Best Of

Still waiting on the invoice, but, by the time I get it home, I think I'll be looking at about $6k all in. Has about 165k miles. Duncan has a similar one with 115k but the far less desirable 2.5 engine for $15k. JC had one with far fewer miles but rather questionable condition and many broken components for $10k. So I think I did OK.

Oh, and towing capacity is close to 3 tons.

Well, another AMW has come and gone. It was a bit of mixed bag overall. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the list of maintenance items. However, the good side is that what I did get done went well enough, and I didn't get hurt (at all) doing it! Heck, I didn't even smash a knuckle, and that simply must be a first.

Out of six vehicles, though, I only got to four:

76 F250 plow: Oil change, topped off brake fluid, hunted for why the fluid level dropped again, and discovered that I have a line to a rear tire that was torn off by the chains last winter (future project, I guess). I replaced the cab lighting (yellow flashy lights for plowing), adjusted the timing, washed it, and called it a day on that one.

69 Econoline: Oil change, topped off the transmission fluid, replaced the rear shocks, put a new battery in it, and fixed the washer fluid hose because it had a split in it. My son still hasn't finished the wiring project he started on it nearly two years ago now, but I've moved into nag mode. I think he knows I'm serious now....

2013 Forester: Oil change, cleaned engine air filter, replaced cabin filter, replaced all the front lighting with LED units (experimenting here), new wiper blades all around, and conditioned the belts and door gaskets and whatnot.

2018 Crosstrek: Pretty much same as the Forester, except I used conventional lighting on it. Also replaced the shocks with Bilstein B6 and King springs all around.

Man, that Crosstrek definitely came from New York. We bought it with 37,000 miles on it (it has 58,000 now), and I am shocked at the amount of corrosion on the suspension of that car... even in places that leave me scratching my head as to how it could even get there! Needless to add, it was a complete PITA replacing all this stuff on it due to the corrosion. I ended up just cutting the sway bar end links off the front end because they were so hopelessly corroded that there was no way humanly possible to remove them based on their design. Now, I have everything done on it except a completely disconnected sway bar on the front end: Makes me greatly appreciate the function of sway bars!

I had to order a pair of end links, and I hope they will come in before the weekend. I set up the Q7 for the next phase. I need to do all the same stuff as with the Forester, plus I need to tear the top end of the engine down to address the coolant leak that has been persistently, but ever so slowly, getting worse for the last year or two.