Murphy stopped by

Darren Wright

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I had planned to get all the shocks changed on my wife's suv tonight. I ran around to 5 stores last night trying to find them in stock, all had to order them. The first one had told me that they had them at the warehouse and could have them for pickup today, so stopped back in and ordered them.

Tonight on the way home I stopped and picked up a 1/2" impact and 3/8" ratchet from the orange borg in hopes to make the process go smoother, they said they had the 800 ft lb model in stock, but didn't find it, so went with the 500 ft lb model. Got back out to the car and my wife said some friends called and asked if we'd meet them for dinner, so off to the other side of town we went. We finished up dinner and headed home, stopped and picked up the shocks for the car on the way. It was 9PM when I finally got headed up to the shop thinking I may actually get them changed with the new tools I have.

I got the hose connector put on the new impact, hose strung out, opened up the main valve on the compressor and the new patch hose to the regulator was leaking, not at the connection, but at the crimp just before it. So looks like it's being sent back when I get time to take it off, will check the other before requesting the return from Amazon.

Jacked up the car, put the 19mm on the impact, and zipped off the lug nuts for the first wheel...worked like a charm and things are starting off smooth. The top nuts for the shock came right off, slipped off the old bushing and went to take the 19 mm off the impact and it would only come about 3/4 of the way off and stick. :huh: After about 10 minutes of trying to smack, pry, and swear it off I finally drove a punch through the hole in the end of the socket and got it to come off. The bushing at the end of the impact was twisted and binding the bit on. I ended up taking a pair of pliers and ripping it off, the sockets won't stay on the impact now, but could at least use it.

OK, so got the 17mm and zipped of the lower nut on the shock and left it on a little to beat it out without messing up the threads. After much beating with the dead blow, realized it wasn't moving. Went and found the 2lb sledge and gave it a few whacks and it started moving slowly, but then stopped. I realized I had actually beat it over and bent the other side of the bracket holding the shock, the bolt was frozen to the shock's bushing.

So, on to plan "B", cut off the bolt. Sounds easy enough, but the head is behind the spindle, with very few inches to get any tools in to cut with. I only had blades for my 4" grinder, but figured out a way to get positioned under the A arm for cutting the head off. Away I go cutting (fire extinguisher by my side), about half way through the cut, the grinder quits. No smoke, no sputters, just quits! :doh: I then spend a good amount of time looking for blades for my 4 1/2" grinder, after no luck I give up and get the multimeter to start trouble shooting the grinder's issue. After a few checks, it looks like one side of my switch went bad. To circumvent the issue I jumper around that side of the switch to get my job done, which worked like a charm.

At this point I look up to the clock and it's says it's only 9:30, so away I go getting the rest of the bolt head cut off. I then have to work on cutting off the other end of the bolt, this had even less room, but found I could chip away at the end of the bolt to give myself a better cutting angle. Finally got enough cut away that I could finish removing the shock, probably took another half hour of grinding to get it out. I look at the clock again and it says 9:30 still. :huh: Well, turns out the battery in the clock died too, was actually 11 PM. :rolleyes:

I figured at that point it was time to call it a night. I really hope Murphy isn't planning to stay long.
 
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i was gonna say that if you got there at 9pm and got started and had all this trouble now way could it be 9.30.. unless your a very fast trouble shooter. hope tomorrow goes better for you
 
i was gonna say that if you got there at 9pm and got started and had all this trouble now way could it be 9.30.. unless your a very fast trouble shooter. hope tomorrow goes better for you

Me too, but going to pickup 4 new bolts just in case. ;)

Considering they are the original shocks (with 160k miles on them), I'm not surprised it's going the way that it is. I'll pickup some 3" blades for the die grinder and metal blades for the sawzall on the way home tonight as well. :)
 
Thanks for the laugh, Darren. :D Your story exemplifies why I don't like to work on cars. First time I ever used cuss words in front of my mom was once when I was working on my '67 Mustang. She came out to the driveway and made the mistake of asking me how it was going. The CoC prevents me from repeating it here, but suffice to say her reply was a simple "Oh." as she turned around and walked back into the house.
 
Lol i am laughing my head off. I thought this kind of thing only happened to me. LOL.

To such an extent we even developed a new disease name for it. In our house we dont call it/him murphy we call it Keebleitis. Seems to be herditary and has been handed down when working with Dad and i have handed it down to son :)

Had almost the same experience doing my wifes car last year. lol. Went to change front struts and oh boy ended up being a major front hub change. Turned out lucky i did the job not the dealer.

Hope murphy has got the message Darren and left so the rest goes smoother. Got to hand it to you for work ethic getting home drom dinner out and shopping and getting stuck into a job like that at 9pm especially in Winter. :thumbup:

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Hope murphy has got the message Darren and left so the rest goes smoother. Got to hand it to you for work ethic getting home drom dinner out and shopping and getting stuck into a job like that at 9pm especially in Winter. :thumbup:

Well, I have to admit, when I set my mind to doing it, it was 56 degrees, last night was 46, tonight will be about 36, and if I don't get done tonight...I'm looking at 26 tomorrow night. :rolleyes:
 
Only took two trips to the blue borg for new bolts and an arbor/cut-off wheels for the die grinder (first arbor had bad threads), but things somewhat improved. Still had to cut off the other front shock. I cut it off at the weld on the base, then cut each side of the bolt. Started at 6:30 and got the front wheels torqued back on at 9:30.

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After looking at the amount of space I had to work on the rear shocks I decided they will wait for a warmer day that I won't freeze laying on the concrete...and perhaps I'll have my car lift by then. Took the car for a test drive and was a noticeable difference. Still had some bounce in the rear, but control was 100% better than it was.
 
oh for a heated shop huh:) with the coffee pot brewing for when you get up to get the other wrench.. but your dream of that hoist is even better than any cup of coffee, if you like wrenching, you will never regret the cost of the hoist darren..
 
oh for a heated shop huh:) with the coffee pot brewing for when you get up to get the other wrench.. but your dream of that hoist is even better than any cup of coffee, if you like wrenching, you will never regret the cost of the hoist darren..

My wife and I discussed our capital purchases for this year a while back. Mower was first on the list, car lift was second for me and she agreed I could use one with how much I save us by doing repairs myself. She's wanting the Master Closet done and a partial remodel of the living room, maybe new flooring down there.

The mower cost a bit more than she had in her mind, so I may have to take care of a few of her items before going back to my list. :rolleyes:
 
Oh boy a lift would be a real joy. But it still dont get rid of Mr Murphy. :)
He seems to hang about regardless.

Couple of things i am gonna sort out next is welder, decent compressor so i can use air tools and spray without concern for air ever again and brazing cutting torch setup and mini bottles. Then the cars can bring it on . :) lol.

I know which welder is on the list and but still trying to get my mind around the compressor.


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