What did you do in your garage today..?

[Ash]

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Today's youtube find (this job is more complicated than yours):

In your situation, you can skip the first part that concerns camshaft and cylinder head removal, and when it gets to the cussing and swearing part, yours doesn't have the same situation because yours doesn't have stacked transmission shafts - they both come out when the cases are split, instead of just one of them. There are some good tips in that video.

I had serious envy looking at that room at the end of the video. Even the stainless service tables at the beginning of the video are double the horizontal working space that I have. The next improvement to the garage is definitely going to be 10 or 12 feet of folding shelves/benches/tables mounted along the walls so I'll have more space for laying out parts.

I'm not quite at the point where I'm ready to pull out the engine, but I got a bunch of other stuff done. Airbox off and modified to fit new velocity stacks. Kawasaki is now gluing in the stock velocity stacks, which was a pain to remove. New air filter. AIS system removed. With all of that done, the next priority is getting an ECU flash and dyno tune, then I should be able to take my time with the transmission undercutting.

I yanked the ABS pump and brake lines off tonight, and got the replacement front line fitted and drilled for safety wire and bled. The rear line will have to wait until tomorrow. The brake lines are 'superbike' kits from Norton/Galfer with straight-in fittings to the caliper instead of conventional banjo bolts. It would have been really nice if they came pre-drilled, because it felt like I spent half the evening just very, very carefully drilling them for wire. Not much room for error compared to a conventional banjo bolt head.

 

[mimico_polak]

Went to confirm the snowblower is working in prep for today's snow (maybe finally get a chance to use it!).

For some reason one of the snowblower wheels lost air and the bead broke (stored outside). Bit of a pain but got it fixed with a ratchet strap and air pump.

Pain in the *** but easier than I expected.

 

[Hardwrkr13]

Went to confirm the snowblower is working in prep for today's snow (maybe finally get a chance to use it!).

For some reason one of the snowblower wheels lost air and the bead broke (stored outside). Bit of a pain but got it fixed with a ratchet strap and air pump.

Pain in the *** but easier than I expected.

Geez I’ve used our snowblower at least a dozen times since Christmas. 10cm tonight and another 10+ on Wednesday night coming.

I’ve been puttering in the garage a bunch (especially when the wives get together). We decided to take a few years off from snowmobiling and sold our sleds/trailer/parts/gear. I just wasn’t pumped this year to sled so maybe when we have more time we’ll get back into it. For now the 2 extra garage spaces and less insurance/maintenance is nice.
Sold 4 snow helmets and lotsa extra parts which really freed up space as well.
I’m sure I’ll scroll Marketplace for something to fill up a bay to tinker on.

 

[Mad Mike]

Inspecting my kid's dead mini-van (Found On Road Dead). He had it towed to a mechanic he's used for years, the mechanic came back with "totally worn out engine, 0 compression on 3 cylinders, and 25lbs on another".

The truck ran like a trooper with a full load the day before, it stalled out on the highway. I'm pretty sure the timing chain jumped, he said it was sputtering for a few km on the highway then just quit. Not exactly my favorite repair on a minivan -- thankfully it's a non-interference engine. Lots of time to change the chain, but it's a relatively simple job.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Geez I’ve used our snowblower at least a dozen times since Christmas. 10cm tonight and another 10+ on Wednesday night coming.

After buying my Ryobi electric blower last winter, I think I got to use it twice - once on a snowfall that I could probably have cleared with the leaf blower, and another actual measurable snowfall. This winter however, I've had it out probably 6-8 times, so I'm finally getting some value out of it. It's still performing awesome, I regret nothing at all - even clears the plow windrow at the end of the driveway.

I've got it charging up for Wednesdays event...sounds like it's either going to be 30cm of snow, or 15cm of snow, some freezing rain on top, and then rain. Oh joy.

I actually got out to my garage on Sunday for a few hours while it was sorta half-assed nice out. I soon realized how disorganized and cluttered it's become, I mean, even more so than usual lol. I need to spend some time out there sorting **** out. Again. Last time I had it nicely organized was during the peak of my head injury recovery 2 years ago when I had nothing better to do for a few months and basically just spent a bunch of time accomplishing very little on a day by day basis, but eventually, accomplished a lot collectively. Now it's a mess again.

 

[timtune]

With all this snow my sled is living at a friends (who lives beside the trail) under a cover. All of a sudden my garage does not feel so jammed.

 

[robertv19]

After buying my Ryobi electric blower last winter, I think I got to use it twice - once on a snowfall that I could probably have cleared with the leaf blower, and another actual measurable snowfall. This winter however, I've had it out probably 6-8 times, so I'm finally getting some value out of it. It's still performing awesome, I regret nothing at all - even clears the plow windrow at the end of the driveway.

I've got it charging up for Wednesdays event...sounds like it's either going to be 30cm of snow, or 15cm of snow, some freezing rain on top, and then rain. Oh joy.

I actually got out to my garage on Sunday for a few hours while it was sorta half-assed nice out. I soon realized how disorganized and cluttered it's become, I mean, even more so than usual lol. I need to spend some time out there sorting **** out. Again. Last time I had it nicely organized was during the peak of my head injury recovery 2 years ago when I had nothing better to do for a few months and basically just spent a bunch of time accomplishing very little on a day by day basis, but eventually, accomplished a lot collectively. Now it's a mess again.

Same.
For me, with an attached garage it ends up becoming part storage locker, part fridge overflow.
It is handy for keeping beers cold though.

 

[timtune]

It is handy for keeping beers cold though.

Are we talking unheated garage? Sacre bleu!

 

[ReSTored]

After buying my Ryobi electric blower last winter, I think I got to use it twice - once on a snowfall that I could probably have cleared with the leaf blower, and another actual measurable snowfall. This winter however, I've had it out probably 6-8 times, so I'm finally getting some value out of it. It's still performing awesome, I regret nothing at all - even clears the plow windrow at the end of the driveway.

I have a 40V Ryobi mower, weed whacker and a few other "tool only" things I purchased. I've been impressed with their performance.

What model blower do you have? I've been looking at the 24" one. It comes with four 6.0 Ah batteries and I think you can also buy it as a "tool only" unit. I have a relatively small driveway and was thinking I could use the two 6.0 AH batteries I got with the mower to power the blower.
.

RYOBI 40V HP 24-inch Brushless 2-Stage Electric Snow Blower with (4) 6.0 Ah Batteries and ... | The Home Depot Canada

Take charge this Winter with the RYOBI 40V HP 24-inch Brushless 2-Stage Snow Blower Kit. Combining the convenience of cordless technology with Two independent High Performance Brushless Motors. This provides independent self-propelled speed and auger control delivering 2X more power. Adjust the...

www.homedepot.ca

 

[PrivatePilot]

I don’t think trying to run that beast with a single 6ah will be very successful, I would think you would need two at minimum and even then in a heavy snowfall like we are getting tonight you may have to stop and charge. There is a reason it has slots for four, a big two-stage blower like that is going to use a lot more energy than a single stage.

I have the previous generation of this model.




I run the 6AH it came with and also my lawn mowers 4ah together in it and it works great, has cleared everything I’ve thrown at it including packing snow and even the windrow at the end of the driveway after the plow goes by without dying, although the 4H battery obviously dies first leaving it running on the 6ah, but it works well in the end. I’ve only managed to completely kill the batteries once and that was when I first bought it and cleared our biggest snowfall last year, and then proceeded to go down the sidewalk to see how far I could get – I think I made it six or eight houses away before it finally died, and that was after doing my driveway as well.

 

[Mad Mike]

I don’t think trying to run that beast with a single 6ah will be very successful, I would think you would need two at minimum and even then in a heavy snowfall like we are getting tonight you may have to stop and charge. There is a reason it has slots for four, a big two-stage blower like that is going to use a lot more energy than a single stage.

I have the previous generation of this model.


View attachment 72378

I run the 6AH it came with and also my lawn mowers 4ah together in it and it works great, has cleared everything I’ve thrown at it including packing snow and even the windrow at the end of the driveway after the plow goes by without dying, although the 4H battery obviously dies first leaving it running on the 6ah, but it works well in the end. I’ve only managed to completely kill the batteries once and that was when I first bought it and cleared our biggest snowfall last year, and then proceeded to go down the sidewalk to see how far I could get – I think I made it six or eight houses away before it finally died, and that was after doing my driveway as well.

A couple of my neighbors have them. The power shovels are good, but they are a lot of work. The old fellow next door has a 22" 2-stage Ryobi, on Sunday we blew 4 driveways on 2x8AH batteries and still had juice.

My other neighbour has the 21" pusher type, he can clear 2-3 driveways on 6AH battery, but it's a lot more work and it's not able to cut through the snow furrows left by plows.

I was impressed! My next blower will be electric.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Yeah the manual vs self propelled is a bit more work, but we only have a 2 car driveway plus the section between the street and sidewalk, so it’s perfectly fine. It eats the snow so fast that honestly it’s not even a lot of stress.

The thing I like is that come spring, I fold up the handle, take the batteries out, and hang the whole thing up in the rafters in my garage, so it’s not this big giant lump taking up space all summer in there.

 

[Mad Mike]

Yeah the manual vs self propelled is a bit more work, but we only have a 2 car driveway plus the section between the street and sidewalk, so it’s perfectly fine. It eats the snow so fast that honestly it’s not even a lot of stress.

The thing I like is that come spring, I fold up the handle, take the batteries out, and hang the whole thing up in the rafters in my garage, so it’s not this big giant lump taking up space all summer in there.

I'd be happy with a pusher if I didn't have to deal with the furrow. Our house is on the outside corner of a crescent on a very wide street. If the plow-bastards didn't do this to us each winter, I could use a pusher.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Oof. Yeah, that’s gonna need a bigger blower.

 

[sburns]

One of the few benefits of being the da Hood, they have a second plow to do driveways after the first one blocks it in.
Kinda surprised they are still doing this, but it's nice.

 

[Mad Mike]

One of the few benefits of being the da Hood, they have a second plow to do driveways after the first one blocks it in.
Kinda surprised they are still doing this, but it's nice.

They only do that for registered seniors in my hood. Most of the time they show up the next day, but that time the good samaritans on my street have taken care of business.

 

[GreyGhost]

They only do that for registered seniors in my hood. Most of the time they show up the next day, but that time the good samaritans on my street have taken care of business.

Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough have windrow clearing. I think it is with the little wings on the plow that carry the snow across the driveway. Instead of dump and cleanup the frozen pile later, it never exists. Snowplows have to drive slower though and operator has to be on the ball putting the catch blade up and down at the right time.

It's entertaining to read people complaining. Many truly believe that plow operators target their driveways and intentionally build larger piles for some people.

Edit:
Here's a wheel loader with the anti-windrow blade.

40K views · 54K reactions | They need to make more of these 💯🇨🇦 . Credit ( 📸: tt // ycelkan28) #toronto #torontoontario #northyork #vaughan #scarborough #mississauga #ontario #canada #nmgtoronto #northlytoronto | NMG Toronto

They need to make more of these 💯🇨🇦 . Credit ( 📸: tt // ycelkan28) #toronto #torontoontario #northyork #vaughan #scarborough #mississauga #ontario #canada #nmgtoronto #northlytoronto.

www.facebook.com

 

[timtune]

I'd be happy with a pusher if I didn't have to deal with the furrow. Our house is on the outside corner of a crescent on a very wide street. If the plow-bastards didn't do this to us each winter, I could use a pusher.

View attachment 72379

That's about the height of the pile at the end of my drive. My old shoulders are objecting more and more to tossing it that high.

 

[GreyGhost]

That's about the height of the pile at the end of my drive. My old shoulders are objecting more and more to tossing it that high.

I watched a moron in Barrie yesterday turning into their driveway off a collector road. Piles on the corners of their driveway about 7' tall. Driveway substantially narrowed as piles have grown. They had to drive in carefully to fit through the gap. Of course they drove in forward. When backing out in the morning it will just be gas and pray and everyone on the road (in both directions) will need to stop when they pop out. No excuse ever not to back in to make the best of a bad situation.

 

[timtune]

Does kneeling outside in the snow removing the "Y" pipe from your sled count as "in your garage"??
Wasn't happy to do it but was happy to find that I had guessed right and the sudden louder noise and poor performance on my last run has a simple fix.

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