“The show so far”
Well, the inspection went well – at least, it went “weller” than I thought. It failed, but it failed for reasons I didn’t expect.
First, the left trailing arm has a crack in it. I knew this, but I didn’t realize that was an inspection requirement. I’m lucky because the person I bought it from had two extra ones he just picked up and they are in great shape. So I think that will go well.
Second, the left front brake is sticking a little. I would have thought the pads would fail, but they are fine, it’s the opposite – it doesn’t release well.
Third, and worst in my opinion, is a hole in the floorboard. They are worried about those pesky exhaust fumes. I need to get some metal welded into place to fix that. I know a little about a lot of stuff, but not welding. So that’s last on my list.
I have fifteen days to fix everything, but it’s not horrible if I don’t finish – I just have to get a complete re-inspection if I don’t finish in that time frame.
So, I started right in on the trailing arm. I used a tool on the drill to take it just about down to bare metal and then I primed it and added two coats of black rust resistant paint. This is unusual for me – I usually do everything H.A., but Jamie usually does everything 110% and she is wearing off on me so I am doing it right all along the way. The new one looks excellent and it’s ready to go. I just need to get the old one off – sounds easy, right? Just take off the two nuts and drop the old one. Oh, wait – no, it’s not that easy. I slapped the impact wrench on the nut but to absolutely NO movement whatsoever. I then tried a 3/4″ socket wrench with a 1 1/16″ socket – nope. Then I tried a 10′ pipe on the wrench with two of us – nope, pipe bent. Then I tried a chisel – nope. Then I tried my saws-all – nope. Then I bought new blades and tried again – nope. The u-bolt is obviously made of some hardened material from outer space.
Finally, tonight, I checked with my next door neighbor and he had a cut-off saw/grinder and it really did the job. I can’t believe I don’t own one of those yet. I cut the u-bolt in two places and even though it’s loose, I still can’t get the arm to drop yet. It was already almost 9pm, so I called it a night but I am definitely making progress.
Tomorrow I’ll get it loose and then work on breaking the truck fitting away from the arm and I can prime it all and put it back together. What fun! (no, really – I love this stuff).
I’ll post some pictures of the “show so far” tomorrow.
Nice work. I haven’t even attempted a safety inspection yet. That’ll be interesting
Doesn’t seem like your list to get it to pass is all that bad.
Where are you located, btw?
Chesapeake, VA – how about you?
I think I’m going to have to buy “Welding for Dummies” soon.