The tow Bar continued.......

Today I looked over the front of the wagon and read the instructions for the base plates.  Of course the plan is to make my own plates but do a job that will not fall apart.  And using what I can find around here would keep the $$ within budget, whatever that is.

Using some tin I tried to see what would work.  This was after using some cardboard.
I could always make a push bar on the front to push Wilbur with.
Or make a big light bar for the off roading stuff at night.

The lower tie down loop is on both sides of the frame, if you can call this a frame.
The plates will use this as a place to bolt to on both sides.

On the passenger side is also a tow hook.  The store bought base plates use this to bolt to along with the tie down loop underneath.

The tow bar folded up.  I can just leave it hooked on the front when driving around.

Then folded out for towing.

My Ball Warmer

What does it mean when someone gives you a ball warmer????
I don't know who put this on my Wagon, but you must have thought it was needed.

The Wagon's Ball Warmer

So today I took Wilbur out for a couple of trailer hitch places to look at my trailer hitch.  Wilbur is my '73 Winnebago for those that didn't know.  Anyway the trailer hitch that is on it was built many years ago and I have only used it to tow my utility trailer a few times.  That was another reason for buying the Wagon, it uses way less gas than Wilbur to pull a small trailer.

So the hitch on Wilbur was looked at by two places that sell and build trailer hitches.  Both of them thought it looked strong enough to pull a car.  That's what I wanted to hear.

Removing trees from the back yard this Summer, I hauled a few loads of brush to the recycle place with Wilbur.

Now thats a shine on the ball.  I can see myself.

The ball mount is made out of channel.  I would like to weld a square tube reciver to this but don't want it any lower.
It has hit the road when driving thru steep driveways.

The Tow Bar for the Wagon

Today I bought a tow bar that I plan to use on the Wagon.  It is a Roadmaster Stowmaster, now that's a mouth full. 

The tow bar folds up and came with wiring, safety cables and even the adjustable stinger.







Now the base plates for a '93 Subaru Legacy wagon are here Base Plate and instructions

The plan is to make my own base plates.

The flood in Salem, OR

I live in a town next to Salem, OR so today my wife and I drove into Salem and took a walk over the Willamette River on an old Train bridge that is made into a pedestrian bridge.  On the West Salem side is a park that is mostly underwater.  Here are some of the pictures I took.

I replaced the Bellows

The new rack bellows (boots) are on and I did it a different way than all the info I read about this job.  Rather than removing the outer tie rod ends I just unscrewed the outer tier rod from the inner tie rod.  No need for removing the outer tie rod ends from the steering knuckle.

Drivers side bellows is close to the exhaust pipe so that probably doesn't help it last longer.

I unscrewed the outer tie rod end and measured the distance to the locking nut.

This is before cleaning up.  Doesn't look to bad to me, so I just wiped off the area, put on more grease and installed the new bellows.  This is the end of the rack and pinion steering rack with the inner tie rod attached to the end of the rack.

This is not really a tough job, but getting the new bellows on and strapped them down did take some time.  The new bellows came with some metal clamps but after trying to get them tight I just used some plastic cable ties. 

And then today I got the two new front tires, to match the rear ones that were in good shape.  I hope my front end alignment works and the new tires hold up.

DIY Front end alignment

I tried it today.  Put my pipes with strings on them on the jack stands, measured from the axles to the strings, and from the wheels to the strings.  I even straightened out the steering wheel.  I don't think it's perfect, but since I will be taking the tie rods apart for the changing of the Rack and Pinion bellows replacement I think its good for a start.

Now maybe tomorrow for the bellows.  It will be a trial to see if I just unscrew the inner tie rods from the outer tie rods, slip the old bellows off, clean the old grease and dirt then fight the new bellows on and realign the front end again.

Then I need my 2 new tires on and watch the tire wear, or not wear, to see how I did.  The feel of how the car drove today after adjusting the tie rods was better than before adjusting.  I like it.

Adjusting the Hill Holder

The rear brakes turned out great, but one thing that was also needing adjusting was the Hill Holder. My brakes would lock up if I was backing up and hit the brakes, even on a level parking lot. Then they would not release until the clutch was let out past where it engaged. It was really working the drive train to get going.



I found it easier to adjust the HH by removing the spring from the HH, and that lets the cable pull out of the clutch fork some below where the clutch cable attach's. That let me put an 8 MM deep socket over the end of the cable, then with a 14 MM open end wrench hold the other nut to loosen it.



That really made a difference of when the HH releases the brakes. And it looks like you need the HH hooked up to hold the clutch throw out bearing back from the clutch fingers to keep it from turning and wearing out faster.