Real Progress

October 26, 2007 (5:07am)

23º F, Freezing Fog, No Wind.

Good morning,

We made real progress on Fjord yesterday. Finally we can actually see some results. The front mount for the loader is complete, welded and bolted on. Don’t think that will go anywhere. It was a bit of a struggle to put it in place as the bolts are at the bottom of the tractor, more or less, and behind other parts of the tractor and now the loader mount. Also mounted the sub-frame in place and got it lined up. Actually looks right! Only problem for the moment we can see, is the crossover brace is too close to the steering wheel and will need some adjusting of it’s shape, probably with the heat wrench.

The bearing for the steering shaft also came. After three attempts (rang-itty-tangs), on the fourth attempt the bearing is in it’s correct place and the remainder of the steering assembly is in place. After putting the bearing in and out twice, Eli remembers there is supposed to be a clip to hold that bearing in place. There was none on this one. Looking at the manual, one drawing shows one and another doesn’t show any. Guess it was on the later series that came after this one. Would have been nice to have though.

Today I hope to get the “dash board” in place and the wiring connected again, then the hood and gas tank can be put back in place again. Once that happens, Fjord will look like a tractor again. Hopefully I also will get it running again too. There are a bunch of other things that need to be done to get it into shape to be a working tractor again. The major item is mounting the remainder of the front-end loader and get it operating. The bucket is two piece, material bucket with an attached snow bucket enlargement, and I want to take it apart at Eli’s shop. He has the impact wrenches and equipment I don’t to do the task. It has not been apart for a long time, so imagine it is pretty rusted together. Probably will leave the snow bucket off most of the time.

We also decided that since I am so far behind from where I planned to be on this place, the furnace could wait until closer to spring before putting it in here. Eli has someone who wants one urgently, so “ours” will go to them and he has two others waiting and we will get one of them when the time comes. Besides, they will have their technique better at repairing them. :-)

Mick and Eli finally figured out why they had four leaks in the corners of the firebox the other day. The original welding was only done on the exterior of the firebox before it was assembled into the water jacket. Mick was welding on the inside and the water was migrating in the very small crack in the joint on the inside, then appearing where the welding ended. After grinding down to the outer weld, then re-welding, the leaks stopped. I had come to a similar conclusion, but for a different reason. My suggestion was to drill down to the weld, rather than grind, as it would be considerably easier and faster.

I continue to be amazed at the variety of jobs that come into Eli’s shop. Everything from simple welding or machining to very complicated and precise work. One just out job was to rebuild a differential from a logging machine with broken bearing and gear supports, machining out the old portions, constructing new partial parts, welding them in place, then machining it to carry the bearings and gears again before assembling it to working, better than new. The next on-going job is to construct a couple dozen heat exchangers for the wood furnaces to heat domestic water heating. Basically a steel box a couple feet long with a copper tubing coil inside. Sounds easy, but there are some really difficult procedures involved.

I have a meeting this morning with our pastor to go over the service for the 11th. He says it is easy, but I am not that convinced yet. I am sure I am looking for pit-falls that probably are not there. Should be interesting. Actually I am looking forward to it, but really not all that sure about the 7:30 A.M. part of the deal.

There is a more or less full moon out. It is visible through the fog, making it really look like Halloween. Kind of cool, but spooky at the same time.

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><