Still not dead

Not dead yet.  Just busy with the new house.

I'm not dead yet

I've just been kinda busy getting moved & settled at our new acreage.  On a good note, we now own a go-kart that's required some work, so I'll be writing about that in these pages before long.

Relacing the Wrangler's clutch master cylinder

On Thursday--in the middle of our first really cold spell of the winter--I noticed that the clutch in my 1995 Jeep Wrangler was engaging with the pedal unusually close to the floor.  I made a mental note to investigate it over the weekend.  Unfortunately, when I tried to leave work on the next day, I found that the pedal went all the way to the floor and the clutch wouldn't even disengage at all, making shifting impossible.  We towed it home, and I got to spend a couple hours on Sunday fixing the problem.

Replacing tired shock bushings

When I installed the spring-over-axle lift on my '95 Jeep Wrangler 15 years ago, I installed a new set of Rancho RS9000 shocks with polyurethane bushings.  They worked well, but in recent years, the suspension on my YJ has gotten noticeably noisy.  While underneath my Jeep last week, I noticed that the cause of that noise was worn out shock bushings that were past their prime. In many cases, the center hole was hogged out so that the bushing flopped around on the bolt.  In one case, the bushing was completely gone, leaving the bare shock eye to bang around on the bolt.  Obviously, it was time for a new set of bushings.

And then there was one

Today marks a bittersweet day for me.  My 1977 Jeep Wagoneer -- which has been in our family longer than any of my children -- left my driveway for a new home in Chicago, 500 miles away.  Selling her was voluntary, of course, but I still feel like I've just given one of my children up for adoption.  (That would be the child that has a great personality, but eats non-stop, has frequent medical bills, and never helps out around the house.)  I'm feeling the pain of losing a loved one right now, so I'm going to take this opportunity to share our story with you all.

Lubing a stubborn car door

The rear side doors--especially the driver side--in our 2001 Chevy Tahoe had gotten rather stiff, to the point where our 5-year-old son had trouble opening his car door. It turned out that there's a spring-loaded arm called the "door check link" that rides on two bars to provide the half- and full-open detents. That bar was scraping against its two mating bars rather than riding smoothly, and that resistance made the door hard to open and close. Fixing it was as simple as greasing the edges of that bar.

Replacing the cabin air filter in a Chevy truck

We've noticed recently that the interior of our 2001 Chevy Tahoe has been smelling pretty musty.  We cleaned all the carpets, but to no avail.  I was then reminded that the last time this smell appeared, it was time to change the air filter that protects the HVAC system in the cabin.  It's a pretty simple job, and one that should be identical on all 1999-2006 GMC/Chevy Sierra pickups and all 2000-2006 Tahoes, Suburbans, Yukons, and Denalies.