[AT] Getting water out of a gearbox

Thu Jun 4 03:18:33 PDT 2015

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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