Stuff you have fixed today

[qwakers]

just started grading it out. no more material should need to be removed, just moved about.

its pretty nearly there now, just have to get the grade right, compact it with the wacker plate, pour the retaining wall, put ground fabric down, sharp sand then block paving. once done ill pour a concrete wedge along the front and job jobbed.

well that was a lot of sweat...

final grade and compacted

road fabric and shuttering completed (i know its not straight. i ran out of motivation. never let perfect be the enemy of good enough. its not as bad as it looks in that pic) it gets wider as it gets closer to the road as the depth increases. this is intentional.

and poured. 3/4 ton of aggregate(a guess, may be less...), and 2.5 bags of cement.

i am absolutely knackered.

 

[Blobber]

well that was a lot of sweat...

final grade and compacted

road fabric and shuttering completed (i know its not straight. i ran out of motivation. never let perfect be the enemy of good enough. its not as bad as it looks in that pic) it gets wider as it gets closer to the road as the depth increases. this is intentional.

and poured. 3/4 ton of aggregate(a guess, may be less...), and 2.5 bags of cement.

i am absolutely knackered.

Not surprised I'm knackered just looking at it!

 

[awemawson]

Couple of days ago - torrential rain - lights go out - we are over head supply so it happens occassionally. Then I notice the red light on the telly - no not all the power just that lighting circuit. Rain got in somewhere? No sign anywhere. Reset the trip and it still trips out. Leave it a couple of hours and I can reset it so presumeably water got in somewhere.

Roll forward to today - not raining so make an attempt to clear the gutter hopper head by our back porch - this gets blocked regularly with leaves. Messy job but having pulled much leaf mould out time to flush it clean with a hose. Then we have no light again !

It's at this point I notice that the water overflowing the hopper head goes right onto the override switch for the porch PIR flood light - was THAT the cause. Sure enough opening the switch at least a cupful of water pours out. Drying it off and re- assembling it all is OK.

I seem to remember that these MK waterpoof switches have a bit you can knock out to leave a weap hole - I didn't check but will when I replace the switch as it's action now is rather hit and miss.

 

[Robotstar5]

Or just drill a small hole in the bottom of the enclosure.

 

[qwakers]

i might have slightly overloaded my trailer with wall debris when taking it to the tip. by about 150%....

it'll be reet! turned into bugger when i went over a particularly aggressive speed bump and bent a axle so the tyre was cambered enough to be hitting the bodywork even when empty.

now the correct fix is to put a 1 ton plus solid axle underneath. the fix available to me is a porta-power and a sledge hammer.

its straight again... for now.

its starting to move again and im getting concerned about fatigue. considering the use its had, its done well and im not upset about having to beef it up.

now i was going to find something like a original transit connect rear axle and butcher that, but ive had a thought.

lookit what i have.

2x astra j estate rear hubs. one used, abs magnet fell off, and one new. so ill fit the other new one to the car, then make a couple of backplates up to fit the hub out of (15mm?) steel plate (ideas here on how heavy it needs to be to reliably carry a ton plus off-road only ofc ) then weld it to some heavy box. (50mm i think) and obviously gusset it to make it nice and strong. then just weld it, no suspension, to the bottom of the trailer and job done.

 

[Morris]

Pre-emptive post for tomorrow's repair.
This bracket should be attached to the axle of my Sorento.

It's the top radius arm mount. Most of the mark 1 axles were repaired years ago due to this issue. The bracket was boxed and filled with muck and water causing said corrosion. How mine has survived this long is a mystery (it's done 165,000 miles). Kia did replacement mounts that were dealer fitted and were still doing this 5 years ago as a good will gesture.
Anyway, I had to make my own.

Off to my mates tomorrow to use his two post lift. I post the results.
I do have a spare axle now with a good LSD in it and replacement brackets which were clearly dealer fitted at a branch where no one could weld...

 

[qwakers]

its starting to move again and im getting concerned about fatigue. considering the use its had, its done well and im not upset about having to beef it up.

now i was going to find something like a original transit connect rear axle and butcher that, but ive had a thought.

lookit what i have.

2x astra j estate rear hubs. one used, abs magnet fell off, and one new. so ill fit the other new one to the car, then make a couple of backplates up to fit the hub out of (15mm?) steel plate (ideas here on how heavy it needs to be to reliably carry a ton plus off-road only ofc ) then weld it to some heavy box. (50mm i think) and obviously gusset it to make it nice and strong. then just weld it, no suspension, to the bottom of the trailer and job done.

some research has been done. rx8 wheels are damn near the same fitment, just the center bore is 3mm smaller. so im going to drop 2 of the many rx8 wheels i have off at the machinists on monday to have the center bore turned out and therefore i dont have to bother with finding wheels. modifying the hubs was also a option but it would mean i cant just use the astras spare if i get a puncture...

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Nice Coleman duel fuel Lantern came my way the other day.

What drew me to it was the mantles were good, the pump worked and the glass was original.

Plus the price was cheep.

The Coleman Mantles, here are the original, are held in place by metal spring clips.
Tilley Lanterns could copy and make them easier to fit.

A few tweaks of the glass spring plate had it in the correct positions.

Fresh fuel, tank in pressure and the lids in place.

Light and wait until the mantles are white hot. Then slowly go up to the light level you want.

 

[Onoff]

once done ill pour a concrete wedge along the front and job jobbed.

You would usually doing any such "haunching" before you block pave no?

 

[qwakers]

Usually yes, but I’m not sure of the final level, so I’ll do it the hard way.

 

[Bobupndown]

I missed both of mine so much I got a Freelander..

So you upgraded then? Great choice

He asked me to fit a back tyre, mentioned the "swingarm" (exhaust hanger and suspension support) bearing may need replacing, turns out someone has already been in there and made a royal mess of it all..

After taking the wheel off I noticed the rear caliper had been missing a pad retaining pin for quite some time, and the slider pin was not bolted to the carrier!. To top it off pads were worn down to the metal.

Managed to find some 2nd hand bits and make it all safe.

View attachment 469270

Are there 2 different brake calipers on that rear disc?

 

[Morris]

Pre-emptive post for tomorrow's repair.
This bracket should be attached to the axle of my Sorento.
View attachment 469590
It's the top radius arm mount. Most of the mark 1 axles were repaired years ago due to this issue. The bracket was boxed and filled with muck and water causing said corrosion. How mine has survived this long is a mystery (it's done 165,000 miles). Kia did replacement mounts that were dealer fitted and were still doing this 5 years ago as a good will gesture.
Anyway, I had to make my own.
View attachment 469592
Off to my mates tomorrow to use his two post lift. I post the results.
I do have a spare axle now with a good LSD in it and replacement brackets which were clearly dealer fitted at a branch where no one could weld...

Got this done today and forgot to take photos . Well, I took two. Useless.
The one issue I had trying to do this at home was I had nothing high enough to put under the chassis to allow the axle to drop, which I needed to do to get clearance to get at the remains of the bracket on the axle.
I'll try to make this brief as I've nowt to show. I ground the old bracket stump off (I've just got some Norton powerfile ceramic belts, what a revelation) and put the new parts on using the radius arm to jig it in place. Bit of welding, bosh, done.

The other side was ok but the back was sketchy so I made a patch and welded that on (badly, access for all of this was awful).

My mate charged me nothing for using his workshop (he's a very good independent mechanic) so I bought a 10 ton press off him. Well, it would have been rude not to

 

[Morris]

Press not pressure
Predictive nonsense.

 

[Keithmac]

So you upgraded then? Great choice

Are there 2 different brake calipers on that rear disc?

Yes, the big one is the rear hydraulic brake caliper, the little one behind it is the cable operated handbrake caliper.

 

[Hitch]

Not fixed as such, but more of a service so it doesn't need fixing

Few days over in Northern Ireland last week giving this setup (these are just a few bits of it) a service. New seals in all the automated valves, nrvs, mechanical seals in all the pumps and so on.

Nice to give this one its first service, I fabricated parts of it, landed it all in position at install too.

 

[Keithmac]

Half way through my MP3 500 job I had an MP3 300 Yorban to sort out as well.

It needed the steering tower bearings sorting out (set to proper preload and the towers greasing).

Luckily the "tie rod ends" on this one were fine.

Took longer to take all the bloomin panels off than it did to service the bearings! A bit daft really, they could have easily made a couple of removable panels instead of making you take the entire front to bits..

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Very nice! they are awesome, especially if you want to iron clothes when you're camping.

I used it this week to iron my work shirts.

 

[Bobupndown]

So you upgraded then? Great choice

Are there 2 different brake calipers on that rear disc?

Yes, the big one is the rear hydraulic brake caliper, the little one behind it is the cable operated handbrake caliper.

Who knew motorbikes had handbrakes?
Assume its a requirement for ac3 wheeler?

 

[Bobupndown]

Picked up a used but working perfectly washing machine for £30 for the mancave. You'd think the space had been designed for it and conveniently located feed and drain waterpipes already there for the sink. Was but 15 minutes work to add a washing machine t piece and drain pipe.
I'll now be able to wash dirty work clothes and car cleaning cloths without invoking the wrath of 'er indoors' by using her washing machine.

 

[sardine]

Nearly brand new , the only fault was the tiny bit of plastic broken off that stopped the door micro switch from being contacted , easy fix.