On 28 Jul 2018 10:18:34 GMT, Clare Snyder wrote:

On a rwd car or light truck anything over 3 hours means the mechanic
is slacking oir something went wrong.

Thanks for that information on the 3 hours as this is a RWD, and a 2WD
which has as much room as you can every have on a passenger vehicle.

So, I suspect, the job doesn't get any easier than the one I did, since
there is no 4WD to deal with and the amount of room is astronomical
compared to, oh, say, a typical sports sedan.

I didn't count the hours it took me, but if I count four hours each day of
actual work, that's 6x4=24 hours, which is, for me, acceptable because I
spent a lot of time learning, cleaning, experimenting, making tools,
modifying the jack, swearing, and cursing, and, drinking copious amounts of
lemonade kindly brought to me every few hours by the grandchildren (who
felt sorry for me but who didn't know I was in heaven as I finally, after
decades of being scared, did my first transmission).

The kid whose car it is came over today to pick it up, and she tested it on
the highway, and it worked fine she said (I only tested it locally).

It has 180K miles, where it's definitely only the second clutch as the
vehicle has been in the family since it was born. So a clutch on this
vehicle lasts about 90K miles, on average, since the last one was slipping
also when it was replaced (by a mechanic).

Total cost to me was something around $250 for tools and another $250 for
parts, so it's an approximately $500 gift to the kid who works as a
secretary so she doesn't have a lot of money.

I never could have had the confidence if I didn't know you would help, so
I'm extremely glad for your patience on my rookie questions. I didn't even
realize that the alignment tool did, for example, until *after* I had the
transmission in. And I didn't understand why people said to put it in high
gear since I didn't need to touch the gears at any point in time, so I only
figured that one out after I had trouble getting it back in.

Things like that slowed me down, where, if I had formal education in auto
mechanics, I would have known a LOT more before I did the job. As it is,
the job taxed my tools to the utmost limit, where I was so happy that I had
dozens of assorted half inch and three-eighths inch extensions and swivels
and sockets and wrenches.

In fact, I think this is the first time in my life that I *required*
half-inch tools, since up until now, the 3/8ths inch extensions didn't
twist more than the torque required. But I never had to use 30 inches of
extension before either - which is what is required for the top two bolts
on the transmission hump.

Note in the DIY: Removing the conning tower seems like it would have made a
HUGE improvement in easy of removal!

I did a Loadstar school bus clutch with the shop foreman (an idiot
dutchman) barking over my shoulder when I was about 19 in less than 4
hours - and that included pulling the trans, dropping the clutch,
installing the clutch (having the disk slip out of place and hastilly
re-installing it) totally re-assembling then finding I had, in haste,
installed the disk backwards - dissassembling it again. puttingthe
disk back in the right way, knocking the release bearing off the fork,
reinstalling it in haste, checking the clutch BEFORE reistalling the
floor this time, and having the pedal drop to the floor because I had
put the release bearing in backwards, dis-assembling, reinstalling the
release bearing, retesting (got it right this time) and buttoning it
back up.

Wow. 4 hours. Jesus. I didn't even have all the tools assembled, made and
modified in four hours!

I see you accidentally did what I did which is to knock the release bearing
(aka throwout bearing) off, where any tug on the fork caused the TOB to
fall off the splined transmission shaft until I rubber-banded it in place.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=5303450clutch_fork.jpg

I didn't remove that rubber band until I put the slave cylinder back!
(NOTE: I recently rebuilt the clutch master cylinder and clutch slave
cylinder and replaced the two rubbery plastic bushings in the shift lever,
so, except for the actual transmission itself, the entire shifting system
is all new in the last year.)

I did buy too many jacks though - as now I have an ATV jack in addition to
my transmission jack to store for the rest of my life! (I've already
offered my neighbors the right to borrow them since "they" have ATVs, but I
don't.) http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=9075127atv_trans_jack.jpg

Nasty 400 lb? transmission, and working INSIDE the bell housing as the
bell housing served as the rear mounting for the engine.

Yuck. You never forget those jobs!
(I envy you for all your experience!)

I was a few minutes over flat rate time - even with all the screw-ups
- and I gave the shop foreman a good piece of my mind when it was all
over.

It's commendable, with the reassembly you did, that you met flat rate.

"push me and all you'll do is slow mw down - or get run over in the
process"

Luckily, my wife and kids left me alone, which is all well and good as they
would have been standing over me like your foreman was, just slowing me
down even further.

Same fool who couldn't diagnose a headlight problem on a 510 Datsun -
all 4 sealed beams were burned out. He kept asking me questions while
I was working on another job. After his second or third question I
knew what was wrong - but he kept asking the wrong questions for 2
hours - while trying to tell me how to fix a dome light that would not
shut oiff on a brand new Ambassador (found a screw through the wiring
harness)

Wow. That's something you just have to trace to find since you wouldn't
expect a screw in a wiring harness normally. You work backward or forward,
usually backward, until the power or continuity is shot, and that tells you
where the problem is ... if ... if you can get to it. (A wiring harness can
be anywhere though.)

When I finished the Ambassador I said "you still working on that
datsun?"

He said "you so F'n smart - YOU fix it"

Hehhehheh...

I hollered to the parts department "2 5001s and 2 5006s please", then
proceded to replace the sealed beams , without checking ANYTHING
first.

Wow. You figured it out just on the problem set presented to you.

He was MAD that I hadn't told him what was wrong - bet the silly ass
had never asked me. He's managed to ask just about every other
question it was possible to come up with (something like you do on
accaision, Arlen) - but never asked me what I thought the problem was.

I do ask a lot of questions ... but ... on the good side ... you have to
admit that I think for myself (I don't think what everyone else thinks for
example, in that I think about octane, and I think about how to diagnose as
I never throw parts at a problem unless I'm backed up against the wall, and
I always look at the parts to figure out how they work and I often take
them apart for an autopsy to see how they failed.

I should note to you that I'm extremely well educated but not in this
stuff. I have multiple degrees, but in fields completely different than car
or home repair. So I'm very used to asking questions, and I'm extremely
used to what people "think" is the answer intuitively, often (and sometimes
almost always, at least in the case of quantum mechanics) is dead wrong.

So, for example, people "think" you can't balance tires at home ... but you
can. And they think you can't mount them at home - but you can. And they
think you can't measure alignment at home, but you can (I still need to
prove that though).

Another thing about me, Clare, that is extremely different than most
people, is that I CARE about being a good Usenet citizen, even as I value
my privacy. So I always *respond* to most people in any thread I author,
which some people consider trolling, which is ridiculous since I'm simply
being responsive.

I almost always prove what I say I'm doing with photos.
And I almost always write up a DIY to give back to the team.

I almost always summarize the results in the end, and I thank the people
for helping me (where, I often condemn those who don't like the few who
posted early on in this thread, such as Wade Garrett who has been stalking
me from the iOS threads) but in this case, I had too much on my hands to
even bother to tell those useless posters to shut up.

I'm DIFFERENT than almost everyone you've ever met.

How many, for example, write a detailed DIY every time they do a big job?

Other than my privacy fetish (which drives some of you nuts I think even
though I never hide who I am so anyone who claims to figure it out isn't
the genius they think they are simply because it's trivial to do), I'm one
of the best Usenet posters there is because I ask a question and prove
everything I say, and try out every reasonable suggestion (if possible) and
I respond to everyone in the same manner in which they responded to me.

I'm only on Usenet to ask questions and to learn from people who have the
answers. I'm not here for idle chitchat, so I disappear until I have
another question.

I love to learn from you, and I will eventually do the six jobs few do at
home but you've done most of them.
1. Refuel a vehicle (I do it every week where I have it down to a science)
2. Mount, balance, & repair tires (I'm well past the tool break-even point)
3. Major transmission work (a clutch counts since R&R is the hard part)
4. Major internal engine work (I've never ripped an engine apart yet)
5. Paint a car (a grandchild has a handmedown I'd love to paint for her)
6. Align caster, camber & toe (this will be my next project for sure)

I think each of those things above has a DIFFERENT reason people don't do
them, where you have to admit at the very least, even if you disagree with
me, that I think for myself, so I don't follow what most people assume (and
which in some cases I've found to be dead wrong).

For example, refueling a vehicle is trivial, safe, and easy, and I've been
doing that for a decade or more at home (where if I ever get some money,
I'll buy even better gas-station equipment, which is surprisingly
inexpensive but where the limiting factor isn't the equipment but that they
don't deliver less than 200 gallons at a time in general).

Also, despite what most people think, and yes, I know you have TONS of
experience mounting and dynamically balancing a tire and you wouldn't do it
at home, I can mount and balance a sedan tire in fifteen minutes (and you
know that I don't make **** up), where in general, I take longer (because
I'm not in a rush) but it's never longer than a half hour elapsed time
where once you taught me about the "drop center", all was golden from there
(after I had to modify both the tire bead breaker and the tire mounting
tool).

I think the reason people DON'T do these 6 things is... sort of...
1. Fueling --- they don't have the room (I have more than a dozen acres)
2. Mounting --- they "think" it has to be dynamically balanced
3. Transmission --- it's a *lot* of work (whew!) but mostly just bolts
4. Engine --- it's even *more* work (where nobody can afford the downtime)
5. Paint --- you need skills and experience more than the tools
6. Align --- they don't realize how easy toe & camber are to measure

I may be wrong on all of that, because I don't know how people really
think, but you have to admit at least that I think for myself.

Take, for example, the mounting. I already know that mounting is *easy* on
passenger cars, and that it's only a bit harder on truck (SUV) tires.
Anyone who says it's not easy, or that you'll damage the rims (my Bimmer
rims are as soft as most alloy wheels and they're just fine) is talking out
of their ass - because I know - like you know - because I've done it about
25 times now (the tools paid for themselves in about 20 changes).

Anyone who thinks you can't patch plug from the inside doesn't know what
they're talking about. And anyone who thinks you must dynamically balance
every tire doesn't know what they're talking about (IMHO).

I had only one wobble in all this time, and that was due to doing the rear
brake drum wrong (it was a rookie mistake - where I've had disc brakes on
all my high end cars since the 80s until now that I do other people's cars
to help them out. (I know you think that's a lawsuit waiting to happen, but
I do the same on their cars as I would mine where I *know* (as you do) how
many times mechanics skip steps.)

So, yes, I'm different.
I'm intelligent.
I can learn.
I care about my privacy.
I respond to almost everyone worth responding to.
I usually confront the cowardly troll bullies in the threads I author
I ask a question and work it until it's resolved
I post a resolution and almost always write a DIY
And then I disappear (until the next question).

The morons call that being a troll.
I call it being a good Usenet citizen who cares about privacy and doesn't
use the chitchat model (where in the chitchat model people post 99% to
other threads saying almost nothing of value and only 1% to their own
threads, where in the Q&A model, the opposite it true in every way).

Clean it up, paint it gold, and keep it as a trophy - - - -

I have tools from the 60s, and even some from the 40's, like this grease
gun, where the grease must be thirty years or forty years old inside!
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=7261355grease_gun.jpg

QUESTION: That was my dad's grease gun. How old do you think it is?
(I don't know when he bought it as I inherited all his old tools.)

And these impact tools date to the mid 80's as I recall:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=6129026airgun_sucks.jpg

This Craftsman respirator I used when I was blowing out the bell housing
and flywheel dust dates to the 80s for sure when I first attempted
to paint a car (but ended up selling the car in the winter where if you've
never lived in a cold climate - you have no idea how much harder everything
is in the winter and when it rains a lot).
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=7615636respirator.jpg

And without a cutting wheel and bench grinder, fabricating these two
invaluable threaded dowels would not have been as easy as they we
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=9848347dowel_fab.jpg

My next two jobs that you'll hear from me a
a. I want to paint a car, and,
b. I want to align a suspension.

I think both of those two are doable, but I will do my research first and
then, when I'm in the job itself, I may ask you for help to get past the
stumbling blocks.

I don't expect a miracle with the paint job, but anything will look better
than the handmedown paint that the kid has on the car now so I can't make
it much worse.

As for the alignment, this vehicle only has camber and toe in the front
that can be changed by twisting a bolt, so that's easy if I buy (or make)
toe plates. The measuring is easy but changing the toe with the weight on
the vehicle is a pain because of the rolling back and forth so I'll likely
just buy toe plates first. Also alignment is a mental bitch because
everything is in the wrong units. You measure inches, for example, but it's
usually in degrees to centerline. WTF. That causes your brain to hurt as
you use trig to figure out the translation.

At least camber is in degrees and you can measure degrees with today's
tools, so, the problem with camber is only getting a jig that works on
multiple vehicles since you have to offset the measuring tool parallel to
the wheel but away from the tire sidewall bulge (sure, there are ways to do
it with a plumb bob but I'd just go for the camber jig for ease of use).

Caster is usually too hard to measure directly, and for this car, it's not
settable anyway. You can calculate it, but what good is the calculation
when you can't set it.

In the rear, this vehicle only has camber and nothing else. So, when most
people think "alignment" they're thinking a $100K machine which is
optimized for a totally different use model than a guy checking his
alignment at home where time and the ability to measure everything isn't
the issue.

All you need is camber and toe for the most part, which means you need a
camber jig and toe plates and as accurate an electronic level as you an
afford.

Anyway, I'm DIFFERENT (which means we are different).
You don't enjoy changing tires, I do.
You think it's dangerous to not go to a mechanic, I think they skip steps.
You may think I'm a troll but I'm not and I am DOING stuff when I ask
things (I don't ask idly).

I should mention the only auto mechanics class I took was in high school in
the sixties, where I was a star pupil and the teacher's pet simply because
he never had anyone in his class so interested in the details. He once was
amazed that I rewound a motorcycle alternator and horn solenoid in the same
week, and that I kept asking questions about fluids, asking why the
viscosity didn't really matter but the API number did, or what really
needed distilled water (the battery) but not the coolant (in reality, once
you look at water chemistry where we lived). I took sulfuric acid from the
chem lab in high school (in those days, you didn't get expelled for
breaking the rules) and refilled my own battery - it lasted about a month
or two, as I recall).

I'm DIFFERENT than most people you've met - so I'm an acquired taste.

What I ask for, in this newsgroup, is the expertise of all the people here,
most of which outweighs mine because I'm educated in totally different
things.

HINT: Ask me about bacteria or electrical engineering and you'll get far
more than you bargained for.