Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[travelover]

After 16 years of years daily use the top of the alarm fob for my Jeep broke. My fix was to tape an old key to the back so I could put the fob back on my keychain.

Plus if the fob dies, you can open the door with the key.

 

[sengsational]

After 16 years of years daily use the top of the alarm fob for my Jeep broke. My fix was to tape an old key to the back so I could put the fob back on my keychain.

See, you (and a lot of people that post in this thread) will be valuable in the zombie apocalypse since you can make things work without going out and buying a new one.

 

[txtig]

After 16 years of years daily use the top of the alarm fob for my Jeep broke. My fix was to tape an old key to the back so I could put the fob back on my keychain.

I once had this same repair to make for a key fob on one of my vehicles. I mixed up some JB Weld (a two part epoxy cement/filler) and molded a "knob" where the broken part of the fob used to be. Once it cured, I drilled a hole in the hardened epoxy knob and it was as good as new. It was effective, but your idea was a lot simpler / quicker. Great thinking!


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[braumeister]

I mixed up some JB Weld (a two part epoxy cement/filler) and molded a "knob" where the broken part of the fob used to be.

JB Weld is good stuff, but an even simpler method is to use something called Sugru. Pliable glue that you can shape with your fingers and after 24 hours is as hard as plastic. Very handy for so many things.

https://sugru.com

 

[papadad111]

Neighbors up the hill are a nice enough couple. Upper 40s DINKs. He has lots of cool toys although I suspect not much of a mechanic or real DIY guy... .

He had a spare craftsman snow blower that had a bad wheel rim so the tubeless tire bead wouldn't seat. Also he couldn't get it to run except for spraying carb cleaner into the carb. He gave it to me claiming it was "cursed and could never get it running right" .... My kinda challenge ... He Gave it to me for "free".

A 3 dollar golf cart inner tube from Amazon fixed the tire that wouldn't mount to the rim. And a 15 dollar carburetor online replaced the corroded and clogged tecumseh carb that was on there. Literally 2 bolts and 30 mins work for a perfectly good 5 HP/22" wide snow blower.

Of course it was 72 degrees today so it's a long term investment, not to mention his smart strategy that I'll now be obliged to help him quickly clear our partially shared long driveway henceforth at the first flurry of snow .

Hope the "warranty" doesn't run out before we have some snow.

 

[Sunset]

Neighbors up the hill are a nice enough couple. Upper 40s DINKs. He has lots of cool toys although I suspect not much of a mechanic or real DIY guy... .

He had a spare craftsman snow blower that had a bad wheel rim so the tubeless tire bead wouldn't seat. Also he couldn't get it to run except for spraying carb cleaner into the carb. He gave it to me claiming it was "cursed and could never get it running right" .... My kinda challenge ... He Gave it to me for "free".

A 3 dollar golf cart inner tube from Amazon fixed the tire that wouldn't mount to the rim. And a 15 dollar carburetor online replaced the corroded and clogged tecumseh carb that was on there. Literally 2 bolts and 30 mins work for a perfectly good 5 HP/22" wide snow blower.

Of course it was 72 degrees today so it's a long term investment, not to mention his smart strategy that I'll now be obliged to help him quickly clear our partially shared long driveway henceforth at the first flurry of snow .

Hope the "warranty" doesn't run out before we have some snow.

Sweet,
Reminds me of the time I was driving to work and some folks moving into a house were throwing out a snowblower for free because it would not "fit" in the garage with their car.

I took it, it ran fine, used it for years, and sold it for $150 when a relative gave me a newer one because he moved into a condo.

 

[Philliefan33]

This morning I rescued two Adirondack chairs that the neighbors had at the curb for trash pickup. They are in bad shape, but with some new boots and a good paint job they will be put to good use around the fire pit at our mountain house. I'll try to remember to post "before and after" photos when I tackle the job.

 

[Live And Learn]

Isn't it great when we get the opportunity to bring life to discarded items when people don't realize the potential of the item. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

 

[jazz4cash]

Isn't it great when we get the opportunity to bring life to discarded items when people don't realize the potential of the item. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Yes! Our HOA sponsors Dumpster Day 2x per year. The county provides two large (40 ft) dumpsters and the neighbors have them filled by 11am on a Saturday Morning. I volunteer my pickup truck to help relieve Senior Citizens of their "stuff". I always end up bringing stuff home that just needs a cleanup or minor repair. There is a far amount of scavenging too. This time I think we will have a goodwill truck on site for the perfectly good stuff that folks just want to get rid of (I just can't take all of it!).

 

[Philliefan33]

Yes! Our HOA sponsors Dumpster Day 2x per year. The county provides two large (40 ft) dumpsters and the neighbors have them filled by 11am on a Saturday Morning. I volunteer my pickup truck to help relieve Senior Citizens of their "stuff". I always end up bringing stuff home that just needs a cleanup or minor repair. There is a far amount of scavenging too. This time I think we will have a goodwill truck on site for the perfectly good stuff that folks just want to get rid of (I just can't take all of it!).

On my run this morning I saw a dresser and headboard out for the trash. They were not exactly stylish by today's standard, but certainly usable. Someone could probably turn them into "shabby chic" with some milk paint and creativity. It's a shame if they end up in the landfill. I thought about running home to get the pickup truck, retrieving the items, and delivering them to the Thrift Store...but the dresser was much too large for me to lift into the truck bed on my own.

Not only did I trash pick today, but I apparently had my trash picked. I put a sturdy cardboard box on top of our trash can as I went out for my run. (It was a nice box, but DH has a year's supply stashed in the basement already). When I got home, the trash was still there but the box was gone. I guess someone had a need for a sturdy box.

 

[NW-Bound]

Not a repair, but an enhancement to my motorhome. Its water heater runs on propane only. Looking for a place to refill the propane tank can be a chore while traveling, and it is silly to use up the propane when I am plugged into shore power at RV parks with hookup.

There's an aftermarket kit that has an electric element that screws into the drain hole of the heater. Instead of buying the entire kit, I bought just a replacement heater element, and use it with a digital and settable thermostat off eBay. This is the same $12 electronic temperature controller that I have used to make my own sous vide cooker.

While driving, I can also power the water heater with the whole-house 2kW inverter, that runs off the batteries being fed from the alternator. My 225W solar panel is too puny to run this 500W water heater.

PS. I just realized another nice feature provided by this digital temperature controller. Even when I cannot run the electric heater and have to turn on the propane heater, the temperature display is nice to show the temperature of the tank, and to know if it is good for a shower.

 

[Tom52]

Installed new rotors and disc brake pads on the Caddy today. Original set lasted 62,000 miles, probably could have got another 5,000 to 10,000 out of them but I am too lazy to monitor them closely. These should last until I trade it off in 3 years.

 

[jazz4cash]

On my run this morning I saw a dresser and headboard out for the trash. They were not exactly stylish by today's standard, but certainly usable. Someone could probably turn them into "shabby chic" with some milk paint and creativity. It's a shame if they end up in the landfill. I thought about running home to get the pickup truck, retrieving the items, and delivering them to the Thrift Store...but the dresser was much too large for me to lift into the truck bed on my own.

Not to sidetrack the thread, but it really annoys me when I see that because most of the 2nd hand places will pickup re-usable items for no charge.....AND it's deductible.

 

[akck]

On Thursday, I finished putting up a basement bedroom closet ceiling after finding and fixing a leak from the upstairs bathroom. That night, we found the carpet in that bedroom soaked. I figured the water was coming from the boiler room, so Friday, I cleaned it out and figured out the water was coming from the hot water tank. Saturday, my plumber son and I (well, I got things that he needed), changed out the tank and re-did the piping. The new setup is a much cleaner and more artistic layout than the Rube Goldberg layout it was before.

 

[Keim]

Not to sidetrack the thread, but it really annoys me when I see that because most of the 2nd hand places will pickup re-usable items for no charge.....AND it's deductible.

Not around here.

 

[Lucantes]

Not my choice of tile, and not my job to clean it.

 

[Donzo]

The floor in my RV bathroom had "play" in it - I was afraid it was going to end up cracking.
I cut a piece of 1/4" plywood to fit the floor area with bevelled edges. Then used fiberglass resin to adhere to the rough sanded floor, adding several dumbbells to flatten out and get a good attachment.
After a couple days I added 4 layers of fiberglass with resin on top and allowed to dry. Then sanded it nice and flat/smooth and painted with gloss white paint.

The floor is rock solid and looks like new -
I have a lot of camping/traveling planned! Already have been to Death Valley, San Diego and Santa Cruz this year......

 

[calico1597]

We had new garage doors (2) installed last Friday and one of the openers replaced. House is pushing 40 years old, still had the original doors. New ones are insulated, should keep the garage warmer. Also shopping for a new dishwasher. We've been in this house 17 years, it was here when we moved in. The top rack is rusting.

 

[zinger1457]

The shower/bath in the guest bathroom doesn't get used very often. Had some visitors over last week and sure enough the first guest who used the shower informed me there was no hot water coming out of the shower. Confirmed the problem and removed the water valve cover to get access to the inside. Turned the water main off and tried to remove the valve cartridge but it was stuck and wasn't easily coming out. Figured the valve cartridge needed replacing so picked one up at HD, along with a cartridge removal tool. The old cartridge came out easily with the tool and the new one slid in easily with some grease applied. Fixed the problem and the guest were happy.

 

[travelover]

The shower/bath in the guest bathroom doesn't get used very often. Had some visitors over last week and sure enough the first guest who used the shower informed me there was no hot water coming out of the shower........... .

I've got one of those anti scald shower controls and I found that very fine debris would jam it up, as it has two surfaces that rotate counter to one another with a tight clearance.

 

[aja8888]

New brakes on 2003 Jetta:

 

[Keim]

New valve covers and steering wheel on 1976 Monte Carlo.

 

[Tom52]

Today I installed new quick struts on my 2006 Cadillac DTS. Local shop quoted $780 to do the job including front end alignment. I purchased the quick struts online for $262.07 delivered to my house. I have already made an appointment for a front end alignment tomorrow at a cost of $62.35 including tax.

A few hours of my labor saved me about $455 compared to the local shop. Not bad!

 

[travelover]

Today I installed new quick struts on my 2006 Cadillac DTS. Local shop quoted $780 to do the job including front end alignment. I purchased the quick struts online for $262.07 delivered to my house. I have already made an appointment for a front end alignment tomorrow at a cost of $62.35 including tax.

A few hours of my labor saved me about $455 compared to the local shop. Not bad!

I did the Quick Struts on my Escape and it was a very easy job - 5 bolts on each side as I recall. The estimated labor by my local repair shop was a total rip off.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

The shower/bath in the guest bathroom doesn't get used very often. Had some visitors over last week and sure enough the first guest who used the shower informed me there was no hot water coming out of the shower. Confirmed the problem and removed the water valve cover to get access to the inside. Turned the water main off and tried to remove the valve cartridge but it was stuck and wasn't easily coming out. Figured the valve cartridge needed replacing so picked one up at HD, along with a cartridge removal tool. The old cartridge came out easily with the tool and the new one slid in easily with some grease applied. Fixed the problem and the guest were happy.

If you have a Moen shower head they'll send you a new cartridge for free. Some of my Moen faucets are 20 years old now, and I've learned that their lifetime warranty comes in handy.