Truck Maintenance

My Dad can do anything.

I'm not even exaggerating.

So when the oil change place told me I needed new shocks and that they charge $500 - 550, I thought hmmmm. Let me talk to mi Padre. Oil change guy also told me I needed new brakes, a transmission flush, and certain other things, but I decided I would just bug my Dad about the brakes and shocks.

So on Saturday I drove to my parents' house and got dirty.

The front of my truck has rotor brakes and the back has drum.

Drum brakes are of the devil.

This isn't what my disc brakes look like. My hands were covered in grease so I wasn't taking any photos. This is some other poor person's brakes. Do you see the million little springs and such? Do you know what a pain that is taking that apart, remembering where everything goes, and then trying to put it back on? There's also a metal piece you have to disconnect from the old shoe that requires prying off a horseshoe clip (quite tricky) and the re-attaching the metal piece correctly to the new shoe. Luckily, my Dad can do anything.

My Mom took this photo and posted it on FB. She was very creative. I was hesitant about taking a photo because I really needed to wash my hair. So she took one while I was putting on the back brake pads.

 The shocks were actually pretty easy. The front had three bolts and the back had two. I had really gained confidence by the time we moved to the back and I was tightening the bolt, thinking, "Oh yeah, I can do this, the next time I bet I could just change my shocks by myself and not even bug my Dad."

And that's when the bolt snapped.

It is always fun discovering new super hero powers, but the timing just wasn't great.

You can't see it very well in the picture, but I have a bruise that's bigger than a dollar coin. It doesn't hurt too bad. I'm more upset about the fact that there is a broken bolt. My Dad said he was going to see if he could take care of it. If not, the guy next door is a mechanic. He was going to see about getting me a quote for the transmission flush and other stuff.

So Dad let me borrow his (very large monster) truck and I got my stuff together to drive home. We had washed our extremely greasy hands with the hose and that special orange cleaner. Dad said I should go wash my face. I said I was heading home and I wouldn't see anyone, I'd wash it in the shower.

Joseph's niece's birthday was in a couple hours and I still had to shower then we had to drive to Gilbert.

I was stopped at a red light and gave a homeless guy some money. Judging from his expression, I should have washed my face.