[AT] Getting water out of a gearbox
charlie hill
charliehill at embarqmail.com
Thu Jun 4 12:02:33 PDT 2015
That's a fair picture Steve. There are a couple of reasons I didn't change
them both at once.
First let me say that I don't remember exactly how long ago I changed it but
it was at the same
time that I decided to repair what I thought was a minor structural problem
with my bathroom
floor and ended up with the entire floor ripped out down to the ground and
part of a wall as well.
The problem was relatively minor but instead of a lot of rot on one or two
boards it was a fair amount
on a bunch and there was no stopping point. It got so involved that we had
to move out of the house
for a while. I was living in a friends river house about 30 miles away and
commuting, trying to work on
the house and make a living at the same time. It was also during the worst
of the recession when my
income was severely limited.
The left side hub was damaged (I believe) when the truck was hit while
parked when it was less than a year old.
The left front tire was turned out to the left and the car that spun out and
hit it collided directly with the face of the
left front tire. It did about 3 grand in damages including snatching the
left tie rod out of the ball joint. I demanded that
the insurance company replace that hub. They refused. Claimed they
inspected it and it was fine. So a few years later
at the worst possible time that hub went out half way between the river
house and our house. I managed to limp
home, I got the parts and fixed it shade tree style in my yard. I didn't
have time to do the other one and really didn't have
the money either. So I did what I had to do and fixed what was broken.
Should I have gone ahead and changed it later?
Sure but by the time I had the time it had run far enough that I wasn't
worried about it and it was firmly planted in my mind
that the wreck damage had caused the other one to fail or at least had
heavily contributed to it. I had intended to change
it out before I went on this trip but ran out of time. Such is life.
Those here who are self employed understand what I just
wrote better than most I suspect.
Also, I know you folks must think I'm going senile or at least have "part
timers" disease for making a simple math problem into
a complicated one and then not remembering why I made it complicated. The
truth is I'm pulled six ways from Sunday right now.
Along with the ordinary problems of life my 96 year old mother had a stroke
in October and though she is ..... well was... doing well
I was/am constantly having to drop everything and go 25 miles one way to
attend to something she thinks is urgent. Then on Monday
morning when I was on my way back from MD I got a call that she had been
taken to the hospital with another stoke. It turned out
to be minor and she's in a rehab unit now where they are working on weakness
in her left arm and leg. The first stroke affected the right
side. So with all that said I hope everyone can understand that I really
shouldn't be even taking the time to read my tractor mail
let alone hijack a topic to do an algebra problem while mentally juggling
about six other "chain saws" and trying to finish up this years
continuing ed requirements before the deadline. With any luck things will
slow down again soon and maybe I won't be in the stroke ward
with my mom!
On top of that, now I'm getting as long winded as Farmer. LOL. Sorry
Farmer, I couldn't help myself.
Charlie
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Offiler
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2015 6:18 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Getting water out of a gearbox
Agreed, Charlie. I found the 150,000,000 rotation number pretty fascinating
on its own, before the dollar value entered the picture.
I’ve been wondering… is there a reason you only did one side when the first
hub failed a couple years ago? In matters like this I always tend to do
both sides at once, things like brakes, ball joints, etc etc. I figure if
one failed the other must be pretty close, and, I’m already there with the
truck in the air and the tools all spread out.
SO
> On Jun 4, 2015, at 6:01 AM, charlie hill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Thinking back on it, my original intent was to figure out
> how many times that bearing had rotated and then I decided to
> convert it to cost. Obviously if I had just wanted to know how much
> per mile it would have been a much simpler problem.
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: charlie hill
> Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 9:45 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Getting water out of a gearbox
>
> Ah yes, I see your point now. I was working in rotations rather than
> miles.
> That is the history of my mathematics. I always understood the concept
> but
> made stupid simple mistakes. Still not a bad deal.
>
> Thanks for the correction.
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Tallman
> Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 7:36 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Getting water out of a gearbox
>
> Charlie, my basic math comes out to .00112 dollars per mile. Not as much
> of a deal you thought it was. :-) Doug T
>
>
>
>
>
> On 6/3/2015 6:31 PM, charlie hill wrote:
>> hmmm after doing a little basic math it occurs to me that in 250,000
>> miles
>> that
>> bearing has turned on the order of 150 million revolutions. At $280.00
>> that
>> works out
>> to a bit less than $.000002 per mile. I don't think it owes me anything.
>>
>> Charlie
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: charlie hill
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 3:41 PM
>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Getting water out of a gearbox
>>
>> Yep the sealed bearings are a bit of a mixed blessing. No maintenance
>> necessary but
>> NO maintenance allowed either.
>>
>> I do the same thing. I recently replaced the belts on my truck. They
>> weren't broken or completely
>> worn out but were showing signs of wear and they were old. Did I throw
>> them
>> away...NO. They went
>> behind the back seat!
>>
>> Charlie
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Thomas Mehrkam
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 2:21 PM
>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Getting water out of a gearbox
>>
>> One of my gripes is putting sealed bearings in the front hubs. Mine have
>> 280,000 miles on them. Seem fine when I check them but I am sure they
>> are
>> running on borrowed time.
>> If they were the type I could pack with grease I could check and repack
>> then. I would likely have a spare set of packed bearings in a zip lock
>> in
>> my tool box. Just in case.
>> I have a pair of prepacked bearings with every trailer I own. And extra
>> fan
>> belts in all my vehicles. Cost's nothing the fan belts are old good
>> ones
>> taken off to put on fresh ones.
>>
>> I have been saved more than once by these old spare parts.
>> One Christmas holiday my daughter and I were driving the 2500 Suburban
>> from
>> Houston to South Padre. My wife and InLaws were at a Condo for the
>> holidays. I had to work and left early in the next morning
>> About Warton. 1.5 Hours I lost power steering, Power Brakes and
>> alternator.
>> I stopped and the belt was shredded. It seems the power steering pump
>> bracket broke.
>> I put on the spare belt. It would not stay on because of the bracket. I
>> spotted a coil of barbed ware hanging on the fence next to me. Thank
>> goodness for ranchers that believe on keeping old wire hanging hanging
>> around for emergency fence repairs. I borrowed a short length and wired
>> to
>> pump bracket so the belt would stay on.
>> I went into town and found small welding shop and asked them if they
>> could
>> weld it. They claimed it would not hold. The bracket was too hard. They
>> said there was a Chevy dealer in town.
>> The dealer did not have a bracket but they ran a truck to Houston about
>> 10:30 AM every day for parts. It was about that time. He said he would
>> order the part and have it by 3:30.
>> One time the dealer did good. Got the part and got us out by 5:00 Pm.
>> The
>> service manager even loaned us his car so we could go to lunch.
>> Made it to south padre after dark. It was late but we were able to
>> salvage
>> the holiday. Come to think of it all dealerships are not ripoff artists.
>> I
>> was not even disappointed with the price. This was 1996 or so.
>> From: charlie hill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2015 10:17 AM
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Getting water out of a gearbox
>>
>> I had an interesting experience this past Friday. It could have been
>> bad and very expensive but it turned out well. I guess that penny I
>> found
>> heads up in the yard Friday morning was a good omen.
>>
>> I was headed to Maryland. On I-95 just south of the I-295 exit I started
>> getting
>> a bad front end vibration. I took an exit hoping to find nothing worse
>> than
>> a flat
>> tire. Not so. I couldn't find a thing that looked out of place but I
>> knew
>> that the
>> right front hub (4 WD 2006 GMC) was running on borrowed time. The left
>> side
>> was changed out about 3 years ago and the right side had over 250,000
>> miles
>> on it.
>> I grabbed the top of the tire and snatched on it. Sure enough I felt
>> about
>> 1/8" or so of
>> slack. There was nothing to do buy keep going. No where really to get
>> it
>> worked on.
>> This was at about 3pm on Friday afternoon. I made it nearly to
>> Fredericksburg Va. when
>> I ran into a traffic delay for about 3 miles of stop and go. Every time
>> I
>> started I had to
>> apply too much throttle and I didn't need to touch the brake pedal to
>> stop!
>>
>> I limped to the next exit, still tied up in traffic, and got off. After
>> pulling into a parking lot
>> I searched on my phone for the nearest AutoZone. Not that I'm
>> particularly
>> fond of AutoZone
>> but I knew a few things. There's one most everywhere, they loan tools
>> and
>> I
>> happened to know
>> that they carry that hub in the Timken brand. Sure enough there was an
>> AutoZone store less than
>> a mile from me. I found it, went in and explained my situation. They
>> had
>> the hub (1 in stock) and
>> they had the tools and it was ok to work in their parking lot but they
>> didn't have jacks or jack stands
>> to loan out so I knew I'd have to buy what I needed. I asked if there
>> was
>> a
>> local shop that could
>> do it now, do it right and not rip me off. The commercial accounts guy
>> picked up the phone and
>> made a call. I heard him say Amigo, '06 Z 71 Quattro Quattro front hub
>> NOW? The parts man
>> said he can do it now. I said how much. He asked. The answer came back
>> $100.00.
>> Mind you this was at 4:15 pm on Friday. I told him yes.
>>
>> I bought the hub for $180.00 and they had their parts runner girl escort
>> me
>> to the shop.
>> When we got there Jorge was waiting in his one bay shop in a single slope
>> metal building
>> that housed a detail shop and other similar small businesses, each taking
>> up
>> a bay or two.
>> Jorge is about 50 I'm guessing. He spoke English well enough for me to
>> talk
>> to him. He apologetically
>> asked if I could wait 5 minutes for him to start to let it cool. He
>> offered
>> us bottled water which
>> we declined because we had our own. Just a few minutes later he went to
>> work. He was fast and
>> clearly knew what he was doing. I watched him work from a distance. I
>> didn't want to make him
>> nervous or make him think I didn't trust him but I wanted to make sure he
>> was doing it right. He did.
>> He did all the little things that some mechanics wouldn't bother with
>> like
>> making sure he straightened
>> the slight bends he put in the dust cap that covers the axle nut when he
>> had
>> to pry it off and putting a
>> bit of anti seize grease on the new lug studs.
>>
>> In about 45 minutes he was finished. I gave him the promised $100.00 and
>> thanked him. He gave me his
>> business card just in case something wasn't right and I needed to call.
>> (He
>> knew I was passing through
>> and wouldn't be back otherwise). I thanked him again and was gone.
>>
>> I just wish Jorge was in my town because I'd gladly use his services. I
>> could have changed the hub myself and
>> would have if I had been at home but not for $100 bucks. With my bad
>> knees
>> it was worth every cent of
>> 100 bucks to have him do it and do it right.
>>
>> Yes this is my tractor hauling truck (obligatory tractor reference).
>>
>> If you are ever in Fredericksburg VA and need a good mechanic find the
>> AutoZone near the 17 Business exit (first US 17
>> exit going north) and ask them to tell you how to find Jorge Auto
>> Service.
>>
>> Charlie
>>
>> C
>>
>>
>>
>
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