Trouble Doesn’t Just Come In 3’s
I have not posted the first 3 items here, but feel I must. All within a week or so.
I took a neighbor to the airport Wednesday and on the way we noticed that there was a noise from the passenger side wheel. The brake rotor was scored, so I went to O’Reillys to get parts. They had to order them from the Hilo store and were delivered yesterday.
Also yesterday I had to disassemble that side to measure the disc brake pad, then put it all back together to drive to town to pick up the parts. On the way home it started raining so the project is scheduled for this morning. I’ll have to replace rotors on both sides and the brake pads too. The most time-consuming part is getting the jack in the right position because I don’t have a concrete area on the farm to steady things.
UPDATE: All done. the second side took all of an hour including a break.
SIGH! Now I have tractor problems. The whole front wheel base came off. It looks as though 4 bolts are gone. Two of which may not have ever been on there, but I can’t see yet.
Unlike a lawn mower, this cannot be easily raised. I used the front end loaded to lift the front up, but the wheel base is very heavy! MY neighbor has a tractor I can use to help lift, once I decide how I will tackle this.
As you can see, I’m in tall grass and that front wheel is about a yard too far to the back.
Update: I got one tire off and it is starting to rain. Tomorrow I’ll get another jack and get the second tire off. Then I should be able to list the front axle up and get it attached. There is a part I may need but won’t know until tomorrow.
First stop was Ace Hardware. I needed 4 bolts and washers. What I thought would be a quick trip was excruciatingly slow because some guy was standing eight where my parts were and he was opening every drawer and looking at every screw and bolt. I decided to head on over to the tool section for a screw extractor and decided that I would wait on that purchase. Then back to the bolts and the guy was gone. I found the closest ones to what I need but there were no bags handy. At Ace you put the items in a bag, mark the bag with a part number, quantity and price and head to the register.
Next was Lowes. There is a special bracket used to top off a 4×4 post so I got that and a flat top to use as the bottom. I will cap both ends uf a 4×4 and use it and a jack to list the one side of the tractor up an inch so I can free a wheel. I got those and some screws and headed to self checkout which freed up. I scanned two of the three items but the third would not scan. The assistant tried, then took it to her station, then to another station and finally scanned it and came up with a price. I had a $100 bill I wanted to cash so I slid it into the machine. I got change out but then, like a broken slot machine, popped up a message that it was out of $5 bills. Since it had already started to pay me, the cashier called a supervisor. When she checked, it was out of money and had the cashier pay be from her till.
Then off to Costco because I wanted a salad and a few things. I saw a new item. For $16 you get like a chicken and a half or maybe it was 3 smaller ones, mac salad and green beans in the cold case. It was a nice big dinner for 2 or 3 people.
Unfortunately I have no room in the fridge or that much. I grabbed M&M’s cookies, breakfast drink mix and a bottle of gin (generic by the way, for medicinal purposes only). The line for a Caesar salad was 25 people long so I headed out.
On to Safeway for tonic water and soda. I used the self-checkout and it missed one of my soda bottles (probably because I scanned too fast). The clerk had to reset it and then again come over to reset it so I could pay.
I drive towards home and decided to get a sub at Subway. As I neared the place my brakes started squealing. These are the ones I just replaced and have been working. I could not see any problem and I may have left the emergency brake slightly on. Anyway into Subway and the girl was on her first day. I didn’t say anything when I only got half the lettuce because her boss was hovering nearby and she was nervous. We have all had a first day at a job!
On the way home, the brakes didn’t act up so who knows?
I got home, put the items away and grabbed the cordless saw and drill. Pulling the trigger was met with dead silence. The battery was dead. I pulled out the charger and it is not lighting up.
It is staring to sprinkle out, so the day is done.
Thank goodness there is nothing hard about opening that bottle of gin!