Replacing my bathroom fan

 Last year when my roof was replaced I had a noise issue with my bathroom fan. I ordered a new one after figuring out which one I needed. You will have to find the one you need.

   Whilst waiting for the new one I took the old one out and cleaned and lubed it. That worked. It had been working for 35 years at that point, unmaintained.

   Today it made a squeaking noise as it shut down and as I have the spare I thought I would put it in. The power to my fan is controlled with the light switch so I used flashlights.

Remove the cover;

unplug fan

remove the retaining screw by the receptacle

pull down on unit and it comes out, the side across from the screw had tabs in slots for retention.

There is a clip holding the fan on the motor shaft, prise this off with a screwdriver

Compare parts

Reassemble fan and motor into unit.

Plug in and replace securing screw, flip light switch and test.

Replace cover. My cover has these wire bits which when squeezed together can be inserted or removed into slots in the unit. I find it easier to do 1 side of the wire into the slot then the other, then go do the other side of the cover.

Test again, turn light/fan off and walk away with a spring in your step!

Fairy tales do come true!

      I grew up in Santa Cruz, California and went to Catholic school for 12 years. Santa Cruz has a pretty good Portuguese population, mostly from the Azores. It has an annual Holy Ghost parade and festival.

    Turn the Wayback Machine to The first Sunday in July, 7 July 1968, Sherman.

    This was the date of the Festival back then. I had never been to one, it was the summer after my Junior year in high school, I was 17.

    I went to the parade evidently with a friend I don't remember and then we went to the dance after the parade with a cioppino feed.

    There at the dance I met Laurie. We talked and she lived in Peabody, Mass. just outside of Boston, and was visiting her older sister who lived in Sunnyvale. Laurie had come with friends of her sisters to the festival. 

    I liked her and asked if we could be pen pals and she said yes and gave me her address. Laurie was 15.

   We wrote back and forth over the next year and I went into the USN in July of 69 after graduation. After boot camp I was stationed on the USS Enterprise in the shipyards of Newport News, VA.

   In spring of 1970, I asked if I could come visit during her spring break. She asked her parents and they said yes! I flew up then in April of 1970. I was 19 and she was 17.

   They picked me up at the airport, let me stay at their house, took me to New Hampshire to see my first real snow, Laurie and I saw Grand Funk Railroad in Lowell, Mass at a small venue. Then they dropped me back at the airport and I flew back to Newport News.

    We still wrote to each other for the next 4-5 years. I got out of the Navy in 73. Her parents retired and Laurie graduated high school. Then they moved to Florida. Sometime shortly after this the penpal thing stopped.

    In 76 I got married, in 95 divorced.

    The internet became a thing. I was over at my daughters in 2013 and she had a Facebook account. I searched it and found Laurie and sent her a message with my email address. She responded!

   Laurie was married and had 2 children and lived in Phoenix, AZ. 

    I had planned to go to an Overland Expo in May of 2014 in Flagstaff. I asked if I could visit. She explained it to her husband and they said yes.

    I rode my motorcycle to the Expo during May 16-18. 

The expo trip can be read here;

https://poppageno.blogspot.com/2014/06/overland-expo-2014.html

Taking my time I was in Phoenix a couple of days after.

    Wayne was a good guy while I was there, they fed me and took me up on South Mtn to show me the sights.

   I left and did a tour of Arizona and went home. Over the next years we sent Christmas and Birthday cards to each other.

    Late 2025 I sent a Christmas card wishing Laurie and Wayne the best. She told me then that he had passed 2 years earlier from cancer.

    We texted and emailed. For her June 8th birthday I made her a gift and she needed help reassembling it. So she called. It was the first time we talked on the phone. We talked for 5 hours!

    There was a connection there and we both felt it. We have talked and texted and emailed a LOT since then.

    Laurie and Wayne had moved to Flagstaff to be near their daughter and granddaughter. Now 3 and three quarters years old, Laurie watches her once a week. Her son lives near Ft Collins, Co and she sees his family less frequently.

   A couple weeks ago Laurie's daughter told her they were going to San Diego for a week, leaving Laurie with not much to do.

     I asked her to come here for the week. 

Which she did. Today she is on her way home and currently is 394 miles from her home.

    She stayed with me and we hit it off. I knew I loved her before she left Flagstaff and she loved me. I am 75 and Laurie is 73, old people in love!

While here I took her to where I grew up and to the ocean and to the Portuguese Hall where we met 58 years ago.

     I can't believe there is a woman who drove 743 miles over 12 hours to see me!

    My turn to go visit her when it cools down in the desert as I have no a/c.

Fairy tales do happen!

Rear suspension bushings replaced

 Ufda!  This took a while.

   I started on the left rear, the one with the lean, first. I jacked it all up and pulled the spring out and looked at the spring shackle pins. While OK, I felt 2 of them should be replaced with a little wear. 

So I ordered pins from Blanchards in the UK on a Friday evening. Waited until Monday to get the order confirmation and then a week to get here. I was ansy as I had a guest coming to visit.

   Whilst waiting I pounded out the old bushings and installed the new poly bushes. Did you know the 1 ton springs weigh 70 pounds each? It took around 45 min to and hour to cut and pry and pound out each of the 2 old bushings.

   The pins arrived 3 days before my guest and I got on it. Even though a warm day/evening I put the spring back on the left side and lowered the jacks. It sat well in my uneven driveway.

I used anti seize liberally on everything but the threads.

    The next day I did the right side rear. By now I had plenty of practice and things went well. Still had the pounding out the old bushes session though. I finally came up with a plan. Using my jigsaw I could cut the outer sleeve and bend it over and then pound the crap out of it until it slid out. I had the end I was working on in my vise and the free end on a board.

My arms were tired after 2 days of all this!

Here's the old bushes;

The yellow poly ones were still good, I just replaced them because now thew are all the same.

Tools clean up!

   I drove down to the mailbox and over some bumps to settle everything and then torqued all to spec.

Today I drove to get groceries and all the clunks were gone! Bumps felt like they had rounded edges not square ones. Feels good again!

Diesel fuel filters replaced

 While I was awaiting new shackle pins for the rear springs I decided to change out my diesel fuel filters. They looked pretty bad even though they worked well.

 

   I didn't write down the size of the originals and bought 10 on amazon with 5/16" ends. My originals were 3/8's. So now I got spares.

I used vise grips to clamp the hoses and my drill to unscrew the band clamps, keeping spillage to a minimum.

The new ones look great!

 

Thought I would cut one of the old ones open and see what was inside. It wasn't magnetic, so who knows.

Well, at least it's done!

Front suspension bushings replaced

 2 July 2026

   I have had a clunk in my suspension for a few months and bought new poly bushes over the winter. Enough for both ends as my rear left side has developed a lean.

First thing to do was rip the skin off my hand when I went to undo the first lugnut! I just dragged it on the tire....

I cleaned it up and stuck a bandaid and bug killer on it, then gloves....

Once the lugnuts were all loose I jacked it up by the spring and put a jackstand under the front bumper. Then went about taking off the shock. The shock is damaged from the first spring/shock plate being too short and the brake caliper hitting it at full turn.

I am getting new shocks and will adjust the turn stop.

Anyway I got the spring off and the inner sleeves were broken loose from the rubber and one side was smashed down. 

Original factory bushes lasted 50+ years, these less than 10.

I've learned over the year to put my spring in a vise and pound a steel wedge in the gap for the bush spring. Then I can use a chisel and pound the shit out of the inner tube until it decides to relocate to the floor. These took A LOT of convincing!

I won!

The new poly's were installed with anti seize and I attacked the poly chassis bush removal. It fought tooth and nail eventually giving way by running a long drill bit, 3/16" down the side and chewing out the poly. I got the outside bush out and could clamp a vise grips on the inner tube and with a LARGE crescent wrench on the vise grips I was able to wiggle the tube out and knock out the remaining poly.

New chassis poly's were installed with plenty of anti seize.

Then began the mighty struggle! I could not for the life of me get the axle housing to line up on the spring and seat properly. I fought it for 3 hours in the hot sun. I was whipped, I didn't eat lunch as I was too filthy to go inside, and I thought I was almost done........

By whipped I mean I was sooo tired and sore I could barely move and cook dinner. I left it to sit over the Fourth of July weekend, I missed the pancake breakfast and parade.......I had time to think though and realized I was trying to put the shock mount plate and locate the axle at the same time. When 5 July rolled around and I did the axle then the shock plate in sequence I had it together in 40 minutes. I won again!

That was the first one!

By 8 July I started on the right side. It had other ideas too! I removed the tire and all the u bolt nuts and the shackle pins and the spring just sat there stuck to the axle housing! WTF? I banged on it with heavy hammers and nothing. The rear was tight up against the frame. Eventually I used my steel chisel to separate the 2 bits.

Again the inner bushing tubes were finger removed.

The spring had apparently rusted onto the axle housing.

I wire wheeled that and coated it with anti seize as well as the bottom of the axle housing.

One of the pins showed some wear and was probably the clunking I could hear and feel underfoot when driving.

I rummaged through my spares and found a matching set of pins and shackles.

Next came the arduous task of removing the old leaf bushes. So into the vise put in the wedge and pound the crap out of it until it screamed "UNCLE"! At both ends!

  Put in the poly's and throw it back on the 109 armed with what I had learned from the first spring. Easy Peasy!

I am currently working on doing the rears. I will drive it and torque it when all are done. It's supposed to be in the low 90F for the next 3 days so I may work slower that normal.