pboehmer.com

2014.06.30

Here we are again, its the end of June and much has been seen and done, but nothing put on the website, so I guess apologies are in order. I'm going to do something different and instead of making one huge post, I'm going to backdate some posts to make it easier to follow. Quick summary; Nothing new done with the garage, new front seat covers put on the 300, went to France for 15 days and had a blast with the family. We can now continue with our regularly programed material. Now you're caught up since the 5/14 post.

2014.06.24

Just got back from a fifteen day vacation with the extended family in France courtesy of my wife's parents who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. We spent four days in Paris seeing the sites, then off to the small town of Thouarce in the heart of wine country where we spent four days in the Chateau De La Chance that was built in 1576. After that we proceeded north to Caan and spent four days visiting various WWII sites and then the wife, daughter, and I split from the group on the last three days and went to Euro-Disney. The weather was spectacular and I really had a great time. The wife and I took over 1300 pictures, but I'll spare you and give you a couple:

2014.06.03

Finally got tired patching the cracking driver's seat in the 300 and broke down and purchased a new set of covers from LeatherSeats.com. The OEM seats have leather centers with vinyl bolsters while the new set have full leather seating surface with vinyl backs and sides. I managed to get a perfect color match with my existing OEM seats, but the stitching is different enough that I had to replace both front seats since the OEM has are two panel sections while the Leather Seats is a four panel. Over the course of a week, I removed both seats from the car and stripped/replaced the covers and reinstalled the seats. Total job time was about 2 � hours. Also gained a new tool, hog ring pliers.

2014.05.14

Time flies when you're having fun, at least that's what they say. The tuneup for the Chrysler is all complete with no new surprises. I still need to replace a couple of stripped bolts and thanks to Harbor Freight, I have a new 60 piece tap and die set to do the job. In addition to the tuneup, I snagged new seat covers for the 300. Kinda stinks that I had to purchase a full set when all I really needed was the driver's seat. The reason for this is that the new covers, while the same color, have a slightly different panel pattern. I'm hoping for a rainy weekend day to start replacing the seats.

The garage work has resumed and is currently 40% complete. Still working on some light mudding, sanding, and priming on the ceilings and a tricky spot by the family room stairs. I also need to start painting the used cabinets before mounting them. I'm jonesing to get this thing done.

Its that time of year here at work where I am starting to do tower site maintenance or PMs. I try to do the site PMs at least twice a year, but with 30 some odd sites spread over 3 counties, its a little time consuming. Not too mention, between the driving between sites and to/from work, I'm pretty much exhausted when I get home. I have a tower decommission in two weeks and at least one other tower climb next week. Yay!

2014.04.25

I just about wrapped up the 200k tune up on the 300. This past weekend I did the spark plugs and EGR valve which when surprisingly smooth despite the amount of complaints on various Chrysler forums about how inaccessible the EGR is (its on the backside of the engine, so basically you have to lay on top of the engine). My saving grace and new favorite tool was this Stanley 3/8in socket with a rotating handle. Perfect for tight spaces. This coming weekend is the last part, transmission filter and fluid.

Since I was off on Friday, I also spent some time working on the wife's car replacing the brakes. This was not as easy as I envisioned. For the life of me, I could not get the rotors separated from the axle. To me, it looked like the rotor and axle hub are one component, but several searches (and the rotors I purchased) say they are separate parts. I beat the living @#$ out of them, tried using a puller, and even resorted to using my Dremel to grind a bit to see some kind of indication that I can remove the rotors without having to remove the axle nut. After a couple of hours, I gave up, and just ended up replacing the pads. They were well worn down, while the existing rotors still had more than enough beef on them. I'll have to take the car down to a brake place and see I can get the rotors �broken� off.

Work on the garage as slowed down to a crawl due to various distractions, obligations, and of course, holidays. With spring here, it seems that I am mowing the grass twice a week. Initial plan this weekend after the transmission work is to get all the walls sanded and primed.