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Grumblebum

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Aug 10, 2015
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Wollongong Australia
I like that cable storage rack, I have several misc rolls that keep getting shuffled around too. Will have to see if we have something similar over here.

Take care with your back.

Cheers GB
 
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Strouty

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Southern Maine
Thanks guys, I have been doing my legwork for the tower job, some of this should have been done a while ago, but I did not have a schedule yet, so it was a little too early. I have postponed moving the Mitsu until Monday of next week, this should give me enough time to get the windows replaced as well as get some more materials together. I am going to use my help to pull the two cars out into the open. I have to swap a few of the wheels around as I have a buyer for one set of them. I would also like to pull out the new headlights so I can sell them on eBay.
 

simpler=better

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Oct 6, 2015
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Baltimore, Maryland
Yup, these two cars have been one of those "eyesores" that actually hurt because I have too much money in them and will never get it back out, so I just want them gone. I figure once they are gone the wound will heal much better than ripping the scab off every time I see the cars.


Don't feel too bad, that's the story with every project car ever.
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Southern Maine
The first car is loaded, got the good tires off of it as well. I am taking it home tonight as the scrap yard is closer to my house than the shop. Also got the other car ready to be lifted onto the trailer, I know, I cheated, but work with what you got, right?

Also got the compressor parts put up and out of the way with the other compressor parts, tomorrow I will put the heads on a pallet and get them out of the way. Looks like I am on my own to cut the polycarbonate, then I may need to bring the excavator inside if I can't get the windows done by Saturday, as it is supposed to rain good on Sunday. I am not sure the excavator will fit inside, never done it before, guess I will try and get it done Saturday!





 

bczygan

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DETROIT! Arsenal of Scrappers
Thanks Bill, you got me beat today, as Nines would say, I am jelly of that running bridgeport!

It's got a lot wrong Strouty.

Surface rust and chipping paint. The top of the drawbar wobbles, which has me worried. Maybe a bearing issue? The bottom of the quill is missing the nub that keeps the collets from rotating, which makes tightening them a pain, especially using cheap import ones. Missing some of the ball knobs, which I just ordered from ENCO. I've assembled many of the basic measuring and operating tools and tapping and cooling fluid. Also have a gallon of each lubricant. Need to mount some lights and make some chip shields.

The other problem is the operator, who's a total idiot, but he did get the pieces milled within one or two.

This motor has a case with two switches. One is on-off-on, which is a forward-off-reverse switch. The other is high-low. I know how to set the machine for high and low speeds using the back gear, and the first switch to correct the rotation direction. But I don't know when to (And when not to) change the other switch from low (Where it is now) to high. And the belt (It's a J Head) is on the uppermost pulleys. I don't know how the belt locations work with the aforementioned switch and backgear-high-low settings.

And I've machined both faces of all my steel scraps, just for fun today, so that's it until I have a real project and materials.


Bill
 

bczygan

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That's the way most of us learn Bill. Trial and error.

Yeah,

Julie says being married to me is a trial, because I make so many errors!

Reading up on drawbars, I think it's a spacer problem. Still don't understand the switch and belts, but will Google it to death.

A couple of belt guards wouldn't hurt. I've already gotten back in the swing of rotating dials and twirling handles. FUN! Get yours going Strouty!

So cool to finally have it running. Now I owe myself a bout of working on necessary things.

Bill

Sorry for the hijack Strouty.
 
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Strouty

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I know just enough about them to use them, but only while directly in front of it. I am sure if I think about it, there are a couple of no nos that can damage the back gear if you do the wrong combination of things. Mine is a J head as well, so as far as the belts, you pick a speed you want and use it, then change the speed if you need more or less. I will say that I have rarely used one that was not variable speed, so I will have to figure things out as well when the time comes.
 
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Strouty

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Dropped off the green car this morning, then went and picked up the planetary axles for the future forklift project. Unloaded the axles, loaded the red car, did a couple errands, then dropped the red car off. Came back to the shop, unhooked the trailer, grabbed the recycling, then did some paperwork. Stopped at Lowes to get the router bit for the polycarbonate, I looked but could not find one, also grabbed a gallon of the MEK so I could mess with it. Just got home, going to take a break and then head to bed. Tomorrow I am going to get those windows cut for the Mitsu!!!!!!



 
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Strouty

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86, they are definitely heavy duty. The forklift is currently geared way too high, so trying to ease into things is more like trying to joust, not really that bad, but you get the idea. These axles are about 18" wider than the existing axles, but I do not feel that will cause me any issues. I need to find out what the existing axle ratio is in the forklift, then I will be able to decide if these are worth installing as is or not. I am hoping that the original axles are like 8 to 1 or somewhere near that, the planetary axles are 16.65 and I can get tires that will be just a little bit taller than the current ones.

I need to do my research, the forks have what they call a negative drop so they can hit the ground, I need to find out how much negative drop I can get before I would need to move the entire mast assembly down. I would prefer to leave it as is, but the fork manufacturer will let me know more on that.

The machine has a weird offset to it, so the cab sticks out well past the driveline currently, these new wider axles should make that look better for sure. Everything will sit up higher, at this point I am not sure how much higher, it may be a while before I get to this project, but at least having the axles will allow me to start planning things and taking measurements.







 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Southern Maine
There was nothing quick to eat at the house and the shop has been low on snacks and other food, so I went to the grocery store. I was starving, I wanted a couple of breakfast sandwiches, but I didn't want to spend that much more time at another store. So I decided to go to the deli counter, I asked to try one type of ham, then another, bought half a pound, then tried a cheese, then another, bought half a pound. Now I was not hungry and I didn't have to spend $6 on breakfast sandwiches. I kind of thought this was ingenious, others may frown on it, but it felt like an emergency.

Anyways I just got to the shop, going to use my inversion table and do some stretches, my back is a bit off kilter still and yesterday was a much longer day than anticipated. My elbow is even a bit sore so that is making things worse.

The plan is to get the router and circular saw setup so I can get the windows cut and installed. If that is all I get done today, I will be super happy. Hope you guys have a productive day.
 
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Strouty

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So it has been almost four hours since I thought I was going to start "doing" something, well my neighbor came over and asked if I could come and dig out a couple of scoops of sand from his above ground pool. He has pulled me out of the snow bank more than a few times while I was trying to plow just a bit further than I should have, so I figured why not. I loaded a 6 yard dump truck with the dirt, trying to figure out how it all got in there??? Anyways, that took up an hour or so, then I decided to do my stretching, well apparently running the excavator was just enough to freak out my back, so now I am all tightened up. Been trying to keep things moving. I have almost cleared enough room to start cutting the polycarbonate into manageable pieces. I need to get three more windows out of the Mitsu, one is pretty big, so I am concerned about that one. Then once they are cut, I have to get them back in. I figure I will start with the one that is all ready removed and try that, if that goes well, I will go around the cab one at a time and work on them until I either get it done or cry mercy. Tomorrow is supposed to rain and It doesn't look like I can get the machine inside without some major moving of stuff. We will see, I am not giving up yet, but I am going to take some pain meds!
 
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Strouty

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Progress is slow and now the suburban is completely full of things that need to be unloaded in the conex. I think this one simple job of replacing the Mitsu windows is going to kill me. I hate having to do ten steps just to be able to do the ones step you actually need to do!!!

I guess this is one more reinforcement of why I need to accumulate less and keep things organized more. The worst part was I could not find the wrenches that came with the router, so I had to use full size 1 1/8" wrenches to get the collet undone and install the new bit. Anyways, I am getting closer to the end of my detour and the start of my mission. Sorry to rant, but this is here more for me, so when I look back I will see all the grief it caused me.










This is what the window looked like after trying acetone on it.



I forgot to mention that my buddy gave me a working parts washer, it is a homak, seems to be HF caliber. I figure free, worst case I flip it and make something.

 
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Strouty

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Southern Maine
I still have to unload the suburban, but that should be quick compared to what it took to load it. Overall there is a lot more space in the shop and I should have plenty of room for cutting and shaping the polycarbonate.







 
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Strouty

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The other side is still a mess, but there is a pathway to get through and most everything is on wheels or easily moved with the pallet jack. We can work on that another time.



 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Minor update without pictures. I put one window in, the first one that I had removed, looks awesome, but the weatherstripping is all dry rotted, so I really wish I had ordered new stuff. It will stay in, but may develop a leak, so I will probably add some silicone to it. When I do the forklift windows, I will order new weatherstripping for both machines plus some extra for other projects.

Once I knew I can make it work, I stripped all the windows out of the cab that I wanted to replace, there are two small ones that really need new weatherstripping and without it, they will probably fall out so I did not mess with those. The large window was a real pain to cut with my small router table (if you can even call it that), but I got all the windows cut. The rear slider was a bit of a pain to get apart and some of the screws broke off, but I got it apart, of course I broke one of the latches, guess I will have to live with it that way, probably won't find another one. By the time I got everything cut and the mess cleaned up, it was getting dark, so I tried to bring the Mitsu inside, it did not want to come under the door, so I took the bucket off, but it really did not help. I had the bucket curled up, so I tried coming in with the boom all the way out and down. It worked, once I cleared the door it had plenty of room.

Don't worry, I took lots of pictures, but I am headed home for dinner. I will post them tomorrow morning. Have nice night guys!
 
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Strouty

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They can't be that good. Centers are mid 4s total appeared to be mid 16s. I think they are 151s but have not done a lot of investigating. There is a picture of the tag back a bit.
 
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Strouty

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Yesterday I spent plenty of time removing more clutter from the shop, completely filled the suburban, it took several hours to gather and load the stuff, took maybe 20 minutes to put everything in the conex.

 

matt_i

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Mar 14, 2008
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SE Michigan
The top of the drawbar wobbles, which has me worried. Maybe a bearing issue

Drawbar is just a very long bolt. If the hex or long haft got tweaked it will wobble. The spindle tube won't wobble unless severely destroyed because its all buried inside the casting.

The bottom of the quill is missing the nub that keeps the collets from rotating, which makes tightening them a pain, especially using cheap import ones.

Removal of the key is actually a good thing in my thinking. If one screws up the collet will eventually slip, pretty harmless. However with the key in place you now have a scarred-up mess inside of a tube that won't come apart...very very messy to straighten out.
 

dlcwent

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Looks great Strouty. I can see why you're excited about it. And I'm sure you'll be needing the inversion table after you get those axles in place. They look a tiny bit heavy.
 
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Strouty

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I had the volvo wagon on the trailer right before the axles, the axles felt heavier. The added bonus of that is more counterweight to the forklift. Also will look a lot cooler with bigger axles and nice wide tires.
 
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Strouty

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I almost have the biggest window done, as always, I can see how I should have done it to make things easier, but only after I am done. I started in the easy area, should have started in the hard area, then worked to the easy area last, oh well, at least I can do it right the next time. I still need to lock the moulding, for some reason this window has a one piece self locking style, all the others are a two piece style. I am not sure what style I like better yet, but I am leaning towards the two piece. I still have a single small window to do, then I need to assemble the sliding window and install it as a unit.
 
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Strouty

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I have the big window installed and the other drivers side window installed and it is so weird, like there is nothing there. The old stuff has been faded for so long I forgot what it was like to see out of the cab in any direction except forward. I will say that the one piece window seals are much nicer, they also seem thicker and hold up in the elements better. I guess I will be ordering all new one piece seals instead of the two piece, they even look better. I also decided to do the last two windows, just seems like it is worth the effort to do it.











The sliding rear window is the next step, once that is in, I will have to take the machine outside in the rain so I can get the last windows cut.




 
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Strouty

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The rear sliding window was probably the worst looking one of all, that was because I didn't have the patience for the silicone and I just applied it and then installed it. I got my fingers into it a bit and I think I smeared it too far into the window, but those are probably the easiest to cut, so if I need to redo them when I change the weatherstripping, then I will. It was almost overwhelming backing the Mitsu out of the shop, I wasn't sure where to look, I have used the machine for at least 15 years not being able to see anywhere but in front and to the left. I picked up most of the mess, but a few things are still out until tomorrow because they need to go out back and it is raining. I feel like this is mission complete, so I am heading home, the shop can take a break for the rest of the day.







 

nine4gmc

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Mar 24, 2012
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Dallas
Shop looks great man, windows look even better! Great job, cant wait to see the huge new axles in place, will they bolt in or require major fabrication?

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk
 
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Strouty

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Southern Maine
The forklift is going to be a long term project, definitely not a bolt right in thing. I am really thinking that I would like to build my own forklift, then sell the one that I have. Between the gas engine, standard transmission and center piston mast, I feel I would be better off using a newer fuel injected motor or diesel engine, then use a hydrostatic drive to run everything. It would be much smoother to operate, then I can also go with much larger tires, a different mast, one I can see through, plus more capacity and lift height. I am not in a rush, but I know I could sell the clark ranger for around $5k pretty quickly. I really like the looks of this beast, would be nice to model things after it.

 

rmalkow2

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Jun 26, 2009
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Brighton, MI
The shop is looking great with all your recent clean up and organization. And best of all it's now working for you, to use as you did a much needed repair on equipment that will in turn earn you money. I'd call that a success for sure.
 

Richard Cranium

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Apr 22, 2011
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central Washington
The shop is looking great, but your windows are looking better, You may have to paint it, it will be like a new machine. There is a bonus to being able to see out of it.
 
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