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Haha I wouldn’t say I put Redee in storage, moreso that She’s been evicted haha.
That is a lot of projects on the GO. Glad you aren’t falling victim to Newton’s first law in your retirement. Good on you investing your time into your equity!
We double checked everything before the alignment, all sitting pretty. The reason for being off-centre, is that the truck was put into a “bad alignment” last year to compensate for two rear leafs with grossly different spring rates.
I agree that if the two leafs pulled out were similar, then an alignment wouldn’t be needed, or a sign something has gone wrong.
Overall Truckee is in a better state now, tracking straight and riding stiff like a truck again. All I gotta do now is recruit Matt or James to help me put the Leer cap on so I can keep dry, and murder my rearward visibility.Redee has been put to rest for the year. She’s found a nice sleeping spot in my back yard, just have to cover the windshield to stop the snow / rain from seeping through the leak. Torn between using a tarp, or getting a temp shelter of sorts.
I wanted to keep The Shop clear to work on projects this winter. I’ve got at least two Motorcycles to rebuild this winter, and every sq ft of workspace will go a long way. Hopefully I can build myself a rear bumper for Redee over winter too.
Today in Brian’s Shop (Lakeside Auto), with help from my colleague Donald, we swapped out Truckee’s leaf springs with a set I got from @Tacoma16. All went well, only two broken M6 bolts which retain the brake hard lines. I need to re-torque all the bolts on Monday when I go into work, and get an alignment. When I got my last alignment done at Orangeville Toyota, the leaf spring was already broken and the techs there compensated for the uneven ride height. Now that the ride height has been restored, truckees steering wheel is off centre. Last thing I want is my new Duratracs getting dickered.
Thanks for the workspace Brian! The hoist was a life saver.
Thanks for the extra hands Donald! Man handling the leafs into place is way easier as a 2-man job.
Yesterday in The Shop, James brought the FJ over to do some maintenance and a very potent repair.
On the docket were drain & fill the diffs and T-case, replacing all the crush washers with new OEM ones. Trans was planned also, but as an oversight I didn’t have enough Redline MT-90 leftover. All the diff oil that came out was in pretty good condition, free of water and metal!
James also greased the driveline zerks, and installed a brand new OEM rear diff lock actuator. He’s pretty excited to go tackle some more tough tracks within Dufferin County, and I don’t blame him!
All went smoothly until it was time to re-hang the based in skid plate….2-hours later 5 of the 6 bolts were installed haha. Good enough for us.
Typical Shop fashion, no pics today.The Easter Egg kinda evolved from a brain fart. My intention was to NOT strip the black label, and back when I was planning to pay for the blasting service, I was informed to cover with duct tape anything I didn’t want stripped. I left the duct tape on too long, and the label started to peel off 😡. After carefully peeling the duct tape, and losing some label, I taped it back down with Green painters tape. Queue the brain fart, after priming the frame I forgot to remove, or trim back the tape. Only remembered it while spraying clear, and by then it was too late. Since I prefer my glass half-full, gonna rock this Easter Egg and all its glory. Maybe it’ll help re-sale haha.
My buddy Ratul has challenged me to keep the DR unlisted during 2021, and just enjoy the ride. I see his point, would hate to regret the sale, but if some kijiji bloke wants to pay $6k for a freshly rebuilt DR600, I feel obliged to facilitate….then promptly buy myself another dirt worthy machine for half that.
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Most of the speckling wiped off, and could easily pass as dust.
I put up a pic in the sunlight. The colour is a little darker than I thought it would be, but close enough to the original I suppose. Also the frame is mostly hidden by components and plastics, it’ll never get the same attention as it is now.
See picture of painted colour vs original faded + rust. I left this little easter egg as a reminder of where it came from. Will all be hidden behind the front suspension and the front headlight fairing assemblies.
I was going to buy a tool like that, but wanted to “try before I buy” kinda deal. With you endorsement though, I’ll pick one up next time I’m at Princess Auto.
Today in The Shop, I finally laid down Dark Blue, and Semi-gloss clear on my bike frame. Loving the results so far, but I wanna see it in the sunlight. Towards the end of the can of clear, some white sediment came out the can and gave a “speckled” finish. Pissed me off as it happened, but I think it’ll hardly be noticeable once the bike is re-dressed. Either way, not gonna re-do it, or lose any sleep.
I was hoping to go another month before being able to post these up.
Nov 1st, first accumulation for the year.
Nov 2nd, first snow recovery of the year.
I can’t believe the improvement from the new carrier bearing. The back end feels smoother and quieter now. I have yet tp hear the rear axle / driveshaft flop around while decelerating especially at bumpy intersections.
Did that U joint tool look like a modified C-Clamp, or some kind of contraption?
Love the new tires too, the tread compound is SOOO much softer than the previous 100K set.
Today in The Shop, Redee taking a break from the stress of commuting this past week. She ran me to-and-from Wasaga 3 days while truckee was on axle stands.
It took 3 nights of wrenching, but Truckee finally got some lovin! I replaced both E-brake cables, put in brake new shoes, had the drums turned, put in a new driveshaft carrier bearing and one U-Joint. Since completion, I driven exactly 60ft, the length of my driveway haha.
Hopefully next week I’ll stay late at work to put in a set of new-to-me OEM leaf springs to replace the broken pass side. Afterwards I’ll bolt in the Total Chaos bedside stiffeners, and bolt on my cap for the winter. Uggghh, winter, dreading that shit already.
That reclaimed wood wall worked out well, looks really good. Got that heat installed just in time too, freakin’ cold out now.
Today in The Shop, snow tire swap over onto the Caravan, and another Coleman stove refurb.
Snow tires went on without any drama. One of the all seasons picked up a rusty old 2” nail this past week, so I’ll plug that up after I buy a new package of plugs.
The Coleman stove I got from my buddy’s dad. Just happened to cross paths with him last week, and he was looking for help to lift something heavy. 20 mins later when I’m heading out, I said “Sweet Coleman stove there Greg!”….to which he replies “You know what that is? Keep it! Been in the shed unused at least 20-years.” Perfect! Took me about an hour to strip it down, wire wheel the spider webs, rust and grime out, and reassemble it. She held pressure, and fired up perfectly on the first match. Functionally this stove is 10/10. Aesthetically only a 6/10 haha. Good enough for me.
Although these stoves are cheap to come across, I can’t help hoarding them haha. I think I need to cap my collection at 3-units though, so I’m gonna give this stove to James. Hopefully in exchange for some IT support or computer upgrades haha. My shop computer is nearly GARBAGE.
Today in The Shop, I put down 4 light coats of primer onto the DR600 frame. I used up two full cans of primer, and wore out my trigger fingers on both hands in the process.
Hoping to lay down some blue before the weekend is through.
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