Not My Idea of Fun

I've got the old Dodge sold to a former student and one of our first Golden Glove champs. The deal is I'm going to swap out the tires from the Dodge to the Ford and then he can come get it. The Dodge tires have a more aggressive tread pattern and since I'll be commuting this winter again, I'd prefer those tires on the Ford. They both have about the same mileage on them and they're the same size, so why not? I cut him a righteous deal on the truck, explained about the tires and the other things that need some work, so all is good. Except when I went down to pick up the garbage can the other night the brake hose on the left front decided to call it quits. Damn! At least it was in the driveway and not about the first stop the new owner was making out on the highway.

I decided to work on it out in the drive by my shop rather than pulling into the new barn and taking a chance on running it into the back wall. The weather here of late has been ideal and we've got a few more nice days forecast as well. First off, the rims were rusted onto the hubs. Some Blaster and a few whacks with a big hammer broke them loose, however. Why the tire places can't put a little grease around the hub and some never-seize on the studs is beyond me. Anyway, the rest of the job went about as you would expect for something covered in rust and brake fluid. I did manage to get the bleeder screw out without incident - patience being the key here. I soaked it with Blaster, tapped it a few times, then clamped a good pair of Vise Grips on it and tapped those with a hammer. I repeated this a few more times, then called it a day. Came out in the morning, sprayed, tapped and out she came. That Blaster is good stuff.

I've got a back brake that's hanging up. I'm going to see if I can get the truck over to the neighbors and have him bleed things and while it's on the lift, check the back brake and maybe take the tires off to do the swap depending on what he's got going on. The new owner says he can take care of the back brakes but I'd feel better if I knew what he was going to have to deal with. If it's something big, I'll knock a couple more bucks off the price of the truck.

I finished up the decking on the barn veranda the other day and got a few other little things done outside. I've got some painting to do and this is great weather for that. I'd actually prefer that to dealing with the old rust-bucket Dodge. Always something but could be worse.