run a "calibration", to figure out how much is generated at the 50% setting. I'll put it in hot tub mode and run at 50% for an hour, testing the Free Chlorine before and after. The hot tub volume is much more "sure" than the pool. 770 Gallons plus some for the piping, heater and the filter. Probably 800 gallons total. Pool & Spa are 24,655, as best I can figure. With the pump and piping, etc., it is probably 24,700 gallons. I should call it 25,000 as it is an estimate anyway.

James, all that PVC exposed to the hot TX sunlight can't be good..

I've been thinking about building a small shelter (moveable sloped with enough space for air) around my A/C.
It would provide direct shade to the cooling unit and keep leafs and snow out.

But I'm lazy and still haven't done it yet.

The equipment is in a 6 foot wide area between my house and a fence. It has maybe a couple hours per day of direct sun. I have a "cover" over part of that side of the house which could be extended over the pool equipment.

Be careful on surrounding AC equipment, since it can block the necessary air flow.

(POS camera sorry)

Painted the grey garage floor. and organized the disaster a bit.
I needed a little warmth to walk into.
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Also sprayed a piece of flat metal.
An "outside" advertised fleur-de-livres medallion which was pricey but started rusting after a year.
(Truthfully, I neglected it for a while.)
Hopefully a few heavy coats of oil-based Rustoleum, through a $20 itty-bitty cheapo HF HPLV will keep it looking good for a decade.

To note:
Use ~40psi or per the HPLV spray gun instructions!
Do not use the normal ~90psi supply pressure from the air compressor!
Turn down the gun knob pressure until a round pattern is achieved instead of the fan.
Always practice test first before applying.
Go slow. Dilute the paint. Wear a mask.
Painting anything outside using these methods are cheap and easy.


At the end I run a couple cups of acetone(fast dry) or lacquer thinner(slow dry) across the final coat to wrap it into corners.
This also cleans the tool out.

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You guys are fix-it-ing up a storm like you're blessed by, well, you know.

New neighbor building his home behind me (inexplicably) went with a 4' vinyl fence - instead of a 6' one - so now I will be putting up some privacy fabric.

I already have 4x4 posts along my patio outer edge so for now will attach the fabric to that.

Took delivery today of a 6'x50' roll and have another 4' wide one coming tomorrow so I can "double up" along the top half so I don't have to look at his ugly new house....or him and his wife....or their guests.

This is the fabric:
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/a8b...2&odnBg=ffffff

And his crappy little wiener fence........

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Finally got all the cars and track cleaned up. Makes a nice set up. The sound system is pretty nice too. I should upload a video...:rolleyes:

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMXgM4ThCq4&feature=youtu.be

Did alot today! Got a ditch witch going for a friend that does picking. It was sitting 3 or 4 years just cleaned the points and air filter changed the fuel hose and fixed some wiring and it runs and seems to work. Also the transmission was leaking out when i filled it the side cove gasket so i changed that. Its fixed enough for him to sell. He brought me some junk honda sprees i will probably part them out. I have a spree myself but i dont really need parts. The Roof mower was junk aswell i took the engine and drive mechanism and blade off it and will scrap the rest. Ill try to get the engine going another day but its kinda beat.
The honda z50 is my neighbors he restored it but couldnt get it running and neither can I! I fixed the throttle and the wires to the condensor were poorly soldered so it didnt have spark. Now it has spark like crazy but wont fire no matter what i try. Its not fuel it has a new carb. we put new gas in it and tried all matter of sprays and pouring gas in to no effect. Just pops occasionally. Went throught the points and timing 100 times even perfect with a timing light. All seems good mechanicly good compression just a little bubbly around the intake valve but lash is good and bore is good. We changed out to the original points and condensor didnt help. Tried 3 known good spark plugs. Seriously out of ideas. We are going to try moving the timing around without the flywheel key and see if it has any effect.

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Didn’t take a picture but did fix the generator.
AVR swap - so it was a $27 fix, but with how flaky the powers been over the last few weeks it was good to have it back in service.

Privacy cloth came today and I got it up.....only attached with paracord because I'm going to re-do everything including the canopy this fall/winter. But for now - I've re-gained my privacy!

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Have never attempted this before.... Had a couple of annoying paint chips by the trim plate on the rear bumper of the old Cayenne. Got my old modeling paints out and mixed green, black, Euro gray, aluminum silver about five times and amazingly came surprisingly close. Unless you really scrutinize the chips, you would never know. Just call me Short Dog.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1598842860.jpg

See you really can’t tell :D;)

I put new batteries in my toilet seat this morning, so I’m feeling pretty good about keeping up with essential maintenance these days.

After taking a week off to take care of a sore throat (non-covid), I will finally finish getting the steel on the barn roof this morning. Hallilujah!

Best
Les

Roofing here as well, Les. Small enclosure though and only 6' off ground. :D

Headed to HD for plywood......will coat with silicon product.

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Done at last. I ordered the steel in June, thinking I might get it on the barn before haying. Due to the early summer, we hayed four weeks early. Then it just got too darned hot for this fool to climb up onto the roof. When the weather broke in August I finally set up the staging and did my thing. Only about 2000 square feet, but I'm not sixty any more. I hope never to have to do that one again.

Best
Les

280K miles.

Later today I will be fixing the boat trailer lights, but only after I dig a deep hole in the yard and fill it back in.