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

[herr_oberst]

Put a new replacement slider in my patio door today and then took a trip to the dump to rid myself of some of the detritus of American life. The broken door, An old toilet, paint cans and other hazardous waste and a half bag of sackrete that had hardened over winter while it was in the shed.

I feel like I lost weight!

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Baz

At one of my accounts we have a two zone irrigation system. Runs off city water and has two solenoid valves and a digital timer.

Lately, I've noticed a delay on Zone 2 in shutting down, after I shut it off. Typically this has something to do with the solenoid valve.

This morning I took with me a couple used/salvaged valves so I could rob them of their internals, if need be. These are Rainbird valves and can be serviced by removing 6 ss screws.

After clearing the soil away so I could work on the valves, I noticed the Zone 1 valve had a slight leak, so decided to take them both apart. That white stuff is what I found inside the Zone 1 valve. I scrapped as much away as possible and replaced both internal diaphragms with the ones I brought. Both valves working perfectly now and no leaks.

I will probably go ahead and replace both with new ones at some point soon and also raise their location up above grade at the same time. This location was there when I took the property over.

You would know better than I, but aren't those usually installed screws up?

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Zeke

You would know better than I, but aren't those usually installed screws up?

I've seen and done it both ways, Milt.

Mostly it depends on the property layout, irrigation layout, and valve locations as well as preference of the owner and/or installer.

I'm doing one right now for a customer who requested an above ground manifold. Which I agreed with - for this particular job. The last job I did for him I put them in the ground (screws up or horizontally) in a daisy chain style, mostly because of the way the property was laid out. Each valve (there were three all together) had it's own 6" round (economy) valve box and everything was flush with the grade - nothing showing except the round valve box lid.

The current project has 4 zones. I will get a pic for you tomorrow.

I actually like having the valves above ground for ease of servicing and maintenance. Every time you have to service one in the ground even in a valve box the whole thing is filled with dirt and has to be dug out just to get to any part of the valve.

[Baz]

Oops....forgot I had a few pics from earlier in the week.

You can see the 4 zone manifold in the middle pic against the outside wall. There is a shallow well a few feet away and a 1.5HP pump inside the garage. The timer is mounted outside and today I installed the lighting transformer right next to it. I planted Fakahatchee Grasses along that side of the house which will hide the equipment and also allow access for servicing, reading the meters, etc.

The weeds you see are the owner's responsibility. Long story short - he compromised the procedure I had in place for site prep so I just let him handle that part.

These pics are plants and palms I installed. As of tomorrow all plantings and irrigation will be done and I will put my lighting in on Sunday, mulch the beds Monday, and my sod installer has sod scheduled for next Wed.

Doing everything myself here except the sod.

[A930Rocket]

Installed a new front bumper and instrument cluster on my sons Tahoe. The IC took 15 minutes. The front bumper was a nightmare.

After I took it off, I realized the two mounting brackets were crushed back and down. Lacking proper tools, I jacked the truck up by the brackets and heated them up until the weight of the truck pushed them into shape. Not perfect, but it worked.

Tomorrow it’s spark plugs, wires, fuel filter and diff fluid. Maybe a trans flush...

[Racerbvd]

AC wasn't blowing cold and fan wasn moving much air. So removed the top and sides, cleaned the coils, noticed a burnt wire going to the capacitor . So a trip to Ace, and a new wire, wire ends and a capacitor later, my ac is blowing cold again..

[cabmandone]

Not today but spent the week on the Cape with my sister. BIL's 914 Porscharu wouldn't start. Helped him but didn't get it started. On Thursday noticed the house was getting warm. Checked the outdoor unit and noticed the condenser fan wasn't running. Was leaving Friday morning but checked it out, found the capacitor was toast so stayed a bit longer Friday morning, found a HVAC supply and got her A/C up and running before I left.

[95avblm3]

I replaced the rear wheel bearings on our Boxster. They were howling and I discovered one of the inner races on the passenger side was cracked. Fronts ordered as a preventative measure along with some other parts needing attention but it is much quieter now!

[LEAKYSEALS951]

For today's project, I submit the following: Rear bike rack modification.

My current el-cheepo rear hitch bike rack works great, except for that it sticks too far out behind the car when not in use to be able to keep on the car/park without it hitting things/getting clobbered. It was basically a fixed arm which stuck out to far. I looked at some folding rear hitch bike racks, but at $600-$700 dollars, that's a sham- especially when you throw in having to buy all new yakima/thule key locks.

Several spare pieces of scrap metal/ spare bolts later, and I built a lever arm into the rear extension. It keeps the rack CLOSER to the car than the fancy expensive racks when not in use. Bonus points awarded for incorporating spare john deere hitch pins!

Sometime redneck engineering trips the light fantastic into something that works REALLY well. This is one of those cases.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Baz

Oops....forgot I had a few pics from earlier in the week.

You can see the 4 zone manifold in the middle pic against the outside wall. There is a shallow well a few feet away and a 1.5HP pump inside the garage. The timer is mounted outside and today I installed the lighting transformer right next to it. I planted Fakahatchee Grasses along that side of the house which will hide the equipment and also allow access for servicing, reading the meters, etc.

Valves here are required to incorporate an anti siphon device and be placed 6" above grade. For the AS to work they have to be screws up.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

For today's project, I submit the following: Rear bike rack modification.

Round-over the ends, powder coat it yellow for safety, and then make twenty more of 'em because there is a market out there waiting for ya.
That is a nice mod.

[A930Rocket]

Installed spark plugs, plug wires and a fuel filter on the Tahoe (120k).

I think the plugs and wires were original. They were a ***** to loosen and remove.

Rear diff and trans flush is all that’s left on the list.

[Noah930]

Be careful when moving 8000-lb pieces of machinery.

[aschen]

holy crap that looks painful. Hope you heal up quickly and without issues.

can't be too careful with hand and Eye safety.

[cairns]

Just reconed a 25 year old subwoofer (Velodyne). It sounds awesome now.

[Baz]

My landscape job is moving along nicely. Today we put down 3K SF of St. Augustine 'Floratam' sod and still ran short! Yes we measured. Will finish it on Friday. I also have some washed shell to put into that little strip between the road and sidewalk.

[billybek]

Trying to get the truck and camper ready to roll.
Replaced the escape hatch over the bunk on the camper and did a lube/oil / filter on the old GMC.
You would think that someone would have planned to have this done long ago but noooo...
Also have a minor project on the go in the house.
Hard to focus on just one thing!

[tevake]

Wow, great transformation Baz! It was a blank slate then you turned it around so nicely. Your clients must be stoked.

That sod makes quick work of getting a lawn in.

This is our attempt in the reclaimed back yard. From over head scrub to this start.
We used a drag rake behind the zero turn mower for the final prep. It left groves that the grass seed settled into then sprouted. Looks like a mini row crop at this point. But should grow together eventually. At least we are not just growing weeds back there this summer.

[tevake]

Looking the other way you can see some of the additional 180 feet of fencing we did this early summer, before it got too hot.

[Alan A]

Put in the second of the five landings on the replacement wall and walkway this afternoon. Way more work than you’d think to do right.