I agree but no Park District in town, so no public pool. No beaches, either, unless I go into Chicago to the shores of Boul Mich, then I have to share with 8 million other people.

I got the okay to start riding a minimum of 3 wheels yesterday. Bicycles and Honda are still at least a week out. Driving a vehicle with a foot operated clutch is at my own discretion. I'll see if that works later today.

Yesterday, I had Stephanie the Amazon for a therapist instead of Jared the Timid. She managed to find an exercise I had trouble doing. I can walk up steps like a normal person, albeit, slowly. Down, not so well. I lead with my left foot and follow with my right, only one step riser at a time. She had me change that up and lead with my right. JHC, that hurt. :wtf: Felt like someone was hacking at my Achilles tendon with a dull axe. She had me lie down, face first, on the table and went nutso on my left ankle, twisting and bending it like it had never been broken. She said she'd seen looser strings on a guitar. It was painful, then suddenly not. Maybe endorphins kicked in. I was still walking with a limp when I left, but less so.

Jeep attempt day. it went well-ish. My ankle is a bit bitchy but that may be more from my boot and the ungodly tight Achilles tendon than the clutch. Drove about twenty miles.

Kind of disappointed in new Jeep owners. A half dozen Jeeps passed in the opposite direction and nary a one returned my Jeep Wave. Sad.

If you give them the Universal Scooter Tramp "Hey! You're Number 1 !" wave, I'm pretty sure you'll get their attention...


Just sayin'


I learned it a long time ago from a guy named Billy

I have really noticed the Jeep wave going to shit lately myself .I am astounded at the number of Jeep minivans (4 door wranglers) on the road lately ,and a lot of them are clearly not jeepers as no acknowledgement from them ,I think our Jeeps are just another family car that looks cool .Used to be we see 2 or three jeeps in an entire day ,now I see 4 in the first 5 minutes of my travels .
Have you been ducked yet ? I was parked in a parking lot ,and came back to 3 small rubber ducks on my hood ,I gave them to a little kid coming out of a stroller a few cars over ,and later found out it’s another Jeepthing and we are supposed to collect them .I don’t care about my Jeep ,it’s a work tool/toy at this point ,but in the past I have built some magazine quality pretty jeeps ,dropping plastic shit on a $10;000.00 paint job would probably not end well for you .Give the toys to the kids please !
I also refuse to wave to the Cherokee’s ,grand’s ,patriots etc,unless they are modded ,they are owned by people who don’t have a clue what a Jeep is capable of (even theirs in many cases ) ,or the brotherhood involved .
Anyways Cheesy ,of course your rusty ,crappy ,worn out ,no good Jeep is still welcome to join my stable anytime ,since nobody waves at you anymore perhaps that should happen sooner than later !

I still have a hard time with power windows in a Jeep.

I have been medically cleared and can return to doing stupid sh!t. Except for skating. They want me to hold off a while longer. I won't argue. Yet.
So, I rode the Ol' Phart Lefsa Special for one lap around the subdivision, which equals about 3.5 miles. Since I haven't done any riding since October, it was a workout.

Back to the lathe. I'm heading up to N. Wisconsin soon to attend an estate auction of one of my Dads' friends who passed a couple of months ago. The guy had buildings full of old cars, bikes, tractors, parts, machine tools, and farm stuff. I'm going to see if I can score a 6" 3 jaw chuck with 1 1/2-8 threading and a face plate with dogs. Dad has his eye on a 1948-ish Jeep CJ2a.

Well, the auction was a bust. It was a two day affair and I was only there for the first day. Machine tools sold on the second and prices were whacko anyway. I was interested in a 50 year old Troy-Bilt rear tine tiller. I would have bid maybe a hundred because it was in decent shape. But still, 50 years old. Damn bidding started at $180 and it sold for over $500. My Dad's new pick up is keyless and it sat in the parking lot, running, for five hours.

https://i.imgur.com/G2S20MWl.jpg
I made a new shaft for the mini-bike on the lathe today. When I say made, I bought a 12" x 5/8" shaft with a 3/16" keyway already cut in it. I cut it to length, faced, bored and tapped both ends.

!
 

Raw stock would have cost the same. Maybe more! No really. I see this all the time. Finished pieces can be amazingly cheap, and often a perfect starting place :tup:

Original plan was to do the entire shaft from scratch, less the keyway. I'd farm that out. Digging through my stock, of the two pieces of 5/8" round stock I had, one was too short and the other was bent.

Moving my metal stock around on Sunday to move the new to me Clarke welder into place and found the 5/8" round stock I couldn't find back in June. Two 2' pieces.:ohno:

The lathe and I are getting better acquainted, though there are still some issues to work out between us. I'm getting used to its 90 year old quirks and it's giving me fewer middle fingers. I turned down some Oilite bushings for the swing arm of the mini bike project over the weekend. it took a couple of attempts to get them right but the slop between the swing arm and the shaft is is now gone. One more thing to do on the swing arm and I can put the mini bike back together and get it out of my garage.

Taking a rain check on putting a front brake on it?

I just haven't gotten that far yet.