Summer13 Tracy

 Interesting find while greasing last night.  S-cam bushing coming off the slack adjuster was loose.  Not a crazy sexy fix but one more thing to look for as I'm inspecting.

 This picture speaks loudly about false confidence in our good buddy thread goop.  Solution?  More goop.

 Until I noticed the machined surfaces around each port.  That machined surface told me that there is a possibility that the ports are not pipe thread sealed.  Interesting to note that the pump has the same machined surfaces around the ports with o-ring boss to pipe thread adapters.  Probably why more goop didn't help.

 The 3rd member ended up having to come out of the 9280 Case after I poked around with a magnet.  The shavings on the blue was the condemning evidence.

   I'm hoping to take a good look at the bearings and race. Should be entertaining.

 Lots and lots and lots of metal coming out of the rear end of the Case tractor.  I probably could have spent all day digging stuff out with the magnet.  Most was magnetized so it looked solid, but there were enough solid considerably sized metal chunks to justify pulling the 3rd member and having a closer look.

 Pulled this valve out of a water truck.  The valve is actuated by mechanical rotation, was leaking out both ends of the body.  Blown rings were the cause.
  Still getting a tough time for being so clean around this kind of stuff, but it won't leak because of it.

Another find that could have resulted in a service call.  Post off the alternator digging into coolant hose.

















Yesterday I was very happy to find and diagnose my first real electrical problem.  The 7-wire bundle that goes through the reach, to the pogo, and then to the trailer kept getting ass-holed up whenever the truck and trailer came together and finally wore through the insulation.  Caused all the functions to the trailer to fail.  I was convinced already that the wires had shorted to ground, but two of the guys checked the fuses and they all checked out ok.  Went straight to the loads and found no voltage.  Next spot was right before the exposed electrical - no voltage.  Just to be thorough in working back I checked the trailer plug really quick and the switch for the pup trailer gate, which were real easy to get to.  No voltage.  Scratched my head trying to see if I could remember any more about the circuit boards.  Go to load, no voltage so move back to positive.  Only thing that made sense was a blown fuse, since I knew the problem was caused way down the line where I was getting no voltage at the reach.  Looked down in the fuse box and got birded out quickly by a relay with a see through case.  RAD!  The side said something like "Hot line must be in-line fuse".  Something like that.  Hmmmmmmm.  Pulled the hot line out from its hiding spot and Voila!  A blown fuse :)  Super stoked about being able to prove to the guys there that light testers blow and multimeters rock.
Important lessons to be learned here are:  Everything is one big light board-simple and don't be afraid to bird out.  The answers might just be in it's beak.

Hours:
Total: 124
Weeks: 40

Summer13 Tracy

 Preventative maintenance is the name of the game right now for me.  Every day at 4.30, as soon as lunch is over, trucks roll in and I don my tote, equipped with grease gun and tools for checking diffs, trans, and brakes.  I seem to continuously find bracing and frame bolts loose, like this one here.  Not bad yet, but I could see it stressing the bolts enough to break them over time, especially with how much these trucks are moving.

   Always keep a close eye on brackets, or zip-ties even, that hold air and hydraulic hoses in place.  I pulled this one back for the picture, but it was at the angle shown, which helped me see something might be up.

  Down to the wire, but not frayed... yet.  It bothers me to do so, but I was told to just sleeve it up and move on.

   Meh, just some pesky lighting issues.  The guys thought the reach flashers were fixed.  After I checked the truck and trailer lights, they were very intermittent.  Apparently shaking the wires fixes the problem.
  Take a look at that ground washer I got holding there too.  It's ginormous compared to the ground stud it is fastened to, so I went ahead and changed that out too.  Easy fix for a problem that wont bother us.

   Today I started to tear into a rear end axle on a Case tractor with the goals of rebuilding it using parts from another one sitting in the yard. Trying to have it ready to sell by tomorrow morning.  Unfortunately I wont be there until after it gets finished by another guy, but it was great to get into something.

 Grenade damage of the planetary gears in the hub.

 Lots of wear on the hub.  In a perfect world, we would have the money and time to fix it all completely.  That aint happening.

  Extremely dirty work area for stuff like this.  It can be very frustrating and discouraging at times to not have a clean spot in a big shop like this, but making due is all I can do.








  I think that the most valuable things that I've learned so far from my experience here is what NOT to do.  Cleanliness is vital, pay attention to the small things before they grow into something huge, and patching stuff up only works so long.  Short week this week with the holidays, but showed up nonetheless.

Hours:
Total: 82
This week: 24

SUMMER13 Tracy

Broken I-beam frame that runs the entire length of a side dumper.
Found while greasing, after lead had his walkaround and
approved it.
(flexhard)

   First week at Boss has been busy.  Dealing mostly with their trucks performing PM work, but also getting a fair share of time in on their equipment.  Since I don't start until noon everyday, when 4:30 rolls around the trucks start coming in and I am able to get intimately familiar with each of them.  There's only 6 or 7 so it isn't that difficult.  One thing that sucks is that a majority of the equipment I'm inspecting seems to me to be in need of lots of little repairs that have piled up so tall that each truck would be out days to take care of them all.  One of the most frustrating things, but also a skill I'm learning to develop, is being able to distinguish the difference between what can be sent back out for another run the next day and what needs to be fixed right now.

Truck cost them $1400/day to have sit

   Spent two days early in the week helping Gary with an in-frame.  No service manuals and no desire for online resource caused this truck to be in the shop for 3 more days after just trying to get the timing right for the fuel pump.  Didn't learn any more than I already did.  Threw random bolts at it, no clean work spaces, and no torque specs made for a frustrating experience.

 Here's a quickie resource for me for my brake servicing.  Should come in handy.

   Friday was spent in the field past Sedro Wooley replacing hydraulic hoses on a scraper that Boss sold a farmer as-is.  Lots of the hoses were in need of serious repair.

The setup that Boss has on their scrapers allows the tractor to pull two in series.  The one that Boss sold the farmer did not have this setup but wanted it, so we also put new fittings on the back end so the 14 yarder can now pull a 17 yarder.








  While in Sedro, was able to see Jordan pull out a busted off bolt by welding a slightly oversized nut onto it and simply turning it out.  Thought that was pretty slick.  Ray, the shop manager, has been very diligent about teaching me something new that I want to know more about as often as he can.  I've become a bit more familiar with the torch and much more exposed to welding.  However, everything is go go go, so there's no time for the noob to jump on the stick and bugger everything up.  Hopefully soon I'll get more fab time in.  One thing that I need to remember that Ray told me is when welding on a piece of equipment try to get the ground close as possible to where your welding, for the simple reason that the current to ground can really mess up bearings and such.  Makes sense, just not something I'd thought about.

Hours
Total: 58
Week: 58

Tracy

Sleep tonight


Blog tomorrow

Hours
Week: 58
Total: 58

SPQ13 Tracy J

Wrapping up this quarter was preventative maintenance.  Jeff did some very helpful PM walkarounds that will help me immensely in the future.  I have come to realize how vitally important the lube guy is, as he is the one that is most familiar with equipment and will be the one to have a developed eye for noticing anything that may be on the road to failure.
I did a PM on the 2005 INTL 4300 with a DT466, an Allison 2200HS tranny, and a Spicer rear axle.

The MSDS for the oil was found on the Shell website by searching Rimula Premium Oil.
Filter LF9025
Rimula Premium Oil MSDS #400843L

There is a tag located driver side underhood that specifies exactly the type of oil that it was filled with at the factory as well as what is required for re-fill.  It should be noted that there are multiple API categories, but only the ones that meet or exceed these requirements should be used.

This is straight out of the service manual that points at every part of the truck that requires scheduled preventative maintenance.  I used this as a tool to help my eyes stay focused on what to look for while inspecting the truck.

I counted 17 zerk fittings throughout the truck.

 However, since the brakes are hydraulic and the tranny is automatic I looked at the Kenworth and located the rest of the fittings, which include the ones pictured here that I noticed would be harder to locate.  Especially while creeping under the truck.

Coolant MSDS # 1194E
































Specifics for Belt Maintenance and Schedule

Air Filter indicator
Fleetguard AF257067
















I think that having a good eye for preventative maintenance requires a lot of experience and patience, and is something that I hope to excel at.  It is one of the most important jobs in the shop, if not the most important and should not be overlooked.  Finding a procedure is the most efficient way to go about it.  I started driver side front and looked over the exterior, sweeping into the hood then the cab, and around the truck and back under the hood.  Same process for under the truck.  Allowed me to take my time and not get distracted by bouncing back and forth like I am so prone to do.

Hours
Week: 30
Total: 335

SPQ13 TRACY

Did some hydraulic tests on the Bobcat E32 this week.  Cycle times for bucket curl and dump are 2.7 and 1.9 respectively.  Timed out to 2.4 and 1.6, contributing any error of that small amount to human error in running the stopwatch.

http://youtu.be/2MIvnn3orU4

Another test done was to locate the travel speed of one track in 60 seconds, then calculate and prove it.  Service manual specced the vehicle speed at 2.6 mph in second gear and high rpm.
Calcs:
  2.9mph x 5280ft=15312/60sec=255.2/14.5(track length in feet)=17.6 revolutions in 60 seconds
Proven - 18.25 revolutions counted (give or take some for human error)
  18.25 x 14.5 = 264.6 x 60 = 15877/5280 = 3 mph

http://youtu.be/BhMuCsSBd5E

Also hooked up an electronic psi gauge  to test the pilot pressure relief valve, located on the pilot line manifold.  Since testing requires the hydraulic fluid in the system to be at or above 150 F, we extended the boom out past relief pressure and it only took a few minutes for the fluid to quickly reach proper temp.  Used an infrared thermometer to verify temperature.  Once done, we jacked the rpms to full.  Test called out to engage the bucket curl and fully curl the bucket, with a target psi of 428 and a range of 406-450psi.  Pressure gauge read high 440's psi with a spike to 453 psi.


This past week I have grown very confident in my ability to read and understand hydraulic schematics, the hydraulic system itself, and a majority of its components.  Now that we are capping the quarter off with preventative maintenance, I was outside looking at the shops new Peterbilt and I was better able to understand and follow even things I've gone over before - like the drop down suspension and the small valve body hidden away under the frame.

Hours: 90
Total: 305

SPQ13 TRACY

This week was an accomplishing week.  Buttoned up the hydraulic fitting box exercise.  I am quite a bit more familiar with the fittings than before I started them, but without constant exposure I could see myself forgetting specific names and types as there are so many differences.  The biggest lesson I pulled out of that was a familiarity with looking up the fittings and being able to I.D. them in a book.

I was able to hop on the Bobcat mini-excavator today and stack some tires up.  It was nice to become more comfortable with the controls.  I will be practicing that more and more, and even switching up the controls between standard and iso.

 Jeremy, Gary, and I took apart a variable displacement axial pump this week just to see what was all going on.  It was good to be able to actuate the swashplate and see the pistons.

As we were flipping through the service manual, Jeremy and I got a little more than curious on how the Bobcat can helicopter endlessly and still supply oil to the tracks and the blade.  We found a swivel joint out in the shop and took it apart and found that it is simply a large round stock with holes bored out for supply and return that feed into individual ribs on the side.  The round stock rotates inside a case allowing the fluid to travel down and out, and up and out.  8 lines going in and out: 6 that go to the tracks which include forward and reverse for both right and left as well as a drain and pilot (which I understand from looking at the schematic controls the autoshift), and 2 and go to the blade cylinder.  Being able to skim the service manual, find a swivel joint to take apart, and answer any random questions that came up helped to better understand the schematic that was handed to us today.



The schematic still has many parts that I don't fully understand.  Our table has decided to pick apart the slew motor section which includes a brake.  What I have figured out so far is that the motor is an axial piston motor combined with a planetary gear set, and that the motor is an auto brake.  I was able to trace a pilot line from the brake actuator back down to a tee that has a 2-way check valve.  The 2-way check valve moves either direction depending on the direction that the LH joystick is pushed.  This allows flow to move the pilot activated directional control valve to the open position.  Fluid then flows through the pilot activated directional control valve and fills the chamber inside the brake actuator.  When the force of the spring in the brake actuator is overcome, the brake is released from the motor.  As the joystick is let off, the pilot activated directional control valve closes and the spring forces fluid out and through an orifice and a timer valve, and is then sent to drain line to tank.  I'm still not exactly sure what a timer valve does.  My guess is to control the amount of pressure downstream of the timer valve so that the fluid doesn't go back up the drain line and back up into the motor, but rather continues downstream and ends up in tank.

Still a lot of speculations, theories, and assumptions.  I still have to wrap my mind around how load sensing works in all of this, among many other things.  All in all, I feel like my understanding of hydraulic systems is coming along nicely and I look forward to doing more of it in the coming weeks.

Hours:
Week: 35
Total: 215

SPQ13 Tracy

This past Thursday we went down to B&G Machine in Seattle as a class.  What a sight.  I have never spent time in a shop like that, so it was great to see one that is also an industry leader in what they do.  Out of all the mechanical work they do there, I think that what I took the most out of the tour was B&G's business model.  Johnny talked a lot about making sure that their employees are in line with what they as owners have as goals, both long term and short term.  So much of what he said was plain simple, honest business practices.  Kind of makes me wonder why more shops don't adopt those kinds of philosophies in their business practices.

Johnny showing us how they grind down the cranks

One of the guys showing us a refinishing of a cam

Another guy putting weights on the crank

Cutting the deck.  I think it was only taking off 0.020" at a time 

In the engine shop.  Putting her back together again

In the Dino.  Uses water in a funnel shape, and opens and closes the
funnel to create pressure differential.

Today I attempted to draw out a very simple hydraulic schematic for the new Peterbilt and for a winch/winless that was taken off one of the boats out back.  I feel somewhat comfortable in my skills at reading schematics.  It was a real test in how much I do know as far as hydraulic systems go, but also a real eye opener in how much I don't.  I now know I need to continue focusing on the basics.

Hours
Week: 32
Total: 180