I’ve been having bad luck with appliances lately. Our KitchenAid stand mixer broke a while back when Traci and I were making cookies–the brown sugar was in a hard clump, and when I dumped it in the bowl, the beater stopped but the motor kept going, and it stripped the worm gear. It’s the only plastic gear in the entire mixer, but apparently it’s designed to strip when too much load is placed on it. The damned thing cost $22, including shipping, all for a cheap 1.5″ plastic gear. Those damned mixers are hard to take apart, too. After spending way too much time trying to figure it out, I got online and learned that I needed to drive out a pin that holds the whole thing together. I had to buy a set of nail punches so I could drive the pin out, and after that it was easy to figure out the rest. I can’t believe how much grease they put in the gear box at the factory–seriously, I could use the excess to re-pack the front wheel bearings on my truck.
I was checking out the USMB the other day, and I found out that there may be nothing wrong with the transmission on the ’87 Subaru that I bought in January–it might only be the differential. After reading a thread about somebody’s front differential locking up, I decided to check the gear oil level on my front diff, and the dipstick was bone-dry. Some day in the next week or so, I’m going to move my truck and trailer out of the driveway, fill the Subaru’s differential with gear oil, and take it for a spin to see if that’ll do the trick (after swapping license plates with my ’88, of course). If it works, I got a damned good deal on the car. If not, at least I won’t have to replace the whole transmission. A new set of differential gears should be relatively cheap, and I’ll still be able to sell the car for a hefty profit. That is, unless I decide to keep it. =)