Getting Hitched

It has been previously mentioned [link] that The Fuzz and His Sweetie had bit the bullet and purchased a shiny new automobile.

People familiar with the situation here in the woods will be aware that with no truck, The Fuzz relies on a utility trailer for anything requiring more space than is available in the trunk of a Honda.  And of course there is his little boat and trailer to consider as well.

As one would expect, the new ride did not come equipped for towing anything.

But it is rated for a limited towing capacity, which includes both of these trailers.

The only hitch was…

A hitch!

After a bit of online searching The Fuzz confirmed that a hitch designed for the '16 model, would also fit the brand new '17 model.

So he pulled up J C Whitney one more time.

And in a couple of days, this was waiting on the porch.

As it can be seen, some assembly was required.

Fortunately there were well thought-out instructions included.  And he was able to watch a video online as well.

So let's look at the project*.

The Fuzz started by backing up onto a couple of 4x4s to get a few extra inches of working room.

#1 Lower Exhaust

(This was not too difficult with the helpful hint of lubricating the hangers before trying to pry them loose) 

Now there was room to…

#2 Remove Heat Shields

(In this case, only 1)

Now we can get down to the tricky part…

#3 "Fishwire"…bolts into position…

Here's a look at the situation.

The mounting bolt needs to come out of the "mounting hole".  But the only access to said hole is through the "access hole".

But an ingenious system has been worked out to accomplish this seemingly impossible task.

Here's a look at the included hardware.

It will be noted that in addition to the required bolts, there is a funny-looking wire with a springy-looking end on it.  This is in fact the "Fishwire".

The Fuzz appreciates the great instructions that come with this kit.  So let's have a go at it.

Here's what we're working with.

A) That springy-looking end of the wire must be pushed up into the "mounting hole"…

…Worked through and out of the "access hole".

(Actually this is not as difficult as one might suppose)

B) Next the "spacer" is slipped over the wire, and the bolt threaded into that springy-looking end.

C) Then this whole arrangement is carefully pulled though the frame and the bolt pulled out the "mounting hole".

The "spacer" remains in the frame with the bolt passed through!

#4 Insert U-bolt through "tow hook"

#5 Insert fishwires through holes in hitch…

At this point the hitch is raised into position and the nuts put on the U-bolt (#4) which holds the hitch up enough to guide (with a bit of lifting) the mounting bolts through their holes…

And these nuts are installed, and (#6) everything torqued up to specs.

But now we have…

#7 Trim Heat Shield(s) around hitch

(This one kinda bothered The Fuzz 'cause he only had one shot at it, and remember — this was a brand new car!)

But he did get it fairly close.

Now all that was left was…

#8 Raise Exhaust and reattach…

A look at the finished job…

And with the fancy "Euro Ball" installed.

Next thing will be getting the wiring for the trailer lights installed.

*The Fuzz had done this job before [1 & 2] on the older car.  And the process was essentially the same.  So he did sorta know what was involved before he started.

First One Ever

Some years ago, The Fuzz and His Sweetie purchased what was to them, at the time, a Luxury Vehicle.

Well, time moves on and that guy was starting to give just a little bit of trouble.

There was a small problem of the battery draining on occasion when parked overnight.

The Fuzz had determined that the alternator was in fact charging it when running.  So now it was a question of tracking down the culprit.

Gone are the days when car repair was a simple matter of a bit of wire, or perhaps a few whacks with a hammer.

So rather than dealing with on-board computers and the like, it was decided to take a trip to the dealer's own little shop.  

And sure enough, these people were familiar with the situation.

And while it was not possible to determine the cause without extensive testing, they were aware of a good (50%) guess.

And it turned out that at least in this case, it was a good guess.

But this affair did suggest that considering how much out-of-town driving The Fuzz and His Sweetie were planning, it just might be time to think about a replacement vehicle.

They had been impressed with the service at this local dealer in the past, and were a bit fond of the model they had.  And it had given good service.  

So they decided to find a newer one.

Well, one thing led to another and they thought—

"Why not test drive a new one?"

And one thing did lead to another.

It may seem to have been a foolish move, but considering their age, travel habits, and the warranties involved…

The Fuzz and His Sweetie now have their first ever…

Brand new…

2017 model Luxury Vehicle!

And The Fuzz is happy to report that this Brand New Luxury Vehicle survived it's maiden voyage through the mountains to Charlottesville VA and back.

Headliner

Wow, it's September already!  And a week since our last post.  Oh well.  But The Fuzz and His Sweetie have not been idle here in the woods.
A while back, whilst on a trip to party with the young'uns, The Fuzz and his Sweetie noticed a disturbing trend in their Luxury Vehicle.  A glance in the rearview mirror reveled that what had been a minor case of sagging headliner had become a major case of sagging headliner, and worse.

A quick stop was made at one of the many convenient Auto Parts Stores for some supper spray adhesive.  Having arrived at the destination, The Fuzz and His Sweetie proceeded to shoot a lot of glue up in there.  Then they pushed the fabric back where it was supposed to be.  It was a little wrinkled, but hey, it was up there again.
Unfortunately this fix was only temporary.  With another trip on the agenda, another quick fix was made.  This time Gorilla Tape did the trick.  (The Fuzz strongly recommends this product)  And it did hold.  But the center was still saggy, held only by the dome light and other fixtures.
The Fuzz thought briefly about seeking professional help for this, as it appeared to be rather intimidating.  But a visit to YouTube produced a helpful video of a man performing this very operation on an almost duplicate of this very vehicel!  So The Fuzz And His Sweetie figured that they would remove the headliner, and paint it, thus removing any chance of this occurring in the future.
Since many of these newfangled cars are equipped with airbags, The Fuzz thought it would be prudent to disable this safety feature, which can kill you, by disconnecting the battery.

He had lots of help*.

Next, The Fuzz and His Sweetie went to work removing the various fixtures that held the headliner in place.

This operation went surprisingly well.

The fabric is glued onto a plastic (The Fuzz guesses - all this stuff seems the same to him) form, which can be removed in one piece.

Here is a look at the headlinerless passenger compartment of said Luxury Vehicle.

The headliner was cleaned with wire brushes, and painted with Kilz.  This stuff is great.  The Fuzz's Sweetie even used it to paint over vinyl wallpaper in the Not-so-new Trailer.
The main challange here was to keep those "helpers" off of it until it dried.  The Fuzz had to finally stand it up on edge.  (Fortunately the little paw prints didn't show through on the finished project.)

Next the color was added.  This turned out pretty well also.

And here is a look at the headliner, reinstalled.  Total cost- less than 10 bucks for paint!  Let's see that come loose.

*A Techno-Tip - These guys come in handy when you need something to wipe your hands on!

Wash Day

The Fuzz has been a bit slack with his posts as of late. It would be nice if he could claim busyness, hard work and stuff like that. But the sad truth is, that there is a certain element of pure laziness involved.
Living on a dirt road out here in the woods, our Luxury Vehicle tends to pick up a bit of red mud at times. So when it was time to take a road trip to visit our new Air Force Brat Granddaughter, The Fuzz's Sweetie suggested a trip through the Quickie Carwash down at the local Engles Store.
It's not exactly "Pay to Play", but more a case of "Cash to Splash" here.
And so the machine must be fed before entering into the mysterious tunnel.

Then it was time for the Fun!

But there is not much to see in there.
Or if there is, we couldn't see it.
But the machine spurted and splashed and sudsed and stuff like that.
And when it was over, we had a (relatively) clean car!The Fuzz, His Sweetie and the Young Daughter went on their way all clean and shiny.

Morning Surprise

The Fuzz and His Sweetie usually go into town Friday mornings for a Coffee Outing, a sort of a Date. This week they had told a friend they would bring her with them, so she could pick up a motor vehicle that was in the shop.
No problem, right.
Wrong.
They called the friend, and told her they were on the way. But alas, they were not on the way. The Luxury Vehicle was dead in the driveway. The Fuzz made a futile attempt to put some life into it with a jolt from his great little battery charger. But that failed also. All that was left was to leave it plugged up for a few hours.
All was not lost, however. Said friend had at her disposal a gas hoggie SUV which was pressed into service in this matter.
Later, The Fuzz drove his now functional vehicle into the Auto Parts Place for a free battery checkup. The verdict was a bad plate, but puzzlement over the full charge. The Fuzz reckoned the charge due to several hours of charging, and a 12 mile drive into town.
The long and the short of it was, a Brand New Overpriced Battery. Everything seems to be OK as of now. And the day was not a total loss, cause now we have Peaches!

Seeing The Light

It used to be that changing a headlight was simple.

Part of the new world order here in this state is that vehicle inspections are now linked, by some great computer, to vehicle registrations. Which means that The Fuzz can not renew his tag with out said inspection. To tell the truth, he tends to be just a bit slack in these matters often letting the sticker run out and driving like that for quite a while. Apparently this new way of handling things was devised just to mess up his life.
You can probably see where this is headed, and you're correct. He would have to break down and finally tend to this. So he worked out a plan. He on a morning when he would be going to town by himself, he would take the thing over after work, wait in line and get the new sticker.
It was still somewhat dark as he left home. That was when he noticed something odd about the headlight pattern on the road. When he stopped to investigate, he found his fears confirmed, one headlight was out. It is common knowledge that a car with only one functional headlight will not pass the inspection inspection. But he had a plan. During the lunch break, he would slip over to the Auto Parts Store and purchase a new bulb. And then he could pop it in before the ordeal. But it turned out that "popping it in" would be the ordeal. One needed to reach behind the battery to get to this light. So he borrowed some pliers and loosened the battery hold downs. Disconnecting the battery seemed like a bad idea considering the computer and all, so there was still only limited access. Even with one of the mechanics helping, they could not get the old one out. They did have an idea of how it was supposed to work. But it was putting up a fight. They did not want to chance damaging anything expensive, (which is everything) so The Fuzz drove sadly home to consult his manual.
But things did get better for our hero. On consulting the book, he found that they were indeed on the right track. But there was one tiny trick to the process. With this knoledge, it was quick work to get things straitened out.
But The Fuzz still did not want to put this off any longer. Although he feared he might be too late to get in, he rushed back to town. And then, has he approched the city, the thoought came to him that a differnt, closer, place might still be open. As he pulled in, he noticed the hours posted- 8:00-5:30. It was 5:28. He didn't want to keep these poor working folks from getting home, so he was prepared to leave. But these fellows were some of the satisfied custumers of his garbage route, and they asked what he needed. When he told them, it was no problem, and they took car of in right quick. And so, now every thing is OK with this motor vehicle, and we will be able to renew the tag.

A Couple Things

My Loyal Readers might remember a few posts featuring The Fuzz's Sweetie's sketching, like maybe "Exposed !" from December of last year.Well she is fond of this sort of activity and has her favorite instruments to do it with. But she had no place for them to rest when not working. Sure she could have left them laying just anywhere, but that is never a good policy in these matters. Anyone could come along and just use them, or worse, walk of with 'em. So her special pens needed a special place to kick back, and yet be ready for instant action. It would also be good for someone to be able to keep an eye on them.

And so The Fuzz (as a typical guy does) decided to "fix" things. Here you can see this woman he got to keep an eye on them, and yet be ready to hand her the pen of her choice at a moments notice. She is not one of those "undocumented" workers, but she does work cheap. And those special pens should be safe, 'cause she's kinda wired and doesn't sleep much.

Here you can see The Fuzz's specialized equipment for handling these things. Actually the design was adapted from what was originally intended to be garden sculpture, but I think it works better like this.

In other news, He finally got around to changing the oil in the Luxurious Oriental Vehicle. One of the blessings of this 21st Century, is cars that flash lights at us to remind us that they want something. This is really OK, since The Fuzz tends to put those things off sometimes. The little light reminds His Sweetie to remind him. So he did change the oil. The only problem was that the Luxurious Oriental Vehicle didn't want to admit it. So he had clean oil, but a still flashing light. His consultants helpfully told him about many complicated methods that this is accomplished with various vehicles. But this didn't help a whole lot. But on the way home, in a rare moment of inspiration, he stopped in at the Quickie Oil Change Place, and asked one of the Oil Change Guys. He lucked out for sure, because there was a similar vehicle there getting the Quickie Oil Change right at that very moment. The Kind Oil Change Guy showed The Fuzz the little trick, and now the Luxurious Oriental Vehicle not only has clean oil, it believes it.

The Fuzz wants to apologize for not getting anything posted these last few days. These do seem to be busy times. Of course it could just be that he's a lazy rascal.

Maxed Out

You may remember in a previous post, (Home At Last, April 22) a mention of transmission trouble. Well, this was not a new development. It had been an ongoing problem for over a year. We were expecting it. Not looking forward to, but expecting. Next comes the dilemma, is it worth spending a bunch of money on a fairly wore-out vehicle. We are looking toward a few road trips in the future, and an undependable vehicle doesn't seem like a real good approach to this.
The time had finally come to take drastic action. Having this wonderful electronic cyberworld at my command, it only made sense to let the electrons do the walking. Some Family Members had had good luck with these Max People, so I figured it might be worth a shot. We had a pretty good idea what we wanted, and actually saw a couple candidates.
Aparently, this game is very time sensitive. The next day I was going to call about these automobiles, but when I fired up the old Mac, they had "unavailable" slashed across the little pictures. So I widened my search area. It seemed that someone out there was very interested in exactly what we had set our minds on. But I found one in another city, and they claimed they would send it to the Big City near us. This time I wasted no time, called, and made the arrangements. Now we had to wait.
At last came the call. Now we had to make the trip to the Big City. Unfortunately, "we" turned out to be "me", My Sweetie had other commitments and so, not wanting to miss out again, it was me, to the Big City, by myself. I believe I've mentioned that My Sweetie is the Big City Person, I don't do cities very well. Armed only with my "google" map, I set forth. When the traffic on the freeway ground to a halt, my little truck began to get hotter and hotter. As I watched the temperature hand climbing, I did the only thing I could (besides cry) and cut on the heater. The heater in my truck works real well, and I was quite warm. After getting lost twice, I finally found the Max Place. There was a wreck right in front of it, and car parts in the street.
Well I found the guy with the funny accent on the phone, he let me drive the car on some less busy streets, and one thing led to another. A couple hours later I was driving home in this Luxurious Vehicle. Now we have to pay for it.