July 2

3:04 Câmpulung, Copou, Coposu. A song to cope with anything. Cage, son of Coppola. Etc.

2:08 When i got the car from the auction and paint shop i found. One bent drive axle (right). The other was severely rusted with a play. Two cracked struts. I replaced them all but  never touched the big ball joint nut.

I instead removed the three smaller ones at the control arm. Cause i knew the ball joint conic bolt maybe stuck in the steering knuckle. However somehow they got loose on both sides. Kept tightening them. Before i figured i needed single use nuts i bought a whole assembly (ball joint, cheap, OEM, 30 bucks) on ebay on February 17 which i tried to unnecessarily replace (being constantly under influence from smoke from mole holes which has ceased after i finally plugged all holes with added borax). I put some WD40, untigthened the nut to bolt level and hammered them together but not a lot since i had no room to do it. Tightened the nut back by hand and with a new wrench i bought especially for this. I did not strip the nut, no way. I think that 12 mm bolt can take safely up to 100 pounds. Then i bought a tool on Amazon which didn't work. When i went to Reno i stopped once on the freeway and tried to tighten the nut again but was turning continuously and i figured maybe the conic joint got loose because of the WD40 i put in. Today i went in to see what's happening and found the nut and bolt are stripped period. 

While i was weighing my options in disbelief and was ready to put it together (got the parts, but can't remove the old joint) the read head woman, the mother of veteran's daughter passed by and never came back. I figured she went to the office like she threatened once, because i was working on the car. But at the garages there's a guy who also works on a vehicle and he does it everyday like a business. Closest.

What i don't understand is why yesterday or any time before i retigthened the nut it was making a noise at the bumps and had problems steering at high speed which means the conic bolt is loose but every time i tried to remove it it was stuck. Right now since it's stuck i think i can drive it safely even without a nut on it. The nut is stripped but is very hard to remove and i don't think the bolt would pop up so i may just drive it like this for a few more days (Angela's got Monday off).

3:38 A drive to Les Schwab turned into a whole new adventure. I stopped at Jiffy Lube where they replaced my filter last time. They said they can't do it without an alignement. There is nothing to align at this car except for toe but that one wouldn't change with ball joint replacement. Nothing will change. Anyways, i know when a car is out of alignment. He gave me the "if  you want to argue, i do this for..." (he's like 30).

At Les Schwab. Blake Shelton as customer, a kid that seemed familiar came when i was leaving, but i passed.

Some other mechanic told me what to do. A wedge, but that will destroy the old part in the process. Not so absolutely sure i got the right part on ebay. Though mine is stripped, it still works and if i do this i have to be ready to give up the car for a few days in case it goes wrong.

Now that is stuck (as for today) i don't hear any noises at the bumps.

Risking children's lives. When i came back, a grey silver Audi was coming real close, threatening to hit me from behind. I was braking slowly watching him in the mirror and pulled real fast in the alley, stopped and honked, without realizing there was a car trying to leave the alley with a kid in the back sit staring at me.