Continuing Thread: What Are You Fix-It'ing Today?

[ben parrish]

[Baz]

^^^ Very nice, Ben!

Made some progress today but forgot about a Gator basketball game at 2pm so had to catch some of that and then a buddy dropped by and that ate up a little time. It's all good.....



Check out this old landscape light I replaced. It fell over about 2 years ago and I finally got around to replacing it today. It was actually still working but in a prone position...lol...

[Baz]

Spliced a tee into a 3/4" domestic water line yesterday using Shark Bites. I converted to 1" PVC and a ball valve. This will be our water source for irrigation. The water line was deeper than normal so extra digging required.

[wdfifteen]

Our Kitchenaide dishwasher started making weird noises and stopped cleaning the dishes.



So I dug into it.



The remains of the food grinder were in the bottom of the sump.



It's a good thing the new grinder came as an assembly. It popped right in and took care of the problem.

[Noah930]

Oil and new brakes for the minivan.

[Baz]

Finally got around to attaching the mermaid to my garage wall. I probably made a little more work for myself than necessary but I'm happy with the end result, so the end justifies the means, I guess.

I used aluminum stock to help mitigate corrosion.

[Jrboulder]

Did a little spray painting on my instrument panel overlay.

[john70t]

To note: Whenever fixing a washer you should buy a 1+11/16th" spanner wrench from a specialty appliance store.

The tool is difficult to find.
It is an odd spec. Bigger than 1 5/8" but smaller than 1 3/4". Neither will work. Trust me on this.
I spent three days going to every local box store, every auto supply, Ace, and talking to many people who did not know.
Getting this tool was not possible in time so I made it myself.

So...
One day the 14yo washer made a bad sound and didn't work anymore.
The agitator plate drive (or whatever it's called) had rusted through.

Buy a new washer?
New washer appliances have gone from $400-$600 to $700-$1000, even for basic models.
For $100 in parts and $25 in tools I think I made out okay.


Stuff a rag in the drain hole to the expeller pump first.
Try to remove the rounded-out nut, which someone had tried to work on many years before but stripped out.
No luck there.



First I tried to dremel a few slits and knock it sideways with a chisel using the side of the hammer.
No luck there either. The chisel got 1/8" in and popped to the surface.

I broke out the cut-off wheel and went into full destructo mode. Fk it.
That worked finally.


I got the parts from https://www.appliancepartspros.com/ Great site. Diagrams and full installation videos.
A few bucks more for expedited. Parts arrived early or on time. It was a satisfying purchasing experience.

The website ;recommended; a washer and the split-bearing, which I am thankful for.
That is the other half of the pancake and those were trashed.

What they did not 'recommend' unfortunately was the installation tool nor the 7/16 bolt on top of the spindle which has a rubber seal.
I used a little bit of Teflon thread paste to help that seal.


Spray everything down with WD-40. Wipe clean. Stay clean.
Use a dental pick to clean the threads.
Everything looks good so far...


How to tighten that drive spindle-to-tub nut to 30-50 ft/lbs? A guestimate torque based on the video.
I had to make my own tool.


Dark magic was involved.


The tool worked perfectly.
There was a little slop still but I added welds to the center of the flat sections and filed them down round.
It only took many many hours.


Started the machine up tonight and ran a small load.
Now it works even better than before. There is almost no vibration at all on final spin and when stopping to a halt.
The GE water pump didn't seem to mind a fww chunks of metal running through it.

Job done. For now. I left the bottom seal alone because its not leaking.
If something else goes out it will be a half hour job next time.
Actually washers are quite simple in design and easy to fix once you've done it once.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by john70t

To note: Whenever fixing a washer you should buy a 1+11/16th" wrench from a specialty appliance store.

The tool is difficult to find.
It is an odd spec. Bigger than 1 5/8" but smaller than 1 3/4". Neither will work. Trust me on that.
I spent three days going to every local box store, every auto supply, Ace, and talking to many people who did not know.
Getting this tool was not possible in time so I made it myself.

So...
One day the 14yo washer made a bad sound and didn't work anymore.
The agitator plate drive (or whatever it's called) had rusted through.
Buy a new washer?
New washer appliances have gone from $400-$600 to $700-$1000 even for basic models.
For $100 in parts and $25 in tools I think I made out okay.

Stuff a rag in the drain hole to the expeller pump first.
Try to remove the rounded-out nut, which someone had tried to work on many years before but stripped out.
No luck there.

First I tried to dremel a few slits and knock it sideways with a chisel using the side of the hammer.
No luck there either. The chisel got 1/8" in and popped to the surface.

I broke out the cut-off wheel and went into full destrucko mode. Fk it.That worked finally.

I got the parts from https://www.appliancepartspros.com/ Great site. Diagrams and full installation videos.
A few bucks more for expedited. Parts arrived early or on time.

They 'recommended' a washer and the split-bearing which I am thankful for.
Those were trashed.

They did not 'recommend' the installation tool nor the 7/16 bolt which has arubber seal.
I used a little bit of Teflon thread paste to help that seal.

Spray everything down with WD-40. Wipe clean. Stay clean.
Use a dental pick to clean the threads.
Everything looks good so far...

How to tighten that drive spindle-to-tub nut to 30-50 ft/lbs?
(please reference the beginning of this post)
I had to make my own tool.....


Dark magic was involved.


The tool worked perfectly.
I added welds to the center of the flats and filed them down.
It only took may hours.


Started it up tonight and ran a small load.
Works even better than before. There is almost no vibration at all on final spin and when stopping to a halt.
Job done.

Very nice! I was going to suggest (next time) checking for the availability of a metric equivalent, but I'm pretty sure a 43mm wrench is almost as rare as a 1 11/16".

I've also had good luck in the past with a similar site for appliance repair. They do a great job of recommending what could be wrong based on symptoms and some troubleshooting, and then for a very reasonable price you order the parts and do the work yourself. If you'd called an appliance guy, I'm sure he'd had charged you $500 or told you to buy a new appliance.

[masraum]

I repaired some frozen plumbing a replaced a pressure gauge with one that is hopefully, a much higher quality than the last couple.

And done!

[john70t]

(edit:never mind. had a double dyslexia moment for a second)

Looking good Steve.
You've been through it all this year...
I still would suggest switching from plastic to metal for the fresh water supply line.

[astrochex]

First gen MINIs are notorious for getting cracked windshields. I had my share. After the last replacement (Safelite I think), I noticed the lower trim was popping up. I did nothing about it until the center sections were clearly unattached. I could lift up the trim and see at least one clip was broken. Got new clips and took off the trim to be greeted by this absurdity. Most clips had the crud on them.

Thankfully, the grey goop came cleanly off the clips and they were still usable. I will never use Safelite again.

[porsche930dude]

Iv got a couple old mac 610 saws one was my fathers i got them going again to ebay them. I never use them they are too heavy underpowered and dont cut very well.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by astrochex

First gen MINIs are notorious for getting cracked windshields. I had my share.

Strut-tower brace which locks solid into the firewall?
Modify the dash assembly with reinforcement?
It sounds like there is some chassis flex happening.

[Gus Berges]

You've always been a GTO-type racer... Would you happen to have any leads on this car: https://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/photo/Fernando-Robles-DR.html

Originally Posted by ted

Major service and detail on the old IMSA GTO race car.

[HobieMarty]

Painted some light fixtures for my in laws, changed a 20 amp breaker in my breaker panel and more importantly, clear coated a model car!!!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[A930Rocket]

Installed wheel studs on the BMW. Got the right front getting work. Now the left side headlight stopped. 🤬

Installed new pads on all four corners of our daughters VW Tiguan

[ted]

Originally Posted by Gus Berges

You've always been a GTO-type racer... Would you happen to have any leads on this car: https://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/photo/Fernando-Robles-DR.html

I don't have any info but this looks like the sister car?
Here is a link to some of the cars in Historic IMSA race group.
Historic Trans-Am IMSA

[edgemar]

I could never get the nut off from the drum. It was frozen on there. I gave up...

Originally Posted by masraum

Very nice! I was going to suggest (next time) checking for the availability of a metric equivalent, but I'm pretty sure a 43mm wrench is almost as rare as a 1 11/16".

I've also had good luck in the past with a similar site for appliance repair. They do a great job of recommending what could be wrong based on symptoms and some troubleshooting, and then for a very reasonable price you order the parts and do the work yourself. If you'd called an appliance guy, I'm sure he'd had charged you $500 or told you to buy a new appliance.

[astrochex]

Originally Posted by john70t

Strut-tower brace which locks solid into the firewall?
Modify the dash assembly with reinforcement?
It sounds like there is some chassis flex happening.

Don’t know if its chassis flex or because the car has the aero of a brick. They have braces for convertibles that can be retrofitted to coupes.