if you have a wobble check those stabe links

originally posted by: caterpillage
Working on cars makes tst crabby.

this is a fact.
my hand hurts

i dont enjoy wrenching anymore

I have had quite a few broken links, the wife used to hit curbs with the rear wheels when she turned out to take a right on an intersection and they occasionally broke. The front ones usually broke from hitting potholes, which are pretty common in the spring. We just recently changed on on my granddaughters SUV. I can't understand why the women in my family are afraid of pulling out a little farther before turning. My wife is now avoiding potholes, I told her we sure the hell aren't going to buy a new car again if she hits potholes all the time. She has wrecked at least ten tires over the years, a dozen sway bar links, and is very hard on shocks. I can't blame worn wheel bearings on that, but it doesn't help them at all. We haven't needed to do a front end alignment nearly half as often anymore either since she started paying attention.

She figured if she broke the car, we would just buy a new one. I told her it does not matter how old a car is, those break on brand new vehicles just as easy.

a reply to: rickymouse

this area of ohio has some or the worst roads known to man.

out cars get jacked from the quality of our streets

Now since we have that out of the way let’s discuss some safety you need to jack up the car more and raise the jackstand to where it’s butted up against the member you’re using for support, you never want a car falling even a little uncontroably tripley so if you’re going to use a control arm as where you’re going to put the jack stands because they way you have that rotor would have a run in with the asphalt. With how you have it the jackstand might as well not be there. I’m not trying to be a dick but I noticed that jackstand and got sketched right out. Be safe man.

a reply to: BigDave-AR

ok man

im all good though

what you cant see is the floor jack behind me to my left at the pinch weld

originally posted by: TinySickTears

originally posted by: caterpillage
Working on cars makes tst crabby.

this is a fact.
my hand hurts

i dont enjoy wrenching anymore

Me too. I tend to throw stuff.

Recently bought a 97 Malibu with 28,000 miles, car is in great shape, but all the sitting really took it's toll.

So far I've replaced:
Front subframe, both lower control arms, wheel bearing hubs, brakes, rotors, both cv shafts, the very part in question in this thread, power steering lines, lol. Prob some crap I'm forgetting now.

Then last month. It spun a cam bearing and trashed the engine at 68,000.
Got too much in it to stop now. It's in the garage with the motor out, waiting on a replacement.

Cars. Gotta love em

Edit, I guess "great shape" was inaccurate

originally posted by: TinySickTears
a reply to: BigDave-AR

ok man

im all good though

what you cant see is the floor jack behind me to my left at the pinch weld

Everyone is until they end up getting bit, it’s better to keep the habit of respecting what you’re working with. We’ve all done something sketchy and got away with it but those times when it goes bad it goes bad big.

originally posted by: caterpillage

originally posted by: TinySickTears

originally posted by: caterpillage
Working on cars makes tst crabby.

this is a fact.
my hand hurts

i dont enjoy wrenching anymore

Me too. I tend to throw stuff.

Recently bought a 97 Malibu with 28,000 miles, car is in great shape, but all the sitting really took it's toll.

So far I've replaced:
Front subframe, both lower control arms, wheel bearing hubs, brakes, rotors, both cv shafts, the very part in question in this thread, power steering lines, lol. Prob some crap I'm forgetting now.

Then last month. It spun a cam bearing and trashed the engine at 68,000.
Got too much in it to stop now. It's in the garage with the motor out, waiting on a replacement.

Cars. Gotta love em

Edit, I guess "great shape" was inaccurate

That’s one red headed step child of a vehicle was it stored at the bottom of a lake?

a reply to: BigDave-AR

I'm thinking it might have been parked on a salt pile for 10 years or something. Both control arms and the sub frame were rotted beyond salvage, lucky the arms are reasonably cheap, and I found a frame online from Florida. (I'm in Ohio as well. Rust country)

originally posted by: caterpillage
a reply to: BigDave-AR

I'm thinking it might have been parked on a salt pile for 10 years or something. Both control arms and the sub frame were rotted beyond salvage, lucky the arms are reasonably cheap, and I found a frame online from Florida. (I'm in Ohio as well. Rust country)

For someone who doesn’t like working on cars you sure bit off a lot of work! It’s still blowing my mind a little I’ve got a 04 (Toyota solara) with 260,000 miles on the odometer and it hasn’t seen near that many parts thrown at it.

a reply to: BigDave-AR

Yeah, I would probably class mine as a lemon. But i keep thinking, sheesh, I've replaced all this, what else could go wrong? Lol.

I started out as a mechanic, did 13 years in auto shops. The worst time I've seen someone have wrenching was an assistant manager at a BP procare I worked at.
Back in the 90's bp shops used a lot of bright green, including the managers sweaters.

Toby, our assistant manager had recently acquired an early 70s datsun pickup truck that his grandfather bout brand new. Toby always loved that truck growing up, and when his gramps passed away he asked the family if he could have it, they were glad to give it to him. Cheaper than towing it to a junkyard I guess.

Well Toby had hopes of restoring that old truck as a monument to his grandfather. And saw himself cruising it into his own old age.
He started driving it into work, it broke down a lot. He fixed it a lot.
Then one morning the radiator sprung a leak, he made it in a half hour late from stopping to get water like 6 times, then parked it outside in between a couple bays where he could get it squared away.
In between customers, he would borrow tools from the techs and go out and work on pulling the radiator. He was getting more and more frustrated, everything fought him on that thing, bolts broke, hoses disintegrated, you name it.
Then this one bolt that held the radiator to the core support did him in.
At one point gramps hit something just enough to bend up the metal to pinch against the head of the bolt preventing getting a wrench, or anything at all on it.
Well he struggled with that bolt for hours. Getting more and more pissed. He refused help from us, he was getting this himself, or dying trying.
Well, he thought he had it, the wrench slipped one last fateful time and he smashed his hand on the core support.
He got up, slammed the hood with all his might and grabbed this 4 foot long mac prybar and jumped up on the hood. He swung that bar half a dozen times overhead ax style into the roof, smashed it all to he'll.
He speared it through the windshield and jumped off and ran inside to his office.
We all looked at each other like, whoa!
After a bit I went in to find him sobbing uncontrollably at his desk.
The truck left later that week on a hook to the scrap yard.

I always thought it was probably pretty shocking for people driving by (busy road, shop was right on the side) and seeing a procare manager in uniform jumping up and down on the hood of a vehicle beating the roof in with a bar.

I *'d all your posts just for pissy parity because BigDave thinks so highly of them to make his point..

originally posted by: TinySickTears
did a lot of work on the car today.
put a wheel bearing, a caliper, rotors and pads on and then this little bastard.

this little link right here makes a huge difference in the front end.

man it sucks working with no garage though. it rained till about 6am so i was out there on the ground laying in water and #.

check those links folks.

Just yesterday had my stabilizer bar replaced $200....they we're noisey at turns and bumps.. But no sway with hands off the wheel going straight, nor pulling it or right during braking.

You never know... Inspect your vehicles frequently.. especially steering works

*4 brakes and rotors done too on car.. $600.

a reply to: TinySickTears

What year and make is your vehicle?

What's your address?

Is the car paid off?

Where do you work?

How much do you make per year?

How much do you spend on bobos every week?

What's your SSN#?

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
a reply to: TinySickTears

What year and make is your vehicle?

What's your address?

Is the car paid off?

Where do you work?

How much do you make per year?

How much do you spend on bobos every week?

What's your SSN#?

hahahahhaha

nice play

originally posted by: caterpillage
I started out as a mechanic, did 13 years in auto shops. The worst time I've seen someone have wrenching was an assistant manager at a BP procare I worked at.
Back in the 90's bp shops used a lot of bright green, including the managers sweaters.

Toby, our assistant manager had recently acquired an early 70s datsun pickup truck that his grandfather bout brand new. Toby always loved that truck growing up, and when his gramps passed away he asked the family if he could have it, they were glad to give it to him. Cheaper than towing it to a junkyard I guess.

Well Toby had hopes of restoring that old truck as a monument to his grandfather. And saw himself cruising it into his own old age.
He started driving it into work, it broke down a lot. He fixed it a lot.
Then one morning the radiator sprung a leak, he made it in a half hour late from stopping to get water like 6 times, then parked it outside in between a couple bays where he could get it squared away.
In between customers, he would borrow tools from the techs and go out and work on pulling the radiator. He was getting more and more frustrated, everything fought him on that thing, bolts broke, hoses disintegrated, you name it.
Then this one bolt that held the radiator to the core support did him in.
At one point gramps hit something just enough to bend up the metal to pinch against the head of the bolt preventing getting a wrench, or anything at all on it.
Well he struggled with that bolt for hours. Getting more and more pissed. He refused help from us, he was getting this himself, or dying trying.
Well, he thought he had it, the wrench slipped one last fateful time and he smashed his hand on the core support.
He got up, slammed the hood with all his might and grabbed this 4 foot long mac prybar and jumped up on the hood. He swung that bar half a dozen times overhead ax style into the roof, smashed it all to he'll.
He speared it through the windshield and jumped off and ran inside to his office.
We all looked at each other like, whoa!
After a bit I went in to find him sobbing uncontrollably at his desk.
The truck left later that week on a hook to the scrap yard.

I always thought it was probably pretty shocking for people driving by (busy road, shop was right on the side) and seeing a procare manager in uniform jumping up and down on the hood of a vehicle beating the roof in with a bar.

Yeah wrenches can be a little hot headed my grandpa was a heavy equipment mechanic and him working on his own vehicles taught me more cussing than any one place, a sailor, veteran, mechanic, and truck driver so yeah he had quite the array of insults to hurl at the vehicle. I remember an old ford van that he had that always had him steaming, I don’t remember what the straw that broke the camels back but he was at the equipment yard at work and got right bent out of shape so he hoped in a big Cat excavator and proceeded to smash that van like it owed him money!!! After that he calmly lifted the poor old van onto the crap metal pile and drove his service truck!! Ah the good ole times.

Charles- Roight because I got my panties in a twist over it! Do as you like doesn’t bother me any, I know who was right so yeah knock yourself out buddy.

And for clarification go ahead and google sway bar end link and stabilizer end link
sway bar- 12.4m hits
stabilizer- 7.8m hits

Now which do you reckon is the more widely held nomenclature?

a reply to: BigDave-AR

Lol nice, I would love to smash a car with an excavator.
That's my second career. Equipment operator.
Been at it 20 years now, and haven't had the opportunity to smash one up.

originally posted by: caterpillage
a reply to: BigDave-AR

Lol nice, I would love to smash a car with an excavator.
That's my second career. Equipment operator.
Been at it 20 years now, and haven't had the opportunity to smash one up.

I’ve had a soft spot for heavy machinery since I was young, I remember the forst time operation an excavator after my grandpa had welded a giant crack in the boom of a cat 240L, I was less than 10 years old sitting in my grandpa’s lap digging in the yard. It’s pretty amazing to operate something like that so young. I can remember being 12 and learning to drive the yard rig to help my grandpa load equipment. Damn now that I’m talking about it makes me want to get behind some controls!

a reply to: BigDave-AR

thats awesome.

i worked for a scrap yard for a few months and i would tear cars apart with it. pull the ending out and toss it into a pile.

it was pretty fun.