Do you need any more reason to think THEY are scared of a Ceausescu moment?

Not gonna say it’s gonna happen, not gonna say that Trumped is gonna grow a spine if he does manage to defeat the fraud, and I highly doubt deep State will allow him one day in office before an oopsies and some windup toy does a Dallas event,,,,

Gonna go ahead and say it; I find our current government at the federal level GUILTY of high treason and total breach on contract. The majority of the 535 are oathbreakers of the most heinous sort,,, the bureaucratic arm is more guilty and also more protected by anonymity,,,,

And nothing to be done but live with it until such time as a majority wake the F! Up and do more than throw a paper ballot or punch a button once every 2 years.

I said it in Nov of 2020, if we had encircled DC with 1000000 patriots, armed but with muzzles down, and silent as the grave, this shit would have STOPPED, or the resolution would have began, right then,,,, I made that statement hoping that all of the 10 mile long parades for Trump weren’t just bandwagonning,, Guess I was wrong,

Anywhoos, nothing coming out of ‘the district ‘ means jack shit; it’s all hot air with only the enforcement arm of criminal enterprises, , ,

Sorta like the Mafia, but without the integrity of,,,,

¡¡¡Fuggem!!

Took Buff out for her bath after getting my laundry done,,, Had to scrub a bit harder than usual at the grunk behind her rear DS wheel,,,, Not surprised since I used a paint scraper in her wheel well to get that crap off. That things been going for a while and the gunk was 1/4″ thick under there. Between road grime, mud n dust, and 85-90w gear oil, there was something very closely akin to La Brea Tar attached to her.

But, that hind sight thing,,,

The noises and issues had crept up me so slowly that I didn’t notice them.

Until they were gone.

It’s like driving a completely different truck now,,, Smooth, QUIET,,,,

Still impressed as all get out that the axle was still functioning as much as it was. That was nearly a catastrophic failure,,,

And amazingly I had two spare axles to replace the one that was galled,,,, (price on a new half shaft is $189 at a local parts dealer, saw that when pricing parts,,,) Those are from a blown diff from two trucks back. , , ,

Seems I have a hard time with differentials doesn’t it? Actually, that one wasn’t ‘blown’ so much as the rear brakes had disintegrated and were not rebuildable without major teardown. The wheel cylinder had broken loose (one of GM’s finer ideas: to hold a major brake component in place with a spring clip,,,) and tore all sorts of shit apart; shredded the backing plate, and busted a hole in the rim when it cracked the drum and sent shards outwards. I originally kept the half shafts for a project that never came to be,,, Should have kept the pumpkin too,,, Oh well, Hind sight is 20/20.

So if I have such a hard time with this model, WHY is this one my fourth one? Because they are ubiquitous in my neck of the woods, parts aren’t hatefully expensive (usually), and they can be worked on by purt much anyone. Granted the 4.3l is sorta underpowered and a fuel pig, but they are as common as the Chevy 350, share many parts the same, so common parts are readily available. Thats why I stick with them.

BUT, I am looking for a secondary ride, (a beater with a heater, as Brudda B called it) so that I am not in this boat of needing to borrow/rent wheels while one is down. I can handle the added expense in insurance rates, and if something needs repaired, I have ‘backup’ so no need to take time off work for major repairs,,,

But I doubt it will be a common model like Buffalo,,, Probably not even the same maker,,,, And I am not rushing into anything. Looking for cheap, decent, and not much more. ( 4×4 is sort of mandatory though,,, Y’ain’t seen my hill to get home,,, ) Hell, I don’t even care if the vents are rust holes in the floor boards, so long as my feet don’t go through them,,,, That sort of stuff is easy to bandaid over and won’t make a lick of difference in drivability.

And Brudda B sent me a link to a Jeep Cherokee that would fill the bill,,, BUT, not right now; sorta tapped on things for a spell,,, just gonna keep my eyes peeled as I build a fund up,,,

Anywhoos,,, Chinee dinner in belly, domestics done, Buffalo is clean again and running like a champ (until the next catastrophe) and Dio is in chill mode,,,

Good sleep last night,, Prolly from being exhausted from working on Buff in the cold and damp yesterday, and all the runnin’ around in Da’s truck I had to do. That thing beats me up,,,,don’likeit,,,

And Grizzy musta had enough of my prescence that he decided to sleep in the office last night (or I was actually tossin’ and turnin’ but didn’t realize it)

so this mornin’ I was able to come to slow, and watch the hind brain playing in the feilds of symbolism,,,,, Always an interesting time, and gives me a chance to see ‘whats been eatin’ at me’,,,,

Must wanna move,,,

Three scenes, all in other countries,,, one I was so new to country, the language thing was most of my remembrance of it, though they did have damned fine coffees,,,, (I think that one was a twist on a fiction work I have been dropping into when on down time,,, Hindbrain is using it as a playground for other things,,,,No real interest in movin’ to Italy,,,)

Anywhoos,,, Still have a bit to do on Buffalo, then its domestics day, and I am taking Buff out for a bath (I told ya, SHE STINKS!) and may do Chinee for lunch,, not that I should, but I kinda wanna treat after the last week of prostrating myself before the Small gods of Mechanical things. So much so, its gonna take a week of digging with nailfiles to get the gunk outta my nailbeds,,,, they have a blueish outline where the nail brush can’t get to,,, Hands of a workin’ man i say: Ex would say “ewwww!!! Y’ain’t touchin’ me with those!!!” LOL

So, sorta busy day today, but one that can be relaxing in comparison to yesterday, and I DO need a wind-down before headin’ back to the J.O.B. on the morrow,,, Since no Kayak-y love this weekend,,, sigh,,,

more atchay’all laters,,, gotta get bizzy

Keep on livin’.

Well, I has the rearend back together, but light failed me and I still need to reassemble the brakes and wheels.

As for the double talk in the title, money wise, not as bad as I expected; around $100 give or take,, I haven’t added up all the reciepts yet, and I ain’t counting tool costs,,, those are investments, not expenses. But I was shocked a bit when I saw how much that axle was able to move,,,, That parts can fail that much and the vehicle was still ‘functional’ (maybe not SAFE, but functional),,, wow,,, Shows that the boys that designed those parts originally really had thier numbers wired tight.

Both outer axle bearings replaced,, Pricey for what they were, but she is a ZR series,,,

And I priced out what I need to fix the original diff that left me stranded in ‘Bama,,, Thats an ‘as I can’ project, no rush, BUT, I do want back up,,, Two Diff’s goin’ ‘splody in Six months has me feelin’ twitchy,,, (and doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy about the ZR series hindquarters,,,,) Especially since I could see pinion marks on the spider cage on the current one. Unk had replaced the pinion bearings before I got it (He did NOT replace those axle seals, but he had said he wasn’t certain) and it had ‘shifted’ in its seat and ground grooves in that basket. I would imagine the one I pulled out six months ago looks very similar,,,,

Feeling better about things right now, maybe a little dopamine rush, definitely some endorphins (hurtin’,,, Cold and age and DAMP weather,,,) The rest of this can wait for light out and now, I tip a little back in congrats to myself.

I still have no idea why I never heard that bearing give up,,, I didn’t notice any strange noizes until Friday as I was backing out of a spot and then I heard the brake disc grinding on the caliper bracket. Now I know WHY,,,,

and the vent blows freely in both directions so thats a plus. Just way too many miles on moving slidy bits is what I figure,,, Something was gonna give, and it just happened to be that one,,,(the other looked great, but I changed it out anyway,,,)(Oh, and no bits and peices in the case,,, some metallic-y looking lube, but nothing bigger than a flake.)

and just a little sumpin I saw today that NEEDS shared around

Guess ya could say I know why it blew that seal, eh?

Runnin’ round gettin’ parts n tools to do it all up right,, (no bearing puller, till now. )

truly crappy weather,,, Not so hateful that I wouldn’t go kayakin’ but not real fun when you are workin’ with your hands on metal stuff.

Steady drizzle that is also borderline snow, wintery mix is what they call it,,, I call it CRAP,,,,

Sittin’ there under Buff, back axle on stands so the tires are free, and I have the engine running and in first gear, listening for noize so I know if there are parts that MUST be replaced or can be ignored for now. What I know needs replaced are the seals,,, Absolutely no doubt of that. But since I have to pull the axles to replace those, if I have to do the bearings, Why not; I’m there, right? (may just do that because, same reason; I’m there,,,)

BUT,,, I really wanna know WHY these seals blew out. According to Unk, he replaced all the seals in this Diff not long before he parked the poor beasty. Age ain’t it,,,, Improper install? Possible,,, Plugged vent? entirely possible,,,,

Worn out bearing? also possible,,,,

To many possibles,,,,,

NO Definitive Reason as yet,,,,

Diag in process, then I go borrow Da’s truck and do the runnin’ for needed stuff.

Maybe more later when it gets to “Can’t” but right now, works to do,,,, (and hope that ‘wintery mix’ stays off the backside of my neck,,,, Which is what ran me inside before I started tappin’ this out)

early start, cold as witches teats, but thats what you can expect in January, right,,,

Funny, I was the only one of the Emps to get nearly a full day in. Half the crew left out before Nine ay-em, the other half went to a job site and were back by Ten and rolling out with checks in hand.

ME,,, Still in shop, riding the lightning and burnin’ metal. Or Cut-off saw and notcher for next batch of whatzits,, (Its January, usually dog kennel builds, and yuppers, that’s what these whatzits are,,,) Fairly productive day, not quite caught up,,, Gotta save some for the start of next week or I will work myself out of work, again,,, Trying to not let that happen this year since we are little more spread out in work AND, Son of Bossman has told me repeatedly, ‘you write your own check,,,’ If they’s payin’ I’m workin’ and so far, the last 12 months-ish, They have been paying me pretty good. Nuff that this is the first January that I can recall where I have money in the account come payday, BEFORE I make my deposits. Well, Not totally true, since in 2021, I took a three month hiatus and wasn’t ‘killed’,,, This has been a good year though since I have managed repairs on Buff and picked up kayaks,

And bought a Drysuit,,, Oh, and that shows now as SHIPPED!!!! WooHOO!!! It’s on its way,,, yessirree,,,

So I have incentive to get the Buff fixed RIGHT, (like I needed any added,,,) ASAP,,, Thats my day tomorrow,,, Buffalo is on the table, Yet again, and I am going to get this shit FIXED,,, Tired of smelling axle grease vapors everytime I stop or walk around the old girl. Gotta figure the WHY she is blowing as well as repair the blown parts (and for good measure, replacing the Pinion bearing and seal,,, hardest part to keep lubed and while I am not ‘hearing’ anything, I am THERE,,,,, Do it RIGHT,,,,)

And then there a slight envy going on,,,, The Boring Old Man (who ain’t boring,,,) posted a concert review for TWO of my favorite bands from Yore,,,, Bow WowWow and Missing Persons (which I had to put on while driving home,,,, LOL) I miss live sound, I really do,,, Reading about those two bands playing at the Guild in Menlo Park,,,, I could hear it, SEE IT, (worked that venue a few times,,,) and almost smell it,,,

sigh,,,,

I mixed monitors almost exclusively. Thats the guy off stage left (usually) that you never really notice because he is behind the stacks (unless you are far House Left, then you can look right into monitor world,,) But he is the critical link to the band. He is the guy that makes sure they can hear themselves well enough to pull their magic act off.

That was me. Biggest show I ever did was an 11 peice band, 16 mixes on stage including side fills, down fills and three mixes to the Drummer (wedges, sides and throne thumper.) THAT was a juggling act,,,, And the main artist/vocalist insisted on In-Ears and Sides,,, (never have understood that, but OK,,,,)

He is also the guy that can make their ears bleed,,, (apologies to Wayne Brady,,,)

I would never intentionally sabotage a show, but there were a couple of artists that I worked for, usually one nighters, that didn’t get my all because they were total A$$-$h!t$,,,, Never enough to throw a show, but enough to say “You’re an asshole and you suck septic winds,,,,” (No Wayne, that was not the case in your show,,, I was the Newb they threw at you because your manager didn’t want to pay us full price for “engineers”,,,, You, sir, DID teach me alot that night and for that I am grateful, but sadly, Student I was, and your show sorta sucked (on stage) due to that.)

FYI, mixing a monitor mix from Front of House is NOT the same as from the stage,,, I was used to mixing one to three mixes from FOH before I was tossed into the pool of monitor world with a national act,,, TOTALLY DIFFERENT WORLD,,,, FOH has the audience to keep happy,,, Monitor world has only the band, and the band is paying the bill.

Interesting thing here,,,, I have recieved accolades from the band, not just back stage, but live to the audience on more than one occasion. Was even called out of monitor world (NO,,, I don’t wann go into the light guys, seriously, NO,,, You can have that glory all to yourselves,,,,) because the band was so happy with how things were on stage, they wanted the audience to know about the ‘unspoken members’ of the band. (Seriously, the sound crew is essential to the show, but we sorta prefer being anonymous,,,, At least most of us,, ) Now, I did like being recognized as an essential part of the show: think Jackson Browne,,,,

(that song still brings feelings of “HOME” to me,,, didn’t matter what venue, what city, what COUNTRY,,, That stage and tour bus were “HOME” and the family may change faces, but the mentallity was always there,,, “the show must go on” may be cliche, but on that bus, and in those venues,,,, It was THE law we all abided by, and would bend over backwards to support.

So yeah, when I read a review of bands I wish I had been able to work with, I feel a little envy,,, Sorry BOM, no monitor guy in the world can fix a bad drummer, but I think you are in the know of that already,,,

If you haven’t checked out BOM,,, Go: he is a muscian in his own right and still keeps his fingers in the pulse of music; far more than this hermit under a rock on a hill.