ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[zmotorsports]

After cleaning up the mess from the work on the mower I shifted gears and wanted to work on the steering for my grandson's Radio Flyer project.

I had dug through my drawers the night before and found a Torrington bearing in which I could use for the steering. Now to machine a recess in which it will be housed.

Facing off a piece of hydraulic rod from my stash of metal.


Next I ground a couple of HSS tools to perform a trepanning operation and sneak up on the depth as well as ID and OD of the recess. The Torrington bearing with both races measured .114" thick so I figured I would overshoot the depth a bit then machine the face down to obtain the correct depth less a little more to allow the bearing to be slightly proud of the recess.

Working on the OD and the depth.


Getting closer to the ID of the recess while matching the depth from the previous step.


Both ID and OD of the recess are achieved as well as about .125" in depth. Just a little deburring is all that is required before a test fit and depth check.


Bearing is slightly recessed by a few thou. so I measured the thickness of one of the races and determined that it was .020" and I would like to have the bearing stand proud by approx. .008"-.012" range.


Bearing is slightly proud of the recess.


Using a flat edge and some feeler gauges I measured the clearance.


Landed right @ .010" clearance, half the bearing race thickness.



Thanks for looking.

 

[rattle_snake]

Torrington bearing steering.... Continually impressed with design and workmanship on the 'flyer.

 

[zmotorsports]

Torrington bearing steering.... Continually impressed with design and workmanship on the 'flyer.

Thanks Justin. Yeah, it may be a bit overkill but I had the bearing anyways.

 

[GRN96WS6]

I have never seen a mower blade on a push mower that large, good lord that thing could cut a stump!!

 

[zmotorsports]

I didn't have much shop time last night but I was able to make just a little progress on the steering for the wagon.

I started by taking the OD from 2" down to 1.875".


Then I drilled the center hole just a bit undersize and parted off the bearing housing.


Mocked up on the bracket with the Torrington bearing.


Welded the bearing housing to the bracket.




Mocked up the bracket assembly into position.



Next will be to ream the hole to size, then figure out the top pivot plate design and once that's done, I can measure for a shoulder bolt length and finish the steering assembly.

Thanks for looking.

 

[WoodsTruck]

Plans for dampened steering stops?

 

[SilverJimmy]

Serviced the Allison in my GMC last night. I must be getting old cuz I didn’t remember that I actually did replace the magnet on the spin-on filter!
And , yes, that is evidence of my Norwegian heritage. Never throw something away until it has no value left. So that “shop rag” is now in my oily rag barrel to get used this winter to start my shop wood stove…..

 

[LeonardY]

I didn't have much shop time last night but I was able to make just a little progress on the steering for the wagon.

I started by taking the OD from 2" down to 1.875".


Then I drilled the center hole just a bit undersize and parted off the bearing housing.


Mocked up on the bracket with the Torrington bearing.


Welded the bearing housing to the bracket.




Mocked up the bracket assembly into position.



Next will be to ream the hole to size, then figure out the top pivot plate design and once that's done, I can measure for a shoulder bolt length and finish the steering assembly.

Thanks for looking.

Awesome!

This drives me nuts. I have the same Starrett caliper and the zero has moved from it's factory position. I have the tool provided Fowler to reset the it. It's just shim stock that allows you to slip the gear. It's funny how Starrett doesn't provide one.

I know it's my OCD but something that supposed to give you precision shouldn't do this.

 

[Cane]

Awesome!

This drives me nuts. I have the same Starrett caliper and the zero has moved from it's factory position. I have the tool provided Fowler to reset the it. It's just shim stock that allows you to slip the gear. It's funny how Starrett doesn't provide one.

I know it's my OCD but something that supposed to give you precision shouldn't do this.

That drives me nuts too. The tool to reset them is usually under the foam in the case.

 

[zmotorsports]

Awesome!

This drives me nuts. I have the same Starrett caliper and the zero has moved from it's factory position. I have the tool provided Fowler to reset the it. It's just shim stock that allows you to slip the gear. It's funny how Starrett doesn't provide one.

I know it's my OCD but something that supposed to give you precision shouldn't do this.

Agreed. Drive me nucking futs as well.

That drives me nuts too. The tool to reset them is usually under the foam in the case.

I didn't realize that so I will have to look when I get home to see if the tool is under the foam in the case. Thanks.

 

[zmotorsports]

I've been "unplugged" from the interwebs for the past week plus trying to relax and get a recharge on life as well as a reset from the negativity. Seems like everyone has an opinion lately and most people don't know how to tactfully communicate nor offer suggestions without coming across as an *** and I seem to take things too literally. Felt good to just disconnect for a week though. I started recording another video for my YouTube channel over the weekend while working but ended up turning the camera off, cranking up the tunes and just enjoyed working in the shop without having the camera running. I'm sure I'd get beaten up on something I was doing wrong anyways....


The wife and I hooked up the Jeep to the coach about ten days ago and headed towards the Madison Valley of Montana. Unfortunately, we had to cut our trip short due to a couple of unexpected events. Shortly after arriving at our campsite in Montana, we received news that a neighbor that lived across from us for the 26 years we lived in our last home passed away a few days earlier from a car crash. He was such an awesome guy and it hit the wife and I kind of hard as he was only 67 years old. We watched each other's kids grow up, went to church together and I remember on numerous occasions stopping to talk as we were shoveling snow in our front yards or just in passing as we were coming home from work. We learned that his services were going to be mid-week and we felt like we should attend but didn't want to cut our vacation short.

That decision was made easier a couple days later when we had a suspension component fail on the Jeep while off-roading.

We had a beautiful campsite overlooking the valley out the windshield of the coach.


One evening we had deer wander through and each morning and evening we had geese take off and land on a pond just north of our campsite. Sitting on the edge of the field with a cup of coffee in the mornings was sure enjoyable as the sun came up.


We packed a lunch one day and headed for Virginia City and Nevada City to do some sightseeing. Driving around we spotted this cool old church a few blocks off of main street in Virginia City. It has a newer roof added but the corner almost looks like a defensive design like something you'd see at a fort or military compound.


Near the turn off for Boot Hill there was this old motor garage with antique gas pumps. The stories that place could tell..


While the wife and I were sitting in a park area eating our sandwiches we heard the sound of hoofs coming down the side street. We watched this cool old stagecoach and horses go past as it was taking tours around the city.


I had found this faint dirt road that connected Virginia City to Ennis so we took off for a slight detour and more scenic route back to camp.


The next day as we were beginning our adventure we had a mishap. I had mapped out an 80+ mile route along the Gravelly Mountain range and we weren't even a mile off the pavement when we came across a large mud puddle. I hadn't aired down nor disconnected my front sway bar because it was just a nice mild dirt road at this point.

However, as I went high on the left to avoid the mud puddle the suspension flexed and we heard and felt a pop. My first thought was that I hadn't disconnected my front sway bar and as the weight shifted it must have popped loose or broken one of my sway bar links because of all the weight that shifted. We got past the mud puddle and I stopped to investigate but found nothing out of the ordinary.

We got back into the Jeep and proceeded but within a few hundred yards we heard and felt a thump as we were going over a few undulations in the dirt road. We stopped again to investigate and it appeared as though I had some shiny metal showing from my rear track bar where it looked like it was making contact with the pad for the jounce stop. I knew I had at least 3/4" of clearance between the track bar bolt and the jounce pad but couldn't figure out why they were contacting one another.

We turned back to pavement thinking it probably wasn't a good idea to head 80-miles off into the back country. Once we returned to camp I dug deeper into it and found I had a bushing housing fail on the right rear upper control arm. The failure was in the HAZ of the weld.


That pretty much confirmed that we must have been meant to head home early. I initially thought that I could simply remove the broken control arm and find a welding shop to repair it temporarily and allow us to finish the trip but I knew I wouldn't be happy with a temporary repair and I didn't think it would get repaired to my satisfaction and I would fret about it the rest of the trip anyways, so we may as well head home so I could repair it properly as well as we could then attend our neighbor's funeral services.

The next morning we headed for home but had to stop at one of our favorite burger joints, Big Juds in Ashton, ID.


Wife and I split a strawberry milkshake and order of their homemade fries.


And I had their mushroom & swiss burger and the wife had a grilled chicken sandwich. It's been a few years since we were here last and I had forgotten how good the food was.



More pictures to follow....

 

[zmotorsports]

We were able to attend our neighbor's services and it was good to see many of our old neighbors that we had not seen in nearly seven years since we moved. Although I wish it could have been under different circumstances.

The next morning I racked the Jeep to begin the repair.


Upon closer inspection after getting the control arm removed I could see that the area appeared to have been fatigued and cracked for some time before the last quarter of an inch or so failed as the weight transferred and with the front sway still connected all that force went right to the right rear as the front left climbed the bank. The failure appeared to be right alongside the weld bead in the heat affected zone.


I didn't have any of the DOM tubing left over from when I built the suspension 9 years ago so I grabbed a chunk of round stock which just happened to be 1045 steel. This should actually be a bit stronger as most DOM tubing is either 1020 or 1026 and this being 1045 has a higher carbon content.


Old housing cut off the link.


Next, I thought I'd make a slight strength improvement, although probably not necessary as this may have just been a fluke failure after 9 years of flexing and abuse. Now I have not seen this type of modification before to a bushing housing but I know with leaf springs a wrap to the bushing end that is sometimes associated with an upgraded spring pack is referred to as a military wrap. I don't know if this is anything that has an official name or not but I thought I would cut a piece of metal to wrap the bushing housing and tie it back to the link spanning the welded joint.


Next to the lathe to start boring the chunk of steel to reach the ID specified in my notes.


Bam, landed right at 2.050" ID.


Then the OD was taken to size.


After parting off I flipped the part around in the 6-jaw chuck to face the housing to size and chamfer the edges.


Bushing housing completed, next to the old one and the bushing at the ready to be pressed back in.



More pics of the repair to follow...

 

[zmotorsports]

Continuing on with the suspension repair.


The newly machined bushing housing was welded onto the link.


I then ran a wire wheel around the welded joint to prep for the wrap.


I took the strap that I cut and heated a little to bend around a piece of bar stock close to the size I needed. I then placed it over the bushing housing and clamped it in the weld vise to tighten up the gap and proceeded to weld the wrap in place.


After cooling I bead blasted the end of the link and painted with some epoxy paint and let dry.


The bushing was pressed back into the housing in preparation for assembly.


Repaired link was reinstalled under the right rear of the Jeep.


The process was repeated with the driver's side rear upper link, less machining a new housing. The welded joint appeared to be in good condition and no cracks were noticed so I just cleaned up the old paint, added the wrap to the link's end and painted.


Driver's side reinstalled.



And that completes the repairs to the Jeep's suspension. Took me about 6 hours start to finish and I'm glad I didn't have it band-aided by an out of town shop as I don't think I would have been happy and I would have been redoing it once I got home anyways.

Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

My lovely wife who had to talk me off the cliff when the failure occurred convinced me that we should continue our vacation as we already had the time off work.

We decided to do some off-road exploring in our own backyard and see if we could witness the changing of the leaves in our local mountains.

The next morning we started out trying a new place for breakfast. The wife had a stuffed waffle and I tried the Ultimate biscuits & gravy. It was quite delicious.


We then headed for the mountains but with some stormy weather that rolled through the night before I wasn't sure if we would even be able to get off-road without getting into mud, which I despise. Luckily, the dirt road was mostly gravel so the rain didn't turn the surface to mud. We turned off on a road called Ant Flat road. We used to snowmobile on this section of road for many, many years but had never taken it during summer months. It winds its way through the Wasatch Mountains and ends up at Hardware Ranch which is an elk reserve during the winter time. They offer horse drawn sleigh rides around the elk herd but we knew the fish & game operated reserve wasn't open yet. We were just hoping to see some wildlife and some fall colors.

We were lucky enough to see this elk meandering up the hillside across the road just about 5 miles from the pavement. He didn't seem to be too bothered by us as we sat and watched him for a few minutes.


About 2 miles past where we saw the elk my wife told me to stop. She said she say a bald eagle on the fencepost. I honestly didn't think it was an eagle and told her it was simply a discolored post. We watched it for a minute or so and it didn't move and I was convinced it was just a burnt or discolored post but just was I released my foot from the brake pedal it hopped and turned around, so I had to hurry and snap a picture of it before I had to eat crow.


Even this late in the season I was surprised at how much water was flowing down the streams.


Just before we arrived at Hardware Ranch we drove through this cool canopy of trees that were just starting to turn.




The next day we decided to head to the Uinta Mountains and get up to higher elevations. As we drove the 70-miles to Evanston, Wyoming the clouds were threatening rain but every once in a while a sucker hole would open up giving hope that we wouldn't get wet.

We turned off on a dirt road just past Bear River Service and headed down a forest service road leading towards Elizebeth Ridge. As we climbed past 8k feet elevation the colors just exploded.


Then the rain started and even a bit of snow began. It wasn't sticking where we were at, yet, but just a bit higher it was getting a dusting.


With every turn we were blessed with more and more fall colors as the road just continued on and with the trail not getting too muddy we just kept on going.







More pictures to follow....

 

[zmotorsports]

Continuing on our drive through the Uinta Mountains.

We took a side trail that looked a bit narrower but we thought it climbed a bit faster and we weren't disappointed with the vibrant colors.


The skies started getting darker and darker again and we could feel the temperature drop even more but we pushed on as the colors just kept getting better and better.




Then the snow started up. We sat and took a break while we watched a snow squall pass by that quickly passed and left a dusting of snow behind.


We worked out way back to the pavement as the snow continued off and on then took a scenic overlook turnout to check out a small kettle lake in the valley below. By this time the snow had stopped but the trees still had a good coating of snow.


As we dropped in elevation we headed for the small town of Kamas, UT where we figured we would have an early dinner before heading home. One of the best pizza joints in the area is Summit Pizza in the big metropolis of Kamas.



Thanks for following along on our vacation recap.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Bummer your trip was cut short by the passing of a friend and mechanical problems, but it looks like you salvaged the week with the Fall colors and some good trails.

Keep that white **** in Utah please

 

[zmotorsports]

Over the weekend with some beautiful fall weather we decided to stay home and enjoy some time relaxing on the deck, working in the shop and doing some yardwork.

I had a project for my brother that has been sitting in my shop for a month or so and thought I'd get it done and back to him. He is restoring another tractor from our family farm and he has been unsuccessful locating a new lower radiator casting. He did an awesome job restoring the old Farmall Model H a few years ago and this one is being a bit more challenging as the parts aren't as readily available as they were for the "H" tractor.

The tractor my brother is now restoring is a 1938 Farmall F-12 and was the one of the first tractors in Weber County after my grandfather purchased the farm in 1934 and moved here from Superior, Wyoming. My dad purchased the tractor when he was quite young to not only help on the farm and begin to retire the work horses but he also did some side work or "custom work" for neighboring farmers as my dad called it. After working all day on his farm he would plow a field or disc as a side job for extra money. It shouldn't be a surprise that I've been so keen on doing side work my entire life as I think I know where I got it.

The lower radiator housing is no longer available and my brother has been unable to find one in better shape than what he has so he asked if I could take a look at it and see if it was something I could repair. He first asked if I could build up the hole to repair it but after closer inspection it was so thin that I didn't think that would work.

The material is so thin I would need to take it back out to approx. 7 inches by 2 inches to get into thick enoug material that I could feel comfortable TIG brazing.




I ran a wire brush around the area where I thought I would be cutting to.


Next I clamped the casting to the mill table and squared it up to the quill.


I used a .500" roughing end mill and began cutting until I was able to get into nearly full thickness material.


The opening ended up being 2"x 7" exactly.


I cut a piece of .187" thick P&O to message into place.


With a nice tight fitment I beveled the edges of both the new steel and the casting to allow a trough for the silicon bronze rod to lie in.


Next I TIG brazed using the silicon bronze rod and wet it into the trough created by the bevel. It turned out fair but not great as the casting was pretty bad and the impurities just kept floating to the top even though I wasn't getting the parent material molten.


Job completed and ready to be picked up.



Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

Bummer your trip was cut short by the passing of a friend and mechanical problems, but it looks like you salvaged the week with the Fall colors and some good trails.

Keep that white **** in Utah please

Thanks Marc. Yeah, not what we had planned for sure but it turned out to be a pretty relaxing week with the wife relaxing and enjoying some down time.


We had some friends traveling through the area and we were home so we invited them to stay the night as they were driving through. We hadn't seen this couple since 2019 so the wife made a nice dinner, we had the kids over and it was nice to visit and catch up. He had just retired a couple of months ago and able to do more RV'ing so they were heading for Yellowstone NP for the week. Our place just happened to be on the way.

 

[Kent_B]

That was a nice job on the F-12 radiator casting. Given what you had to work with, I'd be proud of that job.

 

[zmotorsports]

That was a nice job on the F-12 radiator casting. Given what you had to work with, I'd be proud of that job.

Thank you. I was hoping for a better brazed appearance but like you said, what I had to work with was less than ideal. Then again, I don't know what I should expect from a part that was put into service 85-years ago.

 

[4 FN 27]

Nice repair Mike on both the F-12 Part and the Jeep Part!!!

Sorry to hear of you old neighbors passing.

Do you teach "Vacationing"? I would like to sign my wife and I up for a few lessons if you do.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice repair Mike on both the F-12 Part and the Jeep Part!!!

Sorry to hear of you old neighbors passing.

Do you teach "Vacationing"? I would like to sign my wife and I up for a few lessons if you do.

Thanks Pat.

On the subject of vacationing, I am proud to say I am self-taught and need more practice as I am still learning.

In all honesty, I blame my dad for my vacationing habits. He was a workaholic and seldom ever took a vacation and when he did take us on a family vacation it was obvious he was more concerned about what was happening on the farm than on vacation. He kept saying he'd start taking more vacations when he retired. Well, he never made it and died at 72 years old. Granted, I knew money was tight and we were quite poor growing up but I swore when I had a family of my own we would practice some form of balance between working our asses off and relaxing to enjoy the fruits of our labor. I'm trying to uphold that promise to myself and my wife.

I also remember reading something years ago that struck a chord with me. It stated that if you wait until retirement to start enjoying life, you waited too long. While I'm proud of how hard the wife and I have worked to get where we're at, I don't hold the term "workaholic" as endearing or to some elevated stature as some.

 

[ajohno]

You have so lovely country view Mike.

The food looks really yummy as well.

 

[zmotorsports]

You have so lovely country view Mike.

The food looks really yummy as well.

Thanks Aaron. Yeah, I love living here in the western U.S., especially northern Utah. I love the changing of the seasons and our mountains, but we also have some west desert that the wife and I have discussed that we haven't done much exploring in but hope to change that. We have a few places in Montana that we enjoyed eating and had looked forward to partaking in, so when the trip got cut short the wife made sure we were able to enjoy some food from a few places we don't get too very often as well as a couple of new places that she discovered upon some quick internet searches and reviews.

Thanks for continuing to follow along Aaron.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Well, he never made it and died at 72 years old.

I also remember reading something years ago that struck a chord with me. It stated that if you wait until retirement to start enjoying life, you waited too long. While I'm proud of how hard the wife and I have worked to get where we're at, I don't hold the term "workaholic" as endearing or to some elevated stature as some.

My dad was also 72 years old at the time of his passing, Mike. He was in a tractor 3 days before he went into the hospital...on his 3rd retirement (Farming/Trucking/Trucking). He never was able to sit idle, and made the comment that "now that I have the time and money, I don't have anyone to enjoy my hobbies with". So he did the next best thing for him, drove a truck and helped others farm.

Those words you shared resonate fairly loud with me, and I also watched my dad never enjoy the fruits of his labor. He loved to farm and drive semi's, and that's what he did...but he also loved to fish, hunt, and was passionate about hot rods. He never took enough time for the fun stuff. I cherish the camping/hunting/fishing/car show memories I have with my dad, and can say I've seen every state west of the Mississippi(and a few to the east) from the cab of a Kenworth W900.

The older I get, and the older my youngest gets, I'm reminded how much faster time goes as you age. Money is important, and you need it to retire, but man...I worry about missing the good stuff. It's one of the reasons I haven't been pushing much on new projects and trying to focus on some of my other hobbies I can include my sons in outdoors. We've taken all 4 kids on some great vacations, but the boys were pretty young when we did them, so its their turn to experience other parts of the states as well.

 

[Swanny1953]

One of my board members shared an analogy with me years ago. It was along the lines of - "Life is like a roll of toilet paper - the closer you get to the end of the roll, the faster it comes off!!" I agree with not putting things off because time is tight, you have to make allowances for the important things in life!

 

[zmotorsports]

My dad was also 72 years old at the time of his passing, Mike. He was in a tractor 3 days before he went into the hospital...on his 3rd retirement (Farming/Trucking/Trucking). He never was able to sit idle, and made the comment that "now that I have the time and money, I don't have anyone to enjoy my hobbies with". So he did the next best thing for him, drove a truck and helped others farm.

Those words you shared resonate fairly loud with me, and I also watched my dad never enjoy the fruits of his labor. He loved to farm and drive semi's, and that's what he did...but he also loved to fish, hunt, and was passionate about hot rods. He never took enough time for the fun stuff. I cherish the camping/hunting/fishing/car show memories I have with my dad, and can say I've seen every state west of the Mississippi(and a few to the east) from the cab of a Kenworth W900.

The older I get, and the older my youngest gets, I'm reminded how much faster time goes as you age. Money is important, and you need it to retire, but man...I worry about missing the good stuff. It's one of the reasons I haven't been pushing much on new projects and trying to focus on some of my other hobbies I can include my sons in outdoors. We've taken all 4 kids on some great vacations, but the boys were pretty young when we did them, so its their turn to experience other parts of the states as well.

Marc, thank you for the comments, they're definitely hitting home with me today. It's definitely a balancing act of working to provide for a family and retirement versus finding time to enjoy even the littlest of things with wife, kids and now grandkids. There are many days I feel like I didn't take saving and investing seriously enough when I was younger and now I'm paying the price trying to catch up. In some ways I feel like I was cheated because I took a job making a little less than a couple other opportunities but I felt good about the learning opportunity and especially because of the hidden benefits including a full pension after 35 years on the job. However, that changed 23 years ago (2000) when our company was sold and the pensions went away. I really hadn't been putting anything away in my early to mid-20's because I assumed I had a pension awaiting. I had focused on paying down the mortgage and getting my side business to a point I could take it full time but in the end lacked the balls to do so. I didn't get serious about retirement until my mid 30's and although I think we're doing relatively well, I feel like we're behind. Maybe everyone feels that way to some extent, I don't know.

I've been doing so much side work over the last year trying to play catch up that unfortunately I feel like I have let some items go on my personal "to do" list.

During last week's vacation my phone went nuts from people wanting side work done and I must admit at first all I could see was dollar signs. However, my wife made me realize that my time is just as important as everyone else's and I really need to find that balance because I don't want to miss out on any of those small things in life. My wife and I have also been thinking that we would like to upgrade coaches one more time before we retire. However, with the ones I had been looking to own I don't know that taking $400k to $500k out of the bank right before retirement is going to be feasible (or even smart for that matter). I think I've come to grips with reality that I may have to settle for the one I already have and just keep it maintained to sustain our travels through retirement. That's not exactly what we had in mind but unfortunately reality sometimes slaps us in the face and wakes us up.

I could potentially bust my *** and try to make approx $40k a year extra doing side work and still make that dream come true but it will come at a cost and I'm just not sure that cost is worth the reward.

When my son was young I prided myself on never missing a parent/teacher conference, a ball game or even a practice, but I'm not sure my son remembers that because I think all he remembers is me being in the shop working. I would never want him, his wife or my grandson to think work is more important then them and I would like to enjoy this time of our life.

I would also like to build another hot rod someday with my son and grandson. I thought that one point I was going to be my future and it was awesome when my dad would come out to the shop while I was working on our street rod and watch. I know he didn't know how to do much of the work but he could see the passion that I had for building street rods and I could sense that, even if all he did was sit on a stool and watch.

As his health deteriorated we would take my parents with us to car shows and I could tell he enjoyed it but with his failing health it was a chore just getting around.

When he passed I kind of lost all interest in street rods and sold ours shortly after never to replace it. I now feel I may have been a little naive in my thinking and don't want to deprive my son and grandson of that quality time building cars and working in the shop on "fun" projects.

We recently sat around with some friends who are selling their coach and we got on the subject of building wealth versus spending it in retirement and some very profound words were spoken by our friends. He told us that we will come to a point that making the money and what we spend it on will be less important than being able to do those things we haven't done yet with a little time we have left. That conversation as haunted me since and seems to be a common topic between my wife and I.

I really wish I had all the answers however, I discovered the older I get the more questions I have about life in general.

 

[zmotorsports]

One of my board members shared an analogy with me years ago. It was along the lines of - "Life is like a roll of toilet paper - the closer you get to the end of the roll, the faster it comes off!!" I agree with not putting things off because time is tight, you have to make allowances for the important things in life!

Ain't that the truth Gary. Someday's I feel like in nearing the cardboard roll and I'm not that old.

 

[bigdave_185]

Oh boy you Mike! You have had a productive few weeks!

The repair looks great on the jeep!

Sorry the trip was cut short, and glad you were able to attend the services. I feel this year has had a whole lot of that kinda stuff this year and it makes me sad. Yet another motorcycle accident this month took another good man, total of three this summer for us.

Good grief did you start this fall color change! The back side of Brigham city is full of amazing yellows, golds, reds, oranges!
Just wow the colors look amazing this week. It really shows how much water our area has got this summer. I think I looked last Friday and the rain gauge had 2” inches in it.

Keep posting who cares what others think! I’m just a SA if I ever say something that seems off color to ya!

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night I was able to quickly knock another item off my side job list.

This engine case was shipped to me from Texas and has been sitting on my shelf awaiting repair for a couple of weeks now.


The threads are buggered up as well as a small crack at the sealing surface. My plan was to make an insert that would barely sit inside the recess and allow me to weld it in and address the crack while the insert would allow new threads to be cut. The owner didn't provide a new drain bolt in the box so after reaching out to find out what size it was supposed to be I learned I needed to tap for a 10mm x 1.5 drain plug.


Setting it up on the mill table and clamping it tightly to a large angle plate.


I started with a 3/8" end mill to center the hole and zero out the DRO.


Next I moved to a .625" end mill and machined to depth then finishing it off with a .875" recess to get down below the crack and allow the insert to sit in tightly and slightly recessed.


Now to move to the lathe and machine the insert from a piece of 1" 6061 aluminum bar stock. First took it down to .875" overall diameter.


I then stepped it down to .625" diameter .650" deep to sit into the machined bore. Then I flipped it around to face the flange, drill the insert and tap for 10mm x 1.5 threads.


Insert completed.


Test fit and marked for the drain slots inside the case.


Clamped in V-blocks in the mill vise to machine the notches which will match the drain slots.



Stay tuned for the last pictures of the case repair.

 

[zmotorsports]

Continuing on with the motorcycle case repair.

The notches cut in the insert and ready for cleaning and final insertion into the case.


Cleaned and ready for welding. Here you can see the drain notches matching up with the insert.


After welding the insert into the case I clamped it back to the mill table to spotface the sealing surface for the drain plug seal. I zero'd out the case again using a 1" parallel across a couple of ribs.


Then just to be certain the ribs were perpendicular to the drain plug I cleaned the threads with a bottoming tap and checked to ensure the case was clamped in the correct orientation to the ribs and in relation to the quill. Perfect.


I centered the case using a pin gauge then zero'd the DRO and used a .875" two flute end mill I spot faced the sealing surface.


Done. The welds didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked but unfortunately this is a common theme with aluminum castings.


Boxed up and ready to ship back to the owner.



Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

Before closing up the shop and before the wife arrived home I thought I'd check out the process to turn the needle on my Starrett dial calipers.

I had checked in the box like @Cane mentioned earlier and my foam is glued to the plastic case and there was nothing under it that I could see. I then did a quick Google search and found out how to reclock the needle on a Starrett model 120 dial caliper.

These four screws need to be removed.


Then the dial and rod mechanism can be lifted away from the caliper's body. While I had this apart I took some brake cleaner and a soft paper towel and cleaned the geared rack as my understanding is this being dirty is what allows the teeth to jump time or skip. Everything looked good and no damage so it just got a good cleaning.


Then I moved on to cleaning the dial mechanism using caution. There was some buildup on the backside that easily cleaned off. This gear is what you turn to clock the needle to the correct orientation during reassembly.


Then reverse the process and reassemble. Good as new.


I have put up with that for a couple of years now just because I didn't investigate nor learn that this could be corrected in-house. I thought it would have to be sent back for repairs and it didn't effect the accuracy, it was just an annoyance. Thanks to @LeonardY and @Cane for guilting or shaming me into researching how to correct the issue.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

I feel like we're behind. Maybe everyone feels that way to some extent, I don't know.

I think those of us who worry about the future, feel the same way. I know I do. I've always referred to our savings account as the "rainy day fund," and no matter how much cash I put in there, it's never seemed to be an amount that puts my mind at ease.

I think I've come to grips with reality that I may have to settle for the one I already have and just keep it maintained to sustain our travels through retirement. That's not exactly what we had in mind but unfortunately reality sometimes slaps us in the face and wakes us up.

That's not all bad, and things can change between now and retirement. You've got a hell of a nice rig now, no reason it won't be in the coming years.

When my son was young I prided myself on never missing a parent/teacher conference, a ball game or even a practice, but I'm not sure my son remembers that because I think all he remembers is me being in the shop working. I would never want him, his wife or my grandson to think work is more important then them and I would like to enjoy this time of our life.

The older we get, the more we understand the sacrifices that were made to get us to this point in our lives. Knowing what I know about your son, I would bet at some point he'll look back and know/appreciate you were there and then also see the otherside with your tenacious work ethic to provide for your family.

He told us that we will come to a point that making the money and what we spend it on will be less important than being able to do those things we haven't done yet with a little time we have left.

I'm on board with this statement as well, obviously one still has to have enough to live through retirement on, but you can't forget about enjoying that time. It's a nice sentiment to be able to leave a nest egg for your children, I don't think that should be the only focus, however. Keep in mind, there will be plenty of assets to liquidate after we are gone!

 

[MP&C]

My wife and I have also been thinking that we would like to upgrade coaches one more time before we retire. However, with the ones I had been looking to own I don't know that taking $400k to $500k out of the bank right before retirement is going to be feasible (or even smart for that matter). I think I've come to grips with reality that I may have to settle for the one I already have and just keep it maintained to sustain our travels through retirement.

Mike, for what it’s worth, and given the workmanship seen on anything new nowadays, I would take your well maintained coach over a new one any day of the week.

 

[zmotorsports]

I think those of us who worry about the future, feel the same way. I know I do. I've always referred to our savings account as the "rainy day fund," and no matter how much cash I put in there, it's never seemed to be an amount that puts my mind at ease.


That's not all bad, and things can change between now and retirement. You've got a hell of a nice rig now, no reason it won't be in the coming years.


The older we get, the more we understand the sacrifices that were made to get us to this point in our lives. Knowing what I know about your son, I would bet at some point he'll look back and know/appreciate you were there and then also see the otherside with your tenacious work ethic to provide for your family.


I'm on board with this statement as well, obviously one still has to have enough to live through retirement on, but you can't forget about enjoying that time. It's a nice sentiment to be able to leave a nest egg for your children, I don't think that should be the only focus, however. Keep in mind, there will be plenty of assets to liquidate after we are gone!

Thanks Marc.

I know my way of thinking is old school and even our financial planner tells me that we will leave enough behind in assets that our son and his family will be in good shape and that we shouldn't worry about the liquid side of things. He keeps telling the wife and I that the liquid assets are for us to enjoy retirement and do the things we want to do while we can but I can't get it out of my mind. I want to have enough that we can live off the interest and dividends and leave a nice sized chunk of money for them but as time is shrinking I don't know how much of that will be feasible and I don't want to work until I'm 65. Buying this new house 7 years ago already pushed out retirement out from 55-57 years old where we had planned to now closer to 60 and I don't want to push it out much further. I very much want to leave a legacy behind and something my son and grandson will be proud of me for but maybe I'm being naive again.

The wife and I have said since we purchased this coach in 2007 that this would be our second to last coach and we wanted to upgrade just one more time before retirement, but I just don't know if that is going to happen. I don't want to give up on our dream but I don't want to live in fantasy land either. My son has also been very clear that he doesn't want anything to do with any RV so when I'm gone I'm okay with him selling whatever we have but if we keep our current one it won't be worth much. I also don't know just how much longer it will last as these things don't last forever, even though I feel I maintain it much better than the average person.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, for what it’s worth, and given the workmanship seen on anything new nowadays, I would take your well maintained coach over a new one any day of the week.

Thank you Robert. I greatly appreciate you kind words. However, these things bouncing down the road don't last forever and I'm not naive enough to think ours will be the exception. I think it is holding up well and better than most because of the way it is cared for but I'm sure its time is limited.

I really had it stuck in my head that I would someday own a 2004-2006~ish Prevost conversion and they are still running in the $350k to $500k range and I don't see them dropping too awfully much more in the near future as they hold their value quite well. Those things are made to knock down miles bouncing down the road but I fear that is a pipe dream at this point and even if we have the money I don't think it will be realistic to pull that amount out of the bank at the time of retirement or just before as that will greatly deminish the return that money could create. Best case scenario now may be the possibility of maybe a bit newer model of something like we own. Like you, I am not all that impressed with much that is newer these days. I feel in the category of coach we have I think the sweet spot is in the 2000-2008 model years of Monaco, Country Coach, Alpine and maybe a couple of others as far as build quality and components. Maybe we'll be able to upgrade a few model years when the time comes but until then I just want to keep ours on the road, looking and running good.

Thank you for the comments and for continuing to follow along Robert. I very much appreciate it.

 

[PugetDude]

Mike, for what it’s worth, and given the workmanship seen on anything new nowadays, I would take your well maintained coach over a new one any day of the week.

Mike, I echo Robert's comments- you know my story on the new 2021 Super C we owned (briefly). Bought it for our retirement, took one disastrous trip... then after 8 months in the shop and two trips back to the manufacturer during the first year we reached a confidential repurchase settlement with the manufacturer.
Most frustrating customer service experience of my life. The quality and attention to detail just isn't there, the local dealer was equal parts apathetic, arrogant, and incompetent. Factory talked a good game but after a year they ultimately admitted their top of the line coach wasn't usable as delivered.

Certainly soured us on the RV lifestyle.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, I echo Robert's comments- you know my story on the new 2021 Super C we owned (briefly). Bought it for our retirement, took one disastrous trip... then after 8 months in the shop and two trips back to the manufacturer during the first year we reached a confidential repurchase settlement with the manufacturer.
Most frustrating customer service experience of my life. The quality and attention to detail just isn't there, the local dealer was equal parts apathetic, arrogant, and incompetent. Factory talked a good game but after a year they ultimately admitted their top of the line coach wasn't usable as delivered.

Certainly soured us on the RV lifestyle.

Thanks Scott. I remember your debacle and felt your pain as you were dealing with the quality as well as the customer service issues.

While I agree that the vast majority of newer RV's are not the same quality as older stuff, the high-end coaches are still high-end quality. Unfortunately, they still carry with them a high price tag, even being used and pushing 18-20 years old (Prevost conversion keeps coming to mind), so we wouldn't necessarily be needing to deal with a manufacturer or dealer as it would be too old. Your experience with your new RV proves the point about the lack of customer service and quality that has riddled our society these days. That being said, I am glad there are people that can and do purchase new RV's, cars and trucks because that opens the doors for the rest of us to be able to purchase used stuff, then make them as good or even better than when they were new. Besides, I'm not one of those picky bastards that have to buy new. In fact, even having the money to go down and buy new I just couldn't bring myself to do so.

I know I've spoken quite a bit about side work over the years and many know my feelings on doing side work. I have been extremely blessed having the ability, and desire for that matter, to do side work over the past 35+ years of being with my wife. I feel strongly that we would not be where we are today if I didn't do side work all those years prior, so for that I am extremely happy and blessed to have had the opportunity. I am glad to see my son's education and work ethic paying off to where he makes good money without having to rely on side work. I am also so very pleased and proud of him for his frugal nature and investment mindset. I've told him for many years that you cannot save yourself to wealth and must rely on compound interest so start early. I am so proud of him for listening and taking that advise. Unfortunately for me, I didn't take my own advice early enough and side work is still something I must do to get ahead, stay ahead and come out ahead.

I would love to be at a point where I didn't need to do side work and could just spend my days maintaining my own assets and even doing some cool upgrades or improvements to them. I don't know if any of you follow Mark Martin on Instagram, but he just recently took delivery of his new 2024 Newell coach. I had been following along during the build process and when it was time for the powerplant he went all out in the performance and cosmetic aspects of that coach. Newell as well as some Prevost converters really put time and attention into their engine bays such as polished stainless and chrome, but Mark took his to the next level.

Some of you may remember the small mods I did to the engine bay of our 2003 Monaco Dynasty a few years ago where I fabricated the aluminum surge tank and had it polished as well as installed polished stainless-steel panels over the electrical panels. I would love to have the time to do more of those types of mods and upgrades as there are times I think of our coach as my "hot rods" and not just something that gets us from point A to point B on vacation. I like to think of my vehicles as an extension of myself and would love to just spend time detailing and adding finishing touches to my own stuff but that takes money as well as time and at this point I just don't see that as realistic so the best I can do is keep our stuff maintained and use them.

 

[Finallygotit]

Thank you Robert. I greatly appreciate you kind words. However, these things bouncing down the road don't last forever and I'm not naive enough to think ours will be the exception. I think it is holding up well and better than most because of the way it is cared for but I'm sure its time is limited.

Mike, I'm going to have to disagree with you here. With your hypersensitive backside and Vulcan ears, you jump on ANYTHING that seems to be amiss and make it right again. Your coach is probably one of the best examples running down the road. With you acquiring a new coach, I can just see you climbing all over that thing for months trying to zero out a vehicle that was never zero'd out from the factory. And I can just imagine the four letter expletives as you go about that task.

Better the devil you know than the one you don't.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, I'm going to have to disagree with you here. With your hypersensitive backside and Vulcan ears, you jump on ANYTHING that seems to be amiss and make it right again. You coach is probably one of the best examples running down the road. With you acquiring a new coach, I can just see you climbing all over that thing for months trying to zero out a vehicle that was never zero'd out from the factory. And I can just imagine the four letter expletives as you go about that task.

Better the devil you know than the one you don't.

Thank you Dan. I appreciate the vote of confidence. For the time being I guess I'll try to keep my finely tuned **** in sync with the coach and keep her on the road as long as possible.

I do like the looks and comments I get at campgrounds when people ask what it is and what year it is. Just last weekend we were parked next to a family that had a brand new 2024 42' Winnebago Tour that still had the new sticker on the license plate. As we were arriving back from a sightseeing outing the owner approached me and had asked what make, model and year our coach was. His jaw dropped when I told him it was a 2003 model year with 140k miles on it. I must admit, I felt a bit of pride and a sense of accomplishment.