[blueturbofly]

for having 4 inches of snow, not really busy. steady, but not overwhelming like last year…

seems like the relics are coming out to get fixed….i mean pre 80’s era snowblowers but, they still work, so people want them running…

one has an oil leak from the case….needs new case gasket…farmer says remove gasket, use rtv to seal it…umm…but dont spend over 1 hour labor on it…
guess what? you CANNOT use straight sealant on the case halves, the gasket also determines the crank end spacing…BUT farmer says to remove gasket and install permatex….so i did.
ENGINE WAS LOCKED UP SOLID !!! would not turn over by hand….loosen case bolts, engine turns…whadda ya know….
there are 3 different gaskets; 5, 9 & 15 thou thickness….i need the 15 thou gasket.
so, call customer, tell him the issue, that HE NEEDS the gasket…so he finally lets us order one.
that was 4 + hours of my day wasted…for a customer trying to be cheap…. and i still need to assemble engine (when parts get here), attach to frame, install carb, pulleys , belts and guard… already made him a custom carb gasket…that was almost an hour right there…
thats why i dont want to be in business again….i am happy being an employee, and let the boss deal with the ignorant people.

[blueturbofly]

yay ! i get to assemble a freshly bored out, 2 cylinder horizontal opposing cylinder engine ! from 3 random boxes of parts !!

[blueturbofly]

well, parts missing from the random boxes of parts…. checking the new valves, 3 out of 4 were good, just a quick spin with fine compound to ensure good seat contact…. one of the valves had a low spot, that one needed more massaging…but i am missing the keepers for one of the exhaust valves…
got the block halves all cleaned up. there was at least ¼ inch of sludge in the bottom half…..
thread chased all the bolt holes, cleaned up gasket surfaces…..
now to the book, on how the pistons get orientated on the rods, if the rods are installed a specific way, and how all the rings get installed….
i didnt take it apart, so i have no clue what goes which way…

[blueturbofly]

been trying to find parts for that old vertical twin….grrr…briggs does not make some of the parts anymore, or you CANNOT buy a part seperate, you have to buy an assembly, and that part is NLA…like valve seals, , a oil slinger / pump , and fuel anti run solenoid ( threads into carb )..a new carb is over $300, comes with solenoid….
enough internet searching, found aftermarket valve seals, and a HOPEFULLY good used oil slinger/ pump….i did manage to fix the card fuel solenoid, that works good. we can order the valve keepers thru briggs, and a carb kit.
so, hurry up and wait for more parts to arrive.

assembled that single cyl 11 hp engine WITH the PROPER 15 THOU CASE GASKET… and whadda ya know, the crankshaft now rotates in the case…there is a reason why there are case gaskets, they determine the crankshaft end-play. and 3 different ones as well! runs as good as possible, for a 42 year old engine…the carb could use more work, (misc shaft bushings, needle / jet kit) or a new carb, but i KNOW the owner wont go for that. cheap ass farmers. he didnt even get billed the full amount….almost 7 hours labor alone, only charged him 2.25 hours +parts..

had a customer drop off a gen-set for repair, and '‘donated’' a small snow-blower for recycling / repair / parts- seized engine
decent older honda generator. easy tune up / carb job.
was bored ( all caught up again ) so i gave that donated snow blower a look over. hardly any oil in engine, but clean oil….ok, just swap another engine onto it…nope, it has a double shaft tec engine, a single shaft engine wont work…
so for schitts and giggles , i grab the pipe wrench and put it on the crank pulley…and without much force, the engine breaks loose !!!! hmmm
dump some oil in it, give it a few pulls and it fire up !!! it needed a carb job ( would only run on half choke) and a few other minor things, but once the carb was cleaned up, it purrs like a kitten !!!! no knocking, smoking or unusual noises!!!

then i notice it has provisions for an electric starter….the ring gear is on the flywheel…so, i install an electric starter. fixed the '‘key’' safety switch. installed a fuel shut off valve.
needs a new scraper bar, and one of the skidder feet is worn out…will weld some flat stock to the skidder feet, and replace the scraper bar with some flat stock steel…
fixed all with used parts , from the random parts in the shop. only new items are the engine oil, and a carb bowl gasket.

i always find something to keep me busy

[blueturbofly]

repaired those skidder feet ( welded new flat steel onto them ) and had it easy with the scraper bar…flipped it over to a new edge !!!

cutting flywheel arrived for a wood chipper ( aka divorce lawyer !!!) and installed that. its a warranty item from B .C. still waiting for 2 other parts- one of the cutting guides broke inside, and then proceeded to mangle the large cutting disc/ flywheel- just like a broken rod in a metro- lots of carnage inside, even a hole thru the housing….
put a gas tank on an ice auger.
cleaned & assembled a carb. now waiting for the fuel pump diaphragms, to finish that…
was bored, shop was clean, nothing came in all morning…so i left work just after lunch…no point in the boss paying me to sit around…i am ok with that..

[blueturbofly]

yup, another slow day at work. but lots of stuff got picked up. thats nice .
fixed a leaf blower. simple plugged spark arrestor. repaired a recoil starter, rope was ripped out. thats all that came in yesterday. parts arrived for an ice auger - crank seal. easy peasy install.

that ice auger is warranty- the company could provide a new fuel tank, but could not provide a crank seal…??? so they sent us a new, in the box, ice auger

the company told us to dispose of the old unit appropriately…so, ordered a new fuel tank, pulled the crank seal out and got a new one from the local bearing shop, and put it all back together. no oil leaks. can sell the ice auger.
what a waste, these companies and their warranty…the cordless mowers / snowblowers are the worst…
had 4 IDENTICAL 80 volt snowblowers come in…all not working, they need new speed control modules…2 under warranty, the owners get brand new ones….the other two, no warranty, modules are $300 ….then there is shop labor…you are looking at almost a $400 dollar bill when fixed…and had better hope its not your battery (s)- those are $358 EACH….and you need two of them….WOW

i can buy ALOT of premium gas for $800, for my lawnmowers….

[nwgeo]

Wow, and I just saw an ad for those battery snow blower… they made it look like the neatest thing since sliced bread.

[blueturbofly]

Wow, and I just saw an ad for those battery snow blower… they made it look like the neatest thing since sliced bread.

yes, the new generation of cordless power tools / lawn & garden tools / snow blowers are, in my honest opinion, garbage.
same thing with the cordless mowers….ALWAYS the speed controller module that fails, and its dipped in epoxy, so you cant even remove said failed small electronic part , to fix it…just throw it away….YUP, REALLY GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT… if its not covered by warranty, its too expensive to fix… a high end cordless mower is almost $1000…buy the extra warranty. some have 2 modules that fail, $350 PER MODULE
and the majority of them fail before the 1 year warranty is expired.

same for power tools. the new stuff is all integrated modules…no more just replacing a failed switch, its a $150 switch module / circuit board … gone are the days of a simple negative / positive switch / motor in your power tool. …now its all 3 wire brushless with speed controllers and lithium batteries…

in the back of the shop there is a huge pile of dead rigid power tools, as well as Milwaukee power tools… just saving the dead ones for spare parts

[suzukitom]

the right to repair laws for independent shops is becoming irrelevant as products go straight to scrap..

the conversion of picnpull type wrecking yards to closed to public metal scrapyards is another sign of the times. Here you see hundreds of 10-15 year old cars piled up with seemingly light collision damage or more likely uneconomic drivetrain repair issues.. ( eg. cvt failures or electrical intermittent issues)

10 years from now it will be EVs with battery failures (battery range drops from 5-10% per year.. just like cellphones or cordless drills). Who would buy an EV if you knew your charge capacity drops by 25-50% after 5 years?

[nwgeo]

Bad for just the regular person who tries to keep there older stuff just working and save a few $s.