Cars: You Can't Live With Them, and You Can't Live Without Them!

     The exhaust flexpipe on the Dodge Journey has been leaking and getting louder and louder. I put it up on ramps two weeks ago and looked at it, then wrapped it in sheet aluminum and clamped it in place with 3 inch screw clamps. I called a local Dodge dealer and they had me bring it up to get an estimate (I would have done the work myself except everything is shoehorned into place in these vehicles today and I don't have a lift. When I first started working on cars in the 1960's you could sit next to the engine while someone drove the car and make adjustments. Now you have to be a midget contortionist to change a spark plug!). It was sort of an indefinite estimate, depending on how long it took, but I had no choice so went with it, then did some preliminary work myself to shorten the time it would take, breaking off the rusted out bolts on the "crossunder pipe", slotting the flanges so I could pound out the nutserts with a hammer and punch, then replacing them with stainless bolts, nuts, and washers. 

     Thursday I took it up and asked them to inspect it as well. It is due for registration renewal, and even though the State hasn't been enforcing inspections I figured (rightly as it turned out), that I wouldn't be able to renew the registration unless it was inspected. So I sat in the customer lounge watching "American Pickers", resigning myself to being there for at least the morning. The exhaust work, however, didn't take nearly as long as they had told me to expect. It also passed inspection, EXCEPT it needed new tie rod ends, a ball joint, and an alignment. The price of that was steep (for me), so I decided to do the same thing. Took it home with no inspection sticker, getting the parts on the way, and spent Friday afternoon and much of the day today changing the tie rod ends and ball joint. The tie rod ends were easy, the ball joint was not. However, the Lord provided - everything came apart easily except the joint itself. I have a press, but the knuckle was designed so I couldn't use it - ended up using the vise and a big hammer to slam the old joint out, then tapped the new one in with a punch, slowly tapping it around the edge until it was seated. Getting the new snap ring on it, which should have been simple,  was even more difficult.

     It definitely did need the parts replaced. I got fooled this time, thinking the noise was an upper strut bearing.

     After torquing everything up, I took it for a 3 or 4 mile drive and everything worked well, except the steering wheel was a bit off line.

     I was so exhausted afterwards I fell asleep for a couple of hours. It is getting increasingly difficult to own an automobile and keep it running. I no longer think cars are fun to work on. I am not sure how many folks manage it, without the skills and tools to do the work themselves or the income to pay others to do it. Increasingly tight emissions inspections have also raised the costs sky high. But there is no way outside of cities that you can live without an automobile in America.

     Tomorrow morning I will call back and should be able to get my inspection sticker and get it aligned this week. One more thing off the checklist. Now the lawn needs mowing again. Never had to mow after the last week of September in years past - last year I had to mow in early November!