As I mentioned in my last post, I was on vacation the week of October 3 – 7. During that time multiple tasks were finished, including: 1) Brought The Box home from The Lot, 2) Repaired the garage door, 3) Cut last of firewood, 4) Winterized the swamp cooler, 5) Put new filters in the furnace and vacuumed out the furnace vents, 6) Replaced an 8-foot section of our privacy fence after painting it with wood preservative, 7) Put new rear brake rotors on the Toyota, 8) Changed oil and filter in the Honda, 9) Painted the utility trailer bed and fenders after replacing some rivets in the fenders and replacing the tongue jack mount, 10) Washed the Toyota and the F-150 truck, 11) Mowed lawn, 12) Started winterizing The Box, 13) Took the window air conditioner our of the window and stored it, 14) Went into the garage attic, threw some stuff away, and swept the garage, 15) Cleaned and tested the Alladin brand kerosene heater I bought at a garage sale this summer (it works!), 16) Used our fuel point discount to buy 35 gallons of gasoline, 17) Was called into the office to work on an e-mail problem and fixed that (Web mail site would not start.) and finally 18) Worked on an old Banker’s lamp. Additionally, our friend Kathy came over and picked up the last of her firewood so that task really is done for the season. And one morning I was able to build a fire in the fire pit and enjoy a cup of tea in front of it.
I need a vacation from my vacation.
And at that there are several projects I did not get to, including removing the leaf mulcher/shredder from storage and getting it ready to use this leaf season, starting the snowmobile and getting photos of it for the “For Sale” listing on Craig’s List and in the local paper, getting RV antifreeze in The Box’s water lines, and working on the Gilson lawn tractor that is normally my main snow plowing rig in the winter. (Needs to have the flywheel replaced.) I could use another several days off to get all this done!
The job I was least looking forward to was working on the garage door. Over the last couple of months the door was getting harder and harder to operate and the side rollers would come out of the rails. This was very frustrating plus not a little unsafe. I looked on-line to learn more about garage door maintenance and adjustment; the result of this (plus a visual inspection) was a diagnosis of worn or bad cable pulleys located at the top of the garage door frame. The pulleys attached to the door springs appeared to be OK.
The pulleys are not expensive (around $5.00 each) but have cables running over them; these are under some tension, less when the door is open, more when the door is closed. When the shop I called could not make it out on the appointed date I decided to take on the replacement myself.
Replacement pulley (stock photo.)
With the door propped open I was able to remove the old pulleys, one at a time, and replaced them with pulleys I had purchased at Home Depot. The tension on the cables was light and I was able to put the new pulleys in place without much trouble. One pulley was definitely bad; it would no longer rotate on its bearings. The other I replaced just to be on the safe side even though it seemed to be OK. While I had the ladder out I adjusted the top brackets to allow the top door panel to rest closer to the door frame, closing a gap which should help keep the garage a little warmer in the winter. (It also looks better.) I was able to move two small brackets to new locations which enabled the door locking mechanism to work for the first time. I lubricated all the pulleys and rollers; the result is a door that works better now than at any time during our occupancy of the place, now over 10 years. In fact you have to be careful closing the door so that it does not come down too fast. All in all this turned out to be a very successful repair job and I was relieved it went as well as it did.
Top door cable pulley (upper left) and spring pulley; I replaced both top door pulleys. (Stock photo.)
Of the other jobs not much to be said; replacing the 4 foot by 8 foot privacy fence panel was the hardest due to the panel’s weight. The old panel had pickets that were curling up or broken and needed to be replaced. Changing out the entire panel was the easiest way to take care of it. Many of the other jobs – swamp cooler, window AC, furnace – are routine jobs that need to be done every year. The rear brake rotor replacement on the Toyota RAV4 was a bit messy but not difficult except for trying to loosen the bolts that have now seen 160K+ miles of use. A hammer was involved.
Much was accomplished but it didn’t feel like a vacation.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
And now I have four days of “vacation” built around the upcoming weekend, during which I will attempt a thorough housecleaning, probably wrap the window inserts in plastic (most of our windows leak air), and locate the winter coats/boots/hats again. I have the cat heaters ready to put in the garage, and will likely need to locate yet another cat heater for the back deck (kittens are still coming to that feeder, will be a hard winter for them).
But – the weather has been glorious this week, absolutely stunning Fall temps featuring cool (but not cold) nights and temperate days. I plan to enjoy those too.
(Stock image)
Happy Trails.
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