A new year and a fresh start to projects out in the garage and beyond! It was a nice quiet winter in regards to garage projects which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, I managed to keep the garage and workbench clean and organized.

In March I pulled out the well worn, torn and collapsed overhead door gasket and slid a fresh one in place. This will help greatly in keeping the weather out!

On March 22nd I took advantage of a beautiful and unseasonably warm day to thoroughly clean out a winter's worth of dust and dirt from Sandra's Murano and my Silverado. Windows were cleaned, dash and all surfaces washed down, floor mats cleaned and a thorough vacuuming, this really makes each rig enjoyable to get aboard again!

I'm not worried about the outside of either vehicle just yet as there are undoubtedly a few weeks of road salt ahead of us at this time.

In early April the front brakes finally gave notice that they were done so it was off to the Auto Parts store for fresh heavy duty pads and rotors. Fortunately this time around the callipers were still in great shape and not seized but I did replace all of the rubber seals for the sliders.

Slide pins and pots were thoroughly cleaned and coated with high temp disc brake lubricant. Most importantly, the area under the stainless steel brake pad clips on the calliper bracket was thoroughly cleaned, made true with a file, and coated lightly in disc brake lubricant. This is solely to prevent rust from forming between the stainless clip and steel bracket which will rust jack the pads seizing them in place.

New parts installed along with some anti-seize on the edge of the hub, not on the face.

Since it was close enough to Spring I decided to swap out the Duratracks and 17" steel winter wheels for my 20" polished aluminum equipped with 34" BFG KO2's.

A couple weeks later I popped over to Bassan's to help him install new front brakes on his Tacoma.

In May I took on something a little different, helping one of the boys install carpeting on newly built raised platforms at West Side Charlie's. The job went great, carpet tiles were installed with proper Mapei adhesive, cuts were minimal and straightforward.

With the tiles installed I was put in charge of cutting and installing the metal edging, I made sure the mitred cuts were nice and tidy!

We had one of our Murano's Summer tires replaced under the Tire and Rim Warranty due to a screw puncturing it right at the sidewall. With the replacement mounted by the dealer I could finally take off the winter tires & rims.

On Monday of the May 24th Holiday weekend I decided it was as good a time as any to clean up the garage which had gotten way out of shape after Winter and a few Spring projects.

In the midst of the cleanup I sharpened up the chain on my trusty CS 2500 mini chainsaw, it has seen quite a bit of use around the house lately and unfortunately found a nail or two along the way. A few minutes with my Stihl Ultimate Chainsaw File and it was good as new.

Next up was a minor maintenance on my Shop Air Compressor.

Nothing too complicated just a quick water drain, I found very little moisture in the tank, then made a minor adjustment of the cut in/cut out switch.

It feels great to have the garage and workbench all cleared up and ready for the next project!

May 23rd: With a few upcoming work projects requiring an extension ladder I decided to clean up the ladder racks and give them a quick coat of paint starting with the rails on the truck. I cleaned them using a flap disc and painted them with two coats of trusty Tremclad gloss black.

The removable racks were given the same treatment and turned out great!

June 2nd: My good ol' ride on mower really needed some attention. I've been hotwiring it to start and dealing with an extremely leaky rear tire all season (having to refill it eight times last cutting!) I decided enough was enough and made some repairs.

First up was installing a tube in the rear tire which is very dry rotted and leaking all along the sidewall. The tube fit and worked great completely solving this most annoying problem.

Next I searched for and found the starter relay buried deep in the bowls of the machine, removed it and replaced it with a fresh unit. Now the tractor starts properly with the key, and other than the tangly location it was not a difficult repair.

June 28th: The brakes on our Murano have been on the squealers for a couple weeks so today was the day to get new pads and rotors installed on all four corners.

We weren't metal on metal but they were beyond the acceptable service limit and ready for fresh parts. We got great mileage and time out of the Automotive Supplies parts I installed a few years ago so I went with the same again this time around.

Everything came apart great. The rotors were not seized to the hub as I applied anti-seize during the last brake job. The stainless anti-rattle clips were removed and only minor rust found below.

The grooves were thoroughly cleaned and squared with a file to ensure the replacement clips fit properly and do not bind-up the pads.

A dab of ceramic disc brake grease behind the stainless clips greatly slows down rust from re-forming which will rust jack the pads in the bracket over time. A friendly tip learned from South Main Auto!

The brake job went very well, pleasantly there were no surprises just the routine making sure the calliper brackets and slide pins are thoroughly cleaned and properly lubed to maintain reliable braking for the next few years.

In August it was time for another service on my 2011 Silverado 2500HD, today I performed an oil change using quality Delco products and greasing the front end ball joints and steering components.

The following week my trusty steed faced its first major breakdown since I bought it back in 2013. The transmission failed in spectacular fashion splitting right at the tail shaft causing the transfer case to drop onto the cross member below. This happed at highway speed and resulted in the driveshaft becoming damaged as well. The fine folks at French's Automotive had me back up and running with a fresh transmission and driveshaft straight from GM. This was the best value by far especially for what scrap yards wanted for a used unit with no history documentation. All in all I'm still quite pleased with this truck compared to every one I've had before it.

In October with harvest complete in the vegetable garden I moved the remaining topsoil from our spring delivery out into the garden to get our driveway back to normal before the snow flies.

In mid October having just returned from a wood cutting trip to Slaney's camp it was time to service my trusty Husqvarna 550xp so it would be ready to rock on its next adventure!

The Stihl Ultimate Chainsaw File does and excellent and effortless job of toughing up the chain making it sharp as new!

With the enclosed trailer ready to return to Dad for the winter my 12x20 garage is back to being full as an egg!

When I arrived in Bay Roberts with the trailer, I spent the day with Dad lending a hand on a few projects including repairing the garage wall he struck with his F-150.

In November it was time for our annual winter preparations! We've already experienced one snowfall with ground accumulation about a week ago, the summer tires on our Murano are absolutely terrible in the white stuff.

Next up was touching up the undercoating on both vehicles which is a messy but all too important job to skip if you plan on keeping a vehicle in good shape here in Newfoundland/

Once again my product of choice was the Pro Form black oil based undercoating which doesn't dry and is much more resistant to washing off than other products.

My Magnum Undercoating Kit from Automotive Supplies continues to work very well for this annual task.

While undercoating the truck I discovered a severely worn out rear exhaust hanger. Even my 'temporary' 5-ish year ago hose clamp repair finally failed. I picked up a fresh replacement from the dealer and popped it in place with ease.

The next annual job for winter preparation was a service and minor repair on my buddy Doug's Honda 7/24 Snowblower. This year in addition to the usual oil change, carburetor service and lubing of all moving parts, I discovered the muffler assembly was rusted out.

Most concerning was this hole that if left unattended would only get worse.

Our local dealer Honda One in Mount Pearl had the replacement part in stock and even came with a fresh heat guard. Despite the mounting hardware looking very crusty, care in using heat and some patience got the old muffler off and new one in place without snapping any hardware.

This week out in the Shed I took a look at a buddies generator that will not start. Compression was good and it had spark but it doesn't seem to be picking up gas.

I serviced the carburetor after finding the bowl very dirty, covered in rust although the bowl wasn't rusty. The machine still won't run so further investigation is needed. This machine does not gravity feed as the tank is mounted low in the frame. It has a fuel pump, and a mystery box inline between the pump and carb, all of which could be causing an issue.

Finally, just ahead of our first storm of the season I swapped from my polished aluminum rims/tires to my 17" steels with chrome centres. These 285 tires still look great and are a much more appropriate size for this truck than the original 265/70/17's I always used to run.

Just before Christmas I was out poking about in the garage doing a regular check over on Project Foreman after the last couple rides. I didn't find any issues but noticed the clamp on my custom engine breather hose was about to cut through the rubber line.

This happens every 4-5 years, if neglected it's a vulnerable low point where water can easily enter the crankcase and cause havoc! The repair was simple, I cut off about 3/4" of hose and reattached.

Cheers, MIKE