Saturday, July 31, 2004
Final Van Report (on this topic), I Hope.
Sure enough, my taped ball quit working while retrieving my kids from church camp. I was just starting up the fairly steep hill when I realized no first or second gear. I should have stopped, but instead went up the rest of the hill in third gear revving the engine and riding the clutch. Pretty silly thing to do -- clutch smelt kinda burnt by the top of the hill. So, I parked under a tree on the hill, took the new ball, the 10 mm open end/box end wrench (only tool I had with me of any use), and proceeded to try to replace the ball. I swung the radiator out, removed the little square bracket off the top of the transmission, and attempted to press the ball on the shaft with my bare hands. A good adrenaline rush (based on frustration with myself for smoking the clutch disk) and some persistence got the ball on without removing anything else -- I was astounded and very thankful. Other than a smelly clutch for a few miles, there were no obvious negative side effects. The shift linkage sure is much stiffer, though. Much better.
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Sure enough, my taped ball quit working while retrieving my kids from church camp. I was just starting up the fairly steep hill when I realized no first or second gear. I should have stopped, but instead went up the rest of the hill in third gear revving the engine and riding the clutch. Pretty silly thing to do -- clutch smelt kinda burnt by the top of the hill. So, I parked under a tree on the hill, took the new ball, the 10 mm open end/box end wrench (only tool I had with me of any use), and proceeded to try to replace the ball. I swung the radiator out, removed the little square bracket off the top of the transmission, and attempted to press the ball on the shaft with my bare hands. A good adrenaline rush (based on frustration with myself for smoking the clutch disk) and some persistence got the ball on without removing anything else -- I was astounded and very thankful. Other than a smelly clutch for a few miles, there were no obvious negative side effects. The shift linkage sure is much stiffer, though. Much better.
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Monday, July 26, 2004
A further report on the van. I had assumed the bushing had gone out again when I lost all but third and fourth gears, but when I looked under the hood (way, deep under the hood) I could see the little nylon (?) ball on the other end of the short shaft had broken in half and was lying on top of the transmission. The dealer did not have the part in stock, of course, so I found what was left of the ball, put electrical tape around it to hold it together, and put it back on the shaft.
Drove it all day yesterday and today with no problems -- hopefully it will last until Wednesday when the new part is supposed to arrive. Of course, I probably won't FIX the van on Wednesday. Much more like me to just drive the van the way it is with the new part and necessary tools stowed safey under the driver's seat until the "tape fix" wears out.
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Drove it all day yesterday and today with no problems -- hopefully it will last until Wednesday when the new part is supposed to arrive. Of course, I probably won't FIX the van on Wednesday. Much more like me to just drive the van the way it is with the new part and necessary tools stowed safey under the driver's seat until the "tape fix" wears out.
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Monday, July 19, 2004
This will be quick, because it is already after midnight, and I got up early this morning, etc. But, I worked on the webcam page some today. I like the format much better now, so check it out and let me know what you think!
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5 comments
