so i went out for a smoke....

Stop Laughing

New Member
Only a light covering of snow, but being the first one to actually stick to the ground, the morning rush hour was shot.

Lately, the traffic here has been having a lot of major problems. The outbound Kennedy was shut down completely during the AM rush hour twice in the same week last week for major accidents, turning a 15 minute drive when clear into a 150 minute drive. Now tonight, in a neighboring suburb, there's a crash involving a local train and at least a dozen cars. I know a lot of people who live near there, I hope no one I know was involved and/or hurt...
 

Mirlyn

Well-Known Member
Shortsleeves and windows down today....might've hit 60F.

wx_weekly_b.jpg


Only excitement in the forecast is snow and 45F..... :confuse3:
 

Nixy

Elimi-nistrator
Staff member
I'm scared to look outside...the big dumping was suppose to miss us, but still...
 

Uki Chick

New Member
It's definitely winter here! Snow is coming down strong, had to pull out the winter boots and all. :crying4:
I'd rather be at home, the car under the car shelter and cuddled up in bed with a nice cup of coco.
 

MrBishop

Well-Known Member
Professur said:
Well, I've got one on. Looks like I'm busy tonight. Good thing mine are on their own rims.
Ditto...put'em on early last week. I had to go out and buy a cross though, the nuts were on too damn tight for the car's all-in-one tire changing bar.
 

Professur

Well-Known Member
Only a desperate idiot tries to use that thing. A little advice to use with the x-bar. Don't overtighten them. It's damn easy, and you'll stretch the lugs, and risk cracking the rim (no, I'm not kidding. I've done it). And for breaking them loose, set the crossbar at about a 60 degree angle, and gently put your foot on the bottom wing, and grab the top with both hands. Pull the top as you push down on the bottom. Do not use this technique to reinstall them. Personally, I use a x-bar to break them loose, but I use a torque wrench to put them back on (set for the recommended torque). A cheap deflection torque wrench costs about $10 at any toolstore. (yes, I do have the ratchet type, but the deflection type works just as well for this)

When you store your tires, store them upright (weight on the tread) at standard pressure (32lbs) and on stone or cement. Sitting them on dirt leads to rot. Laying them on their sides risks sidewall damage, and will ruin the balance. Low pressure will lead to flat-spotting. Yes, I know the garages stack them on their sidewalls 15 high. The average mechanic barely finished highschool, and his boss's main concern is squeezing as much revenu out of every sq ft of the place he can. Who are you gonna trust, him, or me? Besides, he wants to sell you more tires anyways.
 

MrBishop

Well-Known Member
The bar worked fine for 3 years...this year, I couldn't budge half the damn nuts. Hence the cross. Hell, even with the cross..it took two people to loosen some of them enough to use the torque wrench on'em.

Bought a nice (torque wrench) set a few weeks ago from Can Tire...mostly I just finger-remove once they're loose.

Oh...can't find the damn link but there's a tire-bag set at CanTire. Jute/canvas zip-up bags for tires with handles. One-size yadda yadda. Beats the crap out of the flimsy plastic bags that comes with'em or garbage bags.

Got a nice spot in the work room for my tires... though good advice about keeping them upright!
 

Professur

Well-Known Member
Bish, you do know that you never, ever use a torque wrench to break nuts loose, doncha? Only to tighten them.
 

Winky

Well-Known Member
Gee can ya imagine livin' inna place where it never ever
snows hell it seldom if ever drops down to zero C ?

heh heh heh

have fun you poor frozen bastards!
 

MrBishop

Well-Known Member
Professur said:
Bish, you do know that you never, ever use a torque wrench to break nuts loose, doncha? Only to tighten them.
I couldda sworn that I said that I bought a cross for that purpose. I tightened with the bar before, now I use the wrench... star-pattern and everything.

**
I'm touched, really, by your lack of trust in my intellect.
 

Professur

Well-Known Member
MrBishop said:
I couldda sworn that I said that I bought a cross for that purpose. I tightened with the bar before, now I use the wrench... star-pattern and everything.

**
I'm touched, really, by your lack of trust in my intellect.
You might recall that one time, I was called to deal with an occurence where someone equally intelligent to yourself had managed to fasten a TV stand to the floor by accidently driving a screw into the floor with a hammer.

Intelligent and informed are trains which don't always run parallel. And I've seen better men than you trying to use a torque wrench as a breaker bar.

Oh, and

Mr intelligent said:
Hell, even with the cross..it took two people to loosen some of them enough to use the torque wrench on'em.

sounds a great deal like you're using it to loosen nuts.
 

MrBishop

Well-Known Member
Professur said:
You might recall that one time, I was called to deal with an occurence where someone equally intelligent to yourself had managed to fasten a TV stand to the floor by accidently driving a screw into the floor with a hammer.

Intelligent and informed are trains which don't always run parallel. And I've seen better men than you trying to use a torque wrench as a breaker bar.

Oh, and



sounds a great deal like you're using it to loosen nuts.
Nope...sounds like I'm using a cross to loosen them enough to use a torque wrench on them...not using a torque wrench to break them loose.

Actually...I don't recall that instance...but I've heard of equally stupid things done before. It's the tone that I have issues with.
 

Winky

Well-Known Member
My guess is our summers are even better than yours!

it's a dry heat heh heh heh ask Gonz he'll tell ya!
 
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