If your stuff is trying to bankrupt you?!

2020 has admittedly been the screwiest year in my 64 yo memory but good gawd at the stuff I've dealt with this year.

I had to change out my whole HVAC system in June to tune of about $5k.

Wednesday night my 70k mile 08 F150 threw a trans fault code. No telling what that repair will cost but with that mileage if the trans has to be opened up to fix it I'm probably gonna put a Ford reman in it.

And yesterday the 10 year old lawnmower's steering fell apart. I can get the part ez enough but next week?! The grass is already out of control. If I can't get the part till next week the stuff will be half knee high. So I ask meself, is a $30 part gonna force me to buy a $2500 lawnmower.

2020 can't get out of here quick enough for me. Not that 2021 might be any better...

 

Sounds very similar to the KW5413 syndrome.

Good luck!

 

I missed a lot of yardwork last year so me and the Echo weedeater waded into the stuff last night for a couple hours. I got tired before I was done. It will need a lot more.

 

Sometimes it's as easy to hire someone to take care of yardwork you got behind on.

Thought about getting my cousin's mower to finish out the yard but I know she'd use it as an opportunity to get me to service it in exchange for use of it. Kohler filters cost 2-3x what Briggs do. If I'm gonna spend 40-plus on parts, it'll be on my own stuff.

Got the drag link ordered thru a local True Value and should be here Wednesday. Sears and other online sources said 8/26. So it's coming quicker and I'm supporting local business owned by a lifelong friend's brother in law which, in this year of stupid, I think is important.

But damn I'm tired of stuff breaking! I get tickled at that home warranty commercial where George Foreman looks at the smoking a/c unit and says "boy that looks expensive". And it was.

 

Had a similar scenario last year, first the refrigerator went out , we have white appliances and could not find a reasonably priced comparable french door bottom freezer in white had to order from Best Buy took 4 weeks to get it !! and had to purchase a dorm style fridge to get us by until fridge was delivered (thank god we have a chest freezer in our laundry room ) that same week the ck eng light went on im my wifes 2008 Torrent, she was freaking out( as usual) turned out to be just a O/2 sensor but still a inconvenience, the following week the hot water heater (which thank god is in the garage) sprung a leak and required replacement !! we felt like we had done something wrong and were being punished!! they say when it rains it pours !! it all passed and things returned to normal. in retrospect it could have been worse.
The bank account took a hit but oh well P/S has anybody been refrigerator shopping lately ? ridiculous !! I told the guy I don't want to take out a mortgage just by a fridge !!

 

I keep looking for the gold plating on the unit we bought just last month for the Lake house. We have a very tight spot so, looked for a long time when we finally found one, a Samsung, to order through Lowe's. On the 2nd rescheduled delivery date they didn't show and didn't call but, the computer said it was out for delivery .

Come to find out it wasn't even shipped from Samsung in Illinois and wouldn't be for another month. Naturally, it took a half a day of phone calls to even get that piece of information. Cancelled that order and went to Home Depot. A very nice lady actually wanted to help and we found a LG unit slightly bigger but, at $ 300.00 more. It was delivered within 10 days. BTW, these published dimensions are not spot on. It took both for the delivery guys a lot of effort to squeeze that sucker in its place. I hope its longevity is greater than what remains of mine, 'cause I don't know if it is coming out.

I think over the past two years we have replaced all but, the microwave at the lake house. Then there was washer / dryer at the big house along with the evaporator coils on both A/C units.

Just livin' the life...

On Edit: Late last year we had a catastrophic failure on our 200-inch engine lathe, at the shop. Replaced it with a new 160-inch lathe. Right after that two older lathes went down and they both cost just under $4K each to repair.

The good news...we ARE in business and still making chips.

 

Glad I'm not the only one wondering that! I actually looked at the sky and said is it because I shot the squirrels for getting into my bird feeders?!

 

Since these things usually come in threes, you probably met your quota for the year. Or not...

 

I assume you are talking 160 and 200 inches between centers. How much "swing" do you have in those and what brand are they ?

 

***

 

Yes...between centers. The 200-inch was a Chinese Dalian. I bought it new when Ingersoll sold them in '09. Just under $34K in 2009. There is a BIG story about this POS lathe but, it was what we could afford with a start-up business in the middle of the recession. But, thru it all...it made a lot of chips and $$$. As I recall about 20-inch swing over the cross slide.

The 160-inch is a new Kingston with just under 18-inches over the cross slide. We lost some capability but, the additional $ 35K, and 2 month wait, for the 200-inch wasn't justified by the amount of over 160-inch applications. Probably 95% of our applications are under 130-inches. With most of that under 100-inches between centers.

I, also, have a 60-inch Cincinnati, 144-inch Monarch and a 174-inch Springfield. These three lathes would be considered old time classics if they were Oldsmobiles. The Monarch & Springfield satisfy special applications that require low RPMs (under 1,000) that is hard to find with new machines. So, thankfully they can be rebuilt. Like our cars. The Dalian or DMTS, was ultimately dropped by Ingersoll due to lack of MFG support and warranty / service payments. Now, there is little to no support and virtually zero parts availability. So, she now sits in a local junk yard.

We have three vertical mills. A Bridgeport, Promax and Index. The Index was modified years ago and now has a single purpose in life.

 

I hear you! The wife caught a mild version of the C-19 we both had to sit out two weeks even though she tested negative and I never had signs of it at all. We put $1400 in to the supreme because of a paint spot lifted away from the metal and we decided to take out the dip in the driver side quarter panel at the same time. Batteries in both the Alero and Cutlass took a crap within weeks of each other. The wifes lap top and mine were both going south so we replaced those for $1000

And then we find out our Cavapoo dog needed surgery on it's left hind leg and that was $1700 and then our TV started to act up replaced that for $750. We lost 25% our house electricity when the GFCI in the kitchen would not reset, I checked for shorts and un-hooked all loads on that circuit, kept popping the reset. I replaced the same unit 3 years before and thinking it can't be that again! I took at stab and replaced the GFCI and everything went back to working.

Early July I am wondering why the house seems warm with the A/C. Condensing unit fan is not turning and the compressor won't engage. I check the voltage at the disconnect box. Full voltage on both legs. The boy loaned us a window shaker to get by for 4 days before I could get a customer of mine who owns his on HVAC repair place. He came out and put in a run capacitor and only charged us $150 total for labor, part and service call from Ionia 30 min of travel time each way.

Mid July after a short vacation we find our other pet rabbit had pulled some fur and skin off her hind quarter, a $400 vet bill and then 2 weeks later the antibiotics made her stomach sour so she stopped eating after that trip to the vet $425. This is all after I paid off my 2017 Silverado 4x4 so a grand total of $19000 in 4 months!

And the joy keeps coming the misses needs a root canal! And we now have postponed our paid for trip to Hawaii 2 times! Trouble comes in 3's, but nobody deserves a 12 pack of heart ache!!!!!!!!

Only silver lining is that I have been working overtime the whole time and both the wife are essential workers. 2020 can't end fast enough

Pat

 

Those are some"long bed" lathes. I put a lot of hours in on Monarchs, 24" swing over the bed engine lathes and tracer lathes. They are the "Cadillac" of lathes, good ways (Metallurgy) and construction. They would cut alloy steels, hard or soft (A-2, A-9, D-2, D-5, H-11, H-13, L-6, S-1, and "Stellite") .
I have a small "Chinese" 14" X 40" gap bed lathe w/Timken tapered headstock roller bearings. And a rebuilt Bridgeport Series I variable speed with Accurite Millvision (programable position) 4 axis digital readout in the garage.

 

 

Where can I get one! 😄

 

Two years ago the refrigerator and dishwasher died the same day, last year the furnace crapped out. This year we had a substantial hail storm for our area, all three vehicles needed $4 - 7,000 repair and the roof on our house needed to be replaced...luckily insurance took care of this.

Such is life.

 

Still, the best life I've ever had.

 

No doubt, can't let these things get you down.

 

Yeah, 2020 is a bad year but a pity party doesn't really help does it. I replaced two HVAC units at a total of $10,500. I am glad I had the money to do it and stay cool through this 100+° weather. We will get through this BS.

 

Well- the F150 and the lawnmower are fixed. $600 and change to replace a wacky torque converter clutch solenoid and well over 2/3 of it was labor. But, they did the 75k mile trans service too, so maybe Rocinante III will be happy for a while.

Mower took all of ten minutes to fix once I had the part, but it has rained constantly since. Yard looks like a pasture. Cleared off today so I'm headed out to mow in a few.

If this stuff comes in threes I oughta be good for a while! 😄

 

We've had 12 months of this type of stuff. 12 months ago we lived in north Carolina both had great jobs we were happy with. My father in law (in Maine) had been fighting bladder cancer we took a vacation to visit (my 1st vacation in 4 years) tests come back chemo and radiation arent working father in law has 6-12 months. We quickly made some calls got jobs and packed our family of 5 up and moved back to Maine. All of our belongings in storage because we were temporarily staying in a family camp 500 sq feet 2 bedroom not winterized. My job sucked money and hours weren't what I was told they would be. I left my job for another one and my father in law passed away (nov 12th). It was a rough winter living in places not fully winterized furnace crapped out, septic backed up (twice) I was using a pick *** to uncover the septic to get it cleaned out. The transmission went in my 2011 avalanche. Went under contract in a house may 27th but took till August 6th (3 closing dates later) but we're finally in and trying to find our place. I'm really hoping all the mess is behind us. I chalk it up to God gives us more than we can handle and we've had this load of things happen because we're a strong couple and can handle it and others can't so that's why we get it. My grandfather always called me hard luck harry and some weeks it really rings true. But God is good and we got this. I'm glad all of your things panned out fairly reasonably. I'm hoping my 73 old ninety-eight project pans out smoothly and we're on a streak of good luck but if not we'll make.do.

 

Funny thing. The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, NC actually cleared the coins out of their fountain to help cover their operational expenses while they were closed.

Yeah, count me as a member of the HVAC club. My 50-year-old Singer system took a dump this week--literally, condensation water is all over the hallway and my engineered wood flooring is ruined, so double-whammy. A new HVAC system is being installed Monday but I'm going to let the floor dry out and assess just how bad it is while my bank account recovers. Then I'll decide what to do about the flooring.

 

Put a dehumidifier on DESERT and a fan on it, fast, and leave it like that. I have been doing that for two weeks on a room of mine with water damage. Got 95% of it gone,

 

Then, it's high time to spend money on stuff made from Humanesium alloys

 

I just replaced a refrigerator at the lake house. Now the garage fridge went out at our main house. Lost about $500.00 worth of meats and stuff. Yesterday, discovered what looks like a future rear main seal for the Nova.

Then there is need to head for the knee doctor tomorrow. My body is executing revenge for the way I treated it for the past 67 years...