What are you working on today?

[Delta]

I have this cheap Carry On trailer from Tractor Supply. The license plate bracket that comes with it that hangs off the light is hilariously flimsy. Pretty sure if I hit some rough road it's gonna snap off.

Bought some 3/16 flat stock to make a holder. I'm used to using a 480V welder at work, so this 120V one I have here took a minute to figure out

Painted

Mounted

 

[CleanSump]

I have this cheap Carry On trailer from Tractor Supply. The license plate bracket that comes with it that hangs off the light is hilariously flimsy. Pretty sure if I hit some rough road it's gonna snap off.

Bought some 3/16 flat stock to make a holder. I'm used to using a 480V welder at work, so this 120V one I have here took a minute to figure out

Painted

Mounted

Are you going to mount a light so you can use it after dark?

 

[Delta]

Are you going to mount a light so you can use it after dark?

You know what, I never thought about that. I'm totally getting pulled over now

Not planning on using it after dark though.

 

[D60]

I have this cheap Carry On trailer from Tractor Supply. The license plate bracket that comes with it that hangs off the light is hilariously flimsy. Pretty sure if I hit some rough road it's gonna snap off.

Bought some 3/16 flat stock to make a holder. I'm used to using a 480V welder at work, so this 120V one I have here took a minute to figure out

Painted

Mounted

Crocodile Dundee voice:
"That's not a knife license plate mount -- this is a knife license plate mount."

D

Post in thread 'What are you working on today?'

Mar 22, 2024

I was asked to modify a new Carry On trailer for lawn/landscaping service. First off, QC on these trailers (sold at TSC) is beyond abysmal. These are just the welds I noticed in five seconds on top. I deliberately didn't look underneath because I don't want to know.

Before:

After:

Added some tie-downs in the corners. Up front I had to bridge across the open portion of angle with flat bar:

Years ago I modified these F-clamps for working with ag fencing. They work incredibly well:

This guy has had...

• D60

• 

Seriously, though nice work

 

[D60]

You know what, I never thought about that. I'm totally getting pulled over now

Not planning on using it after dark though.

Around here most trailers don't even have plates. If they have a plate the tags are long expired. A cop would have to have a personal agenda or a really bad day to nitpick a light.....but, sure, technically it's a violation.

 

[Delta]

Crocodile Dundee voice:
"That's not a knife license plate mount -- this is a knife license plate mount."

D

Post in thread 'What are you working on today?'

Mar 22, 2024

I was asked to modify a new Carry On trailer for lawn/landscaping service. First off, QC on these trailers (sold at TSC) is beyond abysmal. These are just the welds I noticed in five seconds on top. I deliberately didn't look underneath because I don't want to know.

Before:

After:

Added some tie-downs in the corners. Up front I had to bridge across the open portion of angle with flat bar:

Years ago I modified these F-clamps for working with ag fencing. They work incredibly well:

This guy has had...

• D60

• 

Seriously, though nice work

That first sentence

The industrial technician in me couldn't leave well enough alone. I bought some tie downs to weld on, but I need to load the mower up to get the positions where I want it.

Allegedly they pay the welders $8 an hour to weld those trailers together (parolee and day laborers). Pretty sure I'll have to get the welder out again. It just hauls my mower and lumber occasionally, not like it gets used everyday.

 

[TnT_M]

I have this cheap Carry On trailer from Tractor Supply. The license plate bracket that comes with it that hangs off the light is hilariously flimsy. Pretty sure if I hit some rough road it's gonna snap off.

Bought some 3/16 flat stock to make a holder. I'm used to using a 480V welder at work, so this 120V one I have here took a minute to figure out

Painted

Mounted

Some of your welds look good!

Remeber a grinder and paint will make you the welder you aint... lol

 

[cptbarkey]

New vehicle purchase, my local county retired a 2015 Grand Caravan. Drove it to the ranch from the county annex. 104k on the odometer, everything works. New Walmart AGM battery installed. I need to replace the passenger side headrest, spill/fill of the transmission, brake fluid and thats about it. Will take a closer look at the oil cooler but I think its probably ok. It will be assigned to one of my kids in the near future.

View attachment 347876

Not long after I got the Caravan home, check engine came on for a dead O2 sensor on bank 2. I ordered 4 Bosch oxygen sensors, which I think was a mistake. I was pleasantly happy to see that all 4 sensors are the same, but after replacing the one on bank 2 I started to get code P219B, the injector pulse width was consistently low on cylinder 2.

I went ahead and ordered new spark plugs, upper intake manifold gaskets, 1 coil, and just in case a fuel injector. I did find evidence of oil on the upper manifold gaskets, so replacing them was a good thing. I held the fuel injector back. After 30 miles, P219B came up again. I came across a few mentions about several possible root causes to this code, being the lower manifold gasket, fuel injectors, and two references to not use bosch oxygen sensors, and only use NTK sensors.

Okay, so I loaded the parts shotgun again, replaced 3 fuel injectors on bank 2, found further evidence that the lower intake manifold was leaking oil, replaced them, and put in a NTK oyxgen sensor. The OEM oil cooler was dry as a bone. In the process of reassembly the lower intake plenum I stripped two of the plastic bolt holes. Home Depot had 1/4 - 2 inch lag bolts which worked good. I put another 60 miles this afternoon, all readiness monitors cleared and passed Texas emissions testing. Drove another 40 miles back, no CELs.

After these few rounds of troubleshooting over a few weeks, I have to say P219B was one of the tougher CELs I've had to resolve with no real definitive evidence of what it was. I do think it was that the PCM doesnt like Bosch O2 sensors, but the oil on both intake gaskets also made me think there was an air leak somewhere.

The Pentastar is a little finicky, but my faith is holding. Later this week I will do an oil change and trans filter/fluid change. Now to wait on 1 of my 3 kids to get a drivers license and they will have the coolest ex Texas County van around.

 

[wander2039]

When I got home got the oldest son signed up with Vanguard, invest in ETFs in a few days. Had him run the numbers being 18 to see what if could grow to. After that finished our will and scheduled the appointment to be notarized. Went out and taped up the rear Escape. It decided to self eject this weekend.
Window weld is a disappointment, not sure why didn’t stick. The new one is coming with a different type of glue.

 

[wings&wheels]

I noticed rust bleeding through the rubberized coating of the leading edge of the '79's fuel tank. One of the downsides of a front mounted tank I guess. Wanting to address that, I attached with degreasers, cleaners and a wire wheel. I was surprised to find minimal pitting, a barely affected surface, under the coating. I didn't want to grind away too much, so I treated the minor surface rust in a few spots, primered the rest and finished with many coats of Wurth Stoneguard grey. The original tan is NLA. The Stoneguard is a bit of a pain to apply; spray 20+ inches away, let the solvent flash off, etc. or you wind up with a sticky uncured mess. Great stuff though.

I oversprayed on the heat exchanger guard when my masking blew away, but planned on touching that up a few scrapes on that anyway...and it is the underside.

 

[D60]

2006 Hummer H3: replaced RF wheel bearing, LF brake hose, repaired p/s return line and replaced both front CV axles. Stuck in the cycle of replacing cracking aftermarket boots every 8-12 months

2017 Wrangler: engine oil change and diagnosed bad LF WSS. Part on order

2019 Rogue: engine oil change

2000 Dodge Ram: repaired leaking washer reservoir. This is the second reservoir from a 2nd gen Ram to get a pinhole right here. This time I decided to use my chassis iron.....

......and basically "smeared" over the pinhole. For now it's holding (shrug)

 

[clinebarger]

Little bit of drama today.....Try to keep my shop drama free, I know some thrive in it.....I'm not one of them!

2007 Lexus RX350 brought in by a shop I do quite a bit of diagnostic work for, Never had a issue with them until today.

Complaint is none of the windows beside the front driver window will work from the master switch & the rear hatch will not open, They shotgunned a master switch at it which didn't fix it.

Long story short....The AFS (Adaptive Front-Lighting System) module was bringing down the Body Information BUS. It takes time to track this down as it could be any of the 20 modules on that Communication BUS/Data Line.

I started at the Gateway Module, Most Tech's would to break the system apart & narrow the number of modules down. Had 3.5 hours on it & charged 3.5 hours.

General Manager didn't like the price, Asked if I would spend $600 on this car? (It's pretty rough interior wise!)
Told him the price would've been the same if it was in mint condition & he can take his diag work elsewhere if this is the attitude I can expect in the future.

He backpaddled pretty quick, Saying he'll lose money on this job & he's having a bad day etc etc. I know the owner of the shops he oversees hired a business management coaching firm because he was complaining about it a couple weeks ago, Pretty sure this is what he was told to do.....Try to beat me down on my pricing to better their shops margins? Not my problem they won't hire a Diag Tech, But I also see why they don't.....They spent a little over $40,000 with me last year.

 

[ripcord]

My daughter's Highlander started running quite badly the other day with a P0302 code. I swapped cylinder #2's coil with an adjacent cylinder and got P0303, so, tonight I put plugs and a new Denso coil in it. So far so good.

 

[Legs4Arms]

Little bit of drama today.....Try to keep my shop drama free, I know some thrive in it.....I'm not one of them!

2007 Lexus RX350 brought in by a shop I do quite a bit of diagnostic work for, Never had a issue with them until today.

Complaint is none of the windows beside the front driver window will work from the master switch & the rear hatch will not open, They shotgunned a master switch at it which didn't fix it.

Long story short....The AFS (Adaptive Front-Lighting System) module was bringing down the Body Information BUS. It takes time to track this down as it could be any of the 20 modules on that Communication BUS/Data Line.

I started at the Gateway Module, Most Tech's would to break the system apart & narrow the number of modules down. Had 3.5 hours on it & charged 3.5 hours.

General Manager didn't like the price, Asked if I would spend $600 on this car? (It's pretty rough interior wise!)
Told him the price would've been the same if it was in mint condition & he can take his diag work elsewhere if this is the attitude I can expect in the future.

He backpaddled pretty quick, Saying he'll lose money on this job & he's having a bad day etc etc. I know the owner of the shops he oversees hired a business management coaching firm because he was complaining about it a couple weeks ago, Pretty sure this is what he was told to do.....Try to beat me down on my pricing to better their shops margins? Not my problem they won't hire a Diag Tech, But I also see why they don't.....They spent a little over $40,000 with me last year.

Sorry to hear about this unfortunate experience but that thing needs a buttload of dynamite more than diagnostics

 

[D60]

Little bit of drama today.....Try to keep my shop drama free, I know some thrive in it.....I'm not one of them!

2007 Lexus RX350 brought in by a shop I do quite a bit of diagnostic work for, Never had a issue with them until today.

Complaint is none of the windows beside the front driver window will work from the master switch & the rear hatch will not open, They shotgunned a master switch at it which didn't fix it.

Long story short....The AFS (Adaptive Front-Lighting System) module was bringing down the Body Information BUS. It takes time to track this down as it could be any of the 20 modules on that Communication BUS/Data Line.

I started at the Gateway Module, Most Tech's would to break the system apart & narrow the number of modules down. Had 3.5 hours on it & charged 3.5 hours.

General Manager didn't like the price, Asked if I would spend $600 on this car? (It's pretty rough interior wise!)
Told him the price would've been the same if it was in mint condition & he can take his diag work elsewhere if this is the attitude I can expect in the future.

He backpaddled pretty quick, Saying he'll lose money on this job & he's having a bad day etc etc. I know the owner of the shops he oversees hired a business management coaching firm because he was complaining about it a couple weeks ago, Pretty sure this is what he was told to do.....Try to beat me down on my pricing to better their shops margins? Not my problem they won't hire a Diag Tech, But I also see why they don't.....They spent a little over $40,000 with me last year.

In this economy I feel like a running Lexus is worth $600. Anything else you buy in the price range of whatever that car would sell for will be a complete basket case...."Just needs a fuel pump" type scenario

I can understand why some shops have a 10-year threshold. On old beaters the cost of many repairs exceeds the value of the vehicle pretty quickly. That said, I've got several customers who use me because I'll work on their older stuff and they don't mind paying.

 

[clinebarger]

In this economy I feel like a running Lexus is worth $600. Anything else you buy in the price range of whatever that car would sell for will be a complete basket case...."Just needs a fuel pump" type scenario

I can understand why some shops have a 10-year threshold. On old beaters the cost of many repairs exceeds the value of the vehicle pretty quickly. That said, I've got several customers who use me because I'll work on their older stuff and they don't mind paying.

It runs like a Singer sewing machine & has good A/C for a Japanese marque.

 

[demarpaint]

Little bit of drama today.....Try to keep my shop drama free, I know some thrive in it.....I'm not one of them!

2007 Lexus RX350 brought in by a shop I do quite a bit of diagnostic work for, Never had a issue with them until today.

Complaint is none of the windows beside the front driver window will work from the master switch & the rear hatch will not open, They shotgunned a master switch at it which didn't fix it.

Long story short....The AFS (Adaptive Front-Lighting System) module was bringing down the Body Information BUS. It takes time to track this down as it could be any of the 20 modules on that Communication BUS/Data Line.

I started at the Gateway Module, Most Tech's would to break the system apart & narrow the number of modules down. Had 3.5 hours on it & charged 3.5 hours.

General Manager didn't like the price, Asked if I would spend $600 on this car? (It's pretty rough interior wise!)
Told him the price would've been the same if it was in mint condition & he can take his diag work elsewhere if this is the attitude I can expect in the future.

He backpaddled pretty quick, Saying he'll lose money on this job & he's having a bad day etc etc. I know the owner of the shops he oversees hired a business management coaching firm because he was complaining about it a couple weeks ago, Pretty sure this is what he was told to do.....Try to beat me down on my pricing to better their shops margins? Not my problem they won't hire a Diag Tech, But I also see why they don't.....They spent a little over $40,000 with me last year.

What you told the client was exactly how I would have handled the problem. Smart people come to their senses like he did! However on occasion the bowl needs to be flushed. Nasty customers trying to get over on me were quickly dumped, it didn't happen often but in my 45+ years of business I dumped a few with zero regrets!

 

[TnT_M]

What you told the client was exactly how I would have handled the problem. Smart people come to their senses like he did! However on occasion the bowl needs to be flushed. Nasty customers trying to get over on me were quickly dumped, it didn't happen often but in my 45+ years of business I dumped a few with zero regrets!

exactly!
I had a boss once say that there are some customers you just can't afford to keep... In his reference it made perfect sense. Yes it is hard to turn away customers, but at what expense do you keep them... Sometimes it isn't worth it.