When I left off, I had stripped a head bolt hole and was told a Heli-Coil would fix it, but I had to pull the head to install it. I had checked a few things on YouTube, CumminsForum.com, Mopar1973Man.com, and the FSM, so I thought it was within my abilities. I have no formal training in mechanical work, all I know is self taught from experience. This was a step up from all I had done in the past, so I didn’t want to do it unless I knew for sure that was the only option.
In an effort to avoid pulling the head, I bought a long tap to try to clean the threads. First I put grease in the side slots to capture any shavings, then I ran it down, being careful to line it up so it engaged the threads and not create new ones. It seemed to go in nicely, so I blasted the hole with brake cleaner followed by compressed air. Then with bated breath I put the head bolt in. It started to tighten! Then sure enough, it spun loose. I didn’t think it would work, but I was really hoping it would.
Looks like I would have to do the Heli-Coil. I didn’t know what one was, so once again had to turn to YouTube. It is a coiled-wire thread insert that creates its own screw threads. I would have to drill the hole a little larger, tap it for the Heli-Coil, screw the insert in, and then the headbolt would screw into the Heli-Coil. Seems easy enough, once I pulled the head off.
I already had the exhaust manifold, fuel lines, and VP44 injection pump off. Luckily I had not put them back on yet. I wanted to wait until I had the gaskets to actually remove the head, and I also wanted Cummins gaskets. I ordered through Geno’s Garage, they specialize in Dodge Ram parts, and was given a date of June 15. In July I called them and was told it got pushed back to August 15. This surprised me, as I had never had any issues with receiving items from them in the past. I was told they receive the shipping info straight from Cummins and there was nothing they could do. They offered to switch from Cummins to Mahle which they had in stock, but I wasn’t sure, so I decided to wait. I was then told September 15th. I finally received them August 28th. Yay?
Finally arrived
First thing I did was drain the radiator and disconnect the upper hose. Next, I wanted to remove all of the fuel injectors. I could leave them in, but would risk damaging them on reinstallation. To remove them, I used a puller on the crossover tubes that press into the injectors, then I used another puller to remove the injectors. These parts were added to the garbage bag layout in the corner, also in order of the cylinder they belonged to. Then I removed all of the push rods, and added them to the collection. For the rear most push rods, I had to remove the wipers and the plastic cowl for access to holes in the body the rods came out through.
Parts collection
To remove the head, I would need to purchase an engine hoist. The head weighs about 150lbs and there is no way to pick it up without one. I bought one from Eastwood and put it together. I then removed all of the headbolts, hooked up the hoist and lifted the head off.
Everything looks good
The gasket was still in good shape and the engine itself looked good also. The cross hatchings in the cylinder were still there and I saw no signs of scuffing. I put clean rags in each cylinder to cut down on the amount of debris that would get in them. I then drilled the bad hole out to a larger size, and screwed in the Heli-Coil.
I took the head to a machine shop to get it checked and it passed the pressure test, but it was a little warped so they ground it flat. This was another $300. While it was gone, I prepared the block. I used 3M bristle discs on my air die grinder to clean the gasket surface. With high RPM and low pressure it knocked off all the remaining gasket material and gave me a nice shiny surface. then I took an air nozzle to the block and cleaned it with brake fluid.
Head on the hoist
Heli-Coil in and block cleaned
Now it was time to put the head back on. The block has 2 little dowels for aligning the gasket and head. I placed the gasket, then lowered the head onto the block. This is where the hoist was really worth the money. I lowered it a little, moved the hoist a little, and kept repeating this until the head settled in place. Now I could breathe again.
I didn’t want to put the PDD headbolts back in. There was nothing wrong with them and they work fine, but if I stripped another hole, my truck might become a lawn ornament. Instead I went with ARP head studs, another $450. I put them all in their respective holes and then had to torque down the nuts. This is a three step process 40-80-125 ft-lbs is tedious when done 26 times.
Head Studs Installed
While I had the injectors out I decided to clean them, they are mechanical injectors that shoot fuel when the VP44 sends them pressure. They are simple to tear apart and each one has one shim inside. After the fourth one, I found an extra shim in the tray. I went back and tore the first ones I did apart, assuming I stupidly forgot to put a shim back in one. NOPE, they all had their shims. Apparently they were rebuilt once and a couple of them had extra shims.(I found one more after I cleaned the last one, no idea which one it came from). So I could either pay a local Diesel shop $200 to pop test and rebuild my injectors, or spend $350 for 100HP over injectors from Diesel Auto Power. So I bought new ones. This project is not cheap.
The mystery shim
I thought I would finish this article at Part III, but it is getting too long and there is still a lot to do.
Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion.
I wish i had your confidence and skills here.
Awesome.
Yeah, and it takes both. I’d be afraid that I’d only have half.
Sometimes I think I have too much confidence, but so far I have managed to put together everything I tore apart, but sometimes it takes longer than it should.
You wrench as you think. Stoic. Patience and understanding are the primary skills you have which got you through this. I salute you! Your lack of skills is only an illusion.
I don’t have to be afraid…I have zero of either.
Stubbornness matched with confidence can sometimes make up for shortcomings in skill.
–
ConfuciusMikeS“I just need a bigger hammer!”
+1 Hammer of Whaling on That Shit
You know it’s an electrical problem when a hammer won’t fix it.
MCU Thor begs to differ.
…and it can sometimes end with disaterous results. You probably need to mix some wisdom in there somewhere, too
Fuck, this is way too long for a bumper sticker
“Stubborn+Confident+Wise = Fixed”
My sense of time is a bit off. I thought today was Wednesday, aka SugarFree day.
Ron, I’m impressed with what you are doing here. I look forward to the next part.
Thanks.
She’s running good now.
Spoiler alert!
Geez.
Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel, next week.
Swiss, I’ve been arriving shortly after you leave other threads since yesterdya’s PM links to try to tell you what happened to Part 1…
I have already taken care of it.
Okay.
A week from today at 1900.
i.e., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEMuAnFH_lM , Pacific Time
You don’t have the credentials to do this.
I need to figure out who to report you to.
Do you have the proper credentials for reporting a credentials violation?
Do you have the proper credentials for researching reporting sites?
Very well, carry on.
It’s a fair cop.
STEVE SMITH NOT NEED STINKING CREDENTIALS!
I was going to ask if your original replacement head bolts were one time use torque to yield or you could reuse them and save some cash. Sadly, you answered the question and the cost…
Yep and my wife had fun reminding me that the original PDD headbolts were not necessary, just a precaution.
You shouldn’t reuse headbolts, especially on a diesel. The torque specs are set so that the bolts remain elastic (there is some spring at a near microscopic level), but after a period of long use, the bolts go plastic and deform. Reusing the old bolts means you don’t get that elastic benefit. Once they have run for a little bit, you should re-torque to spec.
Over-torquing will stretch your bolts as well.
These were brand new bolts, and stronger than stock. I didn’t do anything except install 9 of them before the tenth stripped the hole.
I could have still used them, but didn’t want a repeat of stripping the hole.
Uffda.
That’s the worst. Having to fix something because you were fixing something else.
Inline 6. Nice and easy to get to. Sweet.
*looks at V8 Powerstroke in modern Ford*
Fuck me.
Yep, no emissions crap to worry about either.
In fairness, I’ve done deletes on my 2008s. They’re still a bitch to get to.
We’ve gotten pretty good at yanking all of the radiators and pulling the cab.
Our current project, total rebuild of 6.4L Powerstroke
https://ibb.co/C0nKmvW
That doesn’t look fun at all.
After the second one, it got easier.
That first one though. Woof…
Lol. EcoBoost for me.
/not touching it.
The important thing is that its “green”.
Forget about all the dollar and environmental costs associated with the emissions crap, the limp home mode, the parts replacements…
Mind you diesel particulates DO create quite a nuisance. That particular emissions reduction I’m OK with.
EGR valves are the bane of modern engines. They just feed crap back into the intake and shorten the lifespan of the entire engine.
A DPF isn’t too bad, DEF is tolerable. But the EGR valves are a freaking nightmare.
Modern gasoline direct injected engines wouldn’t have the valve deposit issues if most of the crap wasn’t coming from EGR.
ULSD at the intake has reduced the emissions at the tailpipe as well.
EGR depositing would be even worse with classic diesel.
Love this. Thanks, Ron!
I’m slowly warming to the idea of a wrenchable vehicle again.
Looking forward to the conclusion!
I only do it as a hobby, and if I had to pay someone to do all this, I couldn’t afford it.
Story of my (mechanical) life.
The most I have ever done is put cold air intakes on the FJs. This is way beyond anything I would even contemplate.
Which reminds me – I need to clean the air filters.
I pulled the blower motor out from under my glove box to get a piece of debris out that was rattling around. I felt manly when I put it back in and it was working properly.
Then I read this article.
Nice work, Ron!
I was proud of myself for replacing the coupler and the washer dogs on my washing machine.
This is just on another planet.
Engine make car go vroom.
You are a Magic Man, Ron. Very impressive. All those things would have cost $120 an hour labor (at least) and not have had the TLC.
Henry the Ford Guy does my work and gets my money. Good job, man.
This is so far above my head, it might as well be a Learjet.
Really interesting stuff, Ron!
Might as well be a balloon tire bike.
Many years ago, I decided to do the front brakes on my Acura Integra GSR. At the same time, I wanted to replace the timing belt (it had about 120,000 miles on it and they recommend 100k lifespan). While I was in there, I decided to replace the water pump, because to get to both the timing belt and the water pump, you have to pull the driver’s side axle.
So over the course of a few days, I tore into the car, replaced the water pump (good idea, because the seal had started to leak), the timing belt, and finally, the brakes, working my way outside-in, then inside-out.
Two months later I totaled the car when I hit a patch of water while exiting the highway and hydroplaned off the pavement into the grass, ending up clipping off a streetlight pole.
All that work for nothing other than the experience of doing it.
Good gravy, and I thought I was a boss for replacing a clutch cable on my motorcycle.
You are the boss, don’t sell yourself short.
We needed to replace the supercharger belt on Mrs. Dean’s FJ.
It went into the shop. No consideration whatsoever was given to doing it ourselves.
Didn’t realize that had a supercharger and not a turbo. Interesting.
I believe aftermarket.
Supercharging that Toyota V6 is relatively popular.
https://sdhqoffroad.com/collections/magnuson-superchargers-toyota-fj-cruiser
I’ve been looking at that supercharger kit. Probably not something I’d want to install by myself.
What year is your Taco? Does it seem underpowered?
2018, and not really. But I’m also looking at a steel front and rear bumper.
Cool. My son is getting a manual without the stupid tech package. Something simpler he can customize over time.
But I’m also looking at a steel front and rear bumper.
We put ARB bumpers on Mrs. Dean’s FJ after I whacked a deer with it (coming home after an unsuccessful deer hunting trip, ironically enough). Got a deal, since the insurance company credited me for the value of the Toyota bumper we didn’t use (which, BTW, is made out of styrofoam and thin plastic).
That is a lot of additional weight (I want to say around 450 pounds) – we also needed new shocks. The engine was seriously anemic after we did that.
Not for nothing, but replacing the belt on a supercharger should be relatively straight-forward, barring any significant clearance issues.
If you have to pull the radiator to get to it, then my time and frustration is worth more than that.
Aftermarket (Toyota TRD). They don’t make the belts any more, it turns out, so Reliable Mechanic had to find one. With the full package (cold air intake, cat back exhaust, new plugs, reprogrammed ECU) it runs the horsepower up to 300 or so. The stock FJ is sadly underpowered for its weight, so Mrs. Dean got a supercharger for our anniversary, what, 9 years ago? Time flies.
I was very poor and the clutch cable was $12 (at the time) and that was about all the money I had. Had to fix it myself to get back and forth to work.
Miracles can be performed when you’re desperate enough.
The fact that you have a motorcycle is pretty boss.
Had. I got rid of my last motorcycle when I got pregnant with XX. the one I changed the clutch cable on was a 1979 Kawasaki 650KZ. My last motorcycle was a Yamaha Virago 920.
rawrr
knowledge
tools
experience
everything is easy with those
Acquiring knowledge, tools and experience – nothing easy about that.
Correct!
Or cheap, I have a few thousand invested in my air compressor, tools and tool chest.
Which is why I don’t do auto work.
I have plenty of money tied up in the equipment for my hobbies.
I take the car to the dealer where they already have the knowledge, tools, and experience.
I’m riding with Kinnath.
Riding With Private Malone – David Ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh1m0eC1004
Great work Ron. I’ve only dabbled with wrenching on Diesel engines.
It’s amazing how simple and reliable some of the old ones are. My buddy bought a 5 ton dump with a Detroit Diesel engine. He never got to rebuilding the dump after 5 years of it sitting in his yard under a tarp we had to move it to get it on a trailer. We put fresh fuel and a new battery on it and it fired right up. These suckers are bullet proof, but emissions and noise issues killed the two stroke Diesel.
Re our discussion about whether to engage politically, I think this is worth consideration:
I still like the idea of launching them into the sun better,
I think that’s how you change the political climate.
Would burying them alive alter the climate by returning some carbon to the earth?
The sun is NOT a garbage disposal!
5️⃣6️⃣
3️⃣8️⃣
on the Tundra Line
Bored at work
? May 10, 2022 ?
? 1 | Avg. Guesses: 5.57
⬜?? = 3
#globle
#Worldle #109 1/6 (100%)
??????
On the Tundra (line)
Fuck. That album came out 30 years ago.
I hate having to write a full stack of firewall rules. You can’t open everything, but if I miss anything, something won’t work. But, if I do it right the first time around, we won’t have so many in the future.
Oh, and it was due last friday to meet the implementation deadline.
Fun times.
Ensure you follow SOP by not documenting the rules and applying them manually.
I can’t.
I have to submit a service request to the datacenter networking team for them to put them in. I no longer have firewall rights.
Ah you write the rules, you’ll be blamed for everything wrong, but you don’t actually implement them. Perfect.
I’m used to it.
I also have the armor of being the guy everyone is accustomed to going to for understanding how the components fit together. No one else looked past the items in front of their noses.
How do I get alt text?
I tried on this one and part II, but it’s not there.
Not a big deal, it was only some snide comments that I thought were funny.
That’s the best kind of alt-text!
Chage it from ‘Alt’ to ‘Title’ in the code after adding the image.
As people here refer to Alt-Text, that’s the Image Title section. Alt Text as defined by HTML is only used if the image file is corrupted or can’t be loaded.
In short, put it in the Title of the image when editing the piece.
L
A
B
R
A
-ca-dabra?
dor?
I
A
Lazy LOL of the Day.
Pretty solid shot.
“A call to arms”
Can you imagine the rheee-ing if it came from a righty?
Elon Musk says he would reverse Twitter’s Trump ban
They need to mobilize to defend Democracy from Russian-controlled insurrectionists.
Bullshit.
He’ll be back.
?
As has been asked in the past, ¿Por qué no los dos?
Even if he’s not directly back, someone will just effectively mirror his posts from “truth” until “truth” fails. It’ll be the same thing.
I see the “article” uses the capitalized term Capitol Riot as if it were a known historical fact.
Perhaps a pop-ska band could write a song about it?
What kind of clothing would they wear in the video?
That is a misprint. It should be Insurrection.
I am on a meeting right now with one of our procurement people and a vendor. Procurement person loves to hear herself talk. She must fill every allocated minute of every meeting.
FML
A server error deleted my rant about the meeting I just abandoned.
It was an agency all-hands where the muckitymucks pat themselves on the back and crush morale.
The company’s last couple of all hands meetings have been trumpeting how well business is going.
The team meetings have been management telling us that things haven’t gone so well, so bonus budgets have been shrunk.
Who needs consistent messaging?
*cue scene in Patton of Germans burning papers in barrels, throwing files out windows*
She and Steve Kirsch need to meet.
I then drilled the bad hole out to a larger size, and screwed in the Heli-Coil.
Did you just use a hand drill for this, or a drill press? Just wondering if you had to be careful about not putting an angle on the wider hole.
Hand drill.
Since I wasn’t creating a new hole, I just had to go slow and it basically followed the existing hole.
Phrasing sir, also “that is what he said”.
STEVE CAN SHOW YOU HOW TO MAKE HOLE WIDER.
SAME WAY HE MAKE NEW HOLE.
STEVE SMITH TAP THE TAPPET
The drinker nails it again
i’m very impressed by… whatever it is you’re doing to your car.
Daily Quordle 106
5️⃣7️⃣
8️⃣9️⃣
meh. getting close to chumptown.
At least I got Framed in 3 despite a lousy third pic.
5️⃣7️⃣
4️⃣6️⃣
As a guy once told me (just before he fired an axle across his shop as he pressed the hub off) “Some asshole put this thing together. We sure as Hell can get it to come apart.”
You can take anything apart with enough force.
Whether it will be in any shape to work afterwards is another matter.
Lol.
Torches and hydraulic presses are your friends
A hydraulic press is on my shopping list.
Check local auctions. They’re always coming up.
We put one of these into our shop press. It’s not as good as a big electric over hydraulic, but it’s a hell of a lot faster and easier than a manual .
https://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-air-over-hydraulic-jack-95553.html
The jack scruffy linked
+
https://www.harborfreight.com/20-ton-shop-press-32879.html
+
https://www.swagoffroad.com/products/swag-20-ton-finger-brake-diy-builder-kit
=
One hell of a handy set-up
Those look like they go together well.
Because we like you – be careful with it!
That said they are quite handy, but it’s amazing how you can limp by with just a good bench vice. Of course I’ve also had crap fly out of that too…
I wondered if you had the injectors tuned up while you had them out. Question answered.
I would hAve taped off the deck with masking tape before overboring for the Helicoil, but that’s just me.
I forget- did the stud break, or did it just pull the threads?
“It keeps getting tighter and looser. it never tightens all the way up.”
Just pulled the the threads from the block.
I did tape the block around where I drilled it.
“It keeps getting tighter and looser. it never tightens all the way up.”
It happens to everybody, especially as you get older.
The stock FJ is sadly underpowered for its weight
See, also: Land Cruiser. Those things are ridiculously heavy. My mid-eighties Land Cruiser wasn’t as horrifically massive as the later ones, and it definitely needed a small block swap. I never got around to it, because I traded it away, which I sometimes regret.
U.S. intel: Putin preparing for “prolonged conflict” beyond eastern Ukraine
A foolish hope if true, because none of that is going to stop us from keeping the meat grinder going.
I think he now recognizes that the West is not going to seek a peaceful resolution, so he’s going to take the southern coastline including Odessa and Transnitria and shut the rest of Ukraine off from the Black Sea.
Seems likely. He has a major potential logistical issue, though – I believe he is depending on the land bridge to Crimea, which can be dropped with appropriate munitions (which have not yet been supplied to Ukraine, as far as I know). Resupply by sea is a risky business to some extent, given ever more capable land-to-sea missiles. I would be reluctant to put too many forces forward with such a fragile choke point behind them. A single point of failure could lead to disaster if the Ukrainians drop the land bridge, at least unless the Russians have a secure port in Ukraine. I have no clue if Crimea itself could serve as that port, or Mariupol for that matter. I guess its also possible for a land route along the Sea of Azov, if the major road can be kept secure. No clue how viable that would be.
It looks like the Russian navy is currently huddled around Crimea and doing very little to support the invasion, so Russian confidence that ocean-going assets are secure appears to be low.
I suspect Russia is suffering more than the US, believe it or not. The EU would rather support Ukraine as a shield than risk any of their turf.
A winter without natural gas might make the EU look a little more favorably on letting the Russians have their say.
It won’t stay the Current Thing forever.
COVID could make a comeback.
Another Winter of Death for the non-compliant.
Wait, we didn’t all die this past Winter?!
I did. You slackers never got around to it.
Net Neutrality got me years ago. It’s why I ain’t worried about the ‘vid.
The Tax Cut is what got me.
We are all just figments of your imagination.
No, but it won’t matter. We’ll continue to funnel money and weapons into the country.
I love it when Google News picks up a headline that is quickly changed.
Biden to speak on inflation, try to turn the tables on Republicans
The Washington Post
22 minutes ago
has become – Biden calls fighting inflation his top domestic priority
I’m sure the plan will include spending, more spending, tax credits for preferred industries, loan forgiveness, union strengthening as well a appropriate corporate handouts and lots of transfer payments. All, naturally, anti-inflationary as well as highly effective.
The last person who was president during this kind of inflation was Carter, and I’ve seen pictures of Carter and Biden together which means Biden knows what he’s doing.
Top domestic priority, no top priority. This Administration doesn’t give two shits about the homefront, at all.
Good point.
Remember how elites reacted to Trump’s America First.
I’d appreciate it a lot more if it were:
“Biden to speak on inflation, listen to anyone who has ideas to get us out of this, will consider all options, including those of his political enemies, as long as it is good for the country and the American People.”
Haaaaaahahaahahahaahaha…. Aaaaaaahaahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa
Isn’t it sad that that’s a joke?
I always heard you shouldn’t re-use head bolts. The bolts stretch when torqued and are pulling down on the bolt head. They’ll lose their “stretchieness” when reused and won’t hold their torque. I’ve seen this happen on Jag I did head work on. Probably extra true on a diesel with all that compression.
Bobarian said it better.
Good news the CDC is all over the afternoon news.
Gun violence spiked in first year of pandemic, CDC finds
The issues will be legal use and ownership of firearms and not the actual driver of suicide and gun crime during the periods examined. As Michael Crichton said, “wet streets cause rain” kinds of news stories.
Rates of firearm homicide were higher and showed larger increases in areas with higher poverty levels. Counties with the highest poverty level had firearm homicide and firearm suicide rates that were 4.5 and 1.3 times as high, respectively, as counties with the lowest poverty level, the CDC found.
A simple solution. Kill the poor.
Don’t sort the data by race. MSM doesn’t like to highlight same race violence either.
Kali and Doomy are posting show nice stats in the-vault on
Discord. Here.
Or stop pushing policies that keep people poor. Mind you, I think the correlation/causation they’re implying is horseshit. Poor people don’t kill each other to put food on the table.
No, you can’t have my guns. Piss off.
“COVID restrictions caused gun violence to spike, CDC finds”
So you are saying the COVID restrictions weren’t all good?
Fuckit.
I’m done, workday is over, finally. I’m not going to think about that nonsense anymore today.
Somebody failed Chemistry
heh
Isn’t that how you get super powers?
Meanwhile in local news:
Queens event planner Lauren Pazienza, charged with fatally shoving elderly voice coach on wine-fueled rampage, sent back to jail
She seems to be an awful human being so I’m not going to shed any tears if she is convicted and the book thrown at her. However, we have other people in who commit similar violent crimes in NYC who somehow manage to get either zero bail or low bail figures. I wonder what’s different about a crazy rich white girl from Long Island and those other people?
Equity. There were not enough crazy rich white girls from Long Island in jail already.
My main developer is off doing whatever it is people in Belarus do for fun for the next two weeks and I just got a huge pile of bugs I have to fix for him.
Oh, and I was off doing training the week the business went over this stuff so I have no idea what I’m doing.
Invading Ukraine, I would assume.
Don’t recall hearing that any Belarussians are actually fighting in Ukraine, although there was speculation that Putin might call them up.
I have heard about some likely nuisance-level sabotage of trains by Belarussians. So maybe that’s what he’s up to.
Or, drinking copious amounts of wodka and hitting on Ukrainian refugees.
I was -mostly- being Glib. I vaguely recall seeing a headline that it looked like Belarus may be staging troops at the border. But that could be defensive instead of offensive.
Wodka and women is the more likely answer.
“Can’t replicate the problem.”
Eastern VA Glibs:
I put a Gourmeltz meetup for 21 May, so far LCDR Fish and Rat on a Train are the only 2 responses.
Possibly. I’ll have to check with my Overlord.
I thought NoVA took me in the draft. Was I traded to Eastern VA?
NOVA, EAVA, whatever, man.
Did this make the rounds? The jokes just write themselves.
Over 100 NYC Orthodox Jews get kicked off German flight over mask dispute
“I don’t know, black coat, kippah, long curls – they all look alike to me – screw em!”
We won’t let you on the plane. We can put you on a train.
Very impressive, Ron.
I’d have had to be handheld through the entire process.
Not easy swinging a wrench when one hand is held behind your back, but I bet you could.
That’s what the manual, YouTube and forums are for.
Seasonal flu virus may be a direct descendant of the 1918 ‘Spanish flu’
no shit
Where’d I put my fainting couch? It’s around here somewhere.
*trips over extension cord, falls into stack of empty cardboard boxes*
Next up — COVID becomes another bug that produces the common cold.
I just had it about 3.5 weeks ago and it was pretty much a common cold.
Didn’t COVID supposedly kill off the seasonal flu?
Actually, I read something a while back suggesting that before the Spanish Flu, seasonal sicknesses were mostly caused by coronaviruses. But then the Spanish Flu mostly killed those off, and influenza took over as the primary seasonal illness.
Common cold is from rhinovirus (about 2/3rds of cases) and coronavirus (about 1/3rd of cases).
Influenza is a completely different family of viruses.
And, I just read your question again. I didn’t actually answer it.
My doctor said they had almost not positive tests for influenza last winter. No idea why. Perhaps social distancing and masking made a difference. Perhaps not.
Perhaps social distancing and masking made a difference.
I keep hearing this, and not getting an answer to my question:
Delta and Omicron both ran while people were masking and social distancing. It doesn’t seem to have had much of an effect on them.* Why would it have such a major effect on the flu?
Absent some major difference in transmission of flu v coronaviruses, I think the hypothesis that masking and social distancing knocked the flu on its ass is doubtful, if not falsified.
*As confirmed by at least three large-scale studies out of Europe.