One step forward and two steps back

 

Since our return from Mexico, that’s about what it feels like I’m doing. It’s almost mid June, and I have done nothing to the motorhome since the early repairs in March. I have also been working on Helen’s Lincoln and my Jeep.

Helen’s Lincoln required new ball joints for the front suspension and it was much more difficult than I thought. I also wanted to repair two electric windows but had to let that go until after our guests left.

My primary job on  the Jeep was to reconstruct the tow plate connection to the Jeep frame. It was not really difficult, but it was time consuming. Impact wrenches and power tools made it easier. One thing led to another and I had to replace a front seal while I was living under the Jeep. The rest would also wait until after our guests left.

It’s too bad that Donna and Sam, Sue and Brian, or Ann and Gerry couldn’t stay longer as that was a very nice respite in from my  long list of projects. Some evenings I got to play with my indoor RC helicopter, but it is a situation where I charge the battery and fly the toy until I hit something, then I replace broken parts and try again in a few days.

I got back in the groove with the Jeep and Lincoln. A quick change of transmission fluid and filter did not go as easy as planned. I thought it did, but when I backed out of the garage there was a large puddle of new fluid under the car. Silicon gasket material solved that problem.

On to the Lincoln windows. A video on You Tube shows how easy it is to replace the power mechanism on the Lincoln. The video even tells what size socket to use and how everything comes apart. It was only a ten minute video, how hard could it be? How about three days? And that’s with getting my arms scratched reaching inside the door panel. OK, the rear, left window was working, but was it working correctly? I operated the right rear window, which has ALWAYS worked, and this time it ground to a halt and had to be manually assisted up. So now I have a total of THREE window mechanisms that had to be fixed.

It was about this time that Helen called me to look at the ceiling in one bedroom. She had discovered water marks from a leak in the roof. We had the roof repaired first thing when we returned in March, but the leak was coming from someplace that hadn’t been touched. I called the people who did the roof and they had a man down in half an hour. With him on the roof and me in the attic, he soon found a loose nail and promptly fixed it. Total charge was ZERO! I gave the guy some money to buy a six pack on the way home.

Next on my agenda was to flush the Jeep cooling system and put in new anti freeze. I put a flush chemical in the system and ran it for about 200 miles. I went to Wal-Mart this morning and was going to drain the system when I got home. Walking from the store to my car I noticed a major leak dripping from the radiator. So, now I have a new radiator and hoses in the garage and yet another project for tomorrow. I keep telling myself that it’s cheaper than a car payment, but now I’m beginning to wonder. Trouble is…..it has been the perfect car to tow behind the motorhome and I’m not ready to let it go.

 

Later.