Friday again folks. 

 

Here in "Two Weeks From Anywhere" land it's looking like I'll be doing a bit more rewiring.

This time it will be on the John Deere zero-turn mower.

I swapped the battery from the log splitter into the mower so I could get some mowing done.

When I was done, I parked it behind the shed, and when I went to restart it that battery was down. 

So I did some checking and found that the plastic cases of two of the ATO fuses had melted without the fuses blowing. 

The contacts inside the fuse box are also melted into it's plastic case. 

The J-D dealer near me says the whole harness has to be replaced at a cost around $120.00 for the harness. 

I'm not paying around $120.00 for something I can repair for a fraction of that. 

So, it looks like a trip to Menards is in order. I'll be replacing the fuse box with inline fuse holders at a cost of around $20.00. 

I'm sure my "CHEAP" fix will take less time than tearing the whole mower apart to replace the harness also. 

 

So, now that you know what I'll be doing, "What's on Your Weekend Agenda"? 

 

 

 

The recent torrential rains found a few loose metal roofing screws, allowing some leaks in the patio roof. Since climbing in excess of 3 rungs on the ladder is prohibited,  tightening those screws will be done by our son on Sunday. In the meantime, sanding progresses on the table legs. I sure wish I'd had a conversation with Fred before embarking on this table project.  It's been a daunting job for me. It'll be a wonderful day when they're done.

Recap of week:

• Rear shocks on oldest granddaughters Jeep GC, replaced; no thanks to her dad...different time and post for that
• Oldest grandson's 1st 6th grade football game over. They lost the 2nd half 8-6. Unfortunately lost the 1st half too, 40-0. Big difference in youth league feeder programs. That's why that HS is current 3x defending state champions and we haven't won a state championship since 1997.
• Took two days but all 4ish acres mowed; I may have finally solved the frustrating issue with the mower; different time and post for that too.
• Still waiting to hear back from dealer about new to us car CEL prognosis. Just called them...told to call back around NOON. Suspect different time/post brewing on this one too.
• Back on Trailblazer A/C problem today. Also a different time/post saga on this one.

Weekend ahead:

• Church men's group monthly breakfast tomorrow
• Oldest grandson football game at NOON tomorrow; at least it's at home
• Church Sunday; after taking our family plus Pastor's family out for lunch to celebrate Mrs. & my 49th Wedding Anniversary. It was the 11th but everyone's schedules prevented until now. Last weekend the girls will be here too before headed back to college.

Think i am finally recovered from working on filling over water line and weed eating at son's place, he calls the ranch. The kne paid for that one yesterday. Was gonna go to range today as nice temps but the rain has other ideas. Woodturning club meeting tomorrow. Just seems there is no shop time lately or just a grab and snatch at that.

 These don't look very good, and believe it or not they're not blown. 

They came out of here, the connections inside look melted like the fuses.

When I took the fuse box loose the fuse for the charging system fell out.

To quote @steven newman "We have our ways".  

Decided to replace the ATO's with Mini's, $3.39 versus $4.99 for the ATO's. 

Cut a wire here, splice a wire there, a little solder, shrink wrap, and... 

Away we go! 

 

Might just get a fifth season out of that $20.00 used Medical Grade Deep Cycle Scooter Battery yet. 

 

 

Edited August 19, 20223 yr by Larry Buskirk

9 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

Friday again folks.

Wait a second, did't we just do this? 

 

7am ymca pool if I get up early enough. Or on Sunday.  Always-fun vending crafts in a shady park tomorrow.

 

Went wood gathering today. Some was cheap, some not, some free. Begin pulling nails on this seven footer described by an optimistic seller as "33 board feet"  Quite a wrassle, getting her onto the porch. 350 pounds, maybe? 

 

 

 

 

4 minutes ago, Woodman said:

9 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

Friday again folks.

Wait a second, did't we just do this? 

 

 Seems that way doesn't it? 

I spent the week building 6 bookcases for our local library.  The library recently underwent a huge upgrade and needed 10 new bookcases to wrap around one end of the new addition.  The commercial cabinet distributor wanted $20,000 for for the bookcases and I’m building them for significantly less.  Yesterday was stain opens today was spraying lacquer.  Tomorrow I will insert the shelf racks and start building shelves.

Move my daughter into her dorm for her first year of Graduate school. Sunday I hope some rest before back on road for work.

 

Enjoy your weekend.

1 hour ago, Woodman said:

Wait a second, did't we just do this? 

 

7am ymca pool if I get up early enough. Or on Sunday.  Always-fun vending crafts in a shady park tomorrow.

 

Went wood gathering today. Some was cheap, some not, some free. Begin pulling nails on this seven footer described by an optimistic seller as "33 board feet"  Quite a wrassle, getting her onto the porch. 350 pounds, maybe? 

 

 

 

 

Very cool idea!

Might get a tray built for a box...

Dry fit, no glue, so far

I think I had a productive week but danged if some of this work don't go slow...

Yard got mowed, doc visit went a-ok, kitchen faucet project completed; but most of the week was spent working in the garage.

After stripping off the popcorn and loose tape I re-taped and re-mudded all the joints.  It was so humid this past week there was no second coat on any day so it was wipe and wait until the next day to inspect, re-wipe and so on.  While that was going on I got to looking at the walls.  They were in pretty rough shape.  Lots of stuff had been tacked up and nailed to the walls over the years, not to mention 35 years of dust, dirt and grime.  For about 14 of those years I had an active woodshop in the corner by the big door.  Lots of stuff got made right there.

So, I have removed stuff, washed and patched the holes.  After the ceiling is done I will go ahead and paint what I can this year.

 

My plan for Saturday is to apply some oil base primer to the ceiling.  Sunday TBD.

 

 

 

 

 

 No mowing today, it's 

1 hour ago, Cal said:

I think I had a productive week but danged if some of this work don't go slow...

Yard got mowed, doc visit went a-ok, kitchen faucet project completed; but most of the week was spent working in the garage.

After stripping off the popcorn and loose tape I re-taped and re-mudded all the joints.  It was so humid this past week there was no second coat on any day so it was wipe and wait until the next day to inspect, re-wipe and so on.  While that was going on I got to looking at the walls.  They were in pretty rough shape.  Lots of stuff had been tacked up and nailed to the walls over the years, not to mention 35 years of dust, dirt and grime.  For about 14 of those years I had an active woodshop in the corner by the big door.  Lots of stuff got made right there.

So, I have removed stuff, washed and patched the holes.  After the ceiling is done I will go ahead and paint what I can this year.

 

My plan for Saturday is to apply some oil base primer to the ceiling.  Sunday TBD.

 

 

 

 

 

A Lotta over head ladder work but, It's gonna look good. 

It’s going to be a crazy weekend,  picked up some white oak today in preparation for working on the rest of that patio furniture in the near future.  Now its off to the shop to finish milling the boards for the front part of the workbench top.  Now that I have decided to do round dogs, the path forward becomes clear, and relatively simple from a construction standpoint.

last night it was a martini and chicken dinner on the pontoon boat trip at the campgrounds. The rest of the weekend I'll be working on 15 Pizza peels, 12 cheese cutting boards, 45 cheese slicers (just sanding these), 3 large cribbage boards (cutting them out, may or may not get these finished) 6 clipboards, and a few bread trays. As much as I can needs to be done Thursday for a 3 day show this weekend. Oh well, ther'll be plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.  

 

Recap:

• Trailblazer A/C...IDK beyond my pay grade I guess...taking to an expert Monday
• Men's breakfast done...good fellowship and good food and great service at a local mom & pop diner; they welcome us each 3rd Saturday of the month
• Oldest grandson's footballgame; umbrellas kept us dry; his kick-offs greatly improved; another lopsided win 32-0 but we were on top against county rival
• Grandma & girls just left for town; light rain outside. Do I work in the garage or catc.......Zzzzzzzzzzz

3 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Trailblazer A/C...IDK beyond my pay grade I guess...

 

What's it doing/not doing?

 

Been looking at the boneyards for a compressor for the Pilot myself.

Ran dye through the system, and found the seal behind the drive pulley leaking.

Hoping to find one that was replaced recently. 

 

Just woke up from a nap myself, didn't sleep well last night. 

Celebrated my birthday by doing set construction.  Built a 14' tall volcano.  Then finished the day working on building a bar.  SpongeBob Musical.  We had some good help today and got lots done.

5 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

What's it doing/not doing?

Long story about how I got to where I'm at but shorter version I bought the vehicle for a "song" knowing the A/C wasn't working and hadn't for some time. After much troubleshooting determined the clutch was not engaging. Vehicle is '02 with 224k miles. Since I was replacing the radiator and had many other components out for that, access from the top wasn't too bad. Old compressor rotated freely, no signs of internal failure just clutch coil or maybe gap was to wide to engage? System was not charged however.

• New compressor & clutch-Rock Auto
• New Receiver/dryer/accumulator-Rock Auto
• Replaced orifice tube-Advance Auto
• New Low Pressure cycling switch-Advance Auto
• New exterior atmospheric sensor

Pulled a vacuum quickly and held it for over an hour with no drop multiple times. In fact, it held some degree over the entire winter (more long story stuff). Anyways, after initial charge, clutch cycled on/off pretty quickly like it was low on freon but low side was running high like over-charge (it wasn't) but high side pressure about normal.

 

Finally got back to messing with it. Low side shows about normal operation, high side normal for ambient temp, clutch cycles on/off ~ 7 seconds intervals. I can hear and feel low pressure switch cycling in/out. Low side lines never get cool let alone cold at or beyond the accumulator. If it was an old R-12 system with an expansion valve, I'd guess it bad??

 

Vehicle has dual temperature climate controls for driver/passenger front and rear controls for back but does not have rear A/C (additional coils). All blend air doors work as they should. No doubt it's something simple I'm overlooking but I'm at a loss.

Edited August 21, 20223 yr by Grandpadave52