Truck fixed, but...

This morning I decided to work on picking up the stuff in my garage and actually put it where it belongs. Ice chests put back on the top shelf, power tools back in the cabinet, hand tools back in the roll-away chest, etc. The idea was to have it all in order before I worked on replacing the ABS sensor on the Expedition. While I was out there, I was looking at the truck thinking it was pretty sad I had been putting off buying tires for the truck. They weren't at the wear bars yet, but they were REALLY close. I mean, this is the vehicle that I send my wife and son out in every day, and it has been raining constantly since January.

Well, Tommy was coming by the house, so I had him follow me up to the tire store to drop the truck off. A couple of hours and about $800 later, a new pair of Michelin's are in place of the old ones. Man, it doesn't take long to spend a pile of money.

Once I had the truck home, it was time to take care of that ABS sensor. OK, follow the same drill I've followed a couple of times lately.
Turn the garage fans on (required in Texas heat, 2 large fans provide cross breeze)
jack up the left front of the truck, put jack stand in place for safety
turn on air compressor, lay out tools next to rolling mechanic stool
remove the wheel
use the air ratchet to remove the brake caliper, wire it out of the way
use the air ratchet to remove the hub, wire it up so it's not hanging by the ABS Sensor (how it got damaged to begin with)

OK, here's where it gets good. I removed the ABS sensor from the hub and then popped the hood. I was raising it to be able to unplug the other end of the sensor, and stuff starts crashing followed by the sound of rushing air and the air compressor cycles on again. I jump back thinking the truck is falling off the jack stand or the world is coming to an end (need to clean out my drawers at this point). I notice that the hub is lying on the ground, the wire holding it out of the way had broken. When the hub fell, the brake rotor that was attached landed just right and chopped my air hose in half, causing the air leak and making the compressor cycle on to try to maintain pressure. Luckily I had another air hose, or I would have had to finish the task the old fashioned way - with a regular manual ratchet wrench.

Anyway, long story short, the truck is now in top shape again. It has relatively new brakes, new tires, and no warning lights on. I even filled up the gas tank for her this evening. I am now convinced that there is almost no vehicle repair that I'm not capable of handling.

One thing I will point out again... Repairing things yourself is normally cheaper - until you break stuff. I had about broken even on the brake job since my savings went to replace the broken ABS sensor. I killed that idea with the cut air hose (this is the hose on my retractable hose reel, so I'm not sure what it will cost for a replacement hose for it.)