What I broke today...........

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

 

[sako243]

I've had a good run today. Spent the morning sorting through chainsaw chains to find a usable one. Out of the four available for sharpening two are beyond use with a number of badly damaged teeth. The third had managed to get a small piece of wire between the bar and chain so had some damaged drive links. I filed then down but still didn't feel right in the bar turning it over by hand so into the bin as well. So back to the one that was on the saw and nearly worn out, sharpened that up.

Went down to the neighbours paddock where a eucalyptus had come down taking out their small lambing shed and two fences. Cut through the trunk and left it as a nice long straight piece possibly for planking later. Of course final cut found a piece of fence hidden below the trunk so that's probably finished off that chain. Brought the JCB around and dragged it with a load of ropes from over the fence to get it out through their small gate (no vehicular access to the paddock and too wet anyway).

So far so good, now the ****e hit the fan. Walked back home and fetch the little tractor and trailer to plonk the tree on to bring it back to ours via their drive, a bit on the road and our drive. Half way along their single track drive the tractor for the second time this month pulls some sludge into the fuel line and stalls blocking everything. Right, get the JCB which is blocked in at the neighbours, knock tractor into neutral and tow it towards their field entrance. As I'm using the back actor to move it out of the way a hydraulic hose blows . So pin the back actor in place to stop it slipping about, u hitch the trailer by hand and manage to push it back up their drive a bit. Then manage to get the JCB past the tractor half blocking the drive and put the tow ball onto the fork headstock and lob the forks onto the trailer.

"Reverse" the trailer driving forwards which with four wheel steering is a complete mind duck if I make the mistake about thinking about it. Take the trailer and leaky JCB back home. Then grab the missus and head back down in the 110 to tow the tractor back home.

Removed the fuel filter, shoved and airline up it's jacksie and the air took the path of least resistance through the injector pump. So pulled the incoming fuel line off the filter (only have about an inch of space to work with) and shoved the airline up the fuel line. Big blast and manages to clear the blockage. Then had the fun of trying to finangle the hose peeing out diesel back onto the filter which has a stop tap. Eventually got it on and then spent 15 minutes bleeding the damn system because it will not run right with any air in the system at all.

The blown hose and another dodgy one have also been removed ready to get replacements tomorrow. I have to say it's bloody handy living down here where I can get a hydraulic hose made up on a Sunday morning.

 

[m_c]

@sako243 You mean you don't have a hydraulic hose swager with a shelf full of hose and fittings to make your own hoses?

 

[sako243]

No real need with four places within 10 minutes drive. They take the cost of stocking all the fittings and hose.

 

[m_c]

But think of the new tool possibilities

Although on a serious note, cost wise a decent hydraulic hose supplier is generally cheaper, once you factor in the cost of machine, and needing quite a bit of stock.
There's a Parker Karricrimp 1 in the workshop, along with multiple boxes of fittings, which is very handy, as the only local places are tractor dealers, and they're not that cheap for hydraulic hoses.
Nearest proper hydraulic place is a 30minute drive away, so being able to just remove the hose, and make a new one saves a lot of time.

 

[sako243]

All those places are basically tractor repair places.

Nearest is 30s down the road at a mates yards. He runs heavy plant so has his own stuff because when a machine goes down he can't be without it.

Then the others are 10 minutes if that. One is a chap who does ag repairs and works from his farm so people know they can call in in an emergency and thus he's been getting a load of business and makes sense for him to keep stock. There's probably £10k worth of fittings in the shed. Just drop him a text out of politeness and then turn up, and have a hose made in under 10 minutes. Pay cash and it's usually rounded down.

Other place just keeps the common stuff in stock. After that there's then David Harries who have almost everything but only open 5.5days of the week.

 

[DAPPH]

I've had a good run today. Spent the morning sorting through chainsaw chains to find a usable one. Out of the four available for sharpening two are beyond use with a number of badly damaged teeth. The third had managed to get a small piece of wire between the bar and chain so had some damaged drive links. I filed then down but still didn't feel right in the bar turning it over by hand so into the bin as well. So back to the one that was on the saw and nearly worn out, sharpened that up.

Went down to the neighbours paddock where a eucalyptus had come down taking out their small lambing shed and two fences. Cut through the trunk and left it as a nice long straight piece possibly for planking later. Of course final cut found a piece of fence hidden below the trunk so that's probably finished off that chain. Brought the JCB around and dragged it with a load of ropes from over the fence to get it out through their small gate (no vehicular access to the paddock and too wet anyway).

So far so good, now the ****e hit the fan. Walked back home and fetch the little tractor and trailer to plonk the tree on to bring it back to ours via their drive, a bit on the road and our drive. Half way along their single track drive the tractor for the second time this month pulls some sludge into the fuel line and stalls blocking everything. Right, get the JCB which is blocked in at the neighbours, knock tractor into neutral and tow it towards their field entrance. As I'm using the back actor to move it out of the way a hydraulic hose blows . So pin the back actor in place to stop it slipping about, u hitch the trailer by hand and manage to push it back up their drive a bit. Then manage to get the JCB past the tractor half blocking the drive and put the tow ball onto the fork headstock and lob the forks onto the trailer.

"Reverse" the trailer driving forwards which with four wheel steering is a complete mind duck if I make the mistake about thinking about it. Take the trailer and leaky JCB back home. Then grab the missus and head back down in the 110 to tow the tractor back home.

Removed the fuel filter, shoved and airline up it's jacksie and the air took the path of least resistance through the injector pump. So pulled the incoming fuel line off the filter (only have about an inch of space to work with) and shoved the airline up the fuel line. Big blast and manages to clear the blockage. Then had the fun of trying to finangle the hose peeing out diesel back onto the filter which has a stop tap. Eventually got it on and then spent 15 minutes bleeding the damn system because it will not run right with any air in the system at all.

The blown hose and another dodgy one have also been removed ready to get replacements tomorrow. I have to say it's bloody handy living down here where I can get a hydraulic hose made up on a Sunday morning.

Do a proper job get the fuel tank off and clean it out properly .

1969 straight out of three years full time Army Apprentice School as a City & Guilds level 2 mechanic & electrician
I was on exercise driving around Germany what is now 7ton HGV with a three ton cargo trailer full of nuts bolts & other frequently used consumables for a 100 or vehicle repair mobile workshop fleet , Aged 18 yrs & 4 months old ).

Driving from Shoeburyness Southend on Sea area from the UK . Part of the regiments Royal Signal unit had an old Austin K9 box body ( D 11 radio truck made in about 1951 ) it was always towed from the UK around Germany for two months or so on maneuvers then back to the UK Barracks or on more UK maneuvers .
One morning on a soon to be very hot sunny day out in the middle of the woods I asked if I could have a crack at sorting it .
Loads of oafish laughter from the rest of the workshop as none of them had ever got it to run for more than a few seconds . Did my easy as pie methodical fault finding .. HT good all the time when plugs removed , still good with them back in , Timing spot on ,

. Fuel in float chamber but " Garry no go mista " ,.

I stripped the carb , use an air line to blow out the jets and galleries & proved them with a long thin nylon bristle , fuel pump held pressure filter bowl clean and leak free . Went to the tank at the lift pipe and undid it to find a long thin birch type twig looking at me out of the union . found evidence of more twigs in the fuel line .

Took the lift pipe flange off the tank and withdrew the tube , on looking inside I could see masses of very thin birch type twigs in the tank .
Drained the tank in to jerry cans and removed the tank and spent the next four hours pouring boiling water from the cook house in the tank to clear if of fumes .

Ted Craven soon to be a civvi , our very ancient Korean war veteran blacksmith & metal smith , punctured the middle of the end of the tank and in the hole used a hacksaw blade wrapped in tape to make a pull saw to take out most of the end of the over the next couple of hours . Eventually being able to remove four or five big hands full of thin twigs along with even more of fine broken wood .

IIRC we made a new patch out of a five gallon oil can (a PIA in getting it flattened enough ) which Ted soldered /sweated in place , it covered almost all the end of the tank . I spent a long time trying to get the fuel lines clear , finally used DON 10 signalling wire in the end & my trucks air line .
Everything back in place & properly fitted

Then the proof of the pudding , one jerry can of clean fuel in the tank , prime the carb and with bated breath I turned the ignition on and pressed the starter ..it roared into life . 30 seconds later it was still roaring like a lion .

So Ted & I grinning from ear to ear with me driving took it on a 10 mile cross country and road test run .
Got back to the lager area and the whole workshop was stood either side of the track clapping , whistling & cheering .

Later that evening we had a visit from the Foreman of signals who kept the K9, D11radio vehicle ( A major senior god ,whom even RSM's looked up to ) ,
He took the trouble to find me and thank me .. he said it hadn't run for at least the 7 years he'd been at the signals unit .

Resulting in me being put forward for rapid promotion to the dizzying heights of Lance Corporal & Ted getting a crate of beer from the Signals Guys mess members .

 

[sako243]

Do a proper job get the fuel tank off and clean it out properly .

Oh I planned and plan to. It's just annoying that the first time this happened was after spending a day fencing at my parents with it and had just filled it up.

It's still got about half a tank in it and I was hoping to run it down a bit further before having to strip the whole dash apart to get the tank out. Just my luck it had been running fine for half a tank and then conks out.

 

[sako243]

What a mess a small bit of hydraulic oil makes... All fixed now courtesy of James up the road for making new hoses.

 

[DAPPH]

Can you run the machine up or down a steep hill so the gungy stuff runs to one end & can then be sucked or pumped out the tank via a long syphon big bore pipe down the access filler or sender unit hole if you have one ???

A lot of plant kit tended to have stepped filler holes as a first line muck check/stop ,.
I took the oil filler tube /pipe of an ancient International D11 dozer after some thugs decided to try and sabotage my mates business of landfill operator .
The step managed to hold back sand & bits of gravel and when unbolted was the way into the tank to use a big bore hose to syphon the contents off without removing much .

 

[sako243]

@DAPPH I assume you're talking about the tractor's fuel situation? It's only a wee New Holland 1220 so a handful of nuts and bolts and the fuel tank all comes out. It only holds about a jerry cans worth of diesel.

The fuel tank is basically infront of the steering wheel between there and the engine.

It's easier to take it out and then give it a good flush. Now the fuel line is unblocked I should be able to turn the stop tap on the filter, remove it, shove a hose pipe over the filter barb and let it drain back into a container.

 

[Turbo]

When you do that dump the container contents straight away. Otherwise it will eventually end up back in the fuel tank.
Don't ask me how I know that!

 

[dobbslc]

Nah just dump it in the missus car like I did
It was old more that dirty though.

 

[Turbo]

Nah just dump it in the missus car like I did
It was old more that dirty though.

That's not a nice thing to say about her!

 

[sako243]

When you do that dump the container contents straight away. Otherwise it will eventually end up back in the fuel tank.
Don't ask me how I know that!

Forgot to ask my Mum for some of my old nappies, they're really good filters (washed obviously ).

 

[northwest]

Bit of an odd one today, First off, one of my cut knurls decided to commit suicide:



Need to buy another knurling wheel but they are a dear do and I am trying not to spend any money, then the brakes on the car decided they wanted replacing so after getting so far, I realised I needed a piston tool.

Now, just like everybody else I own a set of High Speed steel drills. However, although it says "High Speed steel" this apparrently DOES NOT mean you can go flat out trying to bat an 8.5mm hole through some 6mm guage plate, it ends in tears and a glass hard (almost) hole. I couldn't be arsed switching gear and paid the price, okay I slowed down and went at it again, tapped it 10mm and dignity was restored:



It helped push the pistion back jusat fine, albeit slowly. Then of course the new pads didn't arrive so it is all up in the air until tomorrow.

 

[Blobber]

Bit of an odd one today, First off, one of my cut knurls decided to commit suicide:

View attachment 485400View attachment 485401

Need to buy another knurling wheel but they are a dear do and I am trying not to spend any money, then the brakes on the car decided they wanted replacing so after getting so far, I realised I needed a piston tool.

Now, just like everybody else I own a set of High Speed steel drills. However, although it says "High Speed steel" this apparrently DOES NOT mean you can go flat out trying to bat an 8.5mm hole through some 6mm guage plate, it ends in tears and a glass hard (almost) hole. I couldn't be arsed switching gear and paid the price, okay I slowed down and went at it again, tapped it 10mm and dignity was restored:

View attachment 485402

It helped push the pistion back jusat fine, albeit slowly. Then of course the new pads didn't arrive so it is all up in the air until tomorrow.

Aah but what make of pads are you using? Lubricating or not? If lubricating what are you using?

 

[Bobupndown]

Discovered that ride on lawnmowers use a left hand threaded retaining bolt on the right hand blade. Unfortunately I only made this amazing discovery after I'd sheared off the blade retaining bolt!
And of course it broke off some distance down the spindle.
FFS thinks I!
Stripped the deck off it, removed the spindle and managed to take the shaft out of it, fortunately revealing the broken bolt level with the end of the shaft. A washer, m10 nut and judicious application of the mig had the recalcitrant bolt out.
Pretty much a free fix apart from being fleeced at the local lawnmower shop to the tune of £2.15 for a single replacement left hand threaded M10 bolt.
Gave me an opportunity to give the deck a really good power washing while it's off.
I think I'll give it a coat of paint just to give it some protection. In 2 minds to use epoxy primer or a zinc based silver paint. Maybe both? Don't suppose it will make much odds as it'll still get chipped with flying stones.

 

[brightspark]

god £2.50 you may need to go for councilling to get over it

 

[Maker]

Bit of an odd one today, First off, one of my cut knurls decided to commit suicide:



Need to buy another knurling wheel but they are a dear do and I am trying not to spend any money,

Flip it over, both faces of the wheel will cut.