There can be no  argument that I’m very slow about certain tasks. When I used to have to do work that required me to go under the building in the office, it took far longer than maybe it should. Spider webs, lake puddles topped with irridescent film of dubious composition, slime, rocks, and the dank air with dry dust all made it unpleasant. After a rain, the water was worse down there. It was a crawl space, and I had to go under ducts and over foundation concrete while avoiding getting tangled up in cables that dangled from the flooring i-beams.

Unpleasant.

Once, I went down there and rescued a cat. Another time I found a mushroom that looked otherworldly.

When we switched from a terminal environment to computers, I designed and installed a network and spent a weekend down there. From Friday night to sunday night I worked alone all around the clock installing all the cable drops and then activating and testing the network so that when Monday came everyone could get right to work. To save money, I bought rolls of CAT5 cable and lots of RJ45 connectors and made all the cable drops from cables I pinned out on the spot.

Imagine my surprise when there was no reflection of this effort on my pay check that month! But that’s another matter. The big boys charge a c-note per drop. A drop is one cable.

I didn’t think I was all that slow until we hired a guy to work in the marketing department whose usefulness in that job was lacking. So we sent him under the building to solve some problem or another and he made short work of it. Fast. Very fast. At least compared to me.

So this past weekend I spent most of Saturday under the Land Rover doing work. I wanted to swap out the lubricants in the transmission and transfer box and then the differentials. It shouldn’t have taken that long. And what a mess!

I took a new work light I’d bought for just such an occasion into the garage. Within a few minutes it disappeared and I still haven’t found it. I searched high and low.

Then I looked for one of the flash lights. They were all gone too. But I stumbled across the one that used to be on the bicycle as a headlight. Using that I found another decent flash light. And then I scrounged up the battery powered lantern and went to work. I drained the transmission and transfer case.

I tried to find some new crush washers, but all the car parts stores and the local hardware store failed me. On line they were no easier to get. So I removed them to the kitchen, cleaned them up, and annealed them with a propane torch and cold water. Then I respread them and cleaned up the drain bolts and eventually reinstalled them all cleaned up and with silicon gasket stuff.

For some reason I could not locate the fill hole for the transfer case. The usual sources of data all seemed to not help me pinpoint where it should be.

I was thrown off by the overdrive dip stick holder which was occupying that hole.

Too much detail?

Probably.

I had a problem sourcing the oil. It needed to be GL-4 so as to protect the yellow metal in the gear box and over drive, particularly the synchros. I finally tracked some down and in a couple of trips to the store I had what I needed. GL-4 for the Land Rover and GL-5 hypoid gear oil for the Europa trans axle. Lots of false leads before that though. Most of the places I went tried to sell me the “compatable with GL4 and GL5 variants which would be fine in a newer vehicle. I found straight GL4 at Tony’s and had a backup on Evergreen Blvd. if they didn’t have enough. It’s redline and it’s expensive.

I had the cubby out and the floor boards. So access to the overdrive was good and it allowed me to put gear oil in the overdrive until it showed on the dip stick.

Then I drained the rear differential and topped it up. What a mess! Oil all over the garage floor! I was surprised how dirty the oil was in the rear end considering how few miles I’ve run it. I cleaned up and reinstalled the over drive lever and transmission tunnel and threw down cat litter. The I was out of time and headed in. Next day I had a peek under the rig and found no drips. The crush ring and silicon treatments seem to have improved the leak situation. Very nice. Those differentials came to me via Great Basin Expedition at a cost of over $2000. I want them taken care of. They should prove to be life time parts.

Then I got an unexpected treat when I realized that despite the loss of the main light source I had depended on, I was able to get the job done because I had so many other light sources. Over head florescent lights , a telescoping lamp, flash lights, and the lantern together gave me the light I needed. It reminded me that there is real value in the insights of wise people in one’s life. Like in the garage, no one source of light is sufficient. Every good person is light and light is always good. Maybe that’s why the psalmist claimed, “There is safety in a multitude of counselors”. So no one person can be expected to provide all the wisdom and insight that a soul needs.

I have good friends.

I also have cat litter all over the garage floor. I’ll do the front differential and swivel balls next. While I’m at it, I ought to drain and refill the trunnions on the Europa. I bet they’re almost dry!  Hope not.

Overkill. I pulled the floors up and removed the cubby. It looks a mess.