Hi again from Tallinn, Estonia, where the temperature was 10 degrees F when I got up this morning. Spring has arrived.

If you have never had to change a flat tire, it might be prudent to give your on-board changing tools a practice run from the safety of your driveway. Now that the weather is nice, you have no excuse.

To save a few crowns (er, I mean bucks), I decided to take off my winter tires, and put the summer tires on myself. (The winter set are mounted on their own set of dedicated steel rims, so nothing complicated about this job, right?) I invited my wife to watch and change one herself, just for the practice. But, we didn't get that far:

Imagine my surprise to find that the inner opening of the C-hook on the top of my Volvo scissors jack is too small to fit onto the pin on my '92 740 Turbo wagon's jack attachment. I felt like I could get it on with a sledge hammer if really necessary, but there wouldn't be any way to get it off!

I googled the part number stamped on the jack--1355190--and found an old eBay offering, in which the seller stated that this jack will "fit your 240." So, I thought, maybe my previous owner lost his original, and was given the wrong jack either by the dealer or at a junkyard.

I went to a friend in the neighborhood, and borrowed the jack from his 740 GLE wagon, from 1991, I believe. It too is the scissors jack, and the part number on it is 1304663. It worked fine.

Here's the mystery: I called our Volvo dealer here, and was told that the part number for the jack that I have is CORRECT. So, I am a little curious as to what's going on. Did the diameter of the pin on the 700 series jack attachment (on the car)change (get bigger)over the years? Are these pins the same size as those on other Volvo models?

A search of the brickboard archives tells me that this has happened to at least one other owner.

Luckily, I found this out at home on a pretty and "warm" day, not on a country road late at night in winter with a flat to change. (And, again, if you've never used your on-board tools, give them a try.)

I guess I'll be making my first foray into the world of Tallinn's junkyards today, to look for a "tungraud" with a part number the same as my friend's. Wish me luck!

--George