Like Wizards in the Mist

 

                                                                                

Grateful for the successes and failures of 2021. Looking forward to new challenges and adventures in 2022. Hope everyone has a fantastic New Year.

Popular posts from this blog

2004 - 2006 T1N Sprinter Front Wheel Bearing Maintenance

Image
  My daily driver is a 2004 standard roof T1N cargo Sprinter. These vans have a reputation for lasting over five-hundred thousand miles when cared for correctly. I enjoy working on these vans a ton and figured I'd start putting together some how-to posts for maintenance I couldn't find any solid information on. My buddy and his wife have been living out of their 2006 of the same model and ran into a very expensive mechanic bill when their front wheel bearings began squealing and eventually destroyed not only the bearing but the spindle that the front hub spins on.  In light of this I looked around on the internet to see if there was a clear write up of how to perform front wheel bearing maintenance (rear wheel bearings are lubricated by the differential oil) and could not find one, so here it is for better or worse.  Bearing maintenance would be great to do while one is replacing the front shocks or front brakes as you have to remove some of ...
Read more

2004 - 2006 T1N Sprinter Lower Ball Joint R&R

Image
  After browsing the internet and SprinterSource I had a bit of anxiety going into this job. I hate doing front suspension maintenance. It is always more difficult than I want it to be and incredibly dirt to boot. This write-up is a synthesis of several other videos/write-ups I found. I set aside four hours to do one side and was able to do both sides in a little less than two hours. I will say the way I did this procedure is rather "fast and dirty". I think if I had all the time and tools in the world I could make this job feel a lot less like I was just cutting things and hitting them with a hammer....but I don't.  I will say that if I did have more money than time I would consider replacing the entire a-arm assembly. I have done that for one my shops delivery Sprinters and its so easy, but prices of the a-arms have risen considerably recently. Finally, if you question your ability to do any of this then phone a friend or pay someone who you know can...
Read more

The Great Return

Image
  Sarah, my wife, on returning to the U.S. found herself with some GI illness that with the help of her existing ulcerative colitis made, and continues to make her life hell. She has to go to work, but has cramping and unpleasantries I won't mention, gee isn't capitalist healthcare the best! As such I made a mad dash back across the states from Guerrero Negro in five days to help hold down the fort and make her life better in any way I can. Although lets be real, I also missed the dog. Heres a photo dump of some of my last few weeks in Mexico. My biggest struggle in the days I've been back in the US is how insular and cold Americans are. In six weeks of being on the road I can't recount a single vehicular or human based interaction that felt sketchy or life threatening and since my return I've found myself in situations that genuinely frightened me almost every day (I've been back less than a week)...
Read more