I has a bukkit
And I’m not afraid to use it.
Tonight I put in a new set of front brakes and rotors on the exploder, set number… I think 17. I never let them get really thin, in fact I usually change them before they get halfway through the pads. Todays job was less about braking ability than warped rotors; every once in a while, a little nasty traffic and extra hard braking warps a rotor and you end up with “wobbitawobbitawobbita” as you stop, and i had that in spades. I also suspected maybe my passenger outer tie rod was loose, so I replaced that too.
Halfway into the job, which I’ve always done on my knees on a mechanic’s mat, I realize there’s a bucket close by- a friend gives us buckets from food-grade frosting, which we use to store food etc.
So I grabbed a bucket and sat on it while doing brakes.
My knees actually feel as though they still contain cartilage and lubricating fluid, and not pea gravel. Imagine!
Still had to lay on the floor to do the tie rod end.
At least I don’t do the “wobbitawobbitawobbita” anymore.
“wobbitawobbitawobbitaâ€
Is that the technical term?
Yep.
The last time I replaced a tie rod – and every universal joint in the front half of my jeep’s drive train – I used the car lift in my boss’ heated shop. I got it all done in a couple of hours while sipping on a tasty beverage and listening to tunes.
The tie rod before that I did laying in the frozen gravel in my driveway in a snowstorm. By the time I had finished I had to dig my way out of a drift.
I try not overdo expressing to my boss how FREAKING AWESOME his decision was to put in a car lift when we built the new shop.
At a garage sale last Fall I bought a swivelly, upholstered insulated seaty type lid thingy that fits your standard 5 gallon polyplastic bukkit. There was a polystyrene insulative liner that came with it. DAYUM, DOOD! izzat thang ever kewl, or warm. Whichever. Sit on it and yer butt is toasty in seconds, put a little Ice inside and yer beer is cool, sammiges too. All fer 50 cents. Prolly cost more’n ten bucks new but all I have in it is half a buck. I do like garage sales.
Gerry N.
Last tie rod I replaced was on an H2, in the fucking mud.
But we did it in twenty minutes cause being miserable will make one move faster.