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Interested in doing my own car maintenance.. Advice?

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mouser:
Did you know that the lug nuts on the passenger side of a 64 Dodge polara are left hand thread?? I didn't ... And I snapped 2 Craftsman 1/2" ratchets and split 3 sockets before I figured it out.
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ouch!

Target:
Did you know that the lug nuts on the passenger side of a 64 Dodge polara are left hand thread?? -Stoic Joker (April 23, 2015, 05:05 PM)
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just so we all know that the issue of 'standards' was around long before software was commonplace ;D ;D ;D

MilesAhead:
With a cheater bar over the breaker bar.-MilesAhead (April 23, 2015, 06:52 AM)
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If by cheater bar you mean a piece of pipe then yes, I've done both. Actually motorcycle front fork tubes work wonderfully for that. (Speaking of which...) Did you know that the lug nuts on the passenger side of a 64 Dodge polara are left hand thread?? I didn't ... And I snapped 2 Craftsman 1/2" ratchets and split 3 sockets before I figured it out.
-Stoic Joker (April 23, 2015, 05:05 PM)
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Yeah, for a long time Chrysler corp. had this weird idea that if the lugs were Left Hand Thread on one side and Right Hand Thread on the other somehow loose lugs would be less likely to spin all the way off while driving.  A bizarre idea.  It was a real pita because every time you trained a new guy to bust tires you had to watch out for him snapping a couple of lugs off the LHT side of those cars with the impact wrench.  Some of those engineers must have been ahead of the curve when it came to water pipe usage.  :)

crabby3:
May I suggest Harbor Freight Tools.. You may have a store near you.
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There is one quite near me -- I bought my floor jack there (consensus seems to be that their floor jacks are good). :up:-mouser (April 23, 2015, 07:26 AM)
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I have one of their floor jacks as well.  A small one made of steel and it does the lifting quite well.
As you may know... not all of Harbor Freight's stuff is first-rate so beware. :)

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Love is blind so i presume a Carfax Report would not sway you?  http://www.carfax.com/free-carfax-reports

I'm no gearhead but any vehicle with around 22k miles that needs shocks (already), 5-wheel alignment and just 2 rear tires, may indicate mistreatment of some kind.  A bent frame will continue to twist all shocks you install and constantly erase tire treads.

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Some gaskets and seals may start to leak when you flush things out.  Replacing old sludge with clean fluid sometimes does this.  (i used old dirty engine oil to help clean greasy hands before using the store-bought cleaner).  Non-clumping kitty-litter will help absorb these fluid puddles and it's cheaper that oil-dry.

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Stay hydrated.  Sweating is healthy but it's hard to concentrate on the task at hand if you're spittin-cotten and the muscle cramps are murder.
Screaming for help comes easier as well.

p.s.  You know about anti-freeze and animals drinking it... right?  Doesn't take much to lose a bud.  :(

IainB:
Don't forget hand-cleaner.
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Thanks for the reminder.
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-mouser (April 23, 2015, 07:26 AM)
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The main one I used to use in the UK was something called Swarfega. It was very good = got rid of grease/oil and cleaned up the hands very well. Also cleaned out the oils from your skin. So after some experimenting, I started using a barrier cream. Quite useful stuff.

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