Kubota L3750 - gremlins

Unbelievably this is my second season

working at PIR - 

Portland International Raceway.

As recently as 2 years ago,

 I'da never expected my trajectory 

to be a union/government employee.

Honestly the exact opposite!!

Much less moving the entire family north.

What the heck happened!?

Well so far there are no major complaints or regrets,

luckily the wife and kids are adjusting to a seasonal life,

hot sun-rain-snow-cold... 

Not so-cal!

So working at a racetrack is about as glamorous

as building hot rods or fixing boats.

Not very!!

Fortunately I like this type of work.

Keeps ya busy,

and at the end of the day there's visible accomplishments.

Last year I fixed up the mangled grill,

and zip tied it into place.

It didn't last!

It didn't last long!

If you look in the above pics,

the grill lines up with the flatbed rails...

Doink!

The plastic grill was beyond any timely repair,

and it would've just been destroyed again.

The battery sits in the lower half,

but there is nothing above it.

May as well make a recessed screen grill.

Function before form...

Next was straightening the deformed bucket.

That left side dent stress-warped 

the bottom scraper edge.

I tried our leaky portapower,

and was left with an oily mess.

The easiest fix was my trusty clamps,

and a couple thru-bolts.

This clamp crate can do wonders that's for sure.

Ultimately the goal was only to straighten the bottom edge,

as the tractor basically acted like a bent dustpan,

always leaving a mess.

Next was a ten year electric glitch.

It would take a magic key twist to start,

and previous mechanics were stumped.

Once started,

the guys would just leave it running.

Nothing worse than getting stuck 

on the other side of the property.

After dismantling all the sheetmetal,

the problem was obvious.

A worn safety switch wire.

I made a guard to keep muddy boots from snagging it.

Now that it was working,

the last goal was to make it useful.

With no weight on the back end,

the tractor couldn't lift too much.

Rotors, flywheels and weights were scrounged at the auto swap meet in April,

and a simple post bracket welded to the rear.

Each change in weight made a huge difference.

I ended up cutting the hats off the rotors,

adding as much weight as possible for the height.

I'll make something out of those...

Gremlins are gone...

Now back to work!!

TP

Whoops

Heres a recent whoops...

A perfect candidate 

for the good ole bait and switch technique.

Can you spot what happened in this picture?

At lunch break I parked the silver bullet truck

in the way of our much larger flatbed.

Holey chit!!

Well what else was I gonna do the next day?

The guys keep me busy that's for sure.

Shops got some fun tools,

although they need work to work.

The portapower was dry of oil.

Very handy if rarely used tool.

The tailight surround had limited access,

a little heat and hammering was enough

to at least zip tie the light back in.

The bait and switch was repainting

the bright blue banding reel.

Unsurprisingly the dent is barely noticed!

TP

Multi Multimeters

The other day I got myself into a pickle.

A project needed a solid multimeter

that could measure ohms/resistance,

and I realized mine were all glitchy.

So now you're gonna hear all about them...

Yes a fun yawner!

My go to tester for the past 8 years is this

beater Blue-Point MT145.

It's never worked perfectly,

sometimes doesn't even want to turn on.

The culprit is obvious,

severely corroded battery contacts.

That blue stuff grows overnight,

every time I gotta twist the batteries or scrape it.

The big problem is it's basically a voltmeter,

doesn't read resistance for chit.

Sometimes it'll work,

sometimes there's this ear piercing beep.

It just sucks.

I'm not a Snap-On guy anyway,

and I like the analog needle swing.

My previous machine was this old tank.

A Knight Auto Analyzer,

nice and heavy so it doesn't slide around.

I loved it for shop use,

other than the knob being broken.

That little thing sucks to twist,

and I never turned it off.

Doh...

This thing uses 4 D batteries.

Who uses D batteries any more?

Have you priced good D batteries lately?

They lasted for years, 

maybe a decade.

Even at $1.50/yr it's not a bad deal,

but I'll wait for a cheap swap meet deal...

The problem is this only reads high ohms,

so it's limited for basic use,

although there are many engine features.

This hefty unit was a garage sale score,

a 1980's boxed Simpson 260 series 7.

The 260 model has been made since the 1930's!

Many believe it's the best US analog meter made.

The inventor built the compass for Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis!

I've had this for a couple years now,

and admit to never using it.

One reason is it's in such good condition,

I'd probably drop it.

That was just an excuse,

the real reason is these friggin batteries.

A big D and an old school 9-volt,

yeah the one you used to lick as a kid.

Dang these are expensive now!

Mainly because they come in 2-packs.

I bit the bullet and this works so smooth.

eBay helped with the broken leather case.

I'll need to zip tie it or something,

but that's the armor it deserves.

This story has evolved over many years,

nothing was a surprise,

there was a new object to hunt for.

Sure there are dozens of new cheesy $20 units

but where's the fun in that.

Before buying those batteries,

I found this $7 TMK TW-20S,

that looked like an old solid meter.

Nope.

TMK makes a version similar to the 260,

but there's no info on this TW model.

Time to crack it open.

This seemed to have heavy duty guts.

Aha!

What's this burn mark...

A 10k ohm resistor?

This is the project that inspired this installment.

WTF is going on here at the dinner table!?

See how multimeters are helping other multimeters?

The $2 resistor was swapped and it works like a charm.

But wait there's more!

While the resistor was being shipped from China,

I found this Radio Shack unit.

I'd asked earlier and he wanted $4,

then price checked eBay.

A Micronta 22-202u goes for $20-30!

Someone had spilled coffee on it 

before I returned.

$1.87 was the change I had in my pocket.

Score!

I made some red:black leads and it worked great!

Fits into the toolbox no problem.

Now there are enough multimeters for the house,

shop, a mobile one, and a loaner!

Holey Chit...

TP

Cart Wars

So I'm walking up this boat dock,

and what do I see...

Another custom aluminum dock cart.

WTF...

I was surprised at the similarities.

There were a few differences I liked-

The reinforcement of the handle base,

the more level stance pad.

Then I remembered this guy...

he was checking out the cart 

at the BIG3 swap meet in 2012,

back when my cart was new.

He had this crazy mini boat cart...

And it made me wonder...

Hmmm...

Anyway after 4+ years this cart

is still one of the most useful gadgets I've built...

TP

Tractor Time - Sears GT16

I shoulda wrote this when it was fresh,

now it's become an epic...

Macey James Perich with her Sears GT16 tractor

It all started after the big 3 swap meet.

We had offed a 4-banger engine,

and instead of a quick pick up,

had to drag it back to the shop.

Grrr.

big 3 swap meet 2016

It lingered through many past posts,

sitting in the dirt while we bricked around it,

built the boat windshield...

The long overdue pick up was a month+ later.

The new owner Ed was a diehard Model A fanatic.

He and his wife drove all the way from Pleasanton,

pulling a heavy duty trailer with this giant RV.

No way was this rig gonna back into the shop yard.

We ended up dropping the engine in the van,

then taking it to his RV parked outside.

The kicker was dragging the cherry picker,

two blocks away on soft asphalt on a scorcher day.

Holey Chit...

The steel wheels actualy left a trail!

Fortunately Ed and his wife were nice enough

to make the over work enjoyable.

After that a new obsession emerged.

I hunted craigslist for tractors and forklifts

missing out on a few cheap unrealistically large projects,

anything useable was a bit pricey,

until this one popped up.

1978 sears gt16 garden tractor

A couple hundred for a runner,

and it could fit inside the van!

We buzzed it around the yard a few laps,

and stripped it down.

Jakob Perich and the stripped sears gt16 tractor

These old Sears/Murray/Roper garden tractors

have a cult following.

Some guys restore them,

and other guys build race-karts,

using the original hood/grille to mower them out.

Easy way for us to get an almost free tractor!

Like another project was needed!

Well... no time to waste!

By the end of the day,

we had a general idea.

Unbeknownst that it'd take possession

of what would become the after 530 slot.

That selfish bit of time after responsibilities,

and before rushing home for family dinner .

I'd have to call this scrap engineering,

using anything lying around the house or shop yard.

Every evening any progression resulted in

another reason to bust butt the next night.

Funny how previous projects that took forever

gave the experience to do this quickly.

With the tractor re-skinned,

it was time to give it a purpose.

A beater cherry picker was dug out of the yard debris...

Thanks Jason!

A bolt-on mount torched and welded,

so it'll go back in the van...

...and the crane whittled down to fit.

customized sears gt16 mower

This part shoulda been easy...

Instead this picker was the reject non-folding design.

The lever arm wouldn't lower down tight.

The pivot part was all tweaked out,

the jack points were totally wrong,

and it was over a foot too long.

Thanks Jason!

How many thousands of these

were returned back to China as scrap!

No problem,

I know a welder...

sears gt16 garden tractor

A little rattlecan magic

helped it resemble a goldfish.

pumpkin patina

The patina was practice for a concurrent project.

Everyone questions the paint application,

the unsanded paint looks funky.

It's all about the strategic sanding.

customized sears gt16 garden tractor

The little picker had no problem

moving light stuff that was easy enough to carry.

modded sears gt16 garden tractor

There was an obvious limit with a heavy load!

Wheelie machine...

The common tractor fix is wheel weights,

cast iron or concrete plugs bolted in the rim.

We needed some serious heft not 40 lbs...

The battery was relocated to it's original position,

and a basket whipped up from more scrap.

The perfect spot to stash wasted anchor chain.

This was at least 150+ lbs of leverage.

Now here's a picker!

Finally we had a useable machine.

It was time to hot rod it out.

The next mod was only partially for performance.

The old hood had a cut-out for the exhaust,

It blew out the side.

The new hood forced the burnt gases

into the drivers lap.

Choke!

Straight pipes were too loud.

No need for another tinnitis special.

I kept adding tubes til the tone was bearable.

This downpipe was like a dirt fountain!

I added a 2nd 90 degree bend quickly...

briggs & stratton 16hp exhaust

The new exhaust woke up the 16hp Briggs & Stratton.

The low gearing kept it tame,

but it could buck ya around!

jakob perich hauling junk

Jake tested it out moving junk around.

A natural!

perich brother and sister

Even Macey couldn't resist.

Probably a good idea to fix the brakes next time.

She was hesitant at first,

now she asks to go to the shop!

One more tool for the quiver...

TP