What lies beneath

[Stretch]

I did a number on my back at work last week. (I have a bad disc at L5S1). I wasn't even lifting anything. I had set a wheel and tire assembly down and heard a "pop" in my lower back as I stood back up. Hello old friend! Oh how I hate you!

Because of that I didn't get alot done but I can't sit around and be lazy so I did what I could. Saterday was not productive at all. I just didn't have the strength to sit in the car and work over my head. I could reach up but couldn't pull at all. Sunday was better. Its in. I have some wrinkles to deal with but that should not be to difficult to work out.

Sundays work was doable thanks to a little help from my buddies business. Damn hes good at this!

 

[71dusterman]

Take care of that back Stretch. You only got 1 and when it's done you're done. I think I tore my right rotator cuff back in August throwing a ball for my son's dog. I didn't go and get it checked due to Covid but the arm is sore and useless for a lot of things. Being I'm right handed and it is the right side it can be quite painful to get easy things done. Swatting a fly is a no-no above your head. I go to get an ultra-sound done on the 9th of March and am not looking forward to the outcome as in possible surgery etc.

 

[Stretch]

Take care of that back Stretch. You only got 1 and when it's done you're done.

I've been dealing with this issue for around 20 years. It seldom causes any pain. When it does show up I know how to deal. I have been to the chiropractor three times since Thursday. Today (Monday) is by far the best I have felt since Tuesday morning. Thank you for your concern Sir.

 

[68R/T]

Kinda hard to see clearly in the pics, but it does look much better than than the previous pics.

 

[69.5CUDA]

Take care of that back Stretch. You only got 1 and when it's done you're done. I think I tore my right rotator cuff back in August throwing a ball for my son's dog. I didn't go and get it checked due to Covid but the arm is sore and useless for a lot of things. Being I'm right handed and it is the right side it can be quite painful to get easy things done. Swatting a fly is a no-no above your head. I go to get an ultra-sound done on the 9th of March and am not looking forward to the outcome as in possible surgery etc.

ive been dealing with the similar shoulder issue since mid jan 2020, avoided for the same reasons....tail end of summer got xrayed..nothing, forced pt, so much pain i couldnt sleep on it couldnt use it for much pt hurt like a bastard and never helped, come dec got an mri..hey look 2 tears and massive inflamation...pt was a requirement to get the mri....a shoulder injection has fixed me up..its taken a month n a half to finnaly return to normal since the injection...i can throw for the pup but my aim is "off" but i can sleep on it again, i can stretch...so surgery may not be required if the shot works.....

since my head injury f-ed my back shoulder blades n neck, i feel ya stretch on knowing the how why and whatfors to get ya round it...i get OMT every 3-4weeks for my neck n back...probably for life

 

[restoman]

Take care of that back Stretch. You only got 1 and when it's done you're done. I think I tore my right rotator cuff back in August throwing a ball for my son's dog. I didn't go and get it checked due to Covid but the arm is sore and useless for a lot of things. Being I'm right handed and it is the right side it can be quite painful to get easy things done. Swatting a fly is a no-no above your head. I go to get an ultra-sound done on the 9th of March and am not looking forward to the outcome as in possible surgery etc.

I've had lower back issues for years, two disintegrating discs largely due to lordosis from the MD.
A backwards fall at work 5 years ago landed me flat on my ass with a thump, and that was pretty much the end of my working days. There were other contributing factors as well, but the back pain was #1.
I never want to go through that again! I made it back to my feet, got myself into the van for the ride home ( with a lot of help), but had to call EMS to get me out and load me on a gurney for the ride to the ER. Wasted trip...
Three months of zero comfort or relief, no quality sleep, no bending, twisting or lifting anything heavier than a coffee cup. It's still nowhere near where it was pre-fall, but at least I can tie my shoes.

 

[69.5CUDA]

hell after my head injury i couldnt even look up..so working under a lift became an impossibility, while my back stays better mostly my neck is the contant issue, and looking straight up is still an issue....addapt overcome..build a rotisery to get around the problem

 

[b-body-bob]

So we're all a bunch of beat down old men.

But the Charger's looking good, so you got that going for you.

I've got pinched/bulging discs and haven't been able to throw anything overhead for years. My wrists and elbows are beat to hell too. AFAICT, except for my back, mountain biking did it to me. I hurt my back the first time when I was on the road and needed to take a leak, so I went down on the railroad tracks beside the road. This was down in coal country so there were 5 or 6 sets of tracks parallel to the road and I went all the way to the far side. In a hurry to get back to the car I tripped on one rail and caught the other one across my chest. I remember that it sounded like cracking knuckles, only louder.

It could've been worse, at least I didn't knock myself out and get run over by a train.

I haven't been able to throw a ball for years. Mountain biking killed my arms and shoulders.

 

[Dr.Jass]

But the Charger's looking good, so you got that going for you.

Which is nice.

I'm starting to think breaking my back at age 28 and again at 30 did me an incidental favor, to be honest. I had to favor it and consider the consequences of my actions earlier in life than most people start having back issues, so I had to abandon the Superman act early. I still have problems now and again, but overall I'm pretty lucky. I haven't had a near-paralyzing amount of pain in nearly 14 years.

 

[b-body-bob]

I'm starting to think breaking my back at age 28 and again at 30 did me an incidental favor, to be honest.

More OT. My grandfather crashed a car and "broke his back" when he was young. He also spent time in the pen for joy riding but I never thought to try and figure out if the two things were related or not. There's a good chance the answer is yes.

He worked himself to death doing manual labor so it didn't seem to slow him down at all.

 

[restoman]

Which is nice.

I'm starting to think breaking my back at age 28 and again at 30 did me an incidental favor, to be honest. I had to favor it and consider the consequences of my actions earlier in life than most people start having back issues, so I had to abandon the Superman act early. I still have problems now and again, but overall I'm pretty lucky. I haven't had a near-paralyzing amount of pain in nearly 14 years.

Even more O/T...
A good friend broke his back in the late 70s.
He got piss-blind drunk on a Thursday, woke in the middle of the night and stumbled over the missing railing on the second floor of his under-reno house. He was the guy who was doing the renos, and had left the railing off for months before-hand...
He was ambulanced to the hospital right away, and when told of the damage - I guess it was BAD - and the need for surgery to repair, his fear of needles and Doctors got the better of him. He left the hospital Friday, and spent the entire weekend uber drunk to dull the pain.
By the following Monday, it was too much, so back to the ambulance and hospital he went.
By then, the best the surgeons could do was remove the offending discs, and fuse the rest together. He lost some height, and almost all of his ability to bend his back. Surgeons told him he was lucky he could still be able to walk someday.
He had a serious drinking problem till his later years...
I used to work for him - and he for me - and would often have to pour him into my car for a ride to his home. Think of wet spaghetti with a hard spot in the middle, but if you touch that hard spot trying to pick it up, it screams and swings at you.
Of course, none of his friends had much in the way of sympathy for him by then. 'Cept for this dummy, of course.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Of course, none of his friends had much in the way of sympathy for him by then. 'Cept for this dummy, of course.

Believe me, I don't want or expect any sympathy. I did it to myself, and the occasional pain is there to remind me what I've done to myself. The second break--which happened at 5:30AM, stone sober, taking out the garbage--would've never happened were it not for the alcohol-fueled first. I re-shattered two of the same three; doc told me it'll continue to happen in similar circumstances. I guess it can't fully heal due to the nature of the breaks. Fall backward on your bed and land on a full bag of potato chips for the same experience without the agonizing pain.

 

[69.5CUDA]

were just crunchy old bastards

id still LOVE to have had vid footage of my head injury..since the best i could do was piece it all back together from where things were and where the blood pools were at.....i still have no memory of 95% of it, i remember cutting the first bolt, i remember telling mom to call 911 from the floor, i remember breifly chewing out the ambulance driver(theres a whole story on that i was told later) and i remember arguing with the surgion about not cutting my hair and to go in thru the cut there..and the nurse arguing my point home with him...and my wife bringing me home..but i dont remember her visiting me which i know she did...its not a blur it just doesnt exists...some good came out of it tho..it lit a fire under my wifes ass to get out of canada move in and get married instead of continuning the long distance thing

im fully aware that all my knee pains are BMX and dirt bike related......no explanation needed

 

[Stretch]

Now that the vinyl top and headliner are done its on to speaker upgrades while the interior is out.

I didn't want to cut my dash ( and still dont) so many many years ago I mounted the receiver and CD changer in the trunk. Once again I didn't want to cut or drill any holes so I made a mounting board and dropped screws through existing holes in the package tray area. I didn't want aftermarket speakers showing in the package tray so I dropped screws through from the top while the cover was out and installed the speakers under the package tray.

The factory AM radio used one 4"x11" speaker in the dash. I had installed two 3.5" speakers in that area on a universal plastic mount I cut down to fit when I did the original install. I never was happy with the sound from the front so they have been disconnected for years.

The rear speakers I installed 20+ years ago are shot so all new (front and rear) went in today. I made a much more solid mount for the fronts and spacers for the rears. The right rear factory hole is 6x9 so no problem. The left rear has the 6x9 bolt pattern but the opening is smaller than 6x9 because it was part of the rear defrost if the car was ordered with that option. Once again, not willing to cut the car so mount spacers were built.

If you are wondering how I control the radio and CD changer, there is a infrared eye above the left vent pull knob. It can be seen in the last picture if you look closely.

 

[69.5CUDA]

im suprised you havnt upgraded to something with a simple usb or sd, ive done the same thing over the years 2 in 1 hole bit..it works great the trick is always useing a good full sound speaker and then heavily leaning on the rear balance till it evens out, speaking of rear defrost..ive grobbed a few of those units over the years...seems the 67-9 fastback fish are factory ducted, but lack the speaker hole for a fan.....in fact ive never seen a fastback fish with factory rears but have seen 2 with the duct vent cut out of one of the rear side panels

a lil trick from my heavy bass days of tossing 12-1500 watts into things..neopreen washers under all the mounting bolts helps get em tight and never rattle out or back off

 

[Stretch]

im suprised you havnt upgraded to something with a simple usb or sd,

It's funny you should mention that. I have been thinking about changing the head unit. I'm leaning towards somthing I can bluetooth with my phone. A USB port up front would be nice too. Somthing I can plug a memory stick into.

My Truck has both of those as factory options and thay are great!

 

[69.5CUDA]

ive come to appreciate the "dual" brand units..now before someone screams about quality..the tech has come soooooooooo far its down right sillyness,and money spent is mostly paying for a name...not features..... the unit im prefering right now is the mechless version of the XDVD276BT(which i think is just the x276bt)....now before you go screaming about a double din unit...a couple bonus points whit these, some come with a lil steeringwheel clip on controler which is wireless NOT IR, and most of the ones that dont come with a full remote..again NOT IR but actual wireless, and since your not concerned about the screen you wont care about the screen interface which is a tad clunky on usb only but works well enough

now heres the bonus......if you get a mechless...they litteraly have no guts and aside from a wireing harness could be cut down to being just over an inch thick and slid in anywhere

ive installed 3 of these things so far and the one in the explorer gets used... ALOT and the explorer has moisture issues from hell..the decks several years old now with no issues

another option ive recently come to is they sell these android based head units that are well..brandless......but when you think about what your doing and controling....its not like you need complicated machinery or heavy duty components

 

[Stretch]

The interior is done other than the front seat and shifter.

Let me tell you how much fun poking holes in a new headliner in the correct places for the shoulder belt clips and clothes hooks isn't! I wish I would have put the screws for those parts in place before I installed the headliner like I did with the mirror, dome light. And sun visors.!

All I have left is the seat, shifter, and front and rear glass.

I started making brackets to move my bench seat back a inch and a half. I'm 6'6" so the added leg room will be welcome if I can pull it off. I'm moving the seat frame rearward on the adjusting rails. That way I'm not drilling or welding any on the seat or the car. The adjusting rails will still bolt into the car in the factory location. If it works I'll post pictures. If it doesn't work we'll pretend I didn't mention it!

Those Spraway products are awesome! The glass cleaner is the shit! Hell the glass is so clean you can't even see it!

 

[Stretch]

Yesterday I mentioned I was planning to make some brackets that would alow my bench to move rearward further. I said if it worked I would post the pictures. well, it worked great! I gained 2 inches while using the factory floor pan location and didn't permanently modify the seat or seat rails.

I removed the seat tracks from the seat, cut four 3" x 1.5" pieces of 3/16 plate and two 1.5"x 1.5" 3/16 tabs. I welded the 2 small plates to two of the 3" tabs. Those are for the front of the rails. The extra tab makes clearance for the track over the bolt head and adds a slight recline angle. The tab isnt required for the rear tabs. The bolt head clears. I drilled one 5/16 hole in each tab and one 1/2" hole in each tab for a 5/16 nut cert.

Wow does 2" make for a ton of new leg room! Remember. I'm 6'6" 300# when you look at the last picture.

 

[Dr.Jass]

If I did that to my Challenger's buckets, the front seatbacks would literally contact the rear cushion.