Its just one of those days

Had a GREAT 24 hour stretch starting at noon on Tuesday, and all my woes started with "B". At least there were 3 so it looks like I've gotten the gremlins out...

Went out to take a walk and noticed there was ZERO wind and a ton of leaves in our front courtyard and along our front deck. Figured screw the walk, I'll rake the leaves away from the house far enough to get the leaf Blower out and clean it up in a rare windless late fall afternoon.

Did my initial raking and pulled the cord to start the blower. She fired right up, but stalled while I was putting her on. Put it down and could NOT get it to restart. Ruled out fuel in that there was gas in the cylinder and shooting ether through both the carb and directly into the cylinder gave nothing, so I figured the problem was electrical, betting that it was the something with the Kill Switch or it's linkage, which is above my paygrade, so I busted my ass raking the leaf pile into the woods, 40 yds away. After that I put the blower in the truck to take to town the next day.

While raking, I realized that my truck was now going on 6 years with its original battery and I hadn't transferred the boat's battery jump pack to the truck. BTW Dom, WTF didn't you have them put a new battery in when you got new tires 3 weeks ago?? Figured it was time, but never acted -- yeah, dumbass move!!

Fast forward to Wednesday AM with me sitting at the Barber Shop waiting for him to show for my 07:45 haircut. Turns out he never showed up so I went to start the truck and the dreaded CLICK-CLICK-CLICK greeted me. Goddamn Battery went tits up, as predicted. Boy did I feel like an idiot, but the gentlemen next to me had his jump pack and I fired up the truck.

Now what to do? Do I go to NAPA and buy a battery? NAH, it was pissing rain and I just wasn't in the mood. Took the truck to a local repair shop who had multiple batteries from NAPA that "would" work and the install would be free. Told them to put in the one with the largest Tacoma-specified form factor. They do it and then give me the "bad news" in that the Toyota battery is 1/4" shorter than the NAPA battery, AND the GD battery clamp has no ability to be adjusted for height, it's all welded in!!! If the batter was a little shorter, one could always use shims, thank you Toyota for nothing!!

By this time, I had reached the limit of my patience and since my truck gets light use with zero load on the battery, I told them to use the biggest, smaller batter the clamp would accommodate. They did so, and I felt better about not doing it myself as I would have gone to NAPA, got the bigger battery, gone home, had the size problem, then back to NAPA, and back home and back to NAPA to bring back the old battery, 40 extra miles of driving.

Chalked it all up to "one of those days" and dumped the blower off at the small engine repair shop, went home, ending 24 hours of hell...
 
Roccus7 said:
Had a GREAT 24 hour stretch starting at noon on Tuesday, and all my woes started with "B". At least there were 3 so it looks like I've gotten the gremlins out...

Went out to take a walk and noticed there was ZERO wind and a ton of leaves in our front courtyard and along our front deck. Figured screw the walk, I'll rake the leaves away from the house far enough to get the leaf Blower out and clean it up in a rare windless late fall afternoon.

Did my initial raking and pulled the cord to start the blower. She fired right up, but stalled while I was putting her on. Put it down and could NOT get it to restart. Ruled out fuel in that there was gas in the cylinder and shooting ether through both the carb and directly into the cylinder gave nothing, so I figured the problem was electrical, betting that it was the something with the Kill Switch or it's linkage, which is above my paygrade, so I busted my ass raking the leaf pile into the woods, 40 yds away. After that I put the blower in the truck to take to town the next day.

While raking, I realized that my truck was now going on 6 years with its original battery and I hadn't transferred the boat's battery jump pack to the truck. BTW Dom, WTF didn't you have them put a new battery in when you got new tires 3 weeks ago?? Figured it was time, but never acted -- yeah, dumbass move!!

Fast forward to Wednesday AM with me sitting at the Barber Shop waiting for him to show for my 07:45 haircut. Turns out he never showed up so I went to start the truck and the dreaded CLICK-CLICK-CLICK greeted me. Goddamn Battery went tits up, as predicted. Boy did I feel like an idiot, but the gentlemen next to me had his jump pack and I fired up the truck.

Now what to do? Do I go to NAPA and buy a battery? NAH, it was pissing rain and I just wasn't in the mood. Took the truck to a local repair shop who had multiple batteries from NAPA that "would" work and the install would be free. Told them to put in the one with the largest Tacoma-specified form factor. They do it and then give me the "bad news" in that the Toyota battery is 1/4" shorter than the NAPA battery, AND the GD battery clamp has no ability to be adjusted for height, it's all welded in!!! If the batter was a little shorter, one could always use shims, thank you Toyota for nothing!!

By this time, I had reached the limit of my patience and since my truck gets light use with zero load on the battery, I told them to use the biggest, smaller batter the clamp would accommodate. They did so, and I felt better about not doing it myself as I would have gone to NAPA, got the bigger battery, gone home, had the size problem, then back to NAPA, and back home and back to NAPA to bring back the old battery, 40 extra miles of driving.

Chalked it all up to "one of those days" and dumped the blower off at the small engine repair shop, went home, ending 24 hours of hell...
Click to expand...

Not a good day for you but not that bad either. If that’s your two biggest problems your in good shape. ( once you get the blower back) ???
 
Chevy1 said:
Not a good day for you but not that bad either. If that’s your two biggest problems your in good shape. ( once you get the blower back) ???
Click to expand...
True enough, just Kvetching... The timing with the blower just sucked as a windless day is a rare treat this time of year. Of course I medically consoled myself after the raking with the usual 3 ibuprofens washed down with a margarita chaser...

Mostly furious with myself for getting caught with my pants down on my battery, and for the welded Toyota battery clamp...
 
This really put me behind schedule. Was like I was stuck on Ice, but a Kubota tractor pulled me out.
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so I was out dathering some firewood for the stove tonught - brrrrrrrrr - pretty cold here for thias time of year (34} & had to split a big piece & my ax gets stuck in the piece - no big deal - I'll use my 5 pound sledge & drive the ax head further into the wood causing it to spilt a part - I've done that before with success - it didn't split it apart like it normally does - now my ax is wedged into the log & I can't get it out
:rolleyes:

yup - one of those..........
 

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