you know what sux.

Having vertigo spells in the middle of a gas tank swap. So the bronco sit's with no gas tank.

Needing 13" of fuel filler hose but having to buy 24" at $20/ft. So I have some leftover if anyone needs it.

Well this past week has been fighting me. Bent the knuckle pressing in ball joints. Bent it back for now. Upon removing the tierod it stripped all the threads out of the nut. So I had to locate a 9/16-18 castle nut. Grabbed the die from work to clean up the tierod end. Couldnt get the die started or the nut. Had to get a thread file and file smooth the tierod threads. Had a heck of a time getting the nut to start. Finally got it all back together. Went to pull the bronco out for a spin and it wont move. The trans leaks bad enough that it was empty. Had to dump some in to even back out of the driveway. DOH!

Sometimes it's better to stay in bed...

What really sucks is the wife loading the last of the clothes in the trailer for vacation (the first in three years) slips and falls down the stairs breaking and dislocating her ankle. Go to the hospital they do emergency surgery to put it all back together, spend all night at the hospital, and then have the kids unload the trailer. But hey maybe next year for a vacation. This sucks

That does suck! My wishes for a speedy recovery. Frau Castle took a similar tumble on our wedding day on the way to the ceremony. (Hmm, maybe she was trying to back out.) Luckily we escaped that one without a hospital trip.

Lav, that sucks. Best wishes for a quick recovery.

the only positive side to this is I have a week off at home, and now I can put the clutch in the bronco and take care of the wife. And maybe get the 74 bronco going cause it has the auto trans and the wife's car is a manual trans. This might have a just have silver lining to it

Rox can relate.

Played half day hookie friday. Loaded up my tools in the bronco and called a buddy to go wheelin. Just wanted to do an easy close to home quick ride. We headed up towards yankee hill behind central city. Pulled up locked the hubs (didnt air down) and set off. All through out the climb to the top I had NO brakes. If i pumped the pedal a couple time they would be there but nothing the first time. Got to the top. Now the decent down to st mary's. Had brakes the rest of the way. Weird. I have no clue as to why they didnt work. Now the hydro-boost sitting on the self just moved up the list.

Note to self. Dont let your bronco sit for long periods of time(ie: years) as everything seems to like to fail.

Lav - sorry to hear about that! Hope you can get refunds on any reservations you made, but hopefully you can put things into motion for next year!

So I took apart my rear diff to see why my ARB would not engage. What I see is a broken piece of the pinion bearing cup and a crap load of metal and shrapnel in the oil. The bearing had been backing out of its seat and cutting a groove into the diff. So I assume all the debris in the oil would not let the ARB actuator operate freely thus not engaging the locker.

Oh, damn

been there before. Big tires with a lot of torque cause the pinion to try and climb the ring gear. Causes that bearing support to break. Only cure is a nodular center.

jts - do you know if the pinion support area was shaved so the gears & locker housing would clear?

BTDT as well. Actually, not sure what happened first, but the support blew out, the long pin sheared off the mini-spool, etc. It was bad. I was given a new center section, and went back in with a full spool. Makes me wonder what mine is looking like currently.

Crawler - thanks for the reply, I ask because I shaved the pinion support on Rox's 9" as well when I installed his deeper gears and ARB. I know it's a common thing to do & the new setup wouldn't fit without doing it.

JTS - I have a empty 3rd member if you haven't sourced one yet, but I'd need to check which carrier bearing size you need to see if it'll work.

Crawler- The gears appear to be unharmed and the locker has a groove turned into it from the bearing rubbing on it when it was backed out. In my opinion it will not effect the operation. I may take you up on the install help if your available Thursday or Friday evening.

Kinder- I think I have one lined up but don't know the bearing size of it yet. I will check mine and let you know incase I need a plan B.

Thanks guys!

My latest "What Sux" has been home PC problems.

I'm pretty good with computers and can usually fix any issue, but I just don't have the time for it much any more and can't afford the downtime with as busy as I have been. Answering 20 e-mails a day from the phone gets old quick, and I don't let my tuning laptop touch the web unless absolutely necessary.

I started getting the random blue screens, so I'd reload Windoze and things would be good for a few days, then it would start again. Last week it finally started hanging at post so I decided it was time to build a new one. The problem was with my budget, I decided to try out AMD after being loyal to Intel since the early 90's. What a big mistake! I'm now about $250 over my planned budget and almost 10 days lost that I could have been crankin out harnesses. I still don't have my RAID array functioning (AMD drivers are not signed and certified by MS). I'll need to continue the 64 bit driver argument with my printer when I have the patience or absolute need in the future.

I just wish I had a little more time to research a build before driving down to Microcenter and tossing money at them. There are a few things I would have done differently but hind sight is 20/20.

On the plus side, I'm up and running now, and it's fast as hell. Shouldn't need to upgrade for several years (knocks on wood).

You know what sucks? When you are changing the ECT sensor on you 7.3L, and you drop the old one down between the water pump & pulley. Its now trapped at the bottom of the pulley with no way out. Have to pull the clutch fan & pulley, but nothing is budging.

I tried a magnet & a pushy/pulley/hooky thing made from a coat hanger, but its not going to happen. It needs to come up around the snout of the water pump, then out. Just too many corners to turn. I soaked things in PB Blaster, and will bring some more tools home tomorrow night. What a stupid waste of time. I watched it rattle around and fall in, I knew I was screwed.

Chewing gum on a stick?

I'll tell you what SUX! having to work what seems like every weekend some thing cool is going on..... breakfasts, p&p runs, swap meets, etc etc.... and I only seem to get 10 minutes here and there to work on my bronco..... THAT IS WHAT SUX! ahhh, I feel better, good thread....