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Sledgstone

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Blog Entries posted by Sledgstone

  1. Sledgstone
    I spawned into an Attack Helicopter as a gunner to see how good the damage is now since the last patch. I was completely surprised that my teammate turned out to be an ace pilot. This guy has given me some good insight on how to effectively use the attack helicopter. Watch this video to see me get an Attack Helicopter Ribbon as the gunner. Now I need to work on my flying skills in the test area so I can attempt to get my speed and turns as good as this pilot.
  2. Sledgstone
    I've made quite a few UCAV videos over the past month. Mostly because unlocking that gadget and it's air burst assignments was a complete pain in the ass. Out of the probably 100 times I've shot that thing, I've only gotten 35 kills with it, many of those kills were multi kills which means maybe 20 shots out of 100 actually hit.. so when I got a kill with it, I saved that video as proof to myself.
    My future videos will now focus more on sniping, designated marksman rifles, EOD Bot kills, vehicles and other gadgets.
  3. Sledgstone
    Heres a couple pics of me fixing my blazer's emergency brake yesterday. A stupid little clasp at the top of the ebrake held in with a phillips head screw (just underneath the top of the brake shoe) was bent back and the brake shoe was not flush against the back plate. It caused all kinds of popping, clicking sounds and vibration while I was driving. So to fix it I pushed the e-brake shoe flush against the back plate and pushed the metal piece back into place and tightened it up. While I was at it, I used a small wire brush and srubbed of a bunch rust build up to make sure the ebrake would work smoother. I then followed it up with a quick clean up job with some brakekleen and an easy reassembly. Simple easy fix that just saved me $80 in labor from a mechanic.
    These pics show the brakes and rotor off revealing the ebrake shoe:


  4. Sledgstone
    This service was done on 07-17-2010
    The miles were at 4928 for it's first oil change and tire rotation! Because this is a new car I'm only going to use full synthetic oil for the life of the vehicle to make sure the engine lasts as long as possible.
    The dealership also finished one more pedal recall that I wasn't aware of. He told me to disregard the letter I'll get in the mail this week because I'll already have it done.
    On a side note, the discount card I bought at the dealership for $200 when I bought the car is going to pay for itself pretty quick. It already saved me $100 off the rust proofing job and all full synthetic oil changes get $25 off and tire rotations are $13 off. It was only $42 yesterday. For the price of the oil and the price of the oil filter, the oil job is pretty much done for the same price it would cost me to do it myself, but I don't have to! ahha. My tools will be sitting gathering dust for quite a while now.
  5. Sledgstone
    Well, I drilled out a spot on the fender bar so I could attach a chain mount to it for a connection point for my tow strap hook.
    Heres the hook attached to the chain mount:

    Another angle:

    Attached to a pine tree for an ancor support.

    Pulling resulted in slight movement of the crumpled bar, before the metal started giving away on the chain mount.

    So, I used a rubber mallet and started whacking it and hitting parts back into place.

    Another angle:

    The hood does close a little more level now. I'm going to use a small pry bar and rubber mallet to try and straighten it out more. As long as I can get it straightened enough for my headlight to mount back in correctly, it'll be good enough.
  6. Sledgstone
    I updated 4 different mods on the forum in preparation for the newest version of vB. I'm pretty forumed out at the moment. Maybe I'll make a new poll tomorrow or next week. blah.
  7. Sledgstone
    Today I put a small piece of cut fuel line over my existing fuel line with a hose clamp, I had it set just up from the leak so when I took off the old patch I would be able to quickly slide it down the fuel line and tighten it over the leak. Unlike when I first found the leak and quickly patched it up while sliding on top of snow and ice, I was able to put the truck up on my car ramps to get plenty of room to work with. Those ramps have paid for themselves already.
    So after I had the new patch ready to tighten up, I cut off the small zip ties and unwrapped the nitrile disposable glove finger that was keeping the fuel line from leaking initially. Once it was off, instead of a small leak, the gas started pouring out like a small piss stream. guh! But! I was able to get the new patch over it and tighten it down quick enough that I did not get a huge gas mess. I didn't even get any on my clothes. And since I had some disposable gloves on, everything worked out great. Before I finished up, I moved the gas line around a bit and secured it to other hoses with zip ties to make sure it was clear from hanging around the frame. Its no longer leaking and I'm quit certain this patch will be quit permanent.
    Now I just have to get a new long neck funnel so I can put some seafoam in the tank to finish my clean up job.
    The only other maintenance I have planned is to get the transmission fluid replaced at some point in the near future as it is seriously past due. The only fluid I actually forgot to change over the past couple years. Oh, and the fuel filter should be replaced soon too. Its recommended change is every 30,000 miles, the car is at 100,000 so I'd say its past due too.
  8. Sledgstone
    When I first got the blazer I had a huge number of issues with it, that thankfully, I was able to get fixed at the dealership for free within the first couple months of buying it. Of course there have been a variety of issues since then that I've had to take care of like a ball joint, alignment, oil leak, front and rear shocks, back brakes, front brakes.
    At least I've been able to do the brake jobs myself, but just the other day my emergency/parking brakes seized up on my back rotors. F*ck me. Most of the problem was in the back left wheel, I couldn't even get the damn rotor off. The parking brake almost welded itself to it with a layer of rust and a broken clip. You never want to change a rotor without changing the brake pads at the same time, so even tho it didn't need new brake pads I had to put new ones on along with the rotors. Because I couldn't get the rotor off, I broke down and called the local Midas and they took care of it for me.
    Hundreds of dollars later, its all fixed and safe again. New rotors, pads and e-brakes. And of course the new shit all makes pretty much the same noises, but thats due to the massive amount of rust from the back plate which is located about 3 centimeters from the spinning rotor. I would rip the fucker off and say to hell with the noise, but its safer to leave it on so nothing kicks up from a tire and nicks the rotor. So unless the noise eventually goes away, I'll probably be stuck with a squeaky, rattling blazer from now on. *dies* x_x
  9. Sledgstone
    Well, the latest vb update has screwed up our blog links in our profiles and I keep getting a db error message in the blog email system. *stabs vb* release a gold version already!
  10. Sledgstone
    After my last attempt at straightening out that radiator support bar, I purchased a $10 nail puller that looks like a mini crow bar. It worked out great for fixing the rest of the crumpled metal because both ends were the perfect size to fit in the pre-existing drilled holes in the metal. So, using that and a rubber mallet I was able to whack most of the metal back into place. I also fixed up another spot to use my tow cable on and with chelle's help we were able to pop out a very crumpled part. So, now that the bar has been straightened out enough to put the headlight back on, I did just that.
    After 6 hours of work yesterday, I got the old wheel well off, drilled off the busted fender support bar, put on the right headlight, right turnsignal, new support bar and fender. I also replaced the headlight bulb and both turn signal bulbs. I would have taken pictures as the work progressed, but I didn't want to dirty up the camera and I didn't want to stop working while I was making so much progress.
    Heres the finished pics of the support bar and all the work I finished yesterday. In the end, the bar was still off by so many centimeters, and thats all that was needed to not have the headlight and fender aligned 100%. Oh well, I just want the car back on the road and running again.







  11. Sledgstone
    Aside from getting the right colored hood and a couple new fog light housing pieces (damn pieces holding the lights in place are busted up pretty bad), the car is done.
    It passed the NY state inspection the other day and I've been driving it to work all last week. Check out the before and after pics:




  12. Sledgstone
    So I finished up the front brake job with no real problem. The only thing I forgot to do was spray on some anti-squeal on the backs of the brake pads, but thats only because I didn't have any at the time. Anyway, the front brakes are good, but we've been getting some vibrations in the steering wheel and the ABS is randomly kicking on. So I decide to check out the back brakes again. Seeing as I paid Midas to do my back brakes about 6 months ago, I never really looked at the job all too carefully aside from messing with the back left e-brake as I mentioned in another blog post.
    So, I start on the back right, I start taking it all apart and checking the work they did and thats when I realize one of the caliper pins is completely seized in place and the other one has limited movement. It took me about an hour to work that fucking pin out with my socket wrench while constantly spraying it with freeze off. wtf. I get that out, cleaned it, greased it. Ok. I go to take the rotor off and its locked in place on the e-brake. I had to whack that sunofabitch off with a rubber mallet. The rotor comes off, and so does the e-brake. After looking it over, the emergency brake was such a tight fit in the rotor, once its in place, it was causing a constant rubbing on the inside of the rotor. So I filed and sanded the damn e-brake down so it'll have a cm of breathing room. I cleaned everything up, re-assembled, tested thoroughly and its now in good shape.
    Roughly 5 hours on Saturday. It took me about 5 hours to get that pin out, clean everything and sand down that e-brake. So I figured the back left couldn't be as bad... Yeah. So yesterday (Sunday), I took the back left off and even tho the rotor came off easily, the brake dust on the inside of the rotor showed the e-brake was rubbing too. And of course, another seized pin in the caliper. WTF did I pay those guys for? Another 5 hours later and this side is now done.
    I took it for a slight test drive yesterday and the braking felt better than ever. I didn't get a chance to drive that far to see if the vibration problem is fixed yet, but I would assume the stuck caliper pins and rubbing brakes was the cause behind all that.
    I will never go back to that Midas again. Fucking rip off bastards.
  13. Sledgstone
    My Saturn was in an accident almost 2 years ago with a SUV. The SUV hit the front right of my car, busted my flip up headlight and slightly crumpled the radiator support bar as seen in these pics. The left flip up headlight was destroyed a few days later at Sam Dell, the car dealership my insurance made me take my car to for a damage estimate.
    The Sam Dell idiots ripped the good headlight off instead of taking it off to look at the bumper closer, which had no real damage. But because they are idiots they damaged my car more than the accident did by doing their front end dismantling to finish their estimate. F*cking money grubbing assholes f*ck up my car so much I had to get it towed out of there so they couldn't hold it hostage in an attempt to force me to use them to repair my car.
    Instead, I have been going to the scrap yard "Pick 'N Pull" and have been getting new pieces, namely: headlights, fender, hood, and wheel well.
    I now have all the pieces I need and now I just have to put everything back together.
  14. Sledgstone
    I hate ads. But I also hate being strapped for cash and having an outstanding credit card debt because of continuous monthly charges. Of course I love having my websites, but at the time of the last server move we had hosting revenue coming in. So yeah, gotta supplement those bills somehow. At least we don't have to look at the ads while we're logged in. At least the majority of us.
    *stabs economy*
  15. Sledgstone
    Last weekend I heard a noise and I knew the end was coming for the car. The timing chain is going. It started making a slight noise months ago which is why I stopped driving it on the freeway... but now its so loud just idling I was able to take a video of it.
    saturn_timing_chain
    I haven't gotten a quote to replace the $35 part, but I know it will be huge because to replace the timing chain, you have to remove the engine and take apart half the engine. That would cost more than what the car is worth. As it is, I'm pretty certain the chain will break the next time its driven somewhere. And when that thing breaks it'll seize up most of the engine. The car is in it's death throws now. But I can't complain too much, seeing as its been totaled previously, been resurrected, and driven for almost an additional 2 years.
  16. Sledgstone
    The bleeding nut on the passenger side front caliper broke and so I replaced the caliper. Instead of just doing that side I felt it would be best if I replaced both calipers in the front and thats just what I did. $80 later for the calipers and a bit of work a week and half ago and the job was done. Bleeding the brake lines was time consuming, but after I got it done I took it over to midas and had them replace the fluid and re-bleed it all.



  17. Sledgstone
    This past weekend screwed us. While driving down the road the Blazer died. It completely stalled out 5 minutes from the house. We had to get it towed. There was a fuel leak that had to be fixed and the spark plugs, wires, distributor cap all had to be replaced.
  18. Sledgstone
    The very next day after posting about the right side being almost done, I put the other headlight and turn signal on the left side. Since then I've put in quite a few more days and alot of hours into the car and now its pretty much done. All I had left was to bleed the brake lines. I bled the driver's side, then when I went to bleed the passenger side, the bleeder nut snapped off. x_x So I replaced the caliper and when I went to bleed the line, the hood latch release busted.
    Anyway, even without bleeding the line the braking felt alot better so I figured it would be best if I replaced the other side too. So I replaced the left side and messed with the hood a bit more. No luck.
    Today tho, I got lucky. After fashioning a coat hanger into a crude pulling rod and inserting it at the driver's side headlight to blindly attach it to the hood release... It didn't work and I got extremely fucking pissed. After 30 minutes I said fuck it and attacked the problem from under the car. The air deflector under the hood was already broken off to begin with from a snow issue about 2 years ago, so I had access to the top portion of that piece of plastic without having to first remove that large deflector piece. Anyway, three bolts later I found out I could bend that piece of plastic towards the radiator and access the hood latch release spring thru a small access hole with a screwdriver. A couple seconds later and one quick, light push with a screwdriver, my hood pops up.
    Turns out the cable did not break and the hood latch was still working. I lubricated the hell out of it so it would stop being a bitch to operate and the cable somehow got dislodged from two retaining clips on the inside of the engine compartment and another two clips from under the dash. After zip tieing those couple spots and pushing the hood release cable back into position I was able to tighten it all up and it works again.
    The real bullshit was that the cable still worked. I was just afraid of breaking it when I pulled on the cable with a pair of pliers in the drivers seat. I could have saved myself quite a bit of time if I'd have just yanked the damn thing. Of course one of the little metal wires is broken on the cable so it'll probably fail on me again someday and completely snap now... but at least now I know how to pop that f*cking hood without a cable.
    As of now, I have 5 bolts left to put back on the car, bleed the brake lines and go for a test drive. The car is already insured and re-registered but I still have to get it inspected.
    Once I finish up the little things I'll take some new pics.
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