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Old 03-10-2008, 09:46 AM   #1
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What did you do to your SMB today?

Co-workers, spouses and neighbors don't really care about the little victories we experience as the result of successful DIY projects. Oh, they may fein their interests, but if you look closely, you'll notice a glazed look in their eyes. So, here's an opprotunity to brag to those that might actually care about the little things (not talking full-on thread worthy "projects" here). Just to get the ball rolling, I'll start.

Busy weekend at the De Minimis Land-O-Pain: UPS finally arrived with my Amsoil. Since I'm the second owner, thought it best to start over. Drained the oil and pulled the filters. Went to open my big Amsoil box only to dicover the bypass filter was backordered. #$*&^%!. Scrounged the County looking for the local Amsoil guy. Finally found him and he had an old 90 by pass filter. Rather have a 100, but the 90 works for now. Fresh oil and filters. On to the missing front axle shift linkage rod.

Ordered up some 3/8-24 stainless allthread last week. Cut a 12.5" section. Doubled up on the nuts between the work'n ends of the system. Added a little red Loctite to make double sure I don't find myself sans the linkage again. Done.

Installed my new front license plate. Thought about the different ways to do it (Mag light clips as suggested here, etc). Decided to make it more permenent. Squeezed the lower end of the plate behind the winch plate and drilled two holes for the upper mounts. Sano and its not going anywhere.

Had the body guy over to figure out what we're going to do, looks-wise. I've got a small dent in the lower right rear quarter panel (where the chip paint is) and the top was never painted (per the orign owner's request). Going to have him fix the small dent then going to have the lower part of the rear quarter panel covered with Line-X to prevent rock chips. Going to do the same on the leading edge of the hood as well. That SMB that just sold on EBay had that done and it looked great and functional, in my opinion. Going to have the top painted to match.

Pulled the alumn grill. Paint was looking pretty bad. Took some emery cloth to it, repainted with trim paint, took the emery cloth to the front edges to remove the paint from those areas and clean the edges up. Reinstalled with proper expanding plastic rivets (had a few from my old BMW K1200RS) and mounted it correctly (sheet rock screws weren't exactly workign for me). Went around the rest of the engine compartment and snugged up loose bolts (quite a few actually).

Today, hopefully, my new hubs will arrive. Instead of posting a new reply, let's just assume I'll be installing those this evening.

Bent my bent swingarm tab back into place. Got some surface seperation on the alumn (expected that or worse). Will have a bead run over it when I have the new latch housing installed (hopefully later this week). Hockey puck supports will wait until that's finished.

Oh yea, not a project, but the kids and I slept in the Sporty in the driveway Saturday evening. Come on, admit it, you've done the same.

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Old 03-10-2008, 10:02 AM   #2
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I'm planning to give the SMB a bath today, clean it out in prep for a camping trip this weekend, and install a locking gas cap. I think some miscreant siphoned off 3/4 of a tank of gas sometime in the last few weeks.
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Old 03-10-2008, 10:20 AM   #3
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Lowracer: I hope you have diesel and he thought he was getting gas...

*Moved flatplate heat exchanger inside. Also re-routed the plumbing so that it doesn't freeze on the floor all the time.

*Put rigid screen up in back in place of rear upper bed section: use this to put ski boot liners and gloves and jackets at night at the ski area. Heat rises: they all dry.

*Mirror on front of cabinet to the left of rear '50 bench. Then I broke it. Damn.

*Removed access panel door under 50 bench to get skis through.

*Made permanent AA/AAA battery charger area with velcro behind driver's seat (for headlamps, LED lights, GPS, water purifier, etc).

*Put combo lock box back on rear bumper so that I can lock my keys in my van on purpose and get back in, thus not ever losing keys when out and about.

*Put on hoopsteps that I got cheap off Mike from here and eBay.

*Made a flip-top table top extender off the cabinet that hangs on the '40 door. This is the best mod EVER. Gets used a ton.

*Added sound and heat insulation to the doghouse.

*Made a removable carpet for winters (have marine deck vinyl).

*Made cordura slip covers for the bench seat and the pad behind it. We drag a lot of dirt inside, on us, from climbing/hiking/whatever. Cordura cover has saved our seats. Need to do the same for the front seats; the cheap set covers aren't the same.

*Added portable back massager. It's awesome.

*Removed shower wand and now use hanging shower bag ala the Badgers. WAY better than showering off the sink faucet dealy.

*Made quick disconnects for the water fill tank so that it's easy(er) to fill the tank from the inside of the van, which is pretty much a must during winter.
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Old 03-10-2008, 10:27 AM   #4
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My weekend project was external storage...

i don't have the time right now to fab up a rear bumper for extra storage so I decided to go with a temporary solution that turned out pretty good so far. I bought one of those receiver hitch mounted cargo carriers off of ebay (got one that raises up about 6" as opposed to the flat ones). Found a used weatherguard tool chest and a beat up yakima rack on craigslist.
Mounted the weatherguard chest to the receiver hitch carrier and then cut up the yakima rack a bit and mounted that to the chest and wala...i now have 10 cu ft of external storage and a secure way to store my snowboard outside of the vehicle. Obviously it reduces my departure angle a bit and i'm sure off roading would take it's toll on it eventually but for a temporary solution it should work pretty well!
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Old 03-10-2008, 12:35 PM   #5
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I put a spot of Velcro ("fuzzy" side) on the edge of the fridge door and on the right side of the fridge cabinet. I cut a stripe of Velcro (the stiffer "back to back" type) about 6" long and by using the stripe of Velcro attached between the two spots, I can keep the door in a slightly open position for ventilation when it is not being used.

Brian
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Old 03-10-2008, 12:51 PM   #6
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hmmmm - i like the velcro fridge idea. i like to leave mine cracked open and of course if I go to do a quick trip to town the fridge door definitely swings wide open as a reminder I forgot to close it.

-d
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Old 03-10-2008, 02:30 PM   #7
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Installed a Xantrex Prowat 1,000 inverter with remote, and a single hard wired outlet.

Rearranged everything in the XL storage box. Used smaller plastic boxes for tools as I found I could hardly lift my tool bag up thru the access hatch with everything in the tool bag.

Installed mag-lite holder.

Read the Kenwood manual again. Who ever wrote that thing shoud be ... Still can't figure out how to add phone numbers into the bluetooth address book.
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Old 03-10-2008, 04:02 PM   #8
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Charlie -

If I remember right you just dial in the number then hold down the (virtual) preset button you want to assign the number to. But I may be wrong. Ill play with it when I get a chance and let you know.

As I recall I had to have my 17 year old figure it out.
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Old 03-10-2008, 08:20 PM   #9
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Tonight brought a new set of mini-adventures. Was missing the zirk off the front drive line u-joint/CV (closest to transfer case). Since the 4x4 had not been used in quite some time according to the PO and the fact that a hub was broken and the SMB was missing the linkage to engage the front axle, figured I am safe just installing a new zirk and not replacing the joint (hole was facing down and was clean too). Tight fit in there, but got it in fairly easily. Then it came time to grease it. Wow. After lots of futz'n around (including trying to remove the driveflange bolt that was in the way), finally figured there has got to be an easier way. Realized if I jacked up the frame so as to nearly fully extend the suspension, and rotated the zirk to the top, the double cv housing might open up enough to allow me to get a grease gun hose onto the zirk. It worked (put the zirk around 2 o'clock for the greatest clearance). Using Red Line CV-2 (overkill) and pumped a lot of it through the joint to clear out any possible junk, so I should be good for a good long while. Painted and installed the missing clevis on the front bumper. Installed the missing lock washer on the above-mentioned drive flange bolt (a good example of the reason I don't let others work on my vehicles if I can help it). On kid patrol now, so no more working in the shop tonight.
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Old 03-10-2008, 08:23 PM   #10
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"Today" people, it's what did you do to your SMB "today"!

Just kidding. Y'all make me feel bad. I tried to get the VIN checked so I could plate it in Colorado but when the officer showed up there was no power to show him the odometer reading, ergo $9 down the drain.

Ah well!
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