Battery Powered Light Bar

I found an LED light bar for cars on clearance. It was a great deal for a light., but I didn't want to wire it onto any of our cars. For now, I thought it would be more useful to convert it into a portable work light. 

Normally, it would be powered through the car's 12V system. Using batteries instead would make it more portable. AA batteries wouldn't work because it takes 12-24V. I decided to buy an adapter to convert it to use Ryobi 18V rechargeable batteries. I decided not to wire up the extra bright setting (72 watts) because the regular setting (12 watts) is bright enough. 

Next, I needed a way to hold the light. The brackets it came with allow it to be tilted to any angle, so I kept those and mounted it to a board that was the right size. Then I attached that to a sturdy tripod-style metal stand. The stand used to have a roller on top to hold up the ends of long boards when the workbench or table saw wasn't large enough, but the old plastic roller parts had broken a long time ago.

Now I have a very bright portable rechargeable light. It creates a narrow band of light and can be aimed wherever I need it.

Sway Bar Link Replacement

Our 2000 Dodge Dakota truck is older than I am, so the rubber and plastic parts are wearing out. When I replaced the brake fluid, I noticed that the bump stops had crumbled. Then I saw the sway bar links had also worn out. 

We ordered new sway bar links online and looked at information on how to replace them. We had to use one jack on either side (with some cribbing just in case). Then we removed the lug nuts on both front wheels and took the wheels off. After that, it was easy to take off the old parts, put the new parts on, and then use a torque wrench to tighten properly.

This was a good time to clean out the old rubber from the bump stops. They had distintegrated to the point of being soft and sticky like playdough. Unfortunately, the new bump stops haven't been delivered yet (on a detour from here to another state and back), but as soon as they get here I will install them.