Rain Delay

  Its been raining for two days.  We're pushing the 2 inch mark with more in our near future.  Our brandings are on hold.  The corrals resemble a swamp.  Not cool for working cows in.

  Took a rain day and went to town for a few groceries.  While there I could here a "noise" coming from somewhere on the car.  One of those could be anything from mud in the rims to a wheel bearing type of sounds. I swung by the dealership to have it looked at while I borrowed a car from them and finished some shopping.
  The results are as follows.  The bottom front ball joints are bad.(knew that), rear braked pads are shot(no surprise) and 3 wheel rims have developed cracks at the outside edge.(the bead area.)  And we still don't know whats making the damn sound.  At this point I would be surprised if its coming from the transfer case.
  Out of morbid curiosity I priced OEM rims at the dealership.  Get this, they want 600.00 a rim.  The parts guy about blew a gasket when he saw the price.  I just laughed and asked if that included a set of steak knives.
  A decent set of chrome after market rims I priced run about 200.00 apiece.  Needless to say i'll be hitting the junk yards and discount shops in search of something a bit more reasonably priced.  I have 150k on this car and I was hoping to go at least another year before I'd need to look at something newer. This had been for the most part a pretty good car.  We'll see how this all plays out.
   Until I've got something new to report.  Have a good one.