How'd it go today?

Typical Monday here as well.
Finished a silver maple deadwood and end weight reduction that I started last week ( blew a line and spent till dark cleaning the drive) and then called the county for our flaggers. They supposedly needed a half hour lead time. I gave them an hour. 2&1/2 hours later they showed up. Did three separate jobs for them and at 2:45 they had to leave because they didn’t want overtime. I made a phone call and their boss came out and helped us flag the last job and we were still back by 4. They would’ve been a half hour over. The county boss was not amused but reminded me that their union contract gives them the right to refuse overtime during what they call the summer months. I reminded him that we would’ve been done plenty early if they would’ve showed up when they were supposed to. He’s going to find out where they were for the extra hour and a halfthis morning and my boss is looking to just have a full time flagging crew.
Anyhow. I home with two of the kids while one is at dance class. My dog has decided he likes to dig all of the sudden. He’s managed to put a few ankle breaking traps just off of my back patio:X I guess I’ll fill them in and work on some more training.
 
Typical Monday here as well.
Finished a silver maple deadwood and end weight reduction that I started last week ( blew a line and spent till dark cleaning the drive) and then called the county for our flaggers. They supposedly needed a half hour lead time. I gave them an hour. 2&1/2 hours later they showed up. Did three separate jobs for them and at 2:45 they had to leave because they didn’t want overtime. I made a phone call and their boss came out and helped us flag the last job and we were still back by 4. They would’ve been a half hour over. The county boss was not amused but reminded me that their union contract gives them the right to refuse overtime during what they call the summer months. I reminded him that we would’ve been done plenty early if they would’ve showed up when they were supposed to. He’s going to find out where they were for the extra hour and a halfthis morning and my boss is looking to just have a full time flagging crew.
Anyhow. I home with two of the kids while one is at dance class. My dog has decided he likes to dig all of the sudden. He’s managed to put a few ankle breaking traps just off of my back patio:X I guess I’ll fill them in and work on some more training.

Bury his own sh-t in the hole. He'll never dig there again. ;)
 
Rain.

Wet-erizing.

Bid a job. Organized property firewood shed with help from employee. Getting settled more all the time.
Have 16 poles in my pole barn, at least 16 of them need the bottoms fixed, one at a time.

Drainage work to do, too.




Little surfing, then 5' dbh cedar removal to bid. Over a pushed over fence, and near the deck, but not bad. Fat for the height. Twin top for final 25. Cool reiteration.
Mostly dead from drought and root zone compaction and infrastructure.
 
Owner of an arborist supply company called and is asking me to do trade shows and conferences for him... has a couple new lines; robo-mowers and K-boom trailers.
Could be fun, and a chance to see some of you around the country.
He should be here shortly to talk it through.
 
ouch...rear brakes on my pickup are not gonna be real cheap ($680), but what they want for the brake lines is out of the question...$1400? Think I'll call a few buddies...
 
Both prices sound high to me Dave but I don’t know what all they’re replacing on the rears. For that price it should be rotors calipers and pads. I ordered every brake steel brake line for my Tahoe and changed them myself for $160. Not a pleasant job and it took some time, but for what they wanted I could’ve taken a week off work and still come out ahead.

The year is not over yet. Gotta be able to find something to buy. Or you can gift me something and claim the loss;)
 
Dave that sounds outrageous for the brake lines. I have a roll of brake line and have made up many over the years for my plow truck. In bulk it's cheap like borsch.
 
Both prices sound high to me Dave but I don’t know what all they’re replacing on the rears. For that price it should be rotors calipers and pads. I ordered every brake steel brake line for my Tahoe and changed them myself for $160. Not a pleasant job and it took some time, but for what they wanted I could’ve taken a week off work and still come out ahead.

The year is not over yet. Gotta be able to find something to buy. Or you can gift me something and claim the loss;)

That's very kind of you shamelessly asking. I like your style!



That sound pretty steep for brakes, maybe the guy is backed up with work.
 
For that price it should be rotors calipers and pads.

yes it is. needed fixed bad so gave them the go ahead.

My garage ain't on the cheap side but they've done excellent work for me for a lot of years and gone out of their way for me (opening the shop after hours, etc.) more than once back when I was plowing snow.

The lines can go a while...garage just told me to start saving money 'cause they will need it soon...

Found someone with the knowhow & tools to do the lines for next to nothing...good friends and owezies are a great combination.
 
You made the right call Dave. The brakes are inline for a full replacement IMO. But the brake line quote was out of whack.

:thumbup:
 
The bad thing about rears is they don’t do much of the braking less than 20% if I remember right. One reason they don’t get replaced as often. But they also get forgot about till they no longer work at all. Seems to be a full replacement by that time. Buying bulk line isn’t to bad. Fittings usually cost as much as the line itself. Flaring tools aren’t to pricey either. I’ll have to check but I think the better lines are a copper/ nickle blend. Much more flexible and the salt doesn’t eat them up nearly as quick. I replaced mine with steel but for the price and 10 hours of my time, I’m golden for a few more years. I blew one and broke three more getting it out. Did all 13 or 14 at once. I think the repair shop quoted me around $1400. I’m no expert mechanic, but some things aren’t that hard. Just time consuming and I understand time is money. Sometimes my money is worth more than my time.
 
Jim...'01 Silverado 2500 got about 130k on it

I'm not a mechanic at all, have almost no tools, and no place inside to work on a vehicle...it's just something I've always had hired out since distributors went away...I do remember changing an easy line once years ago...took more efforts to bleed the line than change it... :|:
 
Doing brake lines is easy, but is incredibly frustrating and meticulous work, especially without a lift. I've done several trucks, and you pretty much should just do the entire truck if one rusted out, because the others are right behind it.
 
I personally would just use standard steel lines, the old ones went 17 years before needing to be swapped, and will you still be running the same truck in another 17 years?
 
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