October 29, 2012 (Hurricane Sandy) I separated the front propeller shaft from the rear propeller shaft (75K miles) to simply grease the slip yoke splines which eliminated the clunk (PTFE slip yoke grease hardens, decays & disintegrates causing the splines to clunk when accelerating from a dead stop as there is no longer grease in the splines). Performing essentially the same operation except the center carrier bearing & bracket have degraded so I'm changing them out.

 

Good morning everyone.

Decent start to the morning. I'm at 10 now and I don't need to be at 10 for another 20 minutes. I'll probably get a couple more by then which will be cool.

John that's a lot of mowing. I thought I had a lot. I should take a day and mow and do yardwork and get everything cleaned up at one house. Heck I'd need a month at either place.

Chris I don't remember if you played hockey as a kid. Is the boys' dad athletic at all?

Norm what a huge job. Do you write down all the maintenance you do or just keep it in all in your head?

I need to stop and get Tiger some itch medicine after work. That boy just has some bad skin. He chews, scratches, digs, it's terrible. A bath doesn't help, though it's time for him to have a bath. Someone here suggested some sort of medicine but I've forgotten.

Gotta get ready for break. Have a good day everyone.

 

Mike - I keep a small log book for each vehicle. It wasn't me who made a suggestion, I don't think; but I've tried several on dogs I've had in the past. (1) Dr. Bonner's Tea Tree Oil & (2) Neem Oil. Neem Oil worked best. It worked on a dog I had while living in the Ozark Mountains which was outdoors all the time.

 

Norm - Great explanation, and picture with great graphics!

 

x2. John - That is alot of mowing. I too hope you can find a larger heavier duty mower to make faster work of mowing all that ground.

 

Mike - Glad you've gotten off to a good start today. I wish you the best of luck with Tiger's skin allergies and itching. Monty has issues sometimes and nothing has ever worked very well, at least for any substantial length of time. We have had the Vet try those Cytopoint injections on him a couple of times, and each time it seemed to really help for 2 or 3-weeks, but then seems to wear off. At $200 a pop, that's pretty pricey if your dog has to have them every 3-weeks to a month?

I did not formally play any organized hockey when I was young. There were not any organized youth hockey leagues in my area when I was growing up. I played alot of backyard hockey with neighbor kids on the lake behind my parents house, and understood the game from an early age. My son-in-law Justin, Keegan's bio Dad, Gabe's adopted Dad, is athletic, and is still playing hockey in an adult recreational league. I believe I may have mentioned before that Gabe has alot of athleticism on both sides of his family tree.

 

We used to make a large hockey rink each year in our backyard. A series of 2'x4' boards outlining the make-shift hockey rink. Would gradually fill w/ water over several days watching as layers froze anticipating how soon it would be ready for traffic. They basically did the same thing at a public pavilion not far from our house but far better built.

 

Good morning guys,

We are in between storms right now. A heavy thunderstorm came through about an hour and a half ago. Just heavy rain, lightning and thunder for about a half hour. We are supposed to get several waves throughout the day, actually the next 3-days.

My Roofing/Siding guy contacted me Monday saying we were about 3-days out from them doing our Roof. Of course he caveated that by saying there would be a day for day slip with each day of rain. Chalk up slip day #1.

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

+1 Yes , great explanation on these parts. It must been hell of a hailstorm were you live Chris Hope the siding and
roof work goes well. We don´t have these hailstorms here , must be dangerous to get the hail in the head to.

Warm and nice day today so i checked up the squarebody truck a little , needs to show the truck this friday
for safety checks. When trucks and cars are over 30 years old we need to do this 1 time every 2 year.

Mounted some new brakelines in my 98 today so i hope to drive the car soon Have sold timber this winter
so it has been a lot of work with this and also firewood .

Hope everybody has a nice day

 

Glenn - Great to hear from you. Good luck with the Safety Inspection on your truck. Yes, it was certainly one hell of a hail storm we had, the worst one I've ever personally experienced. We're hoping we have all the home repairs done before the end of Summer. Thanks for the well wishes on getting the repairs completed!

 

Thanks guys. Tremendous improvement. Took for a test ride. Clunk completely gone. Drive train significantly tighter front>rear. Glad I replaced the carrier bearing/bracket, as well.

 

Great job Norm! 👍

 

X2 Norm well done indeed

 

Dawn's famous Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing. Nuff said! 😋

 

I think that was supposed to go to Norm for all of the work that he put into his truck.

 

Yes, he's certainly deserving with that effort!

 

Dan - Love the way you think.

Chris - That looks absolutely fantastic.

 

Cheers, guys. Drank too much coffee, today. Happened a couple times.

 

Got a text message from a cousin (Paula) in Oshkosh about another cousin (Danny) in Oshkosh, WI. Cousin's son (Ken, 37 y.o) died. Maybe tragically - I know nothing, yet. He was engaged. Hate to hear this type news.

 

Norm - Sorry for your and your family's loss. That is way too young!

 

Chris - Thanks.

Called my cousin (Paula) who texted me the news. I'm not really reaching out to the family &/or family members at this time. Apparently the young man, my cousin Danny's son (Ken) hanged himself. His fiancé opened their garage door (not sure whose door or whose house) & he was hanging in the garage. His fiancé supposedly called 911 then went to a bar and didn't wait for police to show up. That's all I know.

I'll attempt to keep things logical when I can. I have lots of cousins. I have 57 first cousins on this side of the family alone.

 

So "evidently" Ken's fiance went to the bar to tell one of Ken's friends that Ken was dead hung himself & is dead. Strikes me peculiar she wouldn't have waited for police to arrive after calling 911. No one suspects anything suspicious. He hung himself last Friday. Ken's Dad is Danny. I just got off phone with Danny's sister Joleen. Funeral 05/10/2025...I won't be attending.

 

Chris, that's a good dessert. I managed to mow (yuck) the current home's property today before the rain. Got a migraine and took a nap for a large part of the afternoon. I'm with Norm on the brain aging nap thing.

Norm, good repair. I am looking at Versatrac. Expensive, but powerful. Also, I can mow lawn, bushhog field, do slopes, and clear brush with it. Might save needing another motive unit.

Suicide sucks, but so does being driven to it. I think women off themselves due to relations with others. Men do it because of failure, or demons. It's more of a man thing, per statistics. Also, men are much more successful at it. Men commit suicide, women "attempt" suicide with varying degrees of success and actual intention. Like Chris Rock says, only women, children, and dogs are loved unconditionally, a man is loved based on what he can provide. It is a hard thing indeed that the measure of a man is partially measured by success at life and hardship makes you who you are (alternatively, lack of hardship does, too.) I agree, it is strange that she left. I would guess it was that the engagement ended, or she cheated/is pregnant with another man's child and he couldn't take the hurt. You can tell who is at fault when a relationship ends, it's the person who is not hurt by it ending. This is late-night rambling and is not meant to be offensive.

 

John - Thanks for the compliment on the cake, I'll let Dawn know. I hope your migraine is gone, or at least better.

I've heard of the brand Versatrac, but really know nothing about their quality or features. I'll have to check them out. It would be great if you can find a high quality unit that meets all your needs. Good luck.

 

All my car related purchases came over the past couple of days. My new lawn chair I bought to use at car shows was the last thing to show up, getting here today. It seems to be really well made, is easy to set up, and I really like how the canopy folds up around the chair and serves as the carrying case with straps. That canopy is going to be really nice at shows where there is little or no shade! Found it on sale on Amazon for only $40. There are many others similar to mine on there selling for $80 or more.

 

Good morning everyone.

Hey look at me, it's 4am and I'm at work. Yes, the overtime has started. I won't get rich from it but it will make things a little easier.

Norm that's too bad about the cousin. I can't imagine being so distraught as to kill myself. My neighbor hanged himself and I could never get over the feeling that the girlfriend/fiancé helped him. Now, this was a big dude and she was a little thing, but the different accounts of things didn't add up.

Chris the cake looks yummy but I bet it would be better without the bananas in it. Chair looks comfy. You don't want to get one of those tent things?

Got the first part of the wall put up at the shop. This afternoon I'm going to mow at Mom's. The way I feel now I'll probably take a nap after work. Heck, during work. It will be a few days to get into the new swing of things.

Okay have a great Hump Day everyone. Things are a buzz already.

 

John - Versatrac or Ventrac? Suicide strikes me as odd - it always has.
Mike - OT - "Whoopi-ty-aye-yay". Back in the saddle again. Hope the wall is going OK.
Chris - That's quite the chair. Put some wheels on it & call it a stroller. I have one of those 10'x10' canopies Mike referred to as a tent thing.

 

Mike - Glad you're getting some O/T again, every little bit helps as expensive as everything's gotten. You're definitely not going to like the cake if you don't like the flavor of bananas, which I'm now assuming you don't.

Mike/Norm - The shade awnings are nice especially for a group of people, but I literally despise people who put them up in the middle of a large, crowded Show field, especially if it's windy and they're left unattended. More than once I've seen one of those awnings break loose and damage one or more of the cars. I appreciate it when the Show officials ban those awnings from the Show field area. If I want to get up and walk around to look at the cars or whatever, I can fold this chair up in 2-minutes, lay it on the ground, and not have to worry about it blowing into someone's car.

 

Good morning guys,

Cool (58°) and wet here. Thunderstorms rolling through the area right now thru noon. Then a predicted break until around 4pm when we're supposed to get 4 or 5-hours of more rain/storms, and more in the forecast tomorrow. Localized flood warnings in effect for many localities. Our back way out was already impassable yesterday. The streams/rivers never really got back to normal levels from that last major rain event we had.

No big plans for today, other than watching the StL Blues game tonight. I sure would love to see them steal one in Winnepeg tonight. If they're able to do that, they'll come home with a 3-2 series lead and be in the driver's seat..

Monty has his 2nd recheck tomorrow morning for his surgeries (2-weeks) and hopefully that's the end, and he can be back to normal without a cone. I know he's tired of wearing it, and we're tired of taking it on and off. At least we're not getting charged for these follow-up visits.

Our roof replacement was supposed to happen tomorrow, but I'm sure that ain't happening with all this rain. Gabe has a hockey game tomorrow evening and one of my very best friends is coming to watch him play unless something has come up for him.

I'm hoping to make it to a Show Saturday if this damn rain will ever stop?

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Norm, Ventrac.

Chris, yes people do not seem to get that when the wind blows their stuff, it's still their fault. Things get scary when people don't immediately own up to their damages either. Hope the cone of shame goes off and the roof goes on.

 

John - Exactly! Thanks for the well wishes for Monty and the roof replacement!

 

12:00 noon tee time

 

Sounds like a great way to unwind after all the mechanical work. 👍

 

Shot nothing but fair. Weather was nice but wind was annoying @ 19-20mph gusting in the 30s. Don’t much care for it. Played with some guy who was more about himself than I care for. Now at my fav pizza joint. Beats laying under a truck.

 

That's for damn sure!

 

Good evening guys,

Rain has been on and off all day, nothing severe. More rain in the forecast all day tomorrow and into early Friday morning. After that we're looking at 5 or 6-days of dry weather. Touched base with my Roofer and we are now looking at next Wednesday or Thursday.

Watching the Blues hockey game right now, they're down 2-1 after the 1st Period. Tough fought game with alot of hitting. It will be a major coup if the Blues can steal one on the Jets home ice.

Hope everyone has a great evening!

 

Norm, Maybe your boot came with those weird clamps that you need a special tool to clamp down? I have had lots of trouble with those. Believe it or not I got some huge big nylon zip ties and used them for the boots on driveshafts and cv axles. Always worked fine, They are about 3/8" wide and 2' long. Just pull tight w/ pliers and holding female end w/ flat blade screwdriver, then cut off end close. Much less weight than worm hose clamps to throw off balance, etc. That is a tragedy about your cousin, what a shame...

 

Greg - Good suggestion - you're spot-on they likely came w/ those peculiar aluminum clamps requiring the special clamp tool. I know which nylon zip ties you're referring to; in fact, I think I have several in a drawer & they are about 2' long. Thanks.

 

Use ones with metal tabs and sockets, Norm, that's where they fail.

 

John, that's a valid point, also. Those metal special tool aluminum clamps are (were) missing on both sides of the rubber boot - evidently from normal wear, rust, etc. and disappeared allowing any grease to vacate the slip yoke splines more easily (I suspect), if nothing else without any type of device to secure the rubber boot it can/could allow dust/particle contamination entry & likely more moisture/air facilitating degradation of the PTFE grease. Ah, a quandary. The worm clamps I installed are doing the job w/ no adverse affects I don't believe. They rotate at the same velocity as the propeller shaft(s) & I have no out-of-balance indications at any speed. I mean that rubber boot is going nowhere with those worm clamps cinched into position(s)? When the factory establishes propeller shaft harmonics I wonder if they take into consideration rubber boot clamps?