Transmissions
Tag: repair
New Front Bearings for the Ford Explorer
My vehicle comes to a rather abrupt stop, the front brakes lock up while pulling onto Paniolo drive, the main road serving the village. I am stuck across the northbound lanes.
Shut down, restart, nothing unlocks the brakes. I am still stuck in the middle of the road. Another driver gives me a quizzical look and drives around me.
With no other idea I put the vehicle in 4WD low and drag the locked front tires backwards into the side street where I can safely work on the issue, I left skid marks in the road.
In retrospect the failure was not a complete surprise… I knew the front bearings were going, making noise, but the vehicle was still driveable. Over the last week I had checked on prices and asked about with the guys about borrowed tools to do the job. I was thinking I had a few weeks before the issue was truly an issue.
Nope.
Consequences of a Bad LED
A bad indicator LED, a simple ten cent part brought the Keck 1 telescope to a stop this last week.
I was getting ready to leave the summit when the radio started to speak words of concern, it sounded like something was not working, an instrument rotator?
Worse, the Keck 1 computer room hosted a veritable crowd, from the summit supervisor to all of the techs. Yeah, this was not good, why are they all looking at me? Oh, h%#*!
Fixing Slippahs
One of the necessary life skills in the islands is the ability to fix a slippah. Yes, I know the mainland calls this minimal footwear sandals or flip-flops, but here they are called slippers or slippahs.
Plus, it is easy to fix.
My wife can relate a dozen slippah fixing tricks from around the school where she works. Many of the kids wear them and teachers learn all the tricks to fixing them when they inevitably break. From putting a bread clip on the central knob, to using a paper clip to replace the little side clips.
In my case it is one of the plastic clips that has failed. I used some heavy wire a touch more substantial than a paper clip.
Fixing the Stairs
Some carpenter years ago thought that two nails would be enough to hold the stairs up. They did, for a decade or two, but they would eventually fail when the stringer began to split around the nails.
Remove the old nails to free everything up. Use the 3.5 ton floor jack to push the stairs back into place. An aluminum plate and wood glue to splice together the split stringer. Quite a few new bolts, not nails, to hold everything together. A bit of 3/8″ threaded rod on the other stringer to secure it to a joist. I think everything is secure, solid underfoot again. I just need a little paint to cover over the new work.
A Pop, a Puff of Smoke, and an Ominous Red Glow… Not Good
When powering up a nearly three decade old computer for the first time I should really have a video camera running…
The loud pop, and the stream of smoke issuing from the side vents was bad enough. It was the ominous orange glow seen for just a couple seconds from the same vent that really sent me the message…
Not good.
Without this machine it will be very difficult to program the old PLC the dome runs on. I do have a replacement for that PLC controller running in my office, but I face the challenge of verifying the design, I would like to run the old software in the test setup to compare it to the new. I would also like to have a backup in case something goes wrong during the transition, a way of putting the old PLC back into the system and programming it.
Continue reading “A Pop, a Puff of Smoke, and an Ominous Red Glow… Not Good”
The Main Pressure Regulator
Raking leaves out from underneath the lanai I just happen to look up. The water line into the house is right there and can be seen through a opening I cut in the lattice to allow the main shutoff valve to be reached without crawling under the house. There are pretty little ferns growing on the water pressure regulator.
That is not good.
The regulator is weeping, a steady dripping from the bottom of the assembly. A closer look shows that the valve body is badly corroded. This is not something I want to mess with until I have replacement parts on-hand. It is likely to come apart when disturbed, leaving the house without water.
Thus a mid-week trip to HPM is made. No matter, a lunchtime trip is an excuse to stop in Big Island Brewhaus and try some of the new menu items, the burgers are great! I note that the cherry trees are also beginning to bloom nicely, all good for the Cherry Blossom Festival next week.
A new regulator, a water pressure gauge, a handful of copper fittings. I have the rest of the needed tools on-hand already… Torch, propane, pipe cutter, flux, solder and pipe compound. I make sure I have everything before I shut off the water. I also warn my wife that the house will be without water for a few hours.
The old regulator is in bad shape, but not that bad. Failure was not imminent, maybe in a few months, but not tomorrow. It was leaking quite a bit, a steady drip. Water shut off at the street and at the supply to the solar water heating system I can open the lines. A little struggle ensues before the old fittings yield and the old regulator can be removed.
Of course the new regulator is smaller, I can not just thread it into place. This is what the copper fittings are for… I cut away the old threaded fittings and measure some new pieces of pipe. While I am cutting and fitting copper I add a new valve above the regulator, a convenient way to drain the household system and a place to attach a pressure gauge when adjusting the new regulator.
Yes, I raked out the pile of old leaves caught in the corner before lighting up the propane torch. No need to burn the house down to do a little plumbing repair.
All done I open the valves and return water pressure to the house. The gauge reads just below 50psi… good, just what the manual stated for the setting from the factory. This is not, of course, satisfactory for Deb, not enough pressure! Adjusting upwards to 60psi and my wife is happier.
The job cost a bit over $100 in parts. All good, and vastly cheaper than calling out a plumber for an easy job. Never mind that Hawaii law requires a licensed plumber to do such a job. Another weekend repair completed. What would I be doing else-wise? Probably painting or cleaning the garage.
Washer Repair
Internet wins again.
The problem… A washing machine that will not spin, making a horrible racket instead. The pump bearing was shot, shutting down the whole drive system.
These days the parts game has been broken open by website based suppliers that will sell just about anything. Parts are still an interesting game, if not nearly as bad as before. Making sure you get decent parts from a website supplier. A bit of online research shows who has been around for a while and is recognized by the major online services. I bought the parts from AppliancePartsPros.com. Nice website, complete mechanical diagrams of the washer with cross indexed part numbers, no fuss, no muss. Real Whirlpool parts show up in the box.
Consider that the cost of getting an appliance repairman here in Waikoloa is hundreds of dollars. And that is just for the visit, the parts would have been additional. My total cost for this repair? $80.45 after I added a new belt and shipping to Hawaiʻi.
It did take five days for the part to show up, FedEx home delivery. Fortunately we had enough clean clothes to get by without a trip to the laundromat. Meanwhile the machine was shoved back into the puka on its front and a sheet of cardboard, feet stuck out past the door, a pile of tools on the back. The cats though this was quite interesting and investigated thoroughly.
The most difficult part of the job? Disassembly? Diagnosis? Those were quite easy, it took about 15 minutes to get the washer out of its home, turned over and find the problem. The most onerous part was cleaning up the pile of lint, dust and cat-hair found behind that machine when I pulled it out of the closet.
Repairing the Lanai
I really have been putting off the repairs too long. There are several boards that have had dry rot set in. One deck board is right next to the usual route of travel, much more rot and it will become a safety hazard.
After the repairs a full coat of paint is in order. That is going to be a major job. the latticework of the shaded area will require power-washing. Repainting all of those detailed bits will also require a lot of work. I do have an air compressor, perhaps a spray rig is the right way to go.
I have a quart of exterior white paint to try out. The first item painted will be the first replaced board. I need to see how the paint looks beside the older trim paint used around the entire house. I long ago learned just how many variations of white exist in paint.
It will be a lengthy chore to complete the entire lanai. It is something I can do in stages, a few hours here, a few hours there, it will get done.
Fish Tales – Yankee Ingenuity
No good fish tale is without peril, and this is a good tale. We were retrieving our crab pots across the channel from Ketchikan. There was a gale bearing down with those terrible words coming from the Coast Guard on marine radio “Small Craft Advisory, repeat Small Craft Advisory”.
This is when our alternator belt broke.
We were in trouble.
Well, maybe not that much trouble. We were in a nice safe anchorage and the worst probable fate was that we would be anchored ten miles from civilization eating crab for two days… In the rain.
Dan, as always was prepared for anything and had spare belts on board. With a little digging under the seats and other odd compartments we locate the tools and spares needed. An hour of breaking knuckles on pulleys should have us heading home. Of course the Amber Dawn’s engine is just under a cover in the middle of the open rear deck. We just have to do this job… In the rain.
A little yankee ingenuity was needed, this consists of about twenty minutes of four men chewing ideas and telling each other what won’t work. Eventually I have an idea that does not get an immediate negative from the assembled wisdom. We look at each other… “That might work”.
The parts to make it work are found; a bolt, a nut, and a three-eights open end wrench. A bracket is fashioned, using the wrench as a spacer to hold the alternator away from its mount. Start the engine… The belt holds, the alternator turns and we are under way home… In the rain.