Category: rust

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Slow Down, Buy Fewer Tools to Fix Your Mistakes (Post #340) 5/14/2013

I’ve got to learn to SLOW DOWN. I was in a bit of a manic state Saturday. I had so much I wanted to get done, I didn’t know where to start. You’ve been there.

This time I cross-threaded one of the bolts that holds the right rear brake caliper to the hub. So Monday on the way home I have to make a stop at J&B to buy another tap. I won’t be surprised when they tell me they don’t have that “weird bolt pattern”. But I’ve got to try. When I told my future son-in-law about this, he told me he owns a complete set of taps and dies, but it is at his father’s house. A LOT OF GOOD THAT DOES ME!

I told him he needed to store that in my garage. He was smart and didn’t commit to bringing it to my home to be “stored”. I just created a new definition of the word “store”.

store [stawr, stohr] noun, verb, stored, stor·ing, adjective

17. To use discretely when I screw up a bolt or threaded hole, especially on a Saturday when all the stores that might, even remotely, have the tool I need are closed.

I’ll get around to submitting that definition to the committee over at Webster’s after finals are over later this week.
More after the jump….

I did manage to get my sandblasting cabinet into use. I blasted some of the rust off the brake caliper I was complaining about a few posts ago. I also de-rusted the bracket that holds the air conditioning dryer. It was bad. It is now coated in gray primer and re-installed.

I have to complain again about the crappy selection of fittings available at the two Lowe’s stores in my area. Seriously?! are they trying to reduce stock so they can pull those cabinets out? If I was their hardware vendor I could retire on the order that would need to be filed to replace the stock that was missing between the two sites. I’m not kidding. They should just pull the sections of stainless fittings out. MOST of the drawers were empty.

Lowe’s in Moore Oklahoma

Ridiculous. I’ve complained before, I need to complain more. Maybe they will send me a coupon. I know they will never fill their drawers so I’m not really sure what I’d buy with the coupon.

It’s almost like I’m living back in 1975. Back then, if my dad wanted any kind of hardware he had to drive to Oklahoma City. So we would drive 30 minutes (one way) up to the 74th Street Expressway and get what he thought he needed and anything else he might not. I was a lead-pipe cinch we would not make another trip to OKC if he needed something. One trip would kill half a day. Who has that kind of time?

To be absolutely honest…I was pretty sure they wouldn’t have the hardware I needed. In fact, it was just a whim I decided to check.

So back to the sandblasting cabinet, I need a new plexi-glass window and I need to replace the media inside. Overall it worked pretty great. I need to sort out what setting to set the air compressor on. Hopefully full blast will not be the setting necessary.

I like to give a shout out to one of my good friends and fellow Marine. I saw Scott at church on Sunday and he told me he always reads my blog. He mentioned trouble with commenting. Mrs. OkieRover mentioned the same trouble. In Mrs. OkieRover’s case its probably a “how to” in Scott’s it was something else. More on that, later.
Ooo-rah Scott, keep on truckin’ brother.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Rust and the Art of Welding: Part Deux, Electric Boogaloo (Post #333) 4/23/2013

Here are the pictures of the install and the damage from the rust. I like the silver gray color. The front shocks went in with very little trouble.

The corrosion and abuse are evident on this shock.

Here’s what’s left of the rear shock mounts. Look closely at the one on the left in this picture. That is terrible. The threads being destroyed are evident in this picture too.

I’ve got lots of stuff coming to the hacienda de OkieRover. My buddy JagGuy is letting me swap him a lunch at Earl’s Bar-B-Que for a sand blasting cabinet. It needs new gloves so I ordered those today as well.

I also ordered two Tennier Industries Intermediate Cold Weather Sleeping Bags from Uncle Sam’s Retail Outlet (http://www.unclesamsretailoutlet.com/). Basically they are extra long -10 degree Fahrenheit sleeping bags and should be a nice addition to our camping kit.

More as the parts start arriving.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.

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Rust and the Art of Welding (Post #332) 4/22/2013

Do you know what this part is?

Nope, it’s an upper shock mount on a Range Rover Classic. Wait, what? You guessed that right? Bully for you. This weekend I climbed under the Range Rover to swap out the old and tired Old Man Emu shocks I bought in 2001. Before it was over, I had ordered two of these.

I sourced a set of Terrafirma shocks from Atlantic British and they had been languishing in their boxes on my garage floor. It was time to replace them.

The front shocks on went without a hitch. However the rear shocks were quite the ordeal to remove. It required me using the electric impact wrench. (Brilliant tool, by the way. If  you don’t have one, get one.) The rust was terrible. I have pictures to share in another post.

The nuts were welded to the shafts with corrosion and after hitting them with the impact wrench they just spun on the shafts. I had always wondered why people buy shock mounts, they are made out of metal right? How pictures have you seen or witnessed in person a person breaking a shock mount on the trail? I used to think these things were from hard use. Apparently they are from “use”. The part is shipped from the factory unpainted and you know what that means. RUST.

This means that after just a few years the rust has begun and the structural integrity of that part is being compromised. After climbing around under the Range Rover this weekend I was really surprised at how much rust was forming on the parts I had painted with Marhyde Self-Etching Primer just a summer ago.

If I had the budget and time I would probably pull the major bits and have them all powder-coated. But that is not really practical nor affordable. If I were doing a FULL RESTORE it would be. But I’m not, so I’ll just chase the rust around, part by part.

Speaking of rust, I noticed the brake calipers on the rear are really nasty. I replaced the right rear brake caliper a year or two ago when I noticed my second caliper rebuild failed. Frustrated I sourced new brake calipers. I did not paint them at the time thinking if I needed to return them under warranty they would not take them back. That left them with what ever they were coated with to rust. Turns out they were coated with Pre-Rust ™. Yes, I just trademarked that product. I will show a picture of the right side rear caliper in a future post.

After pulling the wheel to remove the shock, it turns out, I will need to replace the left side brake caliper as well. It does not seem to be contacting the brake disc. I may or may not have mentioned already that I have a pop when I apply the brakes and I would bet 100$(US) that this caliper is sticking and the culprit.

So what started as a Difficulty Scale 1 shock replacement, is going to be four jobs:

  • Replace Upper Shock Mounts
  • Rust Abatement on Right Rear Brake Caliper
  • Rust Abatement on Left Rear Brake Caliper
  • Replace Left Rear Brake Caliper

I think I will pull the right rear caliper and take it to JagGuy’s shop this coming weekend and sand blast the rust off. Then everything will get two coats of primer and get slapped back on. I wonder if anyone makes a “portable sand blaster”? I’m guessing Google is going to get work out on that search string later today.

I missed SCARR this weekend (http://scarr.texasrovers.org/) I really wanted to go but the time was not available. And as it turned out, my Range Rover wasn’t ready either.

Happy Earth Day. I hope it was awesome for you. In honor, I cut down a tree Sunday which was encroaching on my swimming pool. Up with people! (there will be no singing).
Smoke’m if you’ve got’em.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Rovering.

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Fat Mat Installation (Post #295) 6/8/2012

If you’ve been reading along like good little minions dis-interested onlookers followers you know about the rust issues in the front floor pan of the Range Rover. You also may have read that I was looking for sound deadening products in my post back in September 2010, Shhhh!  Last month I decided to do something about it….again. I purchased some Fat Mat sound deadener. I had two thoughts when installing it. It would…

  • Reduce heat and sound
  • Cover the floor pan
The reduction of heat and sound is a simple one. The Range Rover shipped new from the factory has a pad and carpet installed. If you pull that up you will find two small pads to reduce vibration and thus sound. The first thing you learn about the factory pad is IT IS A SPONGE. The second is it smells. And lastly it holds water and increases the rust chances for those metal surfaces.
The second to cover the floor pan, is simple, reduce water coming in contact with at least one side of the metal. I thought if I could coat the floor one more time and then cover it with this material I might minimize the rust. For certain, I won’t ever see rust there again as the Fat Mat material is very difficult to remove.
Once I began to prep the surface with grease and wax remover I noticed…the metal was already beginning to rust. Frustrated, I got the angle grinder out, too the surface down to bare metal. I then wiped the surfaces with the grease and wax remover and sprayed the surface with acid etching primer and after letting it set up. I covered the floor pan with pickup bed liner.
Over this I placed the Fat Mat.
All I can say about the install is follow the instructions. And put it on in small sheets. It would be impossible to cut the sheet correctly, peal the back, and get in place, and rolled down. As I type that I’m sure someone out there has done it or will do it. 
I was careful to cover the floor in such a way as if water DID get in there it would not seep through the Fat Mat and sit on the metal. I know the floor will rust again, I just don’t want to see it.

Over the Fat Mat I placed the OEM floor pad and then reinstalled the carpet AND all the plastic trim! Yes! The floor project is complete.
Once I had completed this I also installed a Fat Mat bonnet kit as well. This was to reduce the sound as well. I got an added bonus light is reflected from its surface down into the engine bay.

The worst part of the bonnet install was leaning over the engine bay to wipe the surfaces and to place the mat.
After everything was done I took her out for a road test. I wish I had taken readings so I could have compared them. Over all I think it is quieter. I can safely say the heat in the leg area has been significantly reduced.
Over all I’d give the Fat Mat project a 1 (one) on the OkieRover Difficulty Scale if you are just putting the stuff in sans rust abatement. I’d say this job was a 2 (two) if you have to grind any rust and spray any paint or surface covers.
Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
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That’s not supposed to happen (Post #280) 1/4/2012

QUICK! Name three things you didn’t expect to happen when you got home today.
Was one of them “finding a puddle of brake fluid in your driveway?”
No?
Me neither.

This is what I came home to today.

You will remember in my last post that we had a brake rotor we thought was warped. On first inspection of it, I didn’t see anything like that but the evidence (sound and peddle surging) was there.

My son, Diet Mt. Drew, called today and asked to drive the Range Rover to lunch. He first asked, via text, if it was “safe” and “reliable” enough to drive. THE NERVE! He had to ask to drive my Range Rover because his Scion xB was in the shop. It was in the shop because he hit a curb in front of the Cleveland County Fairgrounds while traveling 40 MPH. Yes, a cell phone was involved. Yes he bent the lower “A” Frame, destroyed two rims…etc… but I digress.

In any event…he drove the Classic today. I did not expect the brake caliper to fail with him at the wheel, but apparently it did. He reported all this to his mother, the noted blogging mechanic in the family  “that he had severe braking issues” while driving her today.
Did anyone call me or notify me by text?

I’ve rebuilt that caliper at least once. So today I ordered a couple of re-manufactured brake calipers. They were half the price of new and free shipping, so I bought one for each side on the rear. No core return, so I can rebuild my old and tired ones again and have a spare….just in case Diet Mt. Drew drives to lunch again. (wink, wink)

If you remember the last major brake restore (I keep referring to these previous posts like you all are AVID readers) I swapped brake hoses and ground off all the rust (theoretically) and re-sprayed the brake calipers with some acid-etching primer. It was kind of silly because brake fluid is a paint solvent. But I felt obligated.

When I had them apart I noticed a lot of rust. Especially inside the caliper. I even took a picture of the rusty bleed screw, see below. The picture doesn’t show it very well but it was pitted with rust.

When I did that project, it was determined that I had a bad proportioning valve. I vaguely remember replacing it. But quite honestly if I hadn’t seen the picture labeled “Valve that failed” I wouldn’t have remember it.

It is likely that these old tattered calipers are past their prime. I’m a bit surprised with only 191,000 miles on them. (okay I’m not really all that surprised).

I’ll let you know how the replacements go and whether or not I’d recommend the company as a source for parts for your Range Rover.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Ever had one of those a-ha moments? (Post #267) 10/2/2011

Saturday was a beautiful day in America’s heartland. I finished my homework early this week and my wife has a new book and bible study to prepare and the Oklahoma Sooners had a late start. All that meant I got some garage time. I went out to the garage and fired up the TV for some regional college football matchups.

I still have a lot of things in the garage from our last garage sale. So my plan was to get the garage organized. At present I couldn’t reach anything on my shelves and getting to the tool chest was only possible due to my training in the Marine Corps at avoiding booby traps.

I got to what I call the heavy tool shelves and noticed my small chain saw was down. I forgot that I loaned it to my neighbor and he reported that the chain was too dull to use. It turns out that all my chains are dull. They needed to be sharpened and I only know one place locally that does that. Dave’s Small Engine Repair in Noble, Oklahoma. My wife graduated from Noble High School. My best friend Master Guns Jason gets his chains sharpened there so…ROAD TRIP!

I grabbed the keys and was excited to get the Range Rover out on the road. It had been a while since I had driven her. I expected I would drive her or at least fire her up to charge the battery this weekend.

I grabbed the keys and my chains, jumped in and turned the key…rattle, rattle, rattle. I didn’t have enough battery to get her turned over. I pulled the Civic up and jumped her. Varooom.

I still have an air bubble in the cooling system so the low coolant light still comes on in cycles. The excessive heat this summer has cause the glue to fail on the rear view mirror. I also noticed the metallic rattle sound had gotten WORSE. Worse? how on earth could it get worse? I haven’t driven her in a month. I went about two blocks and decided I could drive no further with this sound it had to be found.

I originally thought it was either the trailer I was pulling or something in the exhaust. The pitch of the metal rattling sound is how you know what to look for. I thought for sure it was the muffler. I dropped down under the rear of the truck and looked around. And then I saw it.

I remembered the sound and thought perhaps it could be the mud guard? It sounded a little like the mud guard scraping sound from the front axle. So I looked at the axle hub area and sure enough there was the mud flap for the left rear dangling and dragging on the rim. Each time I hit a bump it would jump up and land on the rim causing a clanking.

I had horrific ideas of what might have gone wrong under there. Everything from I did something wrong on the bushing replacement project, to needing an entire new exhaust, to something I haven’t worked on yet. And in the end it turned out to be something silly simple. A couple of bolts I had improperly tightened on the last brake job project.

I thought I could fix it right there. I looked in the back and low and behold no tool bag. So I had to go back to the house and get the tool bag and exact a repair.

I got it tightened down and examined the scrape wound I got from reacting to a burn on the exhaust. Not too bad. I’ve had worse, much worse. I tossed the tool bag in the rear and as I was getting everything sorted I think I have an inadequate tool kit. More on that in a later entry.

I climbed behind the wheel and took off for Noble. Oh.my.gawd! It was like driving a new Rover! No rattling, no odd noises when I turned, no clangs when I hit the speed humps. It was great!

I got to the shoppe and standing there in the parking lot was the former State Senator Cal Hobson. Cal told me the shoppe was closed on weekends. That figures. I should have known better. He asked me if I knew where another place to get sharpening done was, I replied, “no but if you do I’ll follow you over there.” It turned out we were both out of luck for today.

I figure I’ll drop by there next week. I have a sharpening tool for chainsaws. But I have too many to mess with and thought perhaps I could learn something from them sharpening them. It seems when I sharpen I only get a couple of uses out of the saw before it is in effective and I’m wishing for a good sharp ax.

I’ll leave you with an A-Ha moment and thank you for reading and wish you Happy Rovering.

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