Cam Gear Lock Tool

When I had to do some engine work on the minivan, I was able to get a tool to lock the camshaft gears/sprockets/phasers in place so that everything would stay at top-dead center while I unbolted things.

Like this:

image of an cam gear sprocket holding tool

That’s for the Dodge 3.6L engine, which was in a bunch of vehicles for a long time, so it has good support from a variety of sources.

But now I’m doing a bunch of work on my car with a Chrysler 2.4L engine, from the early 2000s, used in Neons and PT Cruisers and some other things. It also uses the same cam sprockets (simple gears, no phasers) as the 2.0L, so this would work for that too.

Anyway, I was looking for a similar tool to hold the camshafts in place so I could do things like unbolt the crankshaft pulley and unbolt the camshafts themselves without rotating the engine.

But unlike the many options for the 3.6L tool, I found nothing for the 2.4/2.0 engine. There were some references to a prybar-type tool which is supposed to be the official way of holding the car gear in place, but I didn’t find a source to buy one. And even if I did, my guess is it would have been more than I wanted to pay.

I wanted a simple insert with teeth, like the 3.6 thingy. And it just so happens that my son got a 3D printer last month. So I decided to make my own.

It took a couple of iterations on paper, plus one really thin 3D-printed sample, but I did make my own and it works. Here it is in action:

image of a cam gear sprocket holding tool for the Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth 2.0 and 2.4 liter engine

image of a cam gear sprocket holding tool for the Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth 2.0 and 2.4 liter engine

And, in case you want to print your own, here is the STL file.

STL file for 3D printing a cam gear holding tool for Chrysler or Dodge 2.0 and 2.4 L engines

Note that it is a very tight fit, so don’t expect it to slide right into the gears. The goal is no gear movement at all, so it needs to be as flush as possible. Be prepared to coerce it into place.

Also note it is about 2 inches deep. The pictures show it only halfway in. Afterwards, I pushed it until it contacted the backstop, and it stuck out just a little bit, enough to still be able to grab the sides.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Blood Pressure Terms

We were driving home from some event, and the topic of conversation turned to blood pressure. One of the kids asked what the two numbers were, and I couldn’t remember the term, so I just said the top one was “apostolic”.

The funny thing was that it sounded close enough so that people just went with it.

I then admitted what happened and the kids were throwing out other options, just about anything that ended in -olic (but not -holic).

  • apostolic
  • anabolic
  • diabolic

Those are the terms I could remember. Feel free to use any of those next time you’re discussing blood pressure.

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart

2 Corinthians 4:1

The Raine in Maine

I traveled to Maine to visit family. Here’s a short recap of some of the events.

We stayed in a small house overlooking Union Bay. Here’s the view from inside the house.

the view from the house looking at the bay in Maine

And here’s the view from the backyard.

the view from the backyard of the house at the shore in Maine

Our first Maine activity was hiking around Jordan Pond. Everything associated with it had the prefix “Jordan Pond”, so that became a short-lived running joke. To get there, you drive up Jordan Pond Drive. You know you’re there when you see the house, which is named Jordan Pond House. Etc, etc.

the sign at Jordan Pond in Maine

It was cold in Maine, but since everything there is ocean salt water, we mostly saw liquid water. Jordan Pond was the first place where a body of water was actually frozen. And it was a good frozen too – several inches thick, we could see a few layers. Other people were running and skating about, so we ventured onto the ice.

Jordan Pond in Maine

We went there not to slide on the ice, but to hike the trail around Jordan Pond. It was called, of course, Jordan Pond Trail. We started going north along the east side. It was a scenic trail, fairly well maintained, like this:

Jordan Pond hiking path in Maine

About the halfway point, there was a bridge, I’m guessing to cross over the Jordan Pond river that feeds it.

Jordan Pond hiking bridge in Maine

After that, the trail became less of a trail and more of a suggestion. It was just a bunch of rocks piled along the shore, and you had to guess where to go next, mostly judging by the shoreline.

Jordan Pond rocky hiking path in Maine

The amount of effort to scramble over snow-covered rocks was more than we anticipated for our group, so we made up a plan B – just walk across the water.

Jordan Pond frozen in Maine

It was the shortest distance between two points. The snow-covered sections were ok, but the bare ice was polished smooth by the winds, so that was pretty slippery.

When we got just past the point of land that jut out, we could see that the shoreline was no longer rocky and there was a path we could walk again. So we decided to abandon plan B and go back to plan A of hiking the trail. The trail for most of the rest of the time consisted of a boardwalk.

Jordan Pond boardwalk path in Maine

The boardwalk ended right near a bridge for the carriage road. There are a few carriage houses and various old bridges leftover from the Rockefeller days, before it became Acadia National Park.

Jordan Pond carriage road bridge in Maine

We also visited Bar Harbor quickly. There is not much to do there in the winter. And a swing by the LL Bean outlet. Trying to fit in a bunch of typical Maine experiences. Including buying food at Shaw’s and perusing Marden’s for whatever we can find.

These are the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it was overflowing all its banks, and they put to flight all those in the valleys, to the east and to the west.

1 Chronicles 12:15

Not Banned Books

It’s not band books week, but there was a news story – or whatever substitutes for one in these social media days – about some people getting upset at certain schools for banning some books.

And I got to thinking that they’re overreacting.

Sure, the schools aren’t allowing some books in the school, but how is that different from any other category?

Our schools in the area have a dress code. Certain types of outfits are not allowed at school. Are groups protesting the fact that the school has banned those?

Our schools in the area also have a movie policy. Teachers are not allowed to show anything over PG-13 (or PG for the lower grades). It’s the same for the charter buses used for long field trips. So certain types of movies are not allowed at school. Are groups protesting the fact that the school has banned those?

The people who are mad at the schools for “banning books” are approaching it from the wrong angle. The angle should be that the content of any media is restricted to what’s appropriate for the age.

Part of the problem is that there is not a rating system for books like there is for movies. If there were, then it would be easy for the school to have a policy of “School library books are to be rated PG-13 or lower” or something like that.

The other part of the problem is that books are synonymous with knowledge, so the people opposed to restricting books are decrying that as banning knowledge. On one hand, I suppose you could learn a lesson from just about any books, but on the other hand some books are meant just for entertainment. Not all books are equal when it comes to their educational merits, and thus their place in school.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Philippians 4:8

Measuring Cream Cheese

I was tasked with making a food item, and so I started following the recipe. First item of business: gather the ingredients.

One of the ingredients was 16 ounces of cream cheese. No problem, I opened the fridge, found a 16-oz box of cream cheese, and then got the rest of the items.

box of a 2-pack of cream cheese

Once I had all the stuff, I started mixing them. But when I got to the cream cheese, I noticed something wasn’t quite right. I opened the 16-oz box and pulled out one foil pouch of cream cheese.

box of a 2-pack of cream cheese

If you look, you can see that the measurement on the pouch indicates it contains 8 oz of cream cheese.

And the box clearly says 16 oz. And it’s a 2 pack, but it contained only one pack of cream cheese.

I think it’s a very misleading label on the box.

What they meant is that this is one box of a 2-box pack, and this box contains only 8 ounces but if you have both boxes (each labeled as 16 oz) then you get the 16 oz.

And it says in the top left that it is two individually wrapped 8 oz packages, and so I was expecting the box to contain the foil package that it did contain. But it contained only one foil pouch not two, and that’s what caused me to consider how I had been mislead by this awful packaging.

Now there were six stone waterpots standing there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing two or three measures each.

John 2:6

Turn into the Spin

With a nice variety of winter weather lately, combined with a teenager with a new-ish driving permit, we as a family had some discussions during his drive in snow.

The phrase that came up was “turn into the spin”. That was an answer to what you’re supposed to do if you start to lose control of the vehicle.

The main problem with that phrase is that it is ambiguous. People have different ideas of which direction that is. Is that with the spin, or against the spin?

I told my new driver to forget that phrase and just point the wheels in the direction you want the car to go.

The other problem with that phrase is that it is a phrase. It won’t help you in an emergency because you need to think about it. The best way to prepare for an emergency is to practice it. So he’s going to practice it. Don’t worry, it’s a class given by professionals. But then his mind will know what to do.

You indeed put them on slippery ground; You dropped them into ruin.

Psalm 73:18

Interest-Free Vehicle Registrations

As with most people, I had to renew my license plate tabs again this year.

Something new I noticed, though, was that we in Michigan now have an option to renew for 2 years at a time, instead of just one.

“That’s a good idea,” I thought, ready to take advantage of halving the vehicle paperwork over the next several years. I got most of the way through the process online, and then it showed my total: exactly double the one-year rate.

When I state it like that, you may think “what’s the big deal? It’s twice as long so it should be twice as much.” Yes, but the down side outweighs the up side, at least to me.

The Michigan Secretary of State is thinking that most people will go along with my initial thought (“less work for me”) and not think any further.

But I want a price discount from them before I sign up for a longer term. Mainly because I have 4 vehicles, and that’s around $450 per year. If I sign up for two years at once, I am giving the state a $450 interest-free loan for that second year.

What is my incentive to give them a chunk of money up front and lose out on my using that money for a year? Especially now, with interest rates being higher.

For example, most Certificates of Deposit are giving about 5%. For a 1-year CD at 5%, that $450 would earn me $22.50. If Michigan wants me to lose out on theoretical interest, they need to give me a discount for the longer term.

Plus, how much does it cost them to mail out reminders, process the renewal, and print out the new tabs? Why don’t they pass those savings on to me? I don’t even need my discount to be all of what they save, but they need to make at least some effort.

For now, all the benefits go to the state and I’m left with only drawbacks. So I’m going to keep renewing annually, until they come up with a better offer.

You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain.

Leviticus 25:37