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August 20, 2006
How to Stay in Good Shape - Get Poor or Get Cheap
Get poor, or get cheap. Then, spend your weekends digging through the Pick-and-Pull for vehicle parts. It helps if you own a car that was fairly rare while it was in production. After visiting three different yards, and carrying my 40+ pound toolbox through the entire import section at each location, I only found one Lexus. Oh, to stay in shape it helps to be optimistic, some might say stupid, too. That way you'll take your tools with you every time ("They've got to have some useful bits here... for sure this time.")
The one Lexus I did find, was an LS400. Not a perfect match... but it did have a full set of wheel lug nuts to replace the mismatched aftermarket ones my car came with. And it appears to have the wheel bearing that I need. I tried to pull the rear suspension sub-assembly, but lacking the proper tools I wasn't able to dislodge the 15 year old bolts from their enveloping bushings. Strangely enough, it was missing the same small plastic cap on the left side of the steering wheel as my SC400. Perhaps there's a congenital defect in Toyota designed vehicles that allows thieves easy access to the ignition interlock through those covers.
On a happy note, the LS still had its spare tire and tool bucket in the trunk under the liner. So my SC got a new spare and custom tool caddy. And I got to sweat and curse in the sun while fighting with suspension bits, but whatever, the spare, full set of lug nuts, and tool caddy cost $20 total and I burnt many many calories toting tools around.
Posted by ashusta at August 20, 2006 05:43 PM