Does anybody know anything about the gray car that was left on the lift overnight?
Yeah, the owner is in contact with @TLAR and @StanSimmons . Dude busted his lower control arm right in half at about 11PM. He’s coming back in today with the part to replace it.
I remember he started writing his name/contact details, it should be somewhere on the car
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Thanks, I just wanted to make sure someone knew about it.
Yes, his contact info is on his windshield and the Automotive Committee Chair recommended he leave it on the lift and get the part today.
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Guy with the grey Mazda here. We’re picking up a new knuckle from a salvage in Kennedale right now, and we’ll be up to get the car buttoned up soon. The plan was actually to try rolling the car back onto the trailer it came in on by way of a dolly, but @TLAR recommended leaving it on the lift until we could get the replacements in today.
As for why it’s not on 4 wheels:
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Kris, thanks for keeping me and the Space updated with your progress.
Thanks also for putting your contact info on the car before leaving for the night.
For those that are curious - there was no reasonably safe way to get his Mazda on the uhaul trailer. Keyword is safe here.
It wasn’t worth an injury or damage.
I gave approval to leave the car on the lift as long as they were back today to finish.
Thanks for understanding.
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Thank you for providing the explaination. It shows that even with rules that can and should be enforced, that exeptions exist for which we can provide the members the information so they know it wasn’t a friend getting to do something the rest are not allowed.
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Sure sorry that happened, but thanks for dealing with it in a responsible way. It’s really kind of nice, to see a member taking care of business, even after Murphy dealt him a bad card.
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Walter (and others)
I was up at the space for a scheduled class on a CVT automatic transmission.
The Mazda guy - Kris and his Dad were total strangers to me - it was one of those nights where I helped a total stranger with a car issue. The fact that they were appreciative certainly goes a long way towards the positive community effort.
The concern was purely of a safety issue based on the car part that broke - that was not available at your local parts store( this is a part that never gets replaced within the scope of routine maintenance or repair).
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Update: the replacement we got our hands on was junk. We’re currently hunting in the rain for a new one. If we don’t find one soon, we’re going to make arrangements to get it off the lift and out of the makerspace safely without the suspension in place. I’ll keep everyone appraised.
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Just another update: we’ve got a new knuckle and axle. Control arms are in, but the old axle cup won’t come out so dad’s grabbing some cable to fashion a puller out of. We’ll have the car rolling tonight.
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By counting the time between my pained groans, you can calculate something I already know: My everything-hertz.
Thanks, everyone, for your patience with what has undoubtedly been a shitty situation for everyone involved.
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Don’t see that often.
Eeep.
When you have it fixed and catch your breath, be sure to share the story of how it broke to begin with. Seems like something that doesn’t happen too much… Good luck from a fellow Mazdan (or whatever you call it).
Here’s a hub and axle:
The axle should typically slide right out of the hub with no fuss once the axle nut is removed. Sometimes, a particularly recalcitrant axle needs a little tappy-tap-tap to convince it out. This axle was so incredibly fused to the hub, hammers, punches, and years of pent-up rage did nothing. So we took it to the shop press and applied 5 tons of pressure. Then 10 tons. Then 15 tons. And right when we hit 15 tons, the Unstoppable Force ran headlong into the Immovable Object and instead of convincing an axle shaft that should have slid right out, to leave its home of 10 years, it cracked the cast iron knuckle right half in two.
Allen Wan has since appropriated what remains of the knuckle, axle still stuck in it, to vainly attempt to free the latter from the former.
And, no, the car has never been north of Dallas. Or south of Dallas. It was purchased at a local dealership by a family member, and all road trips were done in another vehicle. So this wasn’t rust and rot, this was Hiroshima’s Revenge™.
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Dang! Good luck man!
Bonus points for using the best scrabble word on talk today 
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interesting bit of info/trivia