What did you do to your 3rd gen today??

Took it swimming and got stuck

Replaced the bad tensioner and installed an AC bypass pulley as well as replaced the power steering line since it broke while trying to remove the tensioner bolt. Crowfoot made that easier but still a PITA to get it on the pump.

Replaced the flex pipe section again. Only lasts about a year. Anyone know the diameter of the flex pipe?

Painted all four wheels today; I was able to replace the driver-side CV axle but my slide hammer wasn't long enough for the passenger-side axle (had to order an extension) so I figured it was a good day to paint the wheels since I had 2 of the wheels off already. 2 coats of Rustoleum Black Gloss along with 1 coat of clearcoat made the factory steelies look like new. They came out better than I expected; I made sure to sand everything down and used an air compressor to blow the dust off as well as wipe everything down with brake cleaner before painting. I'll replace the P/S axle as soon as time frees up and after the extension arrives.

And for you paint snobs out there: I'll be replacing the tires in the next month or two because I certainly wasn't going to paint the wheels with new tires on it and risk overspray on new rubber. That just ain't right

So last week, I ended up literally ripping out the passenger-side halfshaft which left the inner joint still attached to the transmission. The CV tool I used on the driver-side didn't fit around the tulip of the passenger axle because there simply wasn't enough room to get it in there; the shape of the transmission absolutely refused to let me get in there with it. I tried a steel cable wrapped around it and attached it to my slide hammer and that failed as well.

I had to order another tool and wait another week for it to arrive before I could finally finish the p/s halfshaft today. Big shout out to Astro for making the vise-grip slide hammer tool that saved my day; once I got it tightened down right, it took about 4 or 5 hits and the inner joint finally came out. I'm so glad I'm done with the damn thing; I'm certain the halfshafts I removed were the originals from Ford. No more clicking noise while making turns

I was able to get a pair of vice grips from oreillys and screw them onto my slide hammer

Gamer92 said:

Mines from harbor freight. guess it could have different threads

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Even if I did find one that fit my larger slide hammer, I still would have needed a pivot on it. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to get the vise grip clamped on and have room to use the slide hammer. The angle created after clamping the vise grip onto the inner cv joint would have been too great.