u/saintgaudensgold

My power steering pump is starting to whine when it warms up. Recently, I replaced the accessory belt and had it a bit too tight. I loosened it, and the noise is much less, but I fear that the ball bearing is probably wearing out. It’s 21 years old with 139k miles.

My options as per my preference:

1. Rebuild the existing pump (replace ball bearing and seals)

2. Buy a new aftermarket pump for around $100-200 (something like Edelman. or AAE)

3. Buy new Honda OEM pump ($600)

Has anyone done the rebuild kit and had good success? What kit did you buy? What is the best ball bearing? ACDelco bearing? Or is there a better one?

140k miles and, much to my embarrassment, never changed it before!

It was a nice red, looked very thin (akin to the fresh DW-1 that’s going in), and there was minimal metal sludge on the magnetic end of the plug.

I had feared that it would be much worse, but I hope this is a good sign. I need this car to keep going for a while.

I’ve always driven it gently, so I hope my behavior has benefited the health of the transmission. It has behaved normally with relatively smooth shifting and no jerking.

Rosuvastatin 20mg plus ezetimibe got me to an LDL-C of 70.

I added Repatha three weeks ago and just got the lab back. The results are in. 38 it is! Pretty stoked here!

47 yo male, genetic risk factors, no establish heart disease here. High Lp(a) and high LDL-C for a long time.

I am on 20 mg of Rosuvastatin (for six months now) and have recently started Repatha (three weeks ago).

I just received my glucose level as part of my annual well visit, and it was 103. That was after a strict 12 hour fast.

In years past I have always hung out in the upper 90s (97, 99) with one year being 101. My doctor never said anything. In fact, their lab's scale accepts anything between 65-110 as within range and doesn't flag it as red.

Diabetes does not run in my family. I am physically active, BMI of 23.5, male, 48 years. I eat a balanced diet with lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, lean meats and fat-free Greek yoghurt. I avoid fast-acting refined carbohydrates.

I do have one very small sugary snack a day (maybe 150 cal.) in the afternoon with my coffee. If needed I could certainly cut this out.

I wonder if the increase stems from my rosuvastatin and Repatha treatment.

What is your experience with blood sugar and high cholesterol? Am I officially prediabetic, or is this reversible?

This is independent of the price of silver, but like most of you, I allot a certain amount of my paycheck every month to go to silver. It’s a bit of a hobby. I am more of a collector, not a hard-core stacker.

Regardless, I look at my leftover funds each month, and after I pay bills, satisfy retirement savings and some cash savings, I am left with less and less money. This has become noticeable in the past couple of months. I have a firm idea why that is, but I want to keep politics out of it (as per the rules). It’s a complex topic, anyway, not suited for here.

I am still in the fortunate position to buy a few coins each month, but it has certainly become less. I am strictly talking about my leftover funds, not the increased price of silver we have been seeing in the past weeks.

How is your budget impacted? Have you noticed something similar? Are you unaffected? Are you even unable to afford more silver at this point? Just curious…

As the title said, stuck for three days with no movement. The last time that happened to me, the package never arrived, even though I had filed a missing mail report.

I am proactive and submitted a report to USPS customer support today. Actually talked to a helpful rep. I am supposed to hear back from them sometime next week.

Have you had coins get stuck in a USPS distribution center for multiple days and still ended up getting them? I am pessimistic at this point, based on past experience.

I am not worried about the money. It was a great deal actually on ebay, and I know I will get my money back. Just would hate to miss out on these coins. I know the seller packs meticulously and discreetly and is reliable. I doubt that’s the problem.

Any other USPS victims here?

I posted on here sometime late in 2025 to ask questions and got very good answers. I wanted to update the community on my case and risk management. Maybe someone can benefit from my story.

Brief reminder of who I am:

47 y.o. male, regular exercise, healthy and balanced diet low in saturated fats for the past couple of years (wasn't always so when I was younger), BMI of 24, history of pervasive atherosclerotic disease in family (both maternal grandparents and father), but no established coronary artery heart disease at this point. I have never smoked and have never drunk. I have also never taken any recreational drugs.

I have had high cholesterol for most of my life. Total cholesterol between 200 and 260, LDL-C between 150 and 170.

In the past two years I also developed high blood pressure (not super high, but creeping up to 135-140 systolic while diastolic remained in the 80s)

Thyroid issues with swings into hyper and hypothyroid territory (now managed with low-doselevothyroxin). No established heart disease, but very high Lp(a) of 270ish (nmol/L).

Update of what I have done since I started addressing my risks:

- For past couple of years I tried to combat this with diet and exercise. I got my LDL-C down to 110 at one point. Decent reduction, but not super low. Then, one year ago, diet stopped making a difference as LDL-C shot up to 166 again.

- Last spring, I got on 5mg of rosuvastatin and ezetimibe. This reduced my LDL from 166 to 110. Six months later, I decided to increase the rosuva to 20mg while keeping the ezetimibe. This got me to an LDL-C of 70 and reduced my ApoB to 71. Much more manageable numbers.

-My CAC score is zero, which is great, but doesn't say anything about soft plaque accumulation

-My heart echo showed normal heart function which is great.

-My cardiologist has now put me on repatha while keeping the rosuvastatin the same.

- I am also on lisinopril and manage my blood pressure which is now in normal territory.

Outlook:

I hope to lower my LDL-C to under 55 to prevent any possible plaque accumulation with Repatha/rosuvastatin/ezetimibe combination therapy. This will also further reduce ApoB, obviously. Repatha also brings down Lp(a) in most patients by approx. 25%, so that would be helpful as well.

It's too early to tell, but I will update my labs after two to three months on Repatha. I just did my first injection yesterday with minimal side effects so far (felt a bit achy and tired for the first 24 hours, but it seems to be improving).

I am very lucky that my insurance company decided to cover the Repatha and that my cardiologist supports my aggressive preventative approach. It feels like I am taking the right steps now after neglecting the situation for so long.

Don't delay high cholesterol treatment. Don't be afraid of medication when commonsensical steps such as nutrition and exercise aren't enough. Statins are cheap and effective, and so are blood pressure medications.

Lastly, thank you to all who have chimed in on my initial post and who have urged me to aggressively address this.

I have $25k to invest (can increase to $40k max) and am looking for a nice HYSA signup bonus offer.

I have already recently taken offers from Barclays, CIT Bank, Live Oak Bank and haven’t been able to find anything else.

I am not interested in offers that are contingent on adding a checking account with direct deposit. Just looking for plain HYSA offers.

Attentive, reliable and communicative seller.

I sourced a loaded strut assembly from KYB, but it is out of stock everywhere I see. Newparts.com showed them in stock, but after I had placed my order, they cancelled and said they were out of stock. $360 for left and right which I thought was decent.

KYB product number: SR4736 & SR4737

I’ve now ordered this AISIN loaded strut package from carparts.com: If it’s genuine Aisin, then it should be good quality, but not many reviews on it. I am just afraid that they will tell me tomorrow that the last one I just bought is out of stock as well. Also $360 for the pair.

https://www.carparts.com/details/Nissan/Rogue/AISIN/Shock_Absorber_and_Strut_Assembly/2018/S/4_Cyl_2-dot-5L/ASCSAKN01529.html

I called the Nissan dealer, and their parts are almost $1200. I don’t have that kind of money.

Any other tips for quality loaded struts? I am trying to avoid the lower end stuff that my Auto Zone sells (Monroe, etc.) for the simple reason that I don’t want to change the struts again anytime soon.

Attentive, reliable and communicative seller.

I can’t help but celebrate the fact that silver is “boring” again after the market hype has worn off in the wake of the return to a more reasonable spot price. No more stupid candles, investor gibberish and the like. No more “in talk” of anonymous armchair market experts.

I enjoy seeing more posts about actual silver again that members own. So much better now than during the bull market. Sure, our stacks were worth more in January than they are now, but most of us weren’t planning on selling our silver, anyway. Let’s just acknowledge that silver is not a get-rich scheme and move on.

Anyone willing to sell me this coin for a reasonable price and in a nice state without scratches and wear? I’d like to complete my collection, and I currently don’t want to put in a bigger order with Scottsdale Mint to get their free shipping.

Please comment here and meet me in chat. I can pay with Zelle or Paypal F&F.

Looking forward to hearing from gorilla fans!

Great seller and quick shipping. Communicative!