The journey begins - purchased a truck.

sawmill · Apr 19, 2024

blairandgretchen said: ↑

My mechanic was right - the bottom picture shows the o-ring blow out. When I called him he said “Probably hard, brittle and is cracked”

I asked “Top up oil and go on? “

He said “Yeah - if it’s dripping - worst case scenario is it blows a chunk out and you’ll be losing oil faster”

Worst case scenario happened 180 miles out from Evanston, WY - I topped up 3 gallons to get it on the stick, and blew out 5 gallons by the time I got there.

He had the parts there, minus 2 seals that the kit was missing, but had delivered at 10pm. Cooler may have been on there for the 1.4 million miles, as I have no record of it being replaced. I-rings were rock hard.

Pretty simple, 4 bolts to block, 8 bolts to the housing, 5 seals and a gasket . Seemed stupid not to replace the actual cooler unit, since the failure of the cooler would mean oil in the entire cooling system, clogging, flushing etc etc. Parts $500, plus 5 gallons of oil and 1 gallon coolant.

Took a little bit of pulling power to get the coolant tube out of the engine block. He painted it black because he had run out of Detroit green, and said that he once painted a 2 by 4 block of wood with Detroit green, and it started leaking oil. I took him at his word.

Skeeter has a good little hot pressure wash there that steams, and I spent a couple of hours trying to remove 9 gallons of sprayed oil under the truck, but it’ll take me 2 or 3 more attempts to clean it all out.

I always enjoy dropping in. This time was business, but it doesn’t feel like it. He’s got a wonderful bride, good kids, and family, and helps out people as he can, especially those that need it. I met the young shop hand that he hired, on the requirement that he would get his GED, which he is doing next week. Those sort of things make differences in kids lives that they may not realize till a lot later in life.

Thanks @sawmill - I appreciate it.

Any of you passing through SLC east into WY that get in trouble, Sawmill Truck and Equipment Repair.
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You're gonna make me blush saying such nice things

dwells40 · Apr 19, 2024

sawmill said: ↑

You're gonna make me blush saying such nice things
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A straight shooter saying those thing about you, also says a lot about the man you are!

Espressolane · Apr 30, 2024

Well is it spring time yet?

blairandgretchen · May 1, 2024

Espressolane said: ↑

Well is it spring time yet?
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4” of rain in 3 hours, overwhelming the septic system - says -

“Yes it is”

Espressolane · May 4, 2024

blairandgretchen said: ↑

4” of rain in 3 hours, overwhelming the septic system - says -

“Yes it is”
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So you say you’re knee deep in the sheets.

blairandgretchen · May 10, 2024

Loves final

The one california kid · May 17, 2024

blairandgretchen said: ↑

Gretchen is way smarter than me in this respect, and very clever at how she handles situations. All I learned is that the 25-40 year old age group these days DOES NOT like open communication, confrontation when needed, or conflict resolution. If you hurt their feelings they'll resort to using anything up to and including - their own children as pawns in a game of chess they have little experience in playing.

The grandsons' mama flat out told her "Don't want you around, don't call, blocking you etc etc" when challenged about her actively isolating Gretchens' son and adopted grandchild at the time from any communication. Gretchen played the correct hand (biblically, strangely enough) of "When the son marries, he becomes one with wife" - because there's no solution to commanded her son to choose between mother and wife. And things calmed down.

We were supposed to be up there for the birth - (kind of irrelevant to me) - but the "Oh, we've got the COVID" got played a week before the birth - i.e. "We don't want you here for that".

We'll be up there in a few days I think - and have both discussed the next issue, which I'm on board with - Gretchen with her 'spidey senses' thinks they're going to ask us to take the adopted daughter with us for a while. I was initially against the idea - the little girl needs to bond with her new brother - but the narcissist mother is going to be 'overwhelmed' with her first natural born child.

Sounds to me like "Oh - here's our new baby, can you take care of this other problem we adopted?"

Darned humans.
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That is sad, but you know-when they get older they will have regrets and sorrow for their actions. I have some siblings that have turned into leeches and succubuses very quickly after Mom and Dad passed away. We could all write books, eh? Speed safely brothers and sisters!

77fib77 · May 18, 2024

blairandgretchen said: ↑

Loves final

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Is it your drone?

blairandgretchen · May 19, 2024

77fib77 said: ↑

Is it your drone?
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Yes - that older DJI 4 .

That Loves is set to open June 20th.

Espressolane · May 20, 2024

blairandgretchen said: ↑

Yes - that older DJI 4 .

That Loves is set to open June 20th.
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Drone on and on……….

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