What are you working on today?

The yellow jacket go kart is ready, raised the cage a bit so its easier for an adult to get in. Next up, more go karts, and box blade a race track on the family ranch.

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Another go kart acquired. This one will need some welding repairs, and TBD if i'll try to revive the engine or predator swap. Dont know much about GY6 engines.

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I decided to make the most of the day and tackle another project that I've been avoiding... rear knuckle bushings on my '95 Seville. I discovered the failed bushings back when I got the car, it's just one of those jobs that I assumed was going to be a pain in the rear (no pun intended). As luck would have it, the job ended up being much ado about nothing.

Removing the knuckle itself was a breeze: remove caliper and bracket as an assembly, brake rotor, electrical plug for the WSS, and 3 bolts holding the knuckle to the control arms. The bushings themselves were in ROUGH shape, way worse than they felt while on the car. It's no wonder the rear end felt like it had a mind of its own in cross winds and over bumps.

Removing the old bushings was fairly simple. I rented the basic ball joint tool from OR to assist, however I ended up only using it for installation as I was able to hammer the old bushings out without much trouble. Honestly, I was expecting much more of a fight.

I stuck the new bushings in the freezer about an hour before starting the teardown which made reassembly a breeze; they pressed in easily with the ball joint press and a 1/2" ratchet. The included installation sleeves were much appreciated, hats off to SKP for including them.

Handling has been vastly improved vs. the old, blown out bushings. I'm not sure how far the camber/toe changed with all that slop, but it had to be multiple degrees. Now that I've seen the condition that the RR was in, I think I'll go ahead and order another set for the LR. At $20, it seems like a must.

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Net man card deduction for having to rent a tool :D
 
Well boys, things didn't go as planned. I used the old bearing as a driver and knocked in the new bearing. Seemed to go easy enough. Then warmed up the bearing and went to knock in the new hub. Well, it began to knock the centre out of the new bearing out!!

So now, being Sunday, things are at a stand still. I'll pull it apart and take it into Napa tomorrow and see about an exchange.

I think I will have to support the bearing centre from the back when the hub gets pressed in.

Edit, I put too much faith in that centre race. That's on me, rookie move.
You may have seen my thread about replacing a front wheel bearing on a 2009 Kia Sedona van.

The old bearing was rusted in really badly, and removal was challenging.

I feared exactly the same thing you experienced - damaging the new bearing driving it in.

I cleaned up the knuckle well with a wire wheel on a drill, and considered putting the bearing-and-hub assembly in the freezer for an hour or so to help it go in easier, but it slipped in no problem.

That's probably because it's not designed as a friction fit with a snap ring - instead, the bearing/hub assembly is secured by three beefy (12M?) bolts.

So how did things ultimately turn out for you?
 
2015 Forester:
-oil change
-tire rotation
-replaced air filter
-the wonderful GSP Revolution CV axle is NOW FOR THE SECOND TIME flinging grease, so replaced the boot (inner) for now @slacktide_bitog
-replaced front LCA bushings
-serviced CVT w Castrol Transmax
-front pads at 3mm but rotors were great so for the first time in years I pad slapped it (plus the young lady is on a budget)
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I've tired of Subaru's obsession with all things fine thread. After fighting M12x1.25 sway bar links I got to fight M8x1.00 caliper pin bolts. Who the **** uses M8x1.00?? Fortunately I had one tap but oH My GAWD yoU sHOuLD Use A ChASeR!!!!!!! View attachment 278835
I should have ordered new pins but didn't expect to need them (only needed one)
Mazda and Kia also seem to like fine-thread stuff. I had to buy one expensive oddball die (M10 x 1.25?), and will need more.
 
Oil change on 2018 4Runner. While I applaud Toyota's continued use of steel skidplates, I don't understand their fascination with making you remove the whole thing to get at the drain plug, filter or both. It's possible to do access panels or holes. I know. I've seen it done. We have the technology.

The plastic filter housing was so tight I thought it was going to become epic, but with a 2' ratchet and lots of muscle it finally went.
 
Tracked down an annoying rattle in the front end of my '79 to the fender cross braces that run in front of the radiator. One of them was rattling on the core support something fierce, but a piece of closed cell foam and a tweak to the tension on the rods and all was well.

Proceeded to put the '95 back up in the air with some shop air pressure in the AC system to see if I could track down the slow leak. Shocker: the compressor body is leaking at the seams. Ordered a new unit along with a new accumulator on RA, both closeout parts for $120 shipped. The compressor that's in there has already been replaced once, but I'm not surprised it's leaking already. These style always seem to have an issue with the body seals leaking.
 
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@Number_35 i dont recall your post. Likely because I hadn't encountered this setup yet.

The bearing went in, had a rough spot, but I sent it for nearly 100km. I was gone for the week with work, so this week I'll punch it out and get a new one in. Napa says they will honor the part warranty so I'll deal with that Monday. Either way, a new bearing is going in.

I bought a bearing install tool as well. Oh darn, an excuse for more tools....
 
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'98 K2500: new rear brake shoes and am trying the "upgrade" to dually 1-3/16" wheel cylinders. If you've never had the pleasure, GM found it hilarious to cram the spring packs up against the backing plates.
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New wheel seals and brake hardware of course
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Replaced just one rear wheel bearing and this gave me an excuse to use my 10# slide hammer for the first time. Not sure if my 5# would have been enough, but I wasn't messing around
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I've also had these HF "toggles" for years and finally used one -- apparently I don't do a lot of semi-float wheel bearings. Anyway, the toggle was really nice. In the past I've just cut and tapped a piece of flat bar to slip behind the bearing.
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While the shafts were out I used one as a jig to sand out just the inner ridge that has developed over the years. Way too much runout to machine it like this but an angle grinder or belt file held by hand will follow the work.

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Tomorrow is a p/s hose and master cylinder
 
Because of the cool weather today, going to clean the engine. Then set up to finished installing the siless 50ml & 80ml sound dampening. then start calculating for the installation of the Alcantara suede fabric wrap over the siless sound dampening sheets. I ordered 5 rolls of the fabric from vinylfrog, they has 6 in stock and ended up sending the 6th roll free..
 
Today will be a lawn mower day. I'm replacing the oil drain valve on my new Cub Cadet LT46 lawn tractor. It has one of those cheap yellow quick-release valves that always leak. It will be replaced with a durable metal valve just like ⬇️

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Also replacing blades on my old Ariens 42 lawn tractor. I decided to keep it after buying the Cub. It's 12 years old and not worth much, so it will serve as a backup.
 
Today will be a lawn mower day. I'm replacing the oil drain valve on my new Cub Cadet LT46 lawn tractor. It has one of those cheap yellow quick-release valves that always leak. It will be replaced with a durable metal valve just like ⬇️

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Also replacing blades on my old Ariens 42 lawn tractor. I decided to keep it after buying the Cub. It's 12 years old and not worth much, so it will serve as a backup.

Well that's fancy!

I just used a galvanized nipple and elbow on my LT46.

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Well that's fancy!
I decided to keep the factory extension and just add a small brass nipple. The valve extends past the frame about an inch, so its perfect for catching the oil below. The open/close screw is at the 4 o'clock position and is easy to access. I may add a 90 degree hose barb fitting for attaching a hose...or not. We'll see how this works.

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Not a very productive day for this old man.. while under the van that's in a 1940's garage with near zero room. I was greasing up the ball joints on the control arm, tie rod ends and end links.. about the 3rd zerk.. the cheap grease gun exploded like those pillsbury cinnamon roll container when you hit them on the side of the table to open them. Grease went everywhere.. main reason it splattered all over the place is that the grease gun socket got stuck on the zerk.. I couldn't remove it. Hit it with hammer and splat.. I'm getting to old for this. I hate it but time to send me out to pasture..
 
I need to bench bleed a master and prefer the hoses fed back into the reservoir. I thought I had a decent selection of the fittings with barbs for a small hose, but couldn't find a 1/2‐20, which I needed.

I had two 9/16‐18 and thought maybe I could turn it down, but workholding was the next obstacle. I was not about to chuck up on the tiny barbed portion, and the wrench flats were 5/8" square. To my surprise I have a 5/8" square 5C collet, and that worked great.
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I'll often use the face of a chuck in the tailstock to hold a die square to the work:
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Looks factory more or less:
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This weekend consisted of mowing/brush hogging and got fence pulled out to the corner post on the south end. Japanese honeysuckle.. smells good but highly invasive. Found the best way is to take the tractor bucket and rip it out. If I can ever fix the chainsaw I’ll get to cutting the main vines. The north is ready to be pulled out but burned that end so hoping enough rain will wash everything off.
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