The Automotive Thread

[Supe]

I was thinking more along the lines from Jackass, when they demo-derby'd a rental Ford Contour.

 

[blybrook PE]

Well the BIL didn't get hit by his HOA for me working on my truck in his driveway (yet). No one stopped to comment or take photos either, so I reckon that's a bonus.

Took care of replacing the front driveshaft, an oil change, replacing the cabin air filter, and helped repack the bearings on the BIL's trailer.

Only items left before leaving CO is swapping out the tires for my winter set, fuel filter replacement and changing the air filter.  Took care of the coolant leak at the end of October but had to do that one in the back yard where no one could see the coolant dripping onto the ground. Probably take care of the fuel filter back there as well since I know I'll loose about a pint of diesel.

 

[Road Guy]

anyone have this type of roof top carrier for their vehicle?  I know you can take these off but I cant seem to figure out how?  Its a Thule and even checking online cant seem to find which model they were

Jeep doesnt fit in the garage with these on..

 

[blybrook PE]

anyone have this type of roof top carrier for their vehicle?  I know you can take these off but I cant seem to figure out how?  Its a Thule and even checking online cant seem to find which model they were

Jeep doesnt fit in the garage with these on..

View attachment 19543

Sawz-all. Takes care of many problems. 
 

Other option is to speed into another garage or area with reduced clearance to rip it off and then go home. 

 

[envirotex]

anyone have this type of roof top carrier for their vehicle?  I know you can take these off but I cant seem to figure out how?  Its a Thule and even checking online cant seem to find which model they were

Jeep doesnt fit in the garage with these on..

View attachment 19543

Mr. Tex says he needs more photos.  It opens from the clamp or the shoe...Need the back pic and clamp.  What's in the hole from the clamp?  Does it need a key? And more questions. Maybe DM me...

 

[Road Guy]

I do want to be able to put it back on! 
 

I’ll get some more pics in the daylight - the hole is where you can put a key but I’ve never added the key.

I remember it sort of snapped in at a 45 deg angle I think. With the bar in place -  But that was 4 years ago

 

[envirotex]

I do want to be able to put it back on! 
 

I’ll get some more pics in the daylight - the hole is where you can put a key but I’ve never added the key.

I remember it sort of snapped in at a 45 deg angle I think. With the bar in place -  But that was 4 years ago

Mr. Tex says you need the key...or a sawz-all.  Post more pics...

 

[Road Guy]

There was never a key installed - there were plastic plugs where the keys/ tumbler would go but they fell out. 
 

ive just got to figure out the right tuck maneuver that makes the tower unlock from the shoe

 

[Orchid PE]

There was never a key installed - there were plastic plugs where the keys/ tumbler would go but they fell out. 
 

ive just got to figure out the right tuck maneuver that makes the tower unlock from the shoe

Looks more like a Yakima than a Thule. Try grasping the front of the tower and pulling it forward. That's what mine do.

 About 30s in should look like this...

 

[Road Guy]

Lol- I’m double dumb- totally forgot those towers had the fold out mechanism!

not sure why I had in my head it was a Thule - might have prevented my internet searching for how to remove!

 

[Road Guy]

broke down and picked up the 3 ton harbor freight floor jack over the weekend - other than not recognizing that it came empty and had to run out and grab some hydrauilic oil once I got home, it made some brake pad replacement on the jeep very swift

It has a 20 in lift so does the 35" tires nicely and those things are hard to manhandly by yourself so it was cool to be able to set it just high enough to slip the tire on and off with ease (with some jackstands also in place)

 

[jeb6294]

Sounds like its the same one I got for the truck. Got it specifically for the 20-in lift. Even though the truck is stock, F350's still sit pretty high. Never gotten a jack that didn't come ready to go though. 

 

[Road Guy]

yeah I can kick myself for all these years trying to use my little craftsman trolley jack.. it was around $115 so totally worth it

Plus I sold my old jacks on nextdoor for about half what the new one cost.

 

[jeb6294]

Mine ended up being free. I take the truck to the dealership for oil changes, mainly because I got lifetime brakes. Got the oil change and they tell me brakes are still okay.  Couple weeks later front pads are down to metal. Tried to get help from the dealer and nothing so I replaced the front brakes myself...pads, rotors and both calipers...and bought the jack to do it. After filing a complaint with the BBB, got a call from one of their GM's. He looked my information up and saw that my pads were a hair over 3mm. 3mm is the cutoff for replacing pads with their "lifetime brakes". Even the GM said that's fine if you're driving a Fusion, but not a Super Duty. Told me to send in copies of my receipts and I had a check a few days later. Paid for the materials and all the tools I had to get, including my new jack.

 

[Road Guy]

I have no such luck with that - but my younger kid (17) did do his own front brakes on his car last weekend with very little supervision (much to his mothers horror)

right now I am maintaining a fleet of 5 vehicles with varrying levels of help (younger kid helps a lot, middle kid is lukewarm and my older son would prefer to pay people to fill up the windshield washer fluid!

 

[Orchid PE]

I've been needing one of those for a while. Nice to know I'll need hydraulic oil for it.

 

[jeb6294]

I've been needing one of those for a while. Nice to know I'll need hydraulic oil for it.

Might want to check. My jack was ready to go, but that was a year or so ago. Maybe they started shipping them without oil since then to save a couple bucks.

 

[Road Guy]

maybe it was child labor shift change in China that day?  I truned it upside down and it was dry as a bone, agree very weird!

we were supposed to get less than an inch of snow today, ended up with around 5 inches, I took the backroads, tons of mini vans, dodge chargers, and small fwd cars spun out trying to get up hills, so annoying, i had to drive up on the sidewalk a few times to get around them..

 

[jeb6294]

When I was at the VA the street out front wasn’t terribly steep, but it was long and steady. When we’d get snow and all the stupid people would panic and try to bolt for home, we’d sit at the front window and laugh and laugh.

The best we’re the idiots in rear wheel drive cars who would try and go up backwards because somehow that was the same as front wheel drive.

 

[jeb6294]

Well happy F-in holidays...

We got t-boned yesterday in the swagger wagon. We were leaving UDF from the west driveway and were going to go straight across to the Walgreens. Traffic was backed up from 8 Mile past where we were pulling out but had left a gap for us to pull out. Little twit in her BMW didn’t want to wait so she tried to go around the line of traffic and got us square in the driver’s side. When the cops showed up she tried to tell them that she was pulling into the Walgreens too....bullshit. If she was, 1st, she probably wouldn’t have been going fast enough not to stop and 2nd, if she was turning she would have hit us with her front corner. I guarantee she was trying to cut around everybody to get up to the turn lane. We didn’t get a report because the cops were going to turn it over to their traffic guys and they were trying to get ahold of a lady who’d stopped and given us her information cause she saw it happen.