How'd it go today?

I also look at hourly cost.
In that time it took me to fiddle about, how much money would I have made.
Could I have three cut a tree down for 150.00? Then cutting gaskets aint worth my time.
In an emergency like need truck now, different story.
Can I order the gasket. Sometimes no. Then, yeah get er done son.
I used to have a yard man I paid less than my scale. It was cheaper to give him a day in the yard wiring stuff, fixing crap. Etc.
Groundie one day, repair guy the next. Wish I could find one of those again for about 20.00 to start.
Now I am just better off wrenching on it myself and such.
 
Oh the possibilities... don't tempt me any further, @CurSedVoyce...

Gertrude is down again, battery flat. Just bought the battery last week when the starter took a dump. That tells me that I have a dead short somewhere, as I spent too much time driving around to blame the alternator. Obviously, once I get the old girl started, I'll pull the positive cable and see if she dies.

At this point, I'm trying to figure out a ride or some such to get me and my gear out Yosemite way. Gertrude is making me real nervous when I think about all those long stretches of nothing between me and there. Need to make some money so I can have Big Dave put the truck in the shop while I'm gone.

Or, as much as I don't want to, I may sell her and shop for something a bit newer and better on fuel. Kind of a tall order, considering whatever it is has to have room for me to sleep and store all my kit. A minivan would do it, and they're cheap, even if I think they're creepy. Current lifestyle makes my search a tall order.

I've allowed myself to become quite royally screwed. According to the plan, I should be in a trailer, in a park, with Gertrude off the road for servicing, and some cheap wheels for the meantime. But we all know that no plan survives contact with the enemy. I misplaced my faith, into someone unworthy, and I'm reaping that harvest.
 
Wish I had all three of my trucks up. We could just transfer the camper onto the 4x4. Sometimes I would like to kick life back in the nutz. I just know I'd probably get clobbered on the head if I did.
Been where you are Kave. I feel ya.
 
@Kaveman
I had a fuel pump relay that used to do the battery shite regular till I figured it out.
My 91 4x4. And it was intermittent. Go for weeks no problem. Then almost every day. Ohhhhh the words that would come out my mouth jump starting it with trailer attached first thing in the morning
 
Transmission fluid and filter change done. Had to order another kit since the filter gasket was missing in the OEM kit.... again. So another kit later, all done.
Jasper did this trans and left the gasket out. Fresh from Ford, they had them. So now I own three. One installed.
Gaskets for the kits for shelf enroute.
On to the next thing.
Axel pivot bushings. Yeahhhhh :P
 
So it's not a single manufacturing plant with a quality control issue. That seemingly puts the onus more on Ford, since they write the contracts, and should enforce them.
 
I'd have to dig in deeper. But I had kits for OEM parts, and you can get everything around that one part OEM. But have to go after market for the one missing.
Ran into that with the diesel. Just all of a sudden, can't buy that specific part OEM or through International that made the part. Just aftermarket.
I can about buy OEM for that entire diesel with only a couple exceptions. All the sensors but the damn Speed/ABS sensor in the differential. All the damn motor componants but the vacuum pump.
 
Today really tried my patience. Boss had percs this morning, so I did comps and grade sheets for the trail. The company that did the plans for this job(a local company I know) has no business doing highway construction drawing, and that's basically what this trail is. It's a specialized highway, but same principles apply.

I'll go into two of today's pissoffs. They give a profile grade on the trail, just like you would for a road, and they give specific elevations every 25'. 50' is customary on highways, but whatever. The problem is they don't match. I can't start at the start and push the percentage of fall through using my software which makes it much easier, especially for stations that don't fall on an even 25', and there's a lot of those. I had to hand figure the grades which added a lot of effort and time when I should've been able to blow through them.

Second thing is I blew the comps on the structures because the plan view alternates between showing north down, and north up. Everyone in this business knows north goes up, and that's how it should be displayed. So, it was technically my fault for not seeing their nonsense, but when you've been working with pros for >30 years that know what they're doing, you expect people to know what they're doing.

I could bitch all night about the problems with the plans and engineering, but no one cares, and most wouldn't understand. It was also friggin' hot. 80° in November is bullshit. I'm out staking pile, and sweat's dripping out of my helmet.

In other news, I talked to the crane op, and I'm meeting him at his place at noon tomorrow, so I'll get to see what I'm in for. Got the saws sharpened and gassed, so aside from loading almost everything I own into the truck, I'm ready to roll tomorrow.

edit:
Forgot. I also checked the transfer case while the boss was out, and fluid dribbled out of the plug. 500 something miles and the fluid I put in is still in there. Haven't really smelled atf in a little while, so maybe the leak stopped, but I'm not sure how that happens. Makes me concerned about the transmission cause I have a hard time reading the dipsticks on those. ATF is so runny, I can't tell if it's filled right, or the dipstick got slop on it.
 
Last edited:
Axel pivot bushings are installed. No one died.
I accidentally bought two sets. Should fit 1 of two or both other trucks. Wont fit the one ton. No biggie.
I pressed them out and pressed them in with not much drama. You just have to find something that works. Often times you can just hammer them out with a pneumatic hammer. Not today.
Was able to rig a U Joint/Ball joint screw press and some odds like a castle nut that was the right size to press out. Pretty straight forward pressing them in..
Glad I should never have to do that on that truck again. Should help my tire wear issues a tad. One was completely shot. That will throw out the camber and toe in by some degrees.
 
I used to do that sometimes for my daughter. I don't rake leaves out of principle. I figure if they didn't belong on the ground, they wouldn't fall off the trees, but I'd rake a bunch in a pile just so she could jump in them. Good clean fun :^)
 
Well, the tree's down. Running all kinds of scenarios in my head, and none of them was a dead dead dead oak leaning parallel to the fence, and almost no chance it doesn't hit the fence. I settled on the plan of facing it, leaving an extra fat hinge and brute forcing it over with the maasdam. I made one last look for a sanity check and opted to set a tether going oppositeish to the proposed lay. That was a good call cause the tree went over on it's own and that tether kept it off the fence. It battered some trees on the way down, but he didn't care about that, and it never hit the fence. He was happy with it.

I didn't take many pics cause I feel like a goober with the client standing there, but here's my "hinge" pics...

IMG-20241102-124313283.jpg

IMG-20241102-124301857.jpg


Pretty easy(though stressful) money, and I barely used any fuel or gear.
 
In case anyone is wondering, especially with postimages.org, they give several link types that can be used. I'm not familiar enough with how they all work to give advice, but I use the link for "direct image". I then post using img tags I enter manually. I'm sure there's a quicky button the forum provides, but by the time I figure that out, I could have it typed and be on to other things. As a refresher...

Code: 
[img]pic_url_goes_here[/img]

Postimages is just the host I use... Well, just cause. It's easy, straightforward, and doesn't require an account. Other image hosts will work similarly if one prefers.
 
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