My plans for this winter involved cabinetry and other projects for the dining room and kitchen, but instead, I’ve spent most of my “off” time working on vehicles. Our fleet is getting older, but we’re not yet at the point of replacing vehicles, so there are more frequent repair issues to go along with regular maintenance.
So far (!), I’ve done the following repairs to our vehicles:
Tyler’s 1984 Ford Mustang (Ty did a lot of this work himself)
- Tune-up (plugs, wires, distributor cap & rotor, fuel and air filters)
- Oil and filter change
- Replaced bad throttle position sensor
- Replaced upper radiator hose due to hole from hitting fan
1995 Ford F-150 4WD Pickup
- Tune-up (plugs, wires, distributor cap & rotor, air filter, oil & filter)
- Replaced front brake rotors and disc pads
- Replaced front ball joints
- Replaced automatic transmission oil filter
- Replaced 4WD transfer case shift linkage bracket
- Replaced six out of seven U-joints
- Replaced all brake lines on front half of truck (old ones rusted out)
- Repaired broken driver’s side interior door latch (used an old fence gate hasp as the repair part!)
- Replaced front fuel tank (old one was rusted out and leaking)
- Wirebrushed rusty areas, primed and painted (this is a really rusty midwest truck!)
2005 Chrysler Town & Country Minivan
- Oil & filter change
- Replaced alternator (bearing going bad)
2000 Volkswagen New Beetle
- I have $1000 worth of suspension parts waiting to be installed
- Also have a complete exhaust system (another $1000) ready to install
- Wheels are out being sandblasted and painted (were getting rusty from the winter salt), and once done, will receive new tires
So, that’s how my winter’s been going. And now it’s time to go take a look at Beth’s van again – it’s started making another noise!