Disco (and house) updates [updated]

Well it must be Monday! Oh wait... it isn’t? Ok well...

Took the Disco’s front drive shaft out late yesterday and dropped it off at the re-builders. They want $250 to do it and I acquiesced, even if that is right in the middle of the price range for a new one. Unlike a new one, however, I can have it back today. The drive shaft is almost certainly not the problem though. It had no play in it, though the rear u-joints were a little crusty, apparently due to some mud that got trapped in there, and the gator for the expandy bit (technical term) was shot. On the bright side, failure of the front driveshaft almost always takes the transmission with it, as the driveshaft essentially turns into a large steel baseball bat and the aluminium transmission doesn’t stand a chance, so now that I’ve had it rebuilt I shouldn’t have to worry about that ticking time bomb.

Even if it was probably fine for the life of the car.

[UPDATE 11AM] Wow. Driveshaft is done!

Unfortunately once I undid the last bolt from the transfer case I was treated a small discharge of gear oil. Looks like the front output seal is leaking and had filled up the cavity there. Luckily it looks like the worst part of that replacement is what I’ve already done, removing the driveshaft. Thank [insert deity here] it wasn’t the input seal. You have to drop the transfer case for that one. I think I’d just let it leak. Seal is being overnighted from RockAuto and I am hoping to borrow a lift for that one, but my friends have been flaky of late and I can’t exactly press the issue.

I did take the car for a test drive and that was SUPER WEIRD. I don’t know why I expected the car to drive differently MISSING AN ENTIRE DRIVESHAFT but it really didn’t. Just lock the center and it performs as normal.

The roofers are back (again) to for realsies finish the roof today. I have a portion of flat roof on my house for reasons no one fully understands and they didn’t order enough material to do all of it in one go. Also they made a big deal about not being able to do it when there even was a chance of rain, which means literally every time they’ve been out it has been actively raining.

I’m sure that is fine.

It isn’t raining now, but there is a 58% chance within the next three hours. Hope they’re feeling quick!

I haven’t been impressed with the flat roofing crew even a little bit. I don’t know what they’re doing up there, but at one point the fell/plonked something down/ wrestled so hard they actually broke two blades off a ceiling fan. I didn’t even know that was an option!

I’m sure they were weakened from being old, but still... impressive roof roughhousing.

[UPDATE 11AM] Roofers are also done.

Speaking of house stuff! My downstairs AC keeps kicking its upstream breaker. This can mean a number of things, but given that unit hasn’t been looked at in a couple years I figured I’d open it up, clean the coils, and take a look. All the caps tested good, but I did find one looking quite... fuzzy. Think this deserves a replacement, even though it did test fine.

In terms of good news, I have a new camera body coming in today and I am pretty excited. I was a little drunk and feeling a little sorry for myself the other day, never a good thing. My partner has been getting really into his recently purchased micro 4/3 (M43) camera. Initially I scoffed as I’ve always been a SLR/DSLR guy, but I have to admit he has been taking some pretty solid pictures with it. Once I learned that I could buy an adapter and put all of my manual SLR lenses and DSLR ones too... I was sold. I’ve been toying with the idea of having a smaller, grab and go/ knock-around camera for years, and apparently this was enough to convince me.

I found a good deal on a used body (heyo) and it should come in today. The adapters come in over the weekend and we’ve been playing with them a bit. Aside from not being able to focus with my 8mm fisheye, it seems like a neat system. Worst case the body I purchased can be use as a fancy webcam, so $300 for that actually doesn’t sound so bad.

So... for the rest of the week on the Disco I need to:

1. Fix transfer case output seal
2. Reinstall driveshaft
3. Drop headliner and fix roof rack leak (optional?)
4. Change the oil (optional)
5. Rotate and balance tires (optional)
6. Replace door locks (very optional)

The oil isn’t overdue, but it is older so it may be time. The tires, similarly, are fine as-is but I wouldn’t say no to a rotate and balance before driving 1000 miles. Door locks I am contemplating as a “evening in the hotel parking lot” activity as they’re not hard to do, just time consuming.

Wish me luck.