Discover the expert in you.
Discover the expert in you.
The spline nut, also known as the axle spline nut or axle nut, is located on the threaded end of each front axle shaft. This nut holds the splined end of the axle securely inside the wheel hub. The axle nut is a 34 mm nut that is pinched in order to prevent it from loosening. Because the nut is pinched in the manufacturing process, it is not reusable. There are two types of axle nuts installed on 1999 Aleros, and both are not reusable. The first type is the older style that is black with a sheet metal cage…
The tire pressure monitoring system on a 2005 General Motors truck consists of four tire sensors, a radio frequency receiver, and a number of modules that work together including the BCM, PCM, and passenger door module, or PDM. The tire monitoring system is activated by default, but whenever the PDM is replaced the Tech 2 scan tool must be used to enable the tire pressure monitoring system. The Tech 2 is GM’s factory scan tool, and it is also the only scan tool that can re-activate the TPM system.
Behind the shower wall, the heart of the shower is hard at work mixing the perfect combination of hot and cold water for delivery to the shower head. When you turn a valve on the shower to start the water, the interior of the valve in the shower core opens inside the corresponding water pipe to let water flow through to the shower head. The valves attached to the shower valve core are constantly pulled and moved. For safety, the shower valve core should be secured to the framing inside the walls, which also frames the shower. Attach the shower…
When you take your vehicle to have new tires put on, the wheels must be balanced to the tires. Tire balancing requires a certain amount of weight to be applied to a specific area of the wheel. Wheel weights are used to balance the wheel and tire together, for smooth travel down the road. Tires that are not balanced can cause a vibration that becomes more severe with increased speed, as well as accelerating tread wear. Properly balanced tires will not bounce at any speeds, because the added weight helps to keep the wheels and tires from hopping over the…
Housed inside of a protective casing, an axle allows the wheel to rotate on its axis while connecting it to the vehicle frame. On front-wheel drive vehicles, axles and casing are a unitized piece linking the drive wheels to the transmission, called a transaxle; each wheel is connected to its own independent axle, known as a “half-shaft,” attached to opposite sides of the transmission. As the axle and casing are of one-piece design, if the front axle housing becomes bent, the entire half-shaft must be replaced.
Furnace ducts route warm or cool air throughout a home. Ducts may be round, flat and rectangular, or a combination of the two. Round ducts are typically installed below floor joists in basements where headroom is not always an issue. However, when the low and exposed round ducts interfere with your remodeling plans, you can install an adapter that connects the round duct to a flat, rectangular duct which can be routed between the floor joists. A few tools and basic do-it-yourself skills are required.
Wet tires can skid or hydroplane during conditions where the road's surface has accumulated a film of water. If tires cannot channel the water away through the treads, the water acts as a barrier, causing the tires to lose traction. A vehicle owner has a number of options and precautions to keep his tires on the road for better traction during wet conditions. Safety is a key factor. As a general rule, no vehicle owner should ever attempt to drive in wet conditions with bald tire.
Washing machines use water from a valve in the wall. While most homes have the valve already installed, your home may need the valve attached to the pipe in your laundry room to provide the washer with the water it needs. Luckily, the washing machine valve is an easy piece of plumbing to install since it simply screws onto the pipe in your laundry room.
Tire rotation and wheel alignment are both essential parts of maintaining your car. Even though both procedures relate to wheels and tires, they serve quite different purposes. Neither should be considered a substitute for the other. Getting your tires rotated and wheels aligned when required ensures that your car will handle correctly and preserve the life of your tires.
Securing parts of machinery together is a challenge that is met in many different ways. Cotter pins, C-clamps, nuts and push-on nuts are all used in a variety of ways to keep parts where they belong in appliances such as dishwashers. A push-on nut, or one that looks like a little derby or top hat, is one of the easiest to get on and a hard one to get off. Because of its look, it is often referred to as a cap nut.
Tires are some of the most commonly replaced components on a vehicle. Strangely, they are also one of the more misunderstood. Between checking for even tire wear, checking the depth of the tread, adjusting air pressure and keeping the alignment and balancing and rotation up to date, many car owners forget how long their tires have been on the road. Tire age is just as important as tire wear, and understanding how to spot a tire that is too old for use will keep you and your family safe.
Tire pressure was once something that nearly all gas stations checked every time you stopped into the “Full Service” lane. Now with “Full Service” gas stations becoming a thing of the past, drivers are now stuck with the burden of checking tire pressure. In 2007, a law passed requiring all vehicles manufactured after September 2007 to come standard with a tire pressure monitoring system to alert drivers of low tire pressure. Jeep offered this TPMS as an option on its 2004 Grand Cherokee Limited, and resetting the tire pressure indicator is not much more difficult than checking and topping off…
A raised hearth in front of your fireplace may provide the protection you need from sparks or rolling logs, but in the process it cuts off a large area of your floor space and creates a visual barrier that may make the room appear smaller. Removing the raised hearth and replacing it with flat tiles gives you the fire protection you need while allowing you to keep the floor space clear.
One of the largest expenses, as well as a major focal point in your home, is the sofa in your living room. Considering the amount of use that this piece of furniture gets over the course of its life, it's normally money well spent. Keeping your sofa looking as good as possible is therefore a priority for most people. Basic cleaning is usually enough to keep the sofa looking great for years. Sometimes, though, a problem will occur that either needs a professional to handle or is one that you can tackle yourself with the right tools.
Commonly used in a building's chilled-water air-conditioning system, a wafer-style butterfly valve slips between the ends of two flanged water pipes. Tightening the flange bolts holding the pipes together locks the wafer butterfly valve in place. A butterfly valve has a rotating disc that controls water flow. Some models have a lever handle to control the disc's position inside the valves; rotating the handle counterclockwise closes the disc. Other versions include worm gear to work the disc; twisting the worm gear clockwise opens the disc. Installing wafer butterfly valves is moderately difficult.
Pre-drive checks are essential to making sure that your vehicle is in top operating condition before you start to drive. If you check everything before you pull away, you could catch a potentially very dangerous safety hazard and repair it before it endangers you on the road. There are pre-drive checks that should be made outside the vehicle on top of those that need to be made from the interior.
Tires must be in balance to operate properly. This is why wheels are placed on a balancing machine and weights added to the rim before a tire is installed on a vehicle. This ensures that everything is in balance. Out-of-balance wheels make for an unpleasant driving experience in a number of ways.
A "dirt mod" is the shortened name for dirt modified racer, which is a type of race car that's specifically designed for dirt racing. "Bump steer" is a term used to describe an inward or outward pull or turning of a front front wheel as it moves up and down. On bumpy terrain, such as a dirt track, bump steer can cause the steering wheel to be jerked from your hands. Bump steer is caused when the tie rods don't follow the same arcs as the upper and lower steering arms. Correct this by aligning the tie rods or adjusting…
Tire pressure monitoring systems became a staple on luxury cars in the late 1990s. Through the 2000s, buyers began seeing TPMS on some high-end domestic cars and light trucks. This system came in two styles early on, direct and indirect. The indirect TPMS system used the anti-lock brake system to measure wheel speed. If one wheel rotated at a slower rate than the other three, an indication of low pressure, the TPMS system would kick on. The direct system has a pressure sensor inside the rim that relays pressure to the TPMS computer.
Masonite is a wood-based product that is made out of a mixture of wood byproducts and an adhesive that holds them together. Masonite solid core doors are made of sheets of Masonite that sandwich an interior structure of solid wood or wood products. Solid core doors are most frequently used on exterior walls or on interior walls where noise reduction is important. Solid core doors are more durable than hollow core doors, and also provide better heat and sound insulation.
Once you've purchased a Kenmore model garburator, commonly called a garbage disposal, you can manually install it below your sink. To install it you must remove the extension pipe from under the sink. Also, to connect the garburator to the flange part at the bottom of the sink, you must disassemble part of the garburator.
A CST sleeve is a hard rubber coupling that fits over the upper ball joints, which are an integral part of your car or truck's suspension system. Over time these sleeves can become loose. If this happens, dirt and other debris can contaminate the ball joint. Short term, this can cause poor handling and faster wear and tear of the ball joints. If it is left unchecked for a long period of time, it can completely ruin the ball joints. If the sleeve comes loose it should be adjusted and secured back in place immediately.
Learning how to change a tire can save you time and money. It's one of the most essential skills for car owners, who can face this task after driving over unexpected road debris. You'll need a few basic tools, which usually come with your vehicle and are stored in the trunk or in the back of an SUV.
Snapper mowers must be kept in good working order for reasons of safety and efficiency. Extended use of a mower wears the cutting blade down, as does damage from hard objects it hits while in operation. Mower blades eventually need sharpening or changing. To do this, the nuts, along with the bolts and washers, must be removed so the blade can be taken off the mower for servicing.
The front wheel bearing on the 1994 Chevrolet Camaro is housed inside the front hub assembly and is known as a sealed bearing. Anytime the front wheel bearing needs to be replaced the whole hub assembly must be replaced. Replacement of the hub assembly will require the removal of the brake caliper and bracket as well as the brake rotor.
Tire pressure indicators, also known as tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), function as warning devices that detect abnormally low tire pressures. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has mandated that TPMS be installed on all vehicles from 2008 and beyond. Direct and indirect TPMS are available for monitoring tire pressures, with both being effective and accurate. Vehicle owners should know how they operate, their benefits and limitations.
Valve cores, also known as Schrader valves, are used in air conditioning systems for servicing purposes. Refrigerant pumps into the air conditioner through the valve core in the same way air is pumped into a tire. When the flow of refrigerant stops, the valve core closes and seals off the line. Valve cores are manufactured in varying diameters for different applications. You can locate and identify the valve core on your air conditioner with basic do-it-yourself skills.
The 1993 Ford Explorer is equipped with a 4.0-liter V-6 engine, a four-speed automatic, or five-speed manual transmission, and two- or four-wheel-drive. The ignition switch on the Explorer is mounted in the steering column. Unlike some vehicles that require replacement of the entire lock and switch assembly, the ignition lock cylinder on the Explorer can be removed from the switch. Best of all, no disassembly is required to replace it.
The 2002 Chevy Silverado 1500 base model is two-wheel drive and powered by a 4.3-liter six-cylinder engine with an automatic transmission. The front wheel bearing is housed in the front hub assembly and is a sealed bearing, which means the whole hub must be replaced if the wheel bearing fails. No special tools are required for the wheel hub removal process.
The Maytag Neptune is a high-efficiency, large-capacity residential washing machine that offers 11 washing cycles and five temperature settings. Maytag Neptune washers feature a gentle-wash tumbler assembly instead of a traditional agitator. If you see water leaking from the washer's transmission assembly, the stem seal and sleeve must be replaced. Experienced do-it-yourselfs should have no trouble replacing the faulty seal. Because of the difficulty and length of the stem seal replacement process, those without previous appliance repair experience may wish to call in a professional.
Keeping the pressure even in your Chevy S10's tires is an ongoing maintenance issue. Tire pressure is lost both through regular use and via small, undetected air leaks in the tire and its components. The pressure of your tires affects the way the truck handles, its fuel mileage and the wear of the tires themselves. Correcting tire pressure is a simple procedure requiring minimal tools and time.
Tractor and front-end loader buckets can sustain damage in the form of dents and bent teeth. This can occur as the result of operator error or due to a shifting load. Rocks and other large, heavy objects may roll against the bucket, causing a dent or bending the metal. The bucket's teeth can be bent out of shape if it collides with a curb or rock. Minor dents and damage can be repaired in-house, whereas major damage requires professional repairs.
Ariens is an American manufacturing company specializing in landscaping equipment such as tillers, lawn mowers and snowblowers. Many Ariens snowblower models offer a wheel differential lock feature that allows you to set the wheels to turn together for better snow traction or separately for better turning and maneuverability. The stress of regular use causes wear and tear on the wheel differential lock components. If one of these components fails, the entire assembly should be removed for repair or replacement.
A shower faucet’s valve stems fit inside the faucet’s handles, where splines or tiny teeth on both the valve stems and the inside of the handles fit together. Each faucet handle has one valve stem that fits inside it. If the valve stems’ splines strip out, then turning the handle has limited or no effect on the valve stems, which in turn control the flow of water through the faucet. You must replace the old valve stems with exact matches, restoring the faucet back to its normal operating condition.
Because you use the BlackBerry trackball -- also called a scroll wheel or scroll ball -- for almost every application, this part of your device can start acting a bit funny after a while. Typically, there is nothing wrong with the ball itself, but it can get clogged with lint that makes it hard to move one way or another. If you still have a warranty for your phone, don't void it by doing the work yourself; but if you no longer have a warranty, you can make this simple repair quite easily.
You have to be extra careful when putting a car tire back on the rim. Learn how to put a car tire back on the rim with help from an expert in the automotive industry in this free video clip.
Car enthusiasts may add an A-Spec Racing, or ASR, subframe brace to the rear suspension of their cars. An ASR subframe brace prevents suspension problems if the car owner adds anti-sway bars to the car for better handling on the road. Before installing the ASR subframe brace, remove the lower control arms on the suspension.
Old tub shower combinations have stems that control the in-flow of water to the spout. These stems are really valves that open and close when the handle turns. If your shower leaks, the stems probably are damaged or worn and need replacing. This job takes about one hour and requires a specific tools.
If your dishwasher’s pump motor is making a loud sound. There may be a lose part within the motor pump. For example, the drain solenoid is a part that determines the allowed drainage and water level in the dishwasher. The drain solenoid is connected to the motor with a push nut connected to drain shaft seal. You can remove the push nut at any time to replace it with a new part once you've remove the drain solenoid from the dishwasher motor.
Tires used to be so pretty; smooth, black and easy on the eyes, tires of yore were a study in the beauty of simplicity. Of course, those same tires were also a nightmare in terms of reliability, traction and quality control, which is kind of a problem when the tire is one of four things responsible for saving your life. Oh well, it's a welcome concession to function, if ever there was such a thing.
Spindles on a bus are small parts that are used in the brake application of the vehicle. They are found along each brake line where the tires are. Over time they can become worn and need to be flipped. Flipping spindles refers to removing the old spindle and replacing it with a new one. Flipping the spindle on a 1966 bus is no different from flipping it on any other type of bus.
Retainer nuts are often found on plumbing assemblies such as bathroom and kitchen faucets. You might think that removing one of these metal fasteners is very straightforward, and to some extent it is. However, there are still some things that you must keep in mind. For example, it is very important to use the correct wrench when removing a brass retainer nut. Should you grab the nut with pliers, for example, you run the risk of warping or otherwise damaging the nut.
Many vehicles start out with shiny rims on their wheels, but over time, the shine can dull and disappear. You do not have to replace the rims when they get dull. If your rims are made from aluminum or steel, you can polish the wheels to a high shine using a series of sanding and polishing compounds that will restore the original shine, or make it even brighter. You can use these same techniques to polish any metal to a high shine.
If you need to do repairs on your toilet, or if you need to replace your entire bowl, you first must disconnect the unit from its water supply. A large nut is what holds the toilet fill valve in place inside its tank. You can find the nut just underneath the tank. Removing the toilet involves unscrewing this nut and then removing the unit from the stem that attaches it to the water supply valve. This is a simple operation that most homeowners can accomplish on their own.
Stop nuts are a type of locking nut that remain fastened under vibration and pressure. Also called plastic insert nuts, stop nuts grip the end of a bolt or screw with a thin plastic or fiber ring that encircles their interior diameter. Although stop nuts are available in copper, steel is the most common material used to manufacture stop nuts. Removing stop nuts is similar to removing standard hex nuts; you simply twist the nut counterclockwise to loosen it. However, if a stop nut is stuck, use a penetrating lubricant to facilitate removal.
The Chateau faucet by Moen has a cartridge valve behind the stop tube and shower trim plate. If the Chateau starts to leak, it means that the valve is worn out and needs to be replaced. Taking the valve out is a 20-minute job that anyone with basic DIY skills will find manageable enough. The most difficult part of the job is removing the trim and the handle, which has a small screw securing it to the valve stem.
The Polaris 335 is a popular brand of all terrain vehicle (ATV). The Polaris 335 features a four valve, four-stroke liquid cooled engine with an electric starter. It also features a fully independent rear suspension system. Part of the suspension system includes the constant velocity, or CV joints. These are responsible for handling and balance when the axle turns. The CV joints are protected by a rubber boot. If the boot becomes worn, it must be replaced.
Removing a barrel lug from an Encore rifle is a job that can be done in a few minutes with just a few basic tools. The barrel lug sits inside the frame assembly and is welded to the rifle barrel. Occasionally, the weld on the barrel lug will fail, requiring that you remove the barrel lug to repair the weld. The Encore barrel lug is designed to secure the rifle barrel to the frame assembly with a metal hinge pin.
Pewter is an alloy, or mixture, of metals including tin, bismuth and antimony that may also contain gold or silver. This soft, malleable alloy is safe for food use and resistant to the components of beer, so it is commonly used to make lids for ceramic beer steins. A pewter beer stein lid can bend at the rim, or at the top after repeated use, because pewter is softer and easier to shape than other metals. This softness also makes it possible for you to repair a bent pewter beer stein lid with a few simple, improvised tools.
Puncture holes in Michelin Energy Tires that are created by nails and other objects can be repaired using a plug and a few tools. These plugs can increase the life of your tire and make a trip to a tire shop unnecessary.
