mjeff87

Front driveshafts are overrated.....

The kicker is that there's 3 engine/trans mounts on these things, and I replaced all 3 of them less than a year ago. The most common one that goes bad is the passenger side upper mount, because it's hydraulic and usually pukes all the fluid out. I didn't buy Motorcraft mounts, but I didn't buy cheap white box specials either, so.....my only guess is that I munched this lower mount when I did the clutch swap. I didn't unbolt it (it was the only thing holding the entire driveline in place, LOL) and that trans was next to impossible to get out and back in, and I had that whole driveline in some pretty serious "not supposed to look like that" positions. That's where I think the center section decided to rip/tear a bit, and it just took this long for it to tear the whole way apart. We'll see. It's cheap enough and realtively easy to swap (about 20 minutes and not even one beer), so if it craps out again I'll spring for a genuine Ford replacement. Hah.

I will say that out of all the mods I ever did to my MJ, the booster/MC upgrade was one of the best ones. But it was an absolute PITA trying to do it solo. Do yourself a favor and get an extra set of hands to help, one person under the hood moving things around and another under the dash to get things lined up and bolted in.

Not much going on with the Focus lately, still have the little oil leak. Developed a strange rattle underneath it though, and noticed a bit of slop in the driveline, kind of like a feeling of too much backlash in a differential. Ended up being the lower trans mount (aka "dogbone" mount), that helps to prevent torque twist in the driveline. Mine was completely hashed. I think when I put the new clutch in it I might have stressed it out a bit too much, wiggling around the driveline to get the trans out and back in. The center section was completely ripped out. Surprising what a little $25 mount does, lol.

Yes. I swapped a '96 booster/master in my 87. Then promptly proceeded to screw up grinding down the end of the booster arm to accomodate the brake light switch (I ground a tad too much off) . Went back to the junkyard to the same XJ and pulled the entire pedal assembly and swapped it in. The only thing you'll need is the newer brake light switch from the 96. There's 6 wires into/out of it, you only need the 2 for the light switch. Cut all the wires long and find the pair of wires that show continuity when the plunger is depressed, those are the ones you need (I've long since forgotten which colors they were). Splice them into the 2 wires for the original switch.

You buy it Greg.....I'll borrow it.

I was born in Comanche County, OK. Do I have to get a new birth certificate now?

Live update going on right now, some incredible photos so far:

There was about a 7 minute window from the point of computer detected touchdown until actual visual confirmation. Talk about crapping nickels..... Here's some info on the "lucky peanuts" https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/10022/what-are-nasas-lucky-peanuts/ It's not mentioned there, but the guy was saying on one failed mission (that peanuts weren't in the room) back in the day involved the spacecraft missing the moon.......completely. Talk about an "ooops" moment.

I watched the JPL live feed of that yesterday (I tried to watch the NASA feed, but it was too "pop culture" for me to handle, lol). Simply amazing. Like Jesse said, we hucked a one-ton contraption/hunk of very expensive parts 128 million miles away, and landed it in a spot smaller than my driveway. LIKE.A.BOSS. I listened to the person in charge of the operation on a radio interview this morning, and he was discussing the mission of the Rover. It's job is to scour the surface and take bore samples (about the size and shape of a piece of chalk) and deposit them on the Martian surface. Later, another mission is going to launch to go pick them up and assemble them into a return vehicle. That vehicle then, they plan, will blast off from the surface and return to Earth. That will mark another first for the space program, actually launching a vehicle from a planet (or moon) surface via a rocket, remotely. We are living through history here. edit: I also learned that NASA/JPL's official phrase for when things are going perfectly on a mission is "nominal". They are true masters of understatement. Also, there are bags of peanuts in every control room during operations like this as a superstition/good luck charm. I didn't hear the whole story, but it goes back to an old launch director or some other higher up that liked to eat peanuts and pass them around as a snack. Thought that was kinda funny, and heartwarming at the same time.

Thanks Buck I'm not going to enjoy the calm though, I'm on call for work. The state already closed for tomorrow but ill bet everything I own ill be getting the call to come in by 0800. Last weeks ice storm, 2 other guys were in for the entire weekend keeping things running. Ive got a go-bag already packed with clothes, toiletries and some food just waiting now. Missi is staying home from work tomorrow so I don't have to worry about her or the cats. Ive got 50 lbs of mag chloride already spread on the driveway and front walkway/porch steps. Kj is gassed up, and I've got the chainsaw in the back in case I have to cut my way into the facility tomorrow.

^^^^I find those to be indispensable for removing emergency brake cables from the shoe bracket inside the drum too. Push the spring back on the cable with the nose, then clamp them shut on the cable. Pop the end of the cable off the hook and done. My vote though, is for the Model O cutters mentioned above. LOL.

Uuuugh. We had 2 sprinkler heads pop in the back offices last year due to extreme cold, basically trashed everything. My biggest worry is 170 tons of commmercial refrigeration keeping a couple million $$$ worth of inventory cold/frozen. It doesn't like dirty/irregular power (400 amps). We have a 1750KW CAT generator (big old honkin' V16 diesel) as backup power for the entire facility, including the refrig system.....I LOVE that thing. Just got the belly tank topped off this morning by the fuel contractor, it has a 3000 gallon belly tank. Took about 1000 gallons. I could give 2 craps about anything else, but my boss is freaky about keeping the servers up too, so I have those to worry about also.

I'm sure I'll have some new ones starting at about 0400 tomorrow morning Anyone here around Louisiana way (Slidell, specifically)? Was texting a buddy of mine last night who lives there now (Ft. Polk) and he said it's nuts down there. As it is in alot of other places.

I'm on my on-call rotation week at work this week. We will most likely officially close tomorrow, and maybe Friday too, because of the pending ice storm. I'll most likely be stuck here (alone) trying to keep the facility running (refrigeration system, boilers, emergency generator, etc). Everyone will be placed on what's now being called "liberal leave", meaning if you can telework, you have to work from home. Kinda hard for folks to VPN into their networks remotely when 500K people are out of power (and don't have backup generators). Most of the school districts around here are still on remote learning due to COVID anyway, so they've been schooling online almost a year now already. This won't be anything new for them, except not having power to run their PC's.

Just as expected, we now have flood warnings across parts of the area. It got up to a nice 55 degrees yesterday and everything is melting. Ground is completely saturated, which is no bueno. Today is the literal calm before the storm in the low 40's (but quite sunny) and the real action starts overnight tonight. Should start as a little snow, then change to sleet and then finally over to all freezing rain early tomorrow morning and last into Friday. Still progged for 1'+ of ice accumulation. I'm stocked, locked and ready to rock (as soon as I pick up another case of beer on the way home from work tonight)

Yeah...you're in it I've got an old pair of chains in the shed I used to run on my MJ (when it was still 2WD). They're for 15" tires. I can stretch them onto the KJ (16's) if I have to but don't really want to. Spent the afternoon storm prepping, checked the generator over and angle-grinded the edge of the shovel i use for ice. I have 200# of mag chloride, plus some rock salt to keep the driveway clean. Yuned up/cleaned the chainsaw also, after using it yesterday to fell all the broken trees from the last storm. Got 2 more gallons of gas and premixed it just for the saw. Meanwhile, all my neighbors are out washing their cars and whatnot. Not a care in the world. Me and the wife go full on storm mode tomorrow night.

Good luck, stay safe! New ice forecast map out for my area.......this is BAD. There's still 100K+ without power yet around here from Thursday, and another round is on the way starting late tomorrow night thru the day on Thursday. We ended up with about 3/4-7/8" of accretion here, this storm is already progged at double that. Gonna be bad.

I'll take snow ALL day long (even 14 inches), but ice completely sucks. Power went out again today while we were out shopping, luckily the ATS on the generator worked correctly. Got home and utility came back shortly thereafter. Then went out again around 4:00, but just came back again about 30 minutes ago.. Its supposed to be in the 40's here tomorrow then 50's on Tuesday with heavy rain. Most everything's melting now thankfully. But its gonna be even more of a total mess with all the ice melt and rain coming. Gotta love Central VA weather, lol.

Wife and I got out of the subdivision today and got to see some of the 'hood. Absolutely stunning view of mother nature doing her best, but absolutely destructive at the same time.

We have three cats (inside, plus another feral out in the garage). All of the three are males, not related in any way. When they're not playing grab @$$ with each other and otherwise tearing up the entire house, they all collapse in a pile similar to that picture. They are inseparable. I dig the vibe you're laying down here fred. Its refreshing to just step back a bit

Ice covered trees? I got that. Plus cars, grass, mailbox, driveway, trash can, deck, shed..... This royally sucks.

Well the weather delivered here. Currently in the middle of an ice storm, several trees down on the property. Power went about an hour ago, generator started but failed to auto-transfer, so I had to manually switch it over at the panel/ATS. Good 1/2" accretion of ice on everything, with another 1/2-3/4" yet to come. Yay. Ill be happy to see utility power back by Monday, at least.

We're on tap to get about 1/4" of ice tonight, followed by 4-6" of snow, followed by another 1/4-1/3" of ice. Then another ice storm on Saturday. And another on Tuesday. Woohoo. I'll take snow all day, every day. But forget ice storms. I'm picking up an extra case of beer on the way home from work tonight, JIC we are sequestered inside the house for the next few days.