Stuff you have fixed today

[ajlelectronics]

Friday I got the LT largely back together. The work is currently focussed on the triangulation light installation, so I have been experimenting with firm and secure fixings. For lamps that really are a bit heavy duty for the purpose and more premade cable loom than you can shake a stick at.

Some experimenting with stepped washers and spacers. You might need to squint a bit until you see what it is!

I also had to fabricate a mount for his Satnav too. That took some thinking about!

 

[ajlelectronics]

Experiments continue. They are far too bright as triangulation lights although the amber does tone it down a bit.

Correctly aligned without the filter, they could light the way to the next town!

 

[brewdexta]

I fitted a bed lift to the Kawasaki Mule a couple of weeks ago, or rather all the bracketary needed to mount the ram. It was new old stock, original kit was about a grand, I got this for 300 quid. I got chance at the weekend to fit it and wire it up. Damm thing would go up, but not come down.

Looking at forums where people have had similar issues, it can be the linear actuator, they are 700 USD each.

However, given this was new and there was no whirring noises coming out of it, then I guessed if was this relay, all 4 quid of it. After getting the meter out I confirmed the relay was at fault.

I didn't have a spare so swapped the up and down relays and sure enough, it worked. New relay arrived this morning, all working now, the missus should be pleased as she now has a tipping motorised wheelbarrow for mulch, manure etc.

I just removed the bed catches before she tried to lift it with the bed held down

 

[Robotstar5]

Will you be fitting interlock switches to the bed catches so she can't try to lift it while locked?

 

[dobbslc]

The correct sized fuse will save the thing.
NOTE: Don't put fuse the under the bed...

 

[brewdexta]

Will you be fitting interlock switches to the bed catches so she can't try to lift it while locked?

I just removed the bed catches completely. The bed doesn't move with the ram in place so seem to be superfluous. Others that have fitted the kit have done the same.

 

[DennisCA]

A little over a week ago I had the fuel pump out of my car to replace an o-ring because I thought it was incorrectly installed, leading to a gas smell when filling the tank up too much. I apparently broke the pump removing it, it was a new replacement pump (ProParts), the internal hose barb for the fuel line broke off.... So I then had to improvise a new fuel pump assembly using the OEM assembly and the new fuel pump and some parts from it. But I had to use a cheap fuel hose not rated for submersion in fuel when I did so.

So now I have it out again and I am going to replace that temporary hose with a submersible rated fuel hose I bought instead. I don't want to worry about it failing on the road at some point...

The automotive hose on the pump, after about 1 week it still looks OK but I guess they're not fuel resistant on a different timescale, could be months, maybe years?

Start by splitting the pump assembly apart

Extracted the pump itself with filter housing and put on the new hose, 13mm clamps. WD-40 is gold here for getting the hose pushed on.

Everything back together

And back in the car with a new o-ring as well. Now I can just hope not to have to smell petrol next time I fill it up.

Despite having the proper tool for installation I managed to break a lot of the teeth of the lock ring. Never happened before, just kept slipping this time. But torqued to 55nm as per specs. I have a spare lock ring for future needs anyway.

 

[Robotstar5]

The stables wheel barrow tyre was ready to fail

So fitted a new tyre & tube today, even treated the wheel bearings to some fresh grease to stop the annoying squeak.

 

[Dcal]

Today I fixed (well improved) the vacuum pump I've been playing with for degassing PU resin.

I bought it on here and it seemed to suck just fine.
However, when trying it out for degassing it didn't seem to give the results I'd been expecting so I checked and it was pulling 70kpa which is about 0.525 m/Hg

So I took it apart for a look.

The valves are aluminium discs with a rubber valve and were pretty tarnished.

I took them to the surface plate and went down from 180 to 320 and finished with 600 grade paper.

I could have spent more time polishing them up but I also rubbed through the skin on my thumb and thought the better of it.
I put it back together with a thin smear of silicone grease on the rubber parts. Probably not recommended but we'll see.

It now pulls 0.62m /Hg (82.5Kpa) which is a useful improvement.

@Martin Hocking mentioned in another thread that the pump could be arranged to give more vacuum so I changed the pipework so it runs in series and I now get 0.71m /Hg (94.6 Kpa) which is more than the data sheet says it should.


It leaks down slowly when the pump is switched off so I'd say the valves are leaking slightly, however, it's absolutely fine for what I need.

 

[brewdexta]

Sprucing up the Kawasaki Mule a bit to slow down the rusting process.

It was like this. Not too bad, mainly surface rust, only one perforation.

Lots of elbow grease and the use of roloc abrasives on the die grinder and two coats of epoxy primer later. Note the use of the inner bog roll to keep paint off the hoses, it didn't work

Now covered in black gloss, I was going to raptor it but changed my mind. I'll do the underneath on my neighbours 4 post lift.

 

[Martin Hocking]

Great stuff @Dcal its definitely in good hands.

Suffice it to say I’m a little embarrassed to have sold it to you like that, it’s sat on the shelf for a good while. Don’t hesitate to let me know if it doesn’t behave itself and I’ll sort you out.

 

[Onoff]

Note the use of the inner bog roll to keep paint off the hoses, it didn't work

Get a roll of decent tin foil. Wrap it around and it stays there. No tape needed.

 

[Hitch]

Not sure what this, they tried pressing it apart with 2 ball bearings left inside, leaving 2 massive dents and a distorted flange.
Not our usual type of thing, but for a firm round the corner.

Built up, and re machined as near as possible. Not perfect, but close, back to them within 24hrs. Slow running and agricultural, so will do the trick.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

New garden furniture arrived with a large chip hanging off. Easier and quicker to fix than make a complaint.

 

[sako243]

Finally after 18 months the rebuild is finally happening after I got the conrods back from honing.

There's a chance I might be able to finish it tomorrow then need to wait for a torque converter seal to arrive and I can call a neighbour with a big telehandler to help lift it back in to the engine bay.

 

[Blue Chips]

Replaced a rusty cross-member with an aftermarket one and repaired some bullet holes in the floor of the under-bed toolbox of my 1954 M37. I posted the repair in my M37 restoration thread HERE.

 

[brewdexta]

Not all today, but the over the last week or so. There's a heat shield that covers the exhaust on the Kawasaki Mule, the idea is to stop you burning yourself if you have the tipping bed up. It was rusty and broken.

Now welded up and dressed back and 3 coats of black heat resistant paint. this is during dressing it back.

The roof was rusty, as was the windscreen surround

All took back to bare metal, 2 coats of epoxy primer and top coats. I changed the roof colour from grey to a RAL colour close to the colour Kawasaki use for the rest of it.

Spot lamps front and back, Not sure if I needed to keep the beacon but saves welding holes up.

The light board at the back of the cab was rusty and some of the light fittings were cracked

I bought new LED lights, cleaned up the rust, more epoxy primer and turned the board upside down. This way there is a natural dip to lean fence posts and other long things on. I can then use the light guards to secure them with bungees or rope. I put some edging on the top to stop the paint being broken and let the rust back in.

I'm on with the wiring this weekend, I've had two new tyres fitted, I've painted two wheels, two to go. Then its off for a full service and an MOT before I change the tax class to light agricultural and it becomes MOT exempt. The MOT is purely to make sure its roadworthy, lots of hills around here an being CVT, the belt comes off and you lose engine braking on idle. Not sure if the mule will fit on the rolling road to test the brakes, but there's other ways I believe.

 

[Robotstar5]

The last 3 days have been spent at @Cato new unit installing a few! sockets, I think I'm getting too old for all that conduit threading

Also sorted out a few other issues that had been left such as a live roll of cable in the kitchen area.

 

[optima21]

I rebound a book on Meccano models. it originally had a U shaped plastic channel, but the pages fell out if you tried to read them, and 200 pages in the wrong order would have made some contractions that Heath Robinson was proud of. I thought it would be fitting if the new binding looked like Meccano, and while looking for some stainless steel sheet to make it from, I decided to make it from old Jubilee clips as the are 1/2" wide.

I did look of youtube for videos about drilling holes in paper, what a waste of time, they all seem to make a mess of it. I just clamped the book between on one the "Meccano" bindings and MDF baseboard and drilled the 5mm hole with a jobber drill in a pillar drill at 1000 rpm, and clearing the paper swarf every 2 or 3mm. it worked well, and the holes were cleanly drilled. much better than the Youtube videos where they would burn the paper drilling it or just ripping holes though it as it wasn't clamped, or the drill was hand held.

and used these screw/rivets to hold it together, so the pages can still be removed to copy them.

Silver Belt Rivets Screws Nickel Plated 6 - 70mm Leather Craft Book Binding UK | eBay

Rod Length: 6mm to 70mm. -Material: Nickel Plated Steel. -The capacity of the binding screw is the distance in between the two heads when closed. -Each unit contains: 1 flat cap stud and 1 screw. -Colour: Silver / Gold.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Keithmac]

Bandit 600 came in, apparently it was running fine one month ago but someone has diagnosed spark failure as to why it doesn't run now..

Hey ho!.

Stripped and ultrasonic cleaned carbs, cleaned all jets and fitted short rebuild kits (no Keyster Kits available unfortunately).

Had to get creative with the cleaning and hand lapped some new fuel needles in.

The bike was in great condition, fuel system was a complete mess..

Personally I can't see how it was running fine a month back but what do I know?..