July 12, 2007

Friday the 13th

It frightens me so much that I intend to stay home tomorrow and work on my car!

No, really. Well, not the part about being frightened--the part about staying home and working on the car. I'm taking my annual personal day, and gonna blow it crawling underneath the bottom of a greasy lump of Swedish iron to change out my driveshaft bearing.

No, I don't know why they built it with a two-piece driveshaft like some sort of dump truck or something. No, I don't know why they can't make something that'll last longer than 240,000 miles. No, I don't know if I've actually ordered the right sized bearing or not. No, I'm not sure the kids would ever even know about it if the car falls off the jackstands and crushes me like a big fat possum. No, I've never done this type of repair before.

But despite all that, and despite any lingering triskaidekaphobia I might harbor, it's still nice to play hooky for a day.

SO, all of you have fun tomorrow, and I will try to do the same, and then Lord willing and the car don't fall on me, we'll all get together again on Monday next and chat about things some more.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at July 12, 2007 03:37 PM
Comments

Please, plenty of jackstands. Or at least a couple of jackstands backed up by metal milk crates.

Posted by: triticale at July 13, 2007 11:02 AM

Oh, you bet--I have a set of steel ramps and a set of steel jacks stands my dad made way back when that could support a Mack truck. The ramps are a bit of a problem because the front end is sort of low, and it means I can't just drive up them. Have to jack the front end up, then drive the rest of the way. Then the jack stands go in the back, and it's hard to get the jack in there because the rear's so low that I have to get around and put the jack in front of the rear wheels. It's nice and high on the driveway right now, but it still gives me the willies working underneath, though.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at July 13, 2007 12:41 PM