Should I reuse this spindle?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Sadly, I can't even afford to ship something right now. I am taking the insurance off the car next week because I can no longer afford it, and it will just have to sit until times get better or I lose my house and have to get rid of it. Right now, I have lost about 40% of my income as compared to this time last year, and it keeps going down by the week. So, I have to cut all unnecessary expenses. Right now, that car is not needed, so it will have to be taken off the road. I am going to try to find another part time job, but that will not be easy as my state has been above 10% unemployment for most of this year. Most places have a huge stack of applications and my chances are not very good. Plus, I need to work hours that do not conflict with my present job. Sadly, everything keeps getting more expensive while my income keeps dwindling. It's not a pleasant situation to be in. I am reaching a tipping point pretty soon where I will no longer be able to pay the mortgage if things do not improve. When you work for tips, and your average number of deliveries goes from 15 per day to 6 or 7, you can't keep going indefinitely.

 

[Bonnewagon]

I feel for you man. Spindle is the least of your problems. My buddy was a Toyota tech in Wesley Chapel and had to deliver pizza at night just to keep his head above water. He lost both jobs and had to return here to NYC where he got a good job in 4 days. Now he's paying for a house in Florida he can't live in and can't sell.

 

[1evilregal]

if you guys paid attention, it was the bearings that were glowing, not the spindle....

if the bearings aren't sieze to the splindle, you should be alright until you have the means to do the upgrade...just check for excessive bluing on the splindle as someone mentioned...

Darin

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I feel for you man. Spindle is the least of your problems. My buddy was a Toyota tech in Wesley Chapel and had to deliver pizza at night just to keep his head above water. He lost both jobs and had to return here to NYC where he got a good job in 4 days. Now he's paying for a house in Florida he can't live in and can't sell.

I can see that happening. Florida is one of the worst hit states by this depress...err recession. I still have some nuclear options I can exercise though. I can move in with my parents and just drop by the house every day to keep the squatters out, I could also do a mortgage renegotiation ( I was going to refi, but can't and my rate is VERY high), or I could let the bank take it, and live with my parents as I finish school full time. I was hoping to at least put it in saleable condition, but it looks like that is not going to happen. I looked through Craigslist for a part time job and found that unless I want to be a telemarketer or a (female) stripper I am SOL. I am not good on the phone, and even if I could afford the surgery I wouldn't make a very pretty girl...lol. So... I will see what happens. People can say "at least you have a job" all they want, but sometimes that job is no longer enough. I am afraid to leave where I work for a full time job because I have 2 years seniority where I am and a new job could let me go in a month and put me in a worse situation than I am in now. This is a scary time to live in, and there are no clear cut good options. Also, if Obama gets his way and forces me to buy health insurance and pay double for electricity and fuel for my truck, then my options will run out and the bank gets the house. I simply cannot absorb any more increases in my monthly expenses because I am that close to the edge. I just wonder how may people are in the same situation and how bad the crash will be if it all goes through.

(Sorry to b*tch and wax political in a technical forum, but it's just where the topic wound up for me.)

 

[just plain john]

It is sad to hear about your situation, and I wish you all the best. The offer still stands on the spindles whenever you get around to it.

 

[dan2286]

Have you looked into delivering newspapers? My uncle is doing that for extra money and he says he is making about a $1000 a month. You usually do that early in the morning, so it shouldn't interfere with work or school.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, I am going to just put a bearing on the damn thing so I can drive it one last time. Why? Well, I was going to pull the insurance this week until someone decided to run down my mailbox with their car. This is the second or third act of vandalism against my mailbox in the last few months, and leaving the Cutlass outside on Halloween when I will not be home just doesn't seem wise. So, I need to drive it to my parent's house and park it in their garage for the night. After it comes back home, the insurance will be pulled. As for the mailbox, I used the BFH to bang it out...again, but the post is toast. It snapped off in the ground. I can't really afford a new post either, but I did devise a solution with the help of a neighbor. We cut apart and welded together an old bed frame to make a new mailbox post and base. This is cheap as I just owe him a few welding rods for his arc welder for doing it. It also should be harder to kill. Plus, should a miscreant wish to run it over again, it will cause significant damage to their vehicle. He did the same thing to his years ago and it has never been knocked down or off. However, he did find someone punching his mailbox a few weeks ago, but the perp ran away faster than he could run (my neighbor is in his 60's). That also explains the punch marks in almost every mail box on my street. I guess they are too poor to afford a baseball bat and a car like the cool kids use, so they just decided to try a low buck solution....

This also got me thinking about the ultimate mailbox solution (that I can't afford). It would be a 6 inch piece of 1/4 in wall square steel tubing welded up to look like a wooden post, sunk 3 feet in the ground and filled with concrete. I would also weld some stabilizers to the bottom of the post so that it could not be turned by an impact. The mailbox itself would use the old unit as an outer shell, but have the floor cut out, and a piece of 1/4 in steel plate bent in an arch and welded to another plate for the floor which would then be welded to the post. The old mailbox shell and door would then be slipped over the top of the steel arch so that it looks stock. The post could be painted like rotten wood so that it looks like an easy target. When they try to run it down however, it will just obliterate the front end of their car!

 

[Blake442]

...That also explains the punch marks in almost every mail box on my street. I guess they are too poor to afford a baseball bat and a car like the cool kids use, so they just decided to try a low buck solution....

Just wait till you see some dipshit kid with his hand in a cast! :lol:

My plastic mailbox got smoked by an uncarved pumpkin 2 years ago now, and it's still clinging to life with a healthy dose of gorilla tape. They tried again a week or so later, but luckily the pumpkin was a carved one this time, and it just broke apart when it hit the post... ****ers!

 

[Bonnewagon]

Around here they blow them up. I don't know what they use, maybe M-80's, but they pretty much obliterate them. These kids should join the Army Engineers and do demolition :lol: .

 

[pontiacgp]

I don't know about the US but up here since the post office is a federal gov company then any destruction of post boxes is a federal crime...