[blueturbofly]

did more cleaning up….nothing came in for me to fix yesterday, only had a small zama carb to finish cleaning / re-assemble….

cleaned out the electronic warranty holding area….wow, what a bunch of Milwaukee and rigid power tool stuff …not much dewalt stuff…
the electronics are all combined with the switch and field ( being brushless) so, if the switch is bad, you get everything new, except for the stator and housing / case….
did more re-organizing, now have more shelf space… found more random used parts…
this shop has never been this clean in a long time…i even hand-washed the floor under the one shelf- it was solid with grease / oil…a big fire hazard…
i was so bored i vacuumed the whole work area….to hell with sweeping…
hey, i treat my work space like my second home…
the only thing i didnt touch was my co-workers bench…its a mess, but thats the way he works. i have no clue what is good or garbage on the bench, his tools are everywhere….
so, today is a half day, festive drinks and snacks, then off until jan 3rd…unless there is a big dump of snow, then the boss will call me in….i dont mind that

[nwgeo]

Nice to have a tidy bench.
Nice to have some time off.

[blueturbofly]

had monday off (paid stat) but work was open..some stuff came in…some really trashed snowblowers, and 6 leafblowers, and 3 sweepster power brooms…
the beat up snow blowers have the typical owners…get it fixed, but dont spend much money on it…. plus the kicker? these came in with charity auction gift certificates, for tune up specials….and i know for a fact they didnt pay full face value for them, so its a loss of money on our side…
the school board stuff is usually easy repairs, but they can try to be cheap as well….they have a new bean counter over there , and he has some weird ideas on how to save money…that has wound up costing him more money in the long run….smart like brick…but hey, this guy went to university…
one of their leafblowers came in, not running…..well, it was running, then died, then restarted and died again….
took it apart, the crank bearings are shot, the con rod bearing is GONE, just little fragments in the crank-case, and the crank itself has a large crack thru it
it has been cold , - 35 and lower…and that building that i work in really sucks at retaining the heat…its an older cinder-block building, with minimum insulation…and if that bay door is opened a few times during the day, it gets damn cold back there where i work…even with the large overhead furnace cranked up …the building is just terrible at keeping heat.

[blueturbofly]

all caught up, so i am assembling an engine, that all the parts have finally shown up for…. a '‘L head ’' briggs opposed twin…wiped it out really good after the machine shop bored the cylinders, and turned the crank…
installed #1 piston to the rod- have to install the pistons a certain way on the rod, but also the rod has to be installed a specific way to the crank / block…notch on piston towards flywheel, oil hole on rod faces up…oil hole faces down on # 2 rod…
installed new front crank seal , installed crank to block, installed lifters, then timing gear and camshaft…
lots of atf and lubri-plate, and #1 piston went in no problem, tq rod cap to 190 inch lbs…

start on second piston? thats where it went to crap. the oil expander ring is damaged ( was wrapped in plastic, unopened) and #2 rod has a nasty scratch across the bearing surface….
both boxes were sealed, all parts in bags…but still damaged
so, had to call the customer, because they sourced these parts from e-bay…he has to do the leg work on warranty issues- but he bought these parts back in october…its been a long wait for other parts to arrive…
hopefully he can get warranty…if not, its more money out of his pocket….he already is in deep for this 16 hp twin…more than what i spent on my bill at the machine shop for my last 3 cyl n/a rebuild

so,i could have had the engine fully assembled yesterday, but now its moved off to another table, covered in plastic….

[blueturbofly]

parts should be arriving for that horizontal opposed briggs engine in 2 weeks or so…

hasnt been that busy, not enough snow to really get people using their stuff…..mostly leafblowers and big power sweepers, from the different school divisions in town…they have to keep the snow cleared , no matter what.
did tune-ups on some '‘zamboni’' ice edger’s, for the cities hockey rinks….basically a heavy lawn-mower , with carbide tips on the rotating bar…
had a 20 ton press come in for warranty work, nice looking unit, but very cheaply built. needs a pump for the piston…BUT you CANNOT have a home-made press in a commercial setting….it has to have paper work and a stamped / welded tag to the unit , stating the capacity and build date…
but at home, you can have any cobbled together garbage, and thats ok
been caught up pretty much everyday, yesterday i had nothing to do after 3:30…so we all had a beverage, then tidy up my bench…i already had the shop swept up earlier in the day…i left work at 4:30, but boss said clock till 5….

oh, i hate ice augers. just sayin’

[blueturbofly]

not that busy….been puttering around on stuff that has been set to the side, shop stuff to be repaired when not busy….a two stroke stihl rototiller…i had already changed the engine on it, now to find a good carb (that doesnt need a kit)
3 carbs later and it runs pretty good. it came in early last year for a tune-up, but the two stroke engine had a badly scored piston / cylinder….customer was really upset that i '‘just couldnt make it run’'

it sat for 4 months in the shop, they were called every month, the guy wanted it back, but didnt want to pay for the diagnostics…$35…then the boss mentioned storage fees, and the customer got mad, told the boss to keep it for salvage…

stihl uses the same size engine on alot of their two stroke equipment, so it was just a matter of time until a donor engine arrived….

fixed another rototiller, this one fought me when the customer brought it in…old briggs engine….i spent at least 4 hours cleaning & rebuilding the carb on tank set-up, then trying to get it running….intermittent spark….changed points &condenser, swapped in good used coil (s) swapped flywheels, you name it….it fought me. a new coil is almost $200, but the customer did not want to spend that…..on top of his outstanding bill…

so it was left for salvage…last year…
found a electronic ignition coil, from a mower that i stripped out , that would work….NO MORE POINTS / CONDENSER !!!!
got it all together, had to change out a noisy rope starter drive, but the damn thing fired up !!!
tune the carb a little, and it runs pretty good.
had the boss call the customer, and ask if he was still wanting it…the boss told him the bill is $300….we will see if the customer comes back for it.
time spent, and parts , is well over $400….BUT i decide what to really charge in hours, i know people will scream if charged the actual time spent on alot of these units…

did another ice auger yesterday…complaint of no top speed, / clutch not working properly….did a car job / kit, was running the engine to tune the carb, and it came to a sudden stop…locked up solid….ok, clutch piled up…NOPE…pulled intake, found needle bearings and chunks of connecting rod floating around in the crank-case.
engine piled up at top speed no load, when i was tuning the high side of the carb….. destruction !!!! older jiffy model, some parts are NLA, and what i can get for parts is almost $300, NOT including labor

[blueturbofly]

the previous owner of the one roto-tiller came in, and paid the bill for his machine, and took it home….he was really happy that we managed to scrounge up parts for it and get it running….i even think there may have been a tear in his eye…he did mention that he owned it from new, and it was 35 + years old….it was like re-uniting old friends…i fired it up, and he grabbed the controls and loaded it into his truck…

i had to leave early for the day, but before i left , a bunch of stuff came in.. generator, 3 chainsaws, leafblower, and…. an ice auger

[nwgeo]

Man I love reading your adventures in repair/customers Thanks.

[blueturbofly]

well, there was more home mechanic repairs on the one chainsaw…the return spring for the recoil pawl was installed backwards, every second pull of the starter rope yielded nothing…so install a good used pawl, and install the spring in its proper position. recoil worked on every pull,and the saw runs great !!!
their other two saws are worn out. lots of scoring on the piston / cylinder. old husqvarnas….OLD…
the two ice augers were easy peasy….pulled the carb off of the first one, and found a BOBBY PIN , holding the throttle open, as well as the reed valves (two stroke )….no wonder it wont start. remove booby pin, install carb and it fired right up. A BOBBY PIN…

the other ice auger, the parts guy said there were no carb kits or carbs available for it….he was gone for lunch, so i used his book, matched up the gaskets with the ones in the book, got the part numbers and went thru our stock…found a kit !!!

that auger runs pretty good as well. for an auger that you '‘could not ’' get a carb kit for it…
a generator tune up- carb full of water / rust…fuel tank had water in it…flush everything out, clean carb and fresh fuel, runs excellent.
a pressure washer, that the owner claims '‘was just here’'….i date code all the stuff i work on, on the unit….um, the date code is 9 / 12/ 21…sept of 2021….its almost feb 2022….yeah, it was just here…
leaking gas / oil out of the exhaust…crankcase FULL of gas….it holds 1 liter of oil, but i dumped out at least 3 liters of oil / gas mix….owner told parts guy '‘the oil is fine’'
UM, NOPE… dump out crankcase, add 1 liter of oil, then proceed to check carb….not a single thing wrong with the carb, leak tested, float / needle / seat are doing there job…the owner must not be shutting off the gas, the tank is getting warm, expanding the fuel, and pushing it past the needle/ seat in the carb, then flooding it thru the cylinder…more common problem on honda engines, and engines with the fuel tanks above the carbs.
gas cap is venting properly, but still i have seen this issue more often than not.

owner shut the gas off when it came in

[blueturbofly]

re-built a worn out hopper for a snowblower- the customer ( school district ) had used the snowblower very hard, did not adjust or flip the reversible wear shoes, so they wore off the scraper bar, its mounting edge, and some of the hopper…
re-built the mounting edge with 2′' wide flat stock welded to the hopper, drilled holes in that, to mount a new scraper bar….all in all , about 3 hours of work …a new hopper is about $300, and 6 + months backordered… plus they have other damaged parts from lack of maintenance…
its going to be a pricey bill…but that can apply to anything, if its not looked after.

after it was painted and drying, i cleaned shop, and went home for the day…boss said clock till 5, but let me leave at 3….nice!