Thursday, October 27, 2016
Thursday, September 15, 2016
To the Flint Pastor who interrupted Trump
You invited a Presidential candidate in the midst of a campaign to speak at your church and you expected a non-political speech? Really?
I bet you wouldn't have interrupted if it was Obama speaking at your church. Or Hillary. Or Shotgun Joe Biden.
To all the "conservative" pundits...
I keep hearing you talking up Trump and decrying Obamacare (you're right) saying we have to repeal it (so far so good). But in the next breath you say "and replace it".
Now to an actual conservative like me there is a big unstated finish to that sentence that says "with another government healthcare program that we republicans made up." And to any real conservative that would be anathema.
How about this: replace it with NOTHING. The problem with healthcare is too much government meddling and any new program from the government is another opportunity for waste, fraud, abuse, bureaucracy and mismanagement (in short, the VA) which is exactly what we don't need.
If you want to talk tort reform and getting rid of frivolous lawsuits I'm all ears. If you want to talk about ways to get the government out of the way of creativity and innovation in this sector I'll join right in. But if you want Trumpcare or Republicare instead of Obamacare, you are no better than the cabal that brought that monstrous thing to us in the first place.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Second Shift means never having a normal life
I have been working a second shift job all summer (one reason why I haven't posted here at all), and I can truly say I have no life any more. I leave at 3pm, don't get back until 2am, and I get up around 10am. Often there is no one here since everyone else's life is still on a day shift schedule and they are going to work or school or something.
It feels like my life is work, sleep, eat, repeat. And sometimes cut the grass.
It feels like my life is work, sleep, eat, repeat. And sometimes cut the grass.
Sunday, May 01, 2016
Detroit Schools Insolvency
Just some questions to stimulate thought about DPS and public schools in general:
1. Does anyone believe that Michigan taxpayers are not going to be on the hook for the financial mess that is DPS, just like we were for the City of Detroit?
2. With all the other school districts reported to be in distress in the state, does anyone think that DPS is the end of this problem? Or only the beginning?
3. Does this looming crisis cause you to think that the way school districts are financed and run needs to change? Or even more radically, should the way we organize and deliver education change?
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Snyder becomes a performing clown
The water situation in Flint has devolved into a theater of the absurd, with Rick Snyder becoming the lead marionette. And all his political enemies are pulling the strings.
In some respects, Snyder's handling of the whole problem has been inept, and yet, no one person can have complete knowledge in all areas of responsibility a governor has. He must rely on and defer to subordinates who are either experts or more immersed in the area than he is. So while he can be given a bit of a pass for doing what every other executive does on a daily basis, it is also his responsibility to select those subordinates carefully, lest they cause him major pain - as his selections have done in this case.
Now, in an effort to appear sympathetic, he has become pathetic. Yesterday, in a much publicized trip to a home in Flint that had previously been tested with "near toxic levels of lead and copper" according to the TV news story I saw this morning, the governor shared a glass of water with the homeowners from their tap fitted with one of the filters the State has provided, and took home five gallons of that same tap water to drink and cook with for the next few days. Many Flint-ites have been calling for him to do this, and mocking him for not doing it.
So, after giving in to these whiners and doing what they wanted him to do, all he has accomplished is to embolden them even further. Now, not only do they want him to drink their water, they think he should now move to Flint. Leading this charge is Flint's increasingly hostile mayor, Karen Weaver. She smells blood in the water (so to speak) and she is milking this situation for all it's worth to advance her political standing with the marxist socialist racist party.
Governor Snyder, these little made for TV visits show your weakness, not your strength. If you continue, you will not be able to do what needs to be done legislatively to address these problems as you will have become a laughingstock, not a leader. Look Karen Weaver and her handlers squarely in the eye and tell her you are through playing their little game, and they are either in with you to fix the problems, or on the outside being obstructionist, and whichever way they choose, that is how your office will be portraying Ms. Weaver.
In some respects, Snyder's handling of the whole problem has been inept, and yet, no one person can have complete knowledge in all areas of responsibility a governor has. He must rely on and defer to subordinates who are either experts or more immersed in the area than he is. So while he can be given a bit of a pass for doing what every other executive does on a daily basis, it is also his responsibility to select those subordinates carefully, lest they cause him major pain - as his selections have done in this case.
Now, in an effort to appear sympathetic, he has become pathetic. Yesterday, in a much publicized trip to a home in Flint that had previously been tested with "near toxic levels of lead and copper" according to the TV news story I saw this morning, the governor shared a glass of water with the homeowners from their tap fitted with one of the filters the State has provided, and took home five gallons of that same tap water to drink and cook with for the next few days. Many Flint-ites have been calling for him to do this, and mocking him for not doing it.
So, after giving in to these whiners and doing what they wanted him to do, all he has accomplished is to embolden them even further. Now, not only do they want him to drink their water, they think he should now move to Flint. Leading this charge is Flint's increasingly hostile mayor, Karen Weaver. She smells blood in the water (so to speak) and she is milking this situation for all it's worth to advance her political standing with the marxist socialist racist party.
Governor Snyder, these little made for TV visits show your weakness, not your strength. If you continue, you will not be able to do what needs to be done legislatively to address these problems as you will have become a laughingstock, not a leader. Look Karen Weaver and her handlers squarely in the eye and tell her you are through playing their little game, and they are either in with you to fix the problems, or on the outside being obstructionist, and whichever way they choose, that is how your office will be portraying Ms. Weaver.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Unauthorized Areas Tour of USS Iowa
Thursday, March 24, 2016
The Natural Enemy of the Do-It-Yourself Mechanic
Tonight I completed what has to have been the single worst car repair I have ever attempted: replacing ball joints on my wife's vehicle - a 2002 Nissan XTerra. I was reminded again of the natural enemy of automobiles and those who fix them: RUST. Exacerbated of course by all the salt we use on our roads here in MI in the wintertime.
The rust I found on this truck (and it's truly a truck - it's the SUV version of the Nissan Frontier pickup) was just incredible - in some cases impervious to the heat I applied to get rusty nuts off rusty studs, not to mention impact wrenches and breaker bars. I ended up cutting one nut off, as it was spinning the whole ball joint in its hole. Crazy! It added many hours of work to this task.
I started this project on Saturday morning, and didn't finish it until about 7:30pm tonight (Thursday) what a colossal pain! However, it was completed successfully, and now my wife won't be embarrassed by the rusty hinge sound the old joints made when you turned the wheel or went over bumps. Or shifted too much in your seat. Plus it really isn't safe to keep running with worn out ball joints. So embarrassment yes, but also safety concerns addressed.
It should also be mentioned that it took all that time just to do one side! I bought parts to do both sides (thanks RockAuto.com!), but I'm not doing the other side until the weather warms up - that 35 degree damp with a north wind blowing into the garage that I dealt with yesterday was nasty! It made the concrete I was sitting on even colder!
Special thanks to my Dad, who rescued me on several occasions during all this. He was here helping me with this project every day I worked on it, sitting in that cold garage with me, bouncing ideas around and driving me to Harbor Freight, several auto parts stores, and Tractor Supply when our other car was needed elsewhere. I couldn't have done it without him.
The rust I found on this truck (and it's truly a truck - it's the SUV version of the Nissan Frontier pickup) was just incredible - in some cases impervious to the heat I applied to get rusty nuts off rusty studs, not to mention impact wrenches and breaker bars. I ended up cutting one nut off, as it was spinning the whole ball joint in its hole. Crazy! It added many hours of work to this task.
I started this project on Saturday morning, and didn't finish it until about 7:30pm tonight (Thursday) what a colossal pain! However, it was completed successfully, and now my wife won't be embarrassed by the rusty hinge sound the old joints made when you turned the wheel or went over bumps. Or shifted too much in your seat. Plus it really isn't safe to keep running with worn out ball joints. So embarrassment yes, but also safety concerns addressed.
It should also be mentioned that it took all that time just to do one side! I bought parts to do both sides (thanks RockAuto.com!), but I'm not doing the other side until the weather warms up - that 35 degree damp with a north wind blowing into the garage that I dealt with yesterday was nasty! It made the concrete I was sitting on even colder!
Special thanks to my Dad, who rescued me on several occasions during all this. He was here helping me with this project every day I worked on it, sitting in that cold garage with me, bouncing ideas around and driving me to Harbor Freight, several auto parts stores, and Tractor Supply when our other car was needed elsewhere. I couldn't have done it without him.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Hoping for a little consistency from the Michigan Senate
State Senator Virgil Smith (D-Detroit) has been convicted of assault and sentenced to 10 months in jail and 5 years probation for shooting up his ex-wife's car with his rifle after she caught him in a compromising situation with a female.
There is apparently some question as to whether Sen. Smith will resign or be expelled. The good Senator has offered to resign as a part of his plea deal, but the judge rejected that part of the deal because he can't enforce it.
If Senator Smith doesn't resign, it seems to me that in order to maintain the high level of moral outrage displayed over the cases of Representatives Courser and Gamrat, the Senate should immediately expel Senator Smith.
Not defending Courser and Gamrat, but the House didn't even wait for them to be tried and convicted before expelling them. Seems like the Senate is a little behind the indignation curve on this one.
There is apparently some question as to whether Sen. Smith will resign or be expelled. The good Senator has offered to resign as a part of his plea deal, but the judge rejected that part of the deal because he can't enforce it.
If Senator Smith doesn't resign, it seems to me that in order to maintain the high level of moral outrage displayed over the cases of Representatives Courser and Gamrat, the Senate should immediately expel Senator Smith.
Not defending Courser and Gamrat, but the House didn't even wait for them to be tried and convicted before expelling them. Seems like the Senate is a little behind the indignation curve on this one.
Monday, March 07, 2016
Sunday, March 06, 2016
Granholm: Snyder should move to Flint
In today's Detroit News: (full Article)
So go crawl back into your leftist utopian stinkhole at UC-Berkeley where you came from. Nobody in this state needs any advice from you.
Gov. Rick Snyder should buy a Flint home with water service from a lead pipeline and take up residency in the city until all of Flint’s lead-leaching pipes are replaced, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Saturday.First of all Jenny, it was your tolerance of the corrupt leadership in Detroit and Flint that led to this crisis in the first place. If you would have put aside party loyalty and taken Dennis Archer, Dave Bing, and Kwame Kilpatrick to task for their mismanagement of the Detroit Water and Sewer Department, Flint wouldn't have been so eager to disconnect. It was the outrageous water rates they were paying because of all the graft and corruption that was going on in Detroit that set the stage for all of this, and that points right at you, madam ex-Governor.
“I think who’s ever going to fix this problem should move to Flint and live in one of those houses so that they can understand the urgency with which the citizens of Flint are operating, that they feel it so deeply because every single day they have to deal with water that has been poisoned,” Granholm said in a telephone interview with The Detroit News.
So go crawl back into your leftist utopian stinkhole at UC-Berkeley where you came from. Nobody in this state needs any advice from you.
Saturday, March 05, 2016
Establishment Republicans planning ways to steal their Party's nomination
Apparently the Republican establishment in Washington is beginning to realize that Donald Trump is not going away, and his promises to upset their applecarts have a very good chance of becoming reality. So they are plotting ways to oust Trump by parliamentary maneuvering, even if he has the requisite number of delegates to secure the Republican nomination for President.
I realize I'm just one little occasional blogger out here on the internet, and my voice doesn't carry very far, but if this were to happen, I would renounce every and all Republicans, and vote for Trump and the third party he would undoubtedly form to make his run for President.
I should note at this point that I am not a Trump supporter, I'm pretty much in the Cruz camp (with some disagreements)
For too long we conservatives have had these mealy-mouthed, platitude spewing invertebrates shoved down our throats (see McCain, John; Romney, Mitt; Dole, Robert; and yes, Bush, George W). And we have been told that if we didn't vote for them we were really voting to elect the Democrat, and we had to be loyal.
But now, the shoe is likely to be on the other foot. The establishment hates Trump and they hate Cruz as well, and they done their utmost to get one of theirs elected (Jeb, Kasich, Graham, Rubio, Huckabee, etc.) and they have all been rejected by the voters, and all but two have dropped out. Those two have between them won one state primary and have less then half the delegates Trump and Cruz have earned. So it looks like a guy the establishment doesn't like is going to be nominated, and they aren't going to support him, they aren't going to unify behind him for the sake of the party and the country, and they aren't going to vote for him. Even though that is exactly what they have asked we conservatives to do for the last eight election cycles.
So to all you establishment types out there who think Ryan/Boehner/McConnell/Preibus/Romney (and I'll add Saul Anuzis for my Michigan readers) wing of the party are great guys and can put together a campaign that will drub Hillary, let me tell you something: For too long you guys have been putting up losers against weak democrat candidates who you should have blown out of the water. It's time for you to suck it up and support the choice of your party's voters this time around, whoever that may be. Otherwise you will destroy whatever you think it is you have.
I realize I'm just one little occasional blogger out here on the internet, and my voice doesn't carry very far, but if this were to happen, I would renounce every and all Republicans, and vote for Trump and the third party he would undoubtedly form to make his run for President.
I should note at this point that I am not a Trump supporter, I'm pretty much in the Cruz camp (with some disagreements)
For too long we conservatives have had these mealy-mouthed, platitude spewing invertebrates shoved down our throats (see McCain, John; Romney, Mitt; Dole, Robert; and yes, Bush, George W). And we have been told that if we didn't vote for them we were really voting to elect the Democrat, and we had to be loyal.
But now, the shoe is likely to be on the other foot. The establishment hates Trump and they hate Cruz as well, and they done their utmost to get one of theirs elected (Jeb, Kasich, Graham, Rubio, Huckabee, etc.) and they have all been rejected by the voters, and all but two have dropped out. Those two have between them won one state primary and have less then half the delegates Trump and Cruz have earned. So it looks like a guy the establishment doesn't like is going to be nominated, and they aren't going to support him, they aren't going to unify behind him for the sake of the party and the country, and they aren't going to vote for him. Even though that is exactly what they have asked we conservatives to do for the last eight election cycles.
So to all you establishment types out there who think Ryan/Boehner/McConnell/Preibus/Romney (and I'll add Saul Anuzis for my Michigan readers) wing of the party are great guys and can put together a campaign that will drub Hillary, let me tell you something: For too long you guys have been putting up losers against weak democrat candidates who you should have blown out of the water. It's time for you to suck it up and support the choice of your party's voters this time around, whoever that may be. Otherwise you will destroy whatever you think it is you have.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
First ever NASCAR post
I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever posted about NASCAR, or any kind of racing for that matter, in this blog.
I used to love watching racing. I particularly enjoyed Formula 1 and Indy-car stuff (before CART came along). NASCAR was a distant third for me, although I always rooted for Richard Petty and Darrel Waltrip when I did watch. I enjoyed the road courses more than the ovals, and I liked Mario Andretti and Rick Mears.
I know I'm dating myself big-time, but I loved watching Andretti duking it out with Nikki Lauda, Jody Sheckter, Gilles Villneuve, James Hunt, and a bunch of others. Loved that black JPS Lotus. In those days it seemed like it was a hunt for innovation to give yourself an edge over everyone else, whether it was aerodynamics. or some engine innovation that gave you more power - whatever it took to get you onto the podium or into the winners circle.
Which leads me to my real point today - what we have in racing is all about sameness. Bodys, wings, spoilers, height, weight, width, length - everything is the same and there is no innovation. So what we get is what we saw last weekend at the Daytona 500 - hours of staying in the draft because if you get out of it you lose about 25 positions. So it's nose to tail lap after lap unless someone cuts a tire or gets too loose in a turn. Then its a mad scramble to get in and out of the pits and pick up "track position".
I watched the whole race, all the while thinking "it has to get better sometime soon", but it was just a yawner. I think I prefer the short track NASCAR races where aerodynamics take a back seat to power and skill and, well, RACING.
So give me the old days of racing, not the genericized, uniformed, sameness of today's version
I used to love watching racing. I particularly enjoyed Formula 1 and Indy-car stuff (before CART came along). NASCAR was a distant third for me, although I always rooted for Richard Petty and Darrel Waltrip when I did watch. I enjoyed the road courses more than the ovals, and I liked Mario Andretti and Rick Mears.
I know I'm dating myself big-time, but I loved watching Andretti duking it out with Nikki Lauda, Jody Sheckter, Gilles Villneuve, James Hunt, and a bunch of others. Loved that black JPS Lotus. In those days it seemed like it was a hunt for innovation to give yourself an edge over everyone else, whether it was aerodynamics. or some engine innovation that gave you more power - whatever it took to get you onto the podium or into the winners circle.
Which leads me to my real point today - what we have in racing is all about sameness. Bodys, wings, spoilers, height, weight, width, length - everything is the same and there is no innovation. So what we get is what we saw last weekend at the Daytona 500 - hours of staying in the draft because if you get out of it you lose about 25 positions. So it's nose to tail lap after lap unless someone cuts a tire or gets too loose in a turn. Then its a mad scramble to get in and out of the pits and pick up "track position".
I watched the whole race, all the while thinking "it has to get better sometime soon", but it was just a yawner. I think I prefer the short track NASCAR races where aerodynamics take a back seat to power and skill and, well, RACING.
So give me the old days of racing, not the genericized, uniformed, sameness of today's version
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Who is this guy?
As a public service to my young readers, I am here to introduce you to the greatest president of this century - Ronald Reagan. Here are a couple of examples. They describe the state of things 30, 40, even 50 years ago, yet they sound strangely familiar today.
First, "A Time for Choosing"
Next - dealing with stupid questions: (debate vs. Walter Mondale)
And finally - his farewell address at the end of his Presidency
It will take you about an hour to go through these and get a sense of the man. I would then encourage you to visit Youtube and watch others - like his speech at the D-Day memorial in Normandy. Or his challenge to Gorbachev in Berlin to "tear down this wall".
A great man - certainly with flaws - but ten times the president of any of them since.
Thursday, February 04, 2016
Cruz v. Carson
I don't mean to be cruel, Dr. Carson, but if you didn't realize politics was going to be a nasty business, you shouldn't have gotten in the race.
I'm not condoning what happened, but seriously - if you are whining about Ted Cruz (or one of his people) pulling a dirty trick on you, what are you going to do when Vlad Putin pulls a fast one on you? Or the mullahs of Iran? If you want to be President of the United States, you've got to have more emotional fortitude than what you're showing right now. So no more of this "I'm going to get you, Ted" stuff. If you're going to stay in the race, put on your big boy pants and get after it. No more whining!
I'm not condoning what happened, but seriously - if you are whining about Ted Cruz (or one of his people) pulling a dirty trick on you, what are you going to do when Vlad Putin pulls a fast one on you? Or the mullahs of Iran? If you want to be President of the United States, you've got to have more emotional fortitude than what you're showing right now. So no more of this "I'm going to get you, Ted" stuff. If you're going to stay in the race, put on your big boy pants and get after it. No more whining!
Hanging on by a thread
So last night everyone was out of the house except me, when I get a call from my wife: "This car is making funny noises, and the steering wheel is vibrating. I'm on my way home." She was only a couple of miles away, but I could hear a very serious clunking over the phone that wasn't there the night before when I drove it. She said she was going to pull over and call our daughter, who was at an event on the south end of town, and probably 25 minutes away, to come and get her.
Of course, I can't do anything because I don't have a vehicle to get to her, so I'm feeling pretty helpless, wondering how to get her and the car home in one piece.
Shortly after, I heard the garage door go up, and it's my wife pulling into the driveway. I hustle out as she makes the turn, and I can see the car swaying left and right when she hits the end of the driveway. I had her park in the driveway and got my flashlight to do a walkaround. She told me she had driven 10 MPH from the time she hung up with me, ran every stop sign, and put as little stress on the car as possible.
So I started looking things over and everything looked normal until I got to the right front. I could see the wheel was at a strange angle, and when I looked closer I saw that four of the five lugnuts were gone! Holy crap, Batman!
Grabbing my floor jack and jack stands, I got the car up and on the stands to take the pressure off that wheel, and turned the last lugnut to get the tire off. It took about one and a half turns before it came off - literally hanging by that last little bit of that last thread.
It looked like two of the studs on the wheel hub were broken, and two more were bent and chewed up a bit. At that point I knew I would be replacing studs on that wheel hub today. So I went in and called my Dad, as he had an air hammer, which I knew I would need to get the old studs out and to drive the new ones in. He agreed to come over and help me today.
Well, he showed up today not only with his air hammer, but his air compressor, which has a lot higher capacity than mine! That was a good thing - I'm not sure if my little compressor would have been able to keep up.
Oh - and to make matters worse, it snowed about an inch by the time he got here today! That got me to thinking. If I could get the spare (a full sized spare, thank you God) on there with just a couple of lugnuts to traverse the 20 feet or so into my garage, it would be a whole lot more comfortable working on it. The remaining lugnuts needed to have their threads chased, but looked like they would hold up for those few feet, but neither of us had the right die to do it with so our first order of business was to go pick up a 12x1.5 die. Threads chased, lugnut borrowed from the other wheel, spare mounted, and car pulled into the garage! Hooray!
I'm very thankful for YouTube, and for the "Eric the Car Guy" channel in particular which I watch a lot, as I was able to watch lots of good instructional videos on how to deal with these studs, and potentially a hub and bearing job if the holes in the hub were messed up too. I had to take of the brake caliper assembly and the brake rotor to get access to the hub. The air hammer then whacked those old studs out and pressed those new ones in like nobody's business. Reattach brake rotor, studs line up with the holes - a good sign! Reattach brake caliper assembly. Take brake caliper assembly off because you put a twist in the brake line - doh! Untwist and re-reattach brake caliper assembly. Mount spare tire with the new lugnuts you got when you picked up the new wheel studs. Then off for a test drive. Everything seems to be normal. No odd vibrations, no odd noises, no pulling the steering wheel one way or the other. I think this one is a success! Whew!
I still shudder to think, however, that we were only a couple of turns away from a real expensive disaster, but I think divine providence can be credited here for not only keeping that last lugnut intact, but giving my wife the presence of mind to drive as calmly and with as little stress on that wheel as possible, in order to get it home. Very, very grateful for that intervention, Father!
Also grateful to my Dad, who helped me out with time and tools, as well as his credit card. Thanks Dad!
For those of you wondering why I put the spare on, well, those steel lugnut threads acted like big ol' rasps on the aluminum wheel as it was flopping around, making the holes very oblong, rather than round like they are supposed to be. So that is the next thing to deal with, but I can take my time and find a good deal on a matching wheel of those holes can't be fixed.
The other big question in our minds was - why all of a sudden did this happen? She had driven to MSU in the morning for an interview and it seemed fine to her then. She had driven to meet a friend for coffee last night and thought it was squirrely on the way over, but on the way home - wow, what a problem! Was it vandals? Overtorqued lugnuts? Undertorqued lugnuts? It's been two or three months since that wheel was last off, when I did a brake job, so you would think that the problem would have shown itself sooner if I didn't tighten those up well enough then. Curious.
Of course, I can't do anything because I don't have a vehicle to get to her, so I'm feeling pretty helpless, wondering how to get her and the car home in one piece.
Shortly after, I heard the garage door go up, and it's my wife pulling into the driveway. I hustle out as she makes the turn, and I can see the car swaying left and right when she hits the end of the driveway. I had her park in the driveway and got my flashlight to do a walkaround. She told me she had driven 10 MPH from the time she hung up with me, ran every stop sign, and put as little stress on the car as possible.
So I started looking things over and everything looked normal until I got to the right front. I could see the wheel was at a strange angle, and when I looked closer I saw that four of the five lugnuts were gone! Holy crap, Batman!
Grabbing my floor jack and jack stands, I got the car up and on the stands to take the pressure off that wheel, and turned the last lugnut to get the tire off. It took about one and a half turns before it came off - literally hanging by that last little bit of that last thread.
It looked like two of the studs on the wheel hub were broken, and two more were bent and chewed up a bit. At that point I knew I would be replacing studs on that wheel hub today. So I went in and called my Dad, as he had an air hammer, which I knew I would need to get the old studs out and to drive the new ones in. He agreed to come over and help me today.
Well, he showed up today not only with his air hammer, but his air compressor, which has a lot higher capacity than mine! That was a good thing - I'm not sure if my little compressor would have been able to keep up.
Oh - and to make matters worse, it snowed about an inch by the time he got here today! That got me to thinking. If I could get the spare (a full sized spare, thank you God) on there with just a couple of lugnuts to traverse the 20 feet or so into my garage, it would be a whole lot more comfortable working on it. The remaining lugnuts needed to have their threads chased, but looked like they would hold up for those few feet, but neither of us had the right die to do it with so our first order of business was to go pick up a 12x1.5 die. Threads chased, lugnut borrowed from the other wheel, spare mounted, and car pulled into the garage! Hooray!
I'm very thankful for YouTube, and for the "Eric the Car Guy" channel in particular which I watch a lot, as I was able to watch lots of good instructional videos on how to deal with these studs, and potentially a hub and bearing job if the holes in the hub were messed up too. I had to take of the brake caliper assembly and the brake rotor to get access to the hub. The air hammer then whacked those old studs out and pressed those new ones in like nobody's business. Reattach brake rotor, studs line up with the holes - a good sign! Reattach brake caliper assembly. Take brake caliper assembly off because you put a twist in the brake line - doh! Untwist and re-reattach brake caliper assembly. Mount spare tire with the new lugnuts you got when you picked up the new wheel studs. Then off for a test drive. Everything seems to be normal. No odd vibrations, no odd noises, no pulling the steering wheel one way or the other. I think this one is a success! Whew!
I still shudder to think, however, that we were only a couple of turns away from a real expensive disaster, but I think divine providence can be credited here for not only keeping that last lugnut intact, but giving my wife the presence of mind to drive as calmly and with as little stress on that wheel as possible, in order to get it home. Very, very grateful for that intervention, Father!
Also grateful to my Dad, who helped me out with time and tools, as well as his credit card. Thanks Dad!
For those of you wondering why I put the spare on, well, those steel lugnut threads acted like big ol' rasps on the aluminum wheel as it was flopping around, making the holes very oblong, rather than round like they are supposed to be. So that is the next thing to deal with, but I can take my time and find a good deal on a matching wheel of those holes can't be fixed.
The other big question in our minds was - why all of a sudden did this happen? She had driven to MSU in the morning for an interview and it seemed fine to her then. She had driven to meet a friend for coffee last night and thought it was squirrely on the way over, but on the way home - wow, what a problem! Was it vandals? Overtorqued lugnuts? Undertorqued lugnuts? It's been two or three months since that wheel was last off, when I did a brake job, so you would think that the problem would have shown itself sooner if I didn't tighten those up well enough then. Curious.
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