Intrepidation

A very good question. The reason this happens is because on most mowers, except the higher-end models have plastic wheels over solid axles. If they aren't greased with marine grease, the friction of the plastic on metal eventually wears down the wheel. Once in a while the metal axle itself gets worn, but 9/10 its the plastic wheel. Higher end mowers have ball bearing wheels so this is never an issue. There is a fix though. You could either buy new wheels (which aren't cheap) or axles depending on which its, but also not cheap since usually they are part of teh whole eight adjusting assembly. Or you could what I've done. Here is the what I used: a 1/2 x 5/8 x 1-1/2 steel spacer. It should slide right over the existing axle, at least it has on two different mowers so far for me. Grease it up, I use marine grease since its waterproof. Drill a hole in the wheel slightly larger than the spacer. I use a 41/64 spacer and a drill press. The drill size is ideal because it allows just enough room for the spacer to fit through without excessive play. The drill press makes it easy to drill straight. Install the wheel. Because the spacer is a bit longer than the original axle, I used a washer as a spacer to prevent side to side play. Then just install the nut and she's better than new! Assuming you have the drill bit total cost of parts is about $3. This, compared to axles which can go anywhere from $4 to $15 maybe even higher and wheels that can go from $15 to $25 or more and this is a cheap, effective solution I think. In fact, if your wheels have center caps you'll never even know it wasn't original.

Lovely!

Yep, it was finally time to do the brake s on the Prizm. I've put it off for a while even though the rotors have been warped for at least a couple years. However they started to squeak while driving down the road, and since I had just finished the a/c on my car, I parked the Prizm until I had time to do the brakes. It's been at least 7 years since they were ever done, maybe longer. BUt the time came to do the front rotors and pads. For pads I went with ceramics, regular non-directional rotors, and Carlson hardware kit ($12 at Rock Auto and made in USA) vs $30 the local parts store wanted) I started by giving the rotors a quick coat of high heat paint to help protect against rust. Then off to the neighbor's list to bang off the wheels, and the rotors too. These things were so old and brittle that one of them broke! The pads were in terrible shape and coming apart in pieces, and the alignment clips were completely gone. Surprisingly the guide clips were still there, but I replaced those as well. I also had a fun time replacing the leaking power steering line. Disconnecting it and replacing it wasn't too hard, however I gave up, for now, on removing the line, which has some weird two bolt bracket holding it to the return line, and I was just to tired. New one's in but so is the old one. Fun way to spend a Friday afternoon.

I'm sure I will eventually Camino.

Haven't really updated this in a while, and the I'm too lazy to gather up all the images, but I would like to share this latest save. This thing was on its way to scrap when it got dropped off at my house by the trash guy, and how it looked the day it arrived. It certainly looked the part! I do enjoy a challenge though. Let's see what can be done... This is one of those interesting case studies that makes you wonder what on earth the owner did to it during its life. I figured it was just missing the shroud from an attempt to fix it and they just threw it out without the shroud, but it must have been off for a while. Around front, we see that it has the wrong spark plug, and that the governor spring was stretched out and wrapped around the throttle control spring! Because I didn't have an extra handy, I did what I could to make this one useable. I also found that it has the incorrect blade installed crooked on the blade adapter, there was water in the gas tank and carburetor, and the oil came out gray-ish. What a mess! I ended up painting the underside of the deck, the blade adapter, and mounting bolt. I also painted the lower sides of the deck, as well the engine (high heat paint), and the tank. It's got a brand new air filter assembly too. The shroud I used came from this MTD mower whose smoking but usable engine went onto my neighbor's Weed Eater. The shroud has a 2-piece cover, a metal silver lower piece and a black plastic upper piece. Since the engine;s gone and the deck is unused, I decided I might as well put them on this Poulan. First thing was first though, to make it looks presentable, so I sanded it and used some Rust-oilum silver metallic. First time using that paint, gotta say it covers super well. The end result:

You can either use the full editor and click "attach images" or get a free photobucket account and host from that.

But how to magnets work?

Right, I can't wait take home my brand new $35,00 pickem-up car and...take it apart. ...f@#k.

Built a Ute Throw some seats in the bed while it's exiting the assembly line Ship to America Land ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ PROFIT! (but probably not)

Cheers and Gears Podcast #3: Green Stuff Edition WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS LANGUAGE THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR AUDIENCES UNDER 12. ALSO FARTS. LISTENER DISCRETION ADVISED. Hello and welcome to the third (sixth, but who's counting) C&G Podcast! Our weekly bi-weekly monthly whenever podcast comes to you on the third week of August, only a month and a half after the second one! In this episode many important things were discussed...as well as not so important things. Bull$h! Bull Droppings: 0-4:19 (feel free to skip if you are dying to get to the HARD issues). Devan flies a plane! (god help us) Viper GTS Nissan Leaf Fisker: Can we get 150 million? Ford invests in electrification 54.5 fuel rule /ethanol, etc Bentley Dropping its Monster engine Fiat 500 Turbo unveiled Fart sounds at the end and stuff

Agree to disagree.

Sweet, thanks.

Clouds are there own genre of photography, clearly that's what the photographer had in mind. A smaller object is not needed, but if you must, there's a house there already which gives a very ominous feeling. I wouldn't change it.

I disagree, the clouds are the subject matter. Where;d you get that photo?

That and the Silverado is long in the tooth with a replacement due out next year.

Thanks!

Also changed the compressor idler pulley, old one was pretty worn out.

Check it out:

Onto the rest of the car. I still need to get a finishing pad so I can remove the micro swirls left behind by the rubbing compound, but even so the results are profound. Before: After: Before: After: Before: After: Before: After: And some other after shots: Today I finally got around to doing a quick photo shoot. Like a mirror, and I haven't even used the polishing compound yet (waiting on the finishing pad from amazon). Not bad for 12 year old paint!

Prevailing weather conditions have prevented me from getting much more done, but I did managed to get the driver's side doors buffed. For this I used Meguiar's Ultimate compound and Ultimate polish, which is the only one I've seen in stores that is fine enough to use with a radial buffer. For comparison's sake here is the passenger side (I forgot to take before photos of the driver's side). And here is the driver's side. It's worth noting that the driver's door in particular had lots of scratches in it (being from a junkyard). This is also my first time using aradial buffer, luckily I had a friend explain to me how to use it without burning the paint. This is also only using a wool pad not the different foam pads (need to get some, or maybe not). Like a mirror. Last night I couldn't see any swirls reflecting from the porch light on the areas I did either. When the sun comes out again I'll see how it looks, but certainly an incredible improvement. I can't wait to do the rest of the car!

Ever since I bought the car it has had a small rust spot where some nimrod used a slim jim to get the door open Over time that area has seen the clear coat separate and peel off the base coat. Usually clear coat fades and the base coat underneath gets damaged (like what is happening to the Prizm's roof unfortunately). The only way to fix that is to repaint it. However, in the case of my car the base coat isn't damaged. Last Year I used touch up paint and cleaned and painted over the bear spot. So a few days ago I bought a bottle of touchup clear coat. After cleaning the surface I applied 2 thick coats of clear coat. This already made a big difference, as the liquid clear quote is actually quite nice and shiny. However, being brushed on it was very uneven. After letting it dry for 24+ hours I masked off the area and wet sanded it with 2000 grit sandpaper as best I could without going through the clear coat. After that I buffed the surface with a high-speed radial buffer and Meguiar's Ultimate compound. I''m very pleased with the results. It's not perfect, but far better than it was, and from a few feet away you can't even see where it was done.

Could be, if I really want I'm sure I could consult with some experts, maybe when I actually get around to working on it. Today I finished up the clear coat patch. It's not perfect but its a damn sight better than it was, and I got the driver's side doors done. Even without all the right pads the results were awesome. Nearly all the scratches, even from an accident 4 years ago, are gone and the doors glisten line new. I'll get photos when there's daylight. I also did some practicing on the Prizm, so the trunk looks brand new and so does half the hood.

I'd be inclined to think so as well, (LB made some rebadges for International), but while similar, the deck design isn't quite the same as any Lawn Boy I've seen of the era. I do when it's a customer's, when I fix them to resell not as much.