Plugging away

So we had a great northern lights night on Thursday, I had already taken Friday off, and was planning to head out around 9:30. I sort of got obsessed with making sure my good camera was ready to go.

Photo from Eric since by the time I got out at 9:30 the best of the show was over :(



Later on, after driving a bit hoping they'd kick off again, around 11pm I was in Woodstock behind the Evangelical Lutheran church which had a good northern view. Driving up I though the sky was vaguely getting a red glow. No good photos from my good camera but it definitely pulled the red of the aurora out of the sky.

Figured out I could use the tripod without getting out of the Jeep :D

Hat was blocking an outdoor light reflecting back in my mirror.



Mostly slept on Friday...this old man doesn't do late nights to well anymore! But Saturday plugged away in the garage.







Tested the new heater, I liked it.



Back of Jeep with another four bags of trash.



Kiya gave me the Just Ducky sticker.



Getting the lift table working was a three hour cluster fuck -- it is the finest Chinese "cheapest parts this week" that didn't match the shitty photocopy of photocopy of a parts diagram. Had to watch like three different YouTube videos and take bits and pieces from each because each table was just a little different.



Needed to pull a couple c-clips to flip up the top, since bleeding it required the cylinder to be all the way down, then pump until it burped, then top off the hydraulic fluid.







Sunday we had showers with bad timing...but I did get cardboard on the hand truck and cart so I won't scratch the new heater.



Monday afternoon I finally got the table into the basement. Everything is just so !@#! slow for me to do, and man my shoulder was barking that night!



And the heater is ready to go down next time I have an opportunity to get it into the basement.



Tuesday morning light frost on the car.

First weekend in October

Did some more surveillance, gonna try and install the new water heater myself.









So bought a tool to try and do my own alignment on the Jeep; it's bare metal which would rust in the garage; what I settled on was some industrial cling wrap for it.


Picked up the water heater on Thursday, got it unloaded in the garage on Saturday so I could better size things up.



Saturday was like four dump runs from the garage, and by 3pm it was absolutely perfect weather for a Jeep drive (it was a bit chilly with the top and windows open when I started the dump runs at 11:30). So decided to finally deliver the small motor for Ed's old canoe to Kiya & Wes. Didn't realize everyone was visiting that day; just missed Eddie Boy.

Sunday morning I attacked the corner...that was more work than I expected :D But by the time the Patriots were coming on I was kind of running on fumes for the weekend and went in for lunch and a shower. Did do a few more things in the house and garage.





I have shelf space!



I have no idea what is in these two boxes, and I can't pull them out unless I roll the whole rack out. Tried searching for those part numbers to no avail.



Though low on my priority list, at some point I'd like to put a new tank on this air compressor -- pump was running fine but the tank rusted out after darn close to 20 years. The freaking tank alone is $300 ( https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cam-ar040700cg ) but a similar new compressor is $1000. I think I only paid $300-400 back around 2000.

As electric Milwaukee stuff becomes more common, I don't use the compressor nearly as often but it is real handy and the little pancake compressor I'm using now you can only use most air tools a very short time.



Of course I'm sort of questioning stuff since it basically became "make a mess in the garage to clean it up" stage :/ (Mice got into that chair, that's why it's being disposed of.)

This weekend...plus some on either side.

With the new battery, the cut off for when the key is off for the circuit that includes the dash cam is staying on for days. I'll have to turn up the voltage it turns off at.



Watching the Brooks Falls Bears at Katamai National Park while working from home one day.



Let's see if I can remember this trick for the ZTX-42 mower deck belt which had popped loose -- heavy duty zip tie on the spring, and my 25" breaker bar. After it slipped on, I cut the wire tie and it slid out no problem.



Need a new water heater, which is on a bit more than $500 for the exact same model I currently have. Six year warranty, I noticed last year a lot of rust discoloring and it died about the 6-1/2 year mark :D Same model means I shouldn't have to change any wiring or piping. Home Depot wanted $800 to install it o_O so now I'm just figuring out if I want to handle it by myself or higher a handyman to help due to how slow I move do to my knees.



I'm trying to figure this out, no label on the box, no directions. I think it may have something to do with the spare tire mount but I think "something" is missing.

Just figured out it is the spare tire mount part for a bike rack! I bought an cheap-ish e-bike 3(?) years ago but kind of quickly decided with my arthritis at the time I didn't have enough balance to really trust myself going any distance on it.

Another beautiful four-day weekend in September...

Whelp, tried an mid-grade antenna for the TV and no joy :(



I don't think she had to stand on her tippy toes to look in, but I'm not entirely sure :D





Checking to make sure the driver's side sway bar links are tight.







Oh the odyssey of the oxygen sensors...


I have to look up the paperwork from what O2 sensor work they did along with the clutch this past winter; the CEL came back shortly after I left there.

So the sensor that was in there seems to be a bit more generic (probably Bosch); but I've read Jeeps are really particular about wanting the more expensive NTK/NGK ones.

While the ends look different, cables were same length.

Worse, some of the online references are wrong at least for my VIN (maybe later in the year?)...Bank 1, Sensor 1 is upstream right.



But O'Reillys online recommended a 23070...and the box said 23070...but when it wouldn't plug in I looked at the connector carefully and realized the Jeep side had offset slots. The one that was in there had wide slots, the new one had narrow but lined up slots. Luckily NAPA down the street had the only one in stock in the county.



What was there...


What I got from O'Reillys


What I needed is the bottom one / right side:






Ah, relaxing to Moab videos...


I've been at that car wash!


Been working steadily, was able to do stuff all four days this weekend even if it wasn't fast. Back out to the garage on Sunday to change the oil.


Oh...have to remember this setup for draining the oil pan, worked out really well with nothing spilled.

Blerg...while refilling with oil, I was putting in the final of 6 quarts so I'm pouring out of a new 5 quart jug when my stool slipped. I literally spilled more new oil on the floor than used oil :/ How I managed to somehow hang one and not drop the entire jug or have the stool slide so far I fell I don't know.


I've learned to put aside all the paper towels, so I can put them in the oil pan to absorb the remaining oil then I can put them in the garbage another day.


The thing with the green light is a low-voltage disconnect for the battery, but I really didn' like how everything was lying in there. I took it out while I try to figure out if there is a better way to mount it.



Matts-MacBook-Pro:20240915_AnotherFourDayWeekend mattkivela$