Have you tried 'Nyet'?

We joke that the first response to any question to a Russian is nyet (no), followed by 'let me see', followed by 'yes we have one'. The title was a joke between us that when a sales assistant would ask a supervisor about a customer enquiry, the advice would be 'Have you tried saying nyet?'. Almost like 'Have you tried turning it off and on again?'
Examples include:
-Auto Shop (buying the rubber bushing)
'Nyet, we don't have those, wait, is this them, oh yeah, we have them.

-Shinomontage (Tyre Shop) - Can you balance my tyres?
'Nyet'. Hmm, "I have a vibration in my steering, come see", 'oh that is your tie rod ends'. "Can you tighten it?" 'Nyet'

-Chemist - Do you have a nail brush?
'nyet' hmm, er, here's one. Oh ok, yeah you can buy that one in a fancy gift pack thing.

It's all in good fun, but you need to wade through a lot of nyet's to get things done.

Last night we got moved on by a truck driver. At the time we were a bit miffed, like 'who's he to tell us what to do' but in the light of day, the amount of traffic our camp experienced suggested that we may not have got much sleep where we were if we had stayed.

This post will probably be posted tomorrow as it's raining enough to not bother going outside. If you get this today, then using the 'hockey puck' antenna on the bonnet worked!
We did 397KM today which is near enough a 'double quota day' to make us feel accomplished. We bought lunch and dinner today which is a great time saver.

So, to backfill some story, around 40kph to 60kph if provoked by a bump, the car and steering wheel would shake violently until you accelerated through it or virtually stopped and started again. This became quite vexing as all of our day is spent somewhere around that speed. Initially we thought that it was a result of considerable built up of mud on the rims, throwing them out of balance. We washed them big time in a river today but alas, no improvement. After our dinner cafe in Aldan, we dropped into a tyre shop to have the wheels balanced again in a desperate attempt to shake this demon. The young fellow pointed out straight away to the tie rod end that connects to the steering arm. Why didn't I check that? I was convinced by the amount of movement it was the big arm that locates the axle laterally (phainard rod?), but it seemed fine when I pushed and pulled the bullbar sideways to rock the car - no movement whatsoever. So in short, we headed down the road to a train stati
on carpark, mounted two kerbs and nosed in under an awning out of the rain to tighten both left and right tie rod ends, both way out of adjustment. These were brand new 15,000KM ago, but like most things, perhaps they need re-tensioning down the track? Or are they just ebay rubbish? One took three rotations, one about five! That far in that I've needed to bend the split pin inwards so that it locks it in place. Within 20 minutes we had both adjusted and were ready to roll.

Even though this procedure doesn't require a wheel alignment, by removing most of the steering play, it's become apparent we now need one! Driving straight requires the steering wheel to be 75-90degree to the left. No drama, but it makes reading the odometer difficult ;-) Thank goodness for the wet tar and the dirt roads to limit the associated tyre wear. Meh, who cares about tyre wear! At least they'll wear in sync with the rear tyres. That's positive thinking!

I'm very thankful for input from my dad adjusting these tie rod ends. I didn't know they were adjustable until I'd already bought a new set. Most of what I know about cars has come from him, something I'm very fortunate to have had. I was so appreciative that I had to call him once we'd had success with the adjustment.

Aldan is a terrific place as every place south of Yakutsk seems to be.

Good evening.