Backyard DIY Blog

My garage is like most. It gets used for many different things. In the first part of December my sons recent purchase had to have some work on it (immediate attention). His dodge cummins (99) lost 5th gear. We spent most of the Saturday replacing the retainer nut on the 5th. gear shaft on the transmission. Had to remove the transfer case for the four wheel drive unit. Something these 5 speed transmissions are notorious for. You don't know about these things, until after they break down. This is not something I wanted to do. I visited one of my friends in the diesel repair business to ask him about the process. He was nice enough to lend me his $300.00 tool for replacing the nut.(split nut)
January 6&7
Also my dodge (90) 582,000 miles was needing attention to the back brakes. something I had been procrastinating on for the last couple of years. If you have a 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive you know what I mean. Floating axle, nothing like a 1/2 ton. All the years of abuse had taken its toll. But here is the neat thing. I had my grandson, who came over for the evening help me bleed the brakes. (new brake cylinders) He had gotten a model for christmas. Putting it together gave him a little bit of interest in my garage. I was glad to see him showing an interest, from the questions he was asking. Maybe there's hope here. He wants know more about engines and wants to help me in a tear down and rebuild. (Who knows?)