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Did a small thing that I'm happy with how it turned out. I wanted to get my pry bars out of my tool cart. I picked up a strut and was planning on cutting some notches into it, but the slots in the strut ended up being exactly the right size. I just had to drill a couple of holes in the side of the cart and bolt it on.  I think I'm going to take it back off and paint it either black or neon green... I kinda want to do the same thing for my hammers to clear out my Drawer of Jeremy, but that's a low priority right now (and I don't have a good idea for it). Uthor fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Jun 15, 2020 |
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Jun 15, 2020 20:55
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Put end caps on that strut so you don't lose any blood or pantlegs to it, at least if you're as clumsy as I am.
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Jun 16, 2020 02:28
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Hmm, good point. It's acting as a stationary tool box with no space to walk around, but I'll keep it in mind for the future.
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Jun 16, 2020 03:00
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Uthor posted:Hmm, good point. It's acting as a stationary tool box with no space to walk around, but I'll keep it in mind for the future. The unistrut will reach out and grab you
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Jun 16, 2020 03:39
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Yeah, I feel like you'll regret putting it off. I have A DEEP scar on my shin, just below my knee. I failed to clear a hurdle made out of L profile steel. in reverse. In 6th grade. The thought of it still makes my scar feel tender well into my 30s. Mothergently caress any uncapped metal.
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Jun 16, 2020 05:25
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I literally just flayed the inside of my right upper arm just above the elbow, 3/4" wide and 2" long, from a sheetmetal edge I didn't even know was there. One minor slip-up, felt like I hit my elbow but only bruised it and next thing I know I'm absolutely streaming blood and have a patch of skin the size of a loving stick of gum rolled up on itself. I should have gone and gotten stitches, honestly. I was 25 miles from middle of nowhere at my hangar and wanted to finish poo poo up though so I cleaned it out and used masking tape to unroll it and mostly get it laid in the right spot again. I'm going to end up with a quarter inch wide scar from it but it hasn't gotten infected so I'll call it a win. I brought medical supplies including sterile sutures out there on my next wrenching run  Seriously, cover those ends. I don't care if it's cardboard and duct tape. You will eventually regret it if you don't. That unistrut will straight up ruin your poo poo, I've gotten myself with it before. In fact I have an inch long scar on top of my head from a very similar garage door opener track I ran into in 2009. The area in red is where I got peeled down to. 
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Jun 16, 2020 07:58
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Wasabi the J posted:Yeah, I feel like you'll regret putting it off. 17 y/o me got one of those but it was because i thought i could try jumping flat-footed onto a laminate countertop
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Jun 16, 2020 15:46
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I need to buy my first set of jack stands, considering the recall, is a $25 3 ton set from Harbor Frieght a bad idea? I mean they took all the bad ones off the shelf. . . What is the next cheapest recommended jack stand?
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Jun 16, 2020 22:17
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Crotch Fruit posted:I need to buy my first set of jack stands, considering the recall, is a $25 3 ton set from Harbor Frieght a bad idea? I mean they took all the bad ones off the shelf. . . What is the next cheapest recommended jack stand? I bought these as replacements: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074R12H5H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 They have a second lock on them which you can see in some of the pics....it's the silver triangular bar. It's attached with a tether and once the stands are up you shove it in to grab another tooth on the moving part of the jack.
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Jun 16, 2020 22:34
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The 6 ton HF stands are still great bang/buck, assuming they're in stock. I said this before, but I'll take known-quantity HF stands over anything else because when there is a recall for fuckin who knows other-brand stands, you're never going to see it.
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Jun 17, 2020 00:56
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One way or another, jackstands will last the rest of your life. I don't know what I'm going to replace my Harbor Freight ones with, but they'll either have a pin or a secondary lock.
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Jun 17, 2020 04:45
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Hypnolobster posted:The 6 ton HF stands are still great bang/buck, assuming they're in stock. I said this before, but I'll take known-quantity HF stands over anything else because when there is a recall for fuckin who knows other-brand stands, you're never going to see it. Counterpoint—I didn’t see it until now, though I’ve been using the older orange HF stands that fortunately don’t appear to be listed in the recall. Still not a great confidence boost. Definitely thinking about picking up a few of the secondary locking ones Motronic listed, I’m kinda freaked out by a stand shifting under load and dropping a car on me. Cheap insurance I guess.
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Jun 17, 2020 13:36
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StormDrain posted:One way or another, jackstands will last the rest of your life. 
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Jun 17, 2020 19:37
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StormDrain posted:One way or another, jackstands will last the rest of your life. One way, or another they're gonna kill ya, They gonna crush ya crush ya crush ya crush ya one way, or another they gonna smash ya..........
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Jun 18, 2020 11:33
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I decided to buy a pair of 3 ton Torin jack stands from Walmart since they are the same (pre-coupon) price as the Harbor Freight jacks, and they are probably made in the same factory. The main reason I went with Walmart branded tools is because Harbor Freight doesn't sell engine oil and filters, or eggs since I ran out. Overall the process went smooth, I removed the filter first since I wanted to make sure the new one I bought would actually fit before draining the engine, in case I had to abort, I'm not sure if this one true way or not. In the future, I think I will I managed to line up my catch pan perfectly the first time when the plug came out, my car's plug screws in sideways so it kinda shoots the oil out in an arc towards the back, is this a common design on modern engines? Unfortunately one gust of wind was enough divert the stream to the side of my tire and I now have a decent sized oil spill to clean up in my garage. I did not have cat litter handy, but I did have some old playground sand, which was almost dry. I think this did a decent job of soaking up the oil, would cat litter or another product do a significantly better job? Assuming this oil does stain my garage, what can I do to clean up the stain when I get around to it next
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Jun 18, 2020 19:41
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Sounds about right for a first oil change. It will get smoother and faster the more you do it. - Order doesn't matter much but just be careful if the filter is low on the engine you might end up draining all the oil out the filter outlet and that could get pretty messy. It's smart to think about what would happen if something goes wrong and you can't get a part on or off though. A lot of folks like to take the oil fill plug off first to make sure it's not seized up, but that's not as common for oil (but definitely smart to do with any other fluid like transmission, diffs, etc). IMHO go with whatever order works best--for me it's always drain the pan, then swap filter, then fill it up. - One thing to check with the filter, be sure you get the o-ring off with the filter. It can be a quick visual check or feeling it with your hand. It's a very common thing to accidentally leave the old o-ring attached and jam on a new filter with a new o-ring. You won't get a good seal with both o-rings and will get a nice fountain of oil shooting out the filter when you crank the engine up. I'm always very careful and have caught it, but more than once have had the o-ring stay stuck on the car. - Yeah a drain plug on the side is pretty common and yeah the design can suck. You can put in a new drain plug with a little valve and tap on it to let the oil out easily--but it's a bit of work and money and another failure point. I just learn to get good at guessing where the stream is going to go and move the pan quickly. If there's a lot of wind outdoors try to block it with a tool box or similar. You could pull a tire off and lay it under the car as a block too (and a good backup safety for jack / jack stand failure). - For length of time on the oil it depends how much you like the car. Generally you want to change it at least every year, if for no other reason than to just keep things moving and prevent rubber o-rings from degrading, etc. But with full synthetic and not much use, the oil is almost certainly fine even after two years. If you really care you could take a sample and send it to blackstone labs to analyze. Really it's just nice to do it every year so you have a good maintenance paper trail for the next car owner - Yeah kitty litter will help if you can get it on fast. I wouldn't worry about it now. There's good and bad news. Concrete is pourous and that oil is never going to be completely cleaned out of the floor. You can try to wash it as hard as you want but I've never seen an oil spill on concrete ever clean up perfectly. The good new is... it's a garage floor or driveway, who cares. Over time it will fade a bit and be less prominent. Eventually you can just epoxy over the whole floor and fix that problem for good. - You probably did this but in general after an oil change when you fire the car up stick your head under the car for a second and look for any big, immediate leaks or problems. It's easy to forget a step like putting the drain plug back on. Catch it before you go driving down the block and seize up the engine. mod sassinator fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Jun 18, 2020 |
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Jun 18, 2020 20:04
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Kitty litter over an old spill also helps to lighten it when it gets ground into the pores. It's surprisingly absorbent.
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Jun 18, 2020 20:16
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Is there a good cheap caliper worth buying? Not for heavy use but stuff like measuring spring material diameters etc so I can buy replacements - the mitutoyo I know is quality but spending $120 isn’t my first choice - are there decent price performers?
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Jun 18, 2020 21:29
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mod sassinator posted:Sounds about right for a first oil change. It will get smoother and faster the more you do it. Understatement of the year. First-new-to-you-car oil change is always a pain. And try the cheapest cat litter you can find. Dump it on, walk, kind of grind your feet on it and give it some time to work. I had the Exxon Valdez during an oil change and you couldn't tell.
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Jun 18, 2020 21:30
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C-Bangin' it 
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I swept up the sand, and it at least got ride of the bulk of the oil but the stains are still present, so I sprinkled on a fairly thin layer of the good cat litter for my cat. I didn't want to use a lot since this is the good stuff, in the future I will just buy a bag of the cheap poo poo from the store. I saw there was a oil spill mat right by the catch pans at Walmart, I think it looked kinda like a big sheet of felt. Are these useful? My concern with a mat is the idea of having a big oil soaked rag to either store or dispose of. Are there any precautions for disposing of oil soaked rags? From shop class, I remember that lacquer soaked rags had to go in a fire proof bin where they could spontaneously combust in peace, does this apply to used engine oil too? As far as cheap Chinese recalled jack stand safety goes, I'm considering a back up plan with wheel cribs.  I think I could make these quite cheap, although I think the ones picture are a little high, it would take a bit of work to get my car up on them. My floor jack is Harbor Freights cheapest 1.5ton aluminum race jack, I believe the travel is about 10" since the max height is 13 7/8" and the minimum is 3 1/2". Is there a known better design for stack able cribbing? Ideally I would like to make a couple sets of 6" high cribbing which would be lighter than the 15" high cribbing and I could probably get 6" cribs under with one lift, and use a second set of 6" cribs if I need to go higher. mod sassinator posted:- For length of time on the oil it depends how much you like the car. Generally you want to change it at least every year, if for no other reason than to just keep things moving and prevent rubber o-rings from degrading, etc. But with full synthetic and not much use, the oil is almost certainly fine even after two years. If you really care you could take a sample and send it to blackstone labs to analyze. Really it's just nice to do it every year so you have a good maintenance paper trail for the next car owner
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Jun 18, 2020 21:33
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Mutar posted:Is there a good cheap caliper worth buying? Not for heavy use but stuff like measuring spring material diameters etc so I can buy replacements - the mitutoyo I know is quality but spending $120 isn’t my first choice - are there decent price performers? The cheap digital one for $10-20 at Harbor Freight and such is great in my experience. Take the battery out after using it--they usually turn on when in the case and drain the battery.
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Jun 18, 2020 21:41
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Crotch Fruit posted:I swept up the sand, and it at least got ride of the bulk of the oil but the stains are still present, so I sprinkled on a fairly thin layer of the good cat litter for my cat. I didn't want to use a lot since this is the good stuff, in the future I will just buy a bag of the cheap poo poo from the store. I saw there was a oil spill mat right by the catch pans at Walmart, I think it looked kinda like a big sheet of felt. Are these useful? My concern with a mat is the idea of having a big oil soaked rag to either store or dispose of. Are there any precautions for disposing of oil soaked rags? From shop class, I remember that lacquer soaked rags had to go in a fire proof bin where they could spontaneously combust in peace, does this apply to used engine oil too? You might as well change the filter when the oil is out. 90% of the work is done already and it's not an expensive part. But yeah it's probably fine if the filter says it's good for 20k miles.
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Jun 18, 2020 21:44
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mod sassinator posted:The cheap digital one for $10-20 at Harbor Freight and such is great in my experience. Take the battery out after using it--they usually turn on when in the case and drain the battery. Seconded. I keep HF calipers around the shop because I don't really care if I drop them on the concrete a few dozen times a month or accidentally get them caked in road grime or spray them with brakleen. Slide calipers aren't really accurate past 5 thou without being super careful anyways, you should be using a vernier micrometer (very-near mic, expensive c clamp, etc) for anything requiring real precision.
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Jun 18, 2020 22:08
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I have a set of iGaging calipers that were like $40 along with the $20 harbor freight ones and I like the iGaging set a lot better, though I don’t know that it’s anything super important. They’re smoother and do fractional inches mainly.
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Jun 18, 2020 23:51
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I also like the iGaging ones. The HF ones get this disease: https://www.woodgears.ca/caliper/ and aren’t covered by the hand tool warranty.
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Jun 19, 2020 00:25
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3rd-ING iGaging. 👍
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Jun 19, 2020 00:27
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Crotch Fruit posted:I swept up the sand, and it at least got ride of the bulk of the oil but the stains are still present, so I sprinkled on a fairly thin layer of the good cat litter for my cat. I didn't want to use a lot since this is the good stuff, in the future I will just buy a bag of the cheap poo poo from the store. I saw there was a oil spill mat right by the catch pans at Walmart, I think it looked kinda like a big sheet of felt. Are these useful? My concern with a mat is the idea of having a big oil soaked rag to either store or dispose of. Are there any precautions for disposing of oil soaked rags? From shop class, I remember that lacquer soaked rags had to go in a fire proof bin where they could spontaneously combust in peace, does this apply to used engine oil too? "Pig Mat" (brand name for oil absorbing mat) is great, though it's more effective if placed down before working, it'll suck oil out of flat, smooth concrete pretty good though. MANY municipalities allow the disposal of small quantities of oily rags sealed in a plastic bag, if not, they should have a specialized disposal facility for such things, call and ask! Oily rags will not spontaneously ignite like some paints/varnishes will, however they become quite flammable when soaked in oil, and it would be a good idea to store them in a flame resistant container, away from ignition sources, or preferably, away from any flammable buildings you may have.
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Jun 19, 2020 03:31
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Change your filter every time or every other time. Afaik the milage based oil lights are actually pretty good. They are however based on math and sensor data. They don't actually measure the oil itself in any way. Therefore they won't sense an issue with the filter. As far as filter milage claims, it's not the filter wearing out. It gets clogged eventually. When it does there's a bypass that lets oil flow around it. You'll never know it's doing it. Oil and filters are cheap, engines are expensive. Don't buy fram.
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Jun 19, 2020 04:08
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honda whisperer posted:
One thousand times this— change your dang 8$ filters! 
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Jun 19, 2020 04:28
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I would wager that with synthetic oil, you’d be better off changing the filters than the oil.
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Jun 19, 2020 18:57
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So in case anyone was debating it, don't bother with the HF car battery charger, SKU 66783 or similar. It's horribly underbuilt. The rectifier diodes are AR50D which are actually rated for 50 amps not the advertised 55 amps, and were the failure point on mine. The wire for the low voltage side is 16awg. Totally not adequate for 55 amps. The rectifiers are spring clamped to a heatsink with no thermal transfer paste and it appears the contacts arcing and melting the plastic spring clamp plate is actually what failed before the diodes themselves. The transformer windings appear to be dual 16ga which is better but I don't think I'd trust it for that. They attempt to make up for this with a 20 amp thermal breaker. Apparently it wasn't enough because mine melted down and tried to set me on fire after a few seconds of charging. gently caress this thing. It's out of warranty so I can't return it even though I only used it twice. I'm debating tossing some real rectifiers and wire on it since it's already dead and not returnable. I took pics if anyone wants them but they aren't very impressive.
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Jun 19, 2020 23:42
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Only thing I'll add to oil change chat, I like to crank the engine without starting to circulate the oil and build pressure. On older cars I yank the EFI fuse, most newer cars let you hold the gas to the floor while cranking and it won't start, it's a clear flood mode.
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Jun 20, 2020 00:11
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If it has a distributor I use an old one, grind the cam gear off and cut the shaft down so I can run it from a drill.
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Jun 20, 2020 00:14
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Ideally you would also disable compression (pull plugs) to bring load on the bearings to near zero but that's probably overkill.
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Jun 20, 2020 07:29
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BigPaddy posted:If it has a distributor I use an old one, grind the cam gear off and cut the shaft down so I can run it from a drill. your oil changes are a lot more exciting than mine ill do that on a new build, but lol at tearing that poo poo apart every oil change
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Jun 20, 2020 08:04
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No poo poo, manually priming an engine after a routine oil change seems nuts unless you've got an accusump already. I have literally never manually primed an engine after routine maintenance.
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Jun 20, 2020 08:05
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I mean... Sure. Priming the motor will save wear from the oil galleys not being filled completely. But you're effectively doing the same amount of wear every time you cold-start the engine, assuming you're filling the oil filter when you change it. I've never even heard of someone priming the motor after an oil change. Again, yes, after a rebuild, but that's mostly to make sure that you actually build oil pressure and to flush oil into all the new parts and hopefully take any sort of dust/debris along with it.
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Jun 20, 2020 10:33
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Oh yeah no that is not for oil changes, that for when I have to pull something out of storage or run it the first time after a rebuild/pulled from the grave.
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Jun 20, 2020 14:54
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I fully acknowledge that it's likely pointless after an oil change but it makes me feel good  Though one of our cars I can't prefill the filter due to orientation so I suppose it helps there a bit.
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Jun 20, 2020 22:01
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I don't think anyone who knows what they are talking about would argue against it helping "a bit", but even in the scenario of an inverted oil filter........that's gonna be empty every time you start the car anyway. So if this is something you feel is useful, you should be doing it at every cold start.
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Jun 20, 2020 22:10
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