Adventure Tyler

I really enjoyed helping take apart the steering gear box to fully understand how 'stuff' works.  When I was watching the videos on Sheppard, there seemed to be SO much to remember that I kind of got lost in all the tests and things.  As we took the gearbox apart I was able to see how the input shaft would actuate inside the piston.  We went so far as to take all the ball bearings out.
The only way that we could figure out how to get them back in was take some round stock and make some longer all threads out of them.  We then inserted them through the plate that the input shaft goes through and threaded them into the piston housing.  What this accomplished is keep the actuating shaft straight inside the cylinder to allow the bearings to go all the way around.  There were 31, so we needed room.
I never got to do a pressure or flow test on a steering system, but I look forward to finding time next week to doing some of the things over again that we've learned this quarter.

(I hear this guys lookin' for an intern)

Ruts are for driving straight

  This past week or so we did a bunch of stuff on alignment.  Because of my past in residential framing, finding plumb and square in objects that aren't is fairly easy for me.  We used both string lines along with measuring tapes as well as lasers that told you what the toe, camber, and thrust is.  Using the string and tape seemed very archaic, so obviously the lasers were easiest to use and required little to no thought in getting very accurate measurements.  The hardest part when using the strings was measuring the thrust with the string line on a longer rig and not being able to see when the string was touching the front of the rear or intermediate tire.  I'm not sure how to get around that.  I was trying to wiggle the string a bit before bringing it close to the tire, then when it stopped I figured I was 'close'.  The measurements I got when I used both methods varied a lot more than I would be comfortable at.

You had me at diesel

  Aside from some crazy real life stuff these past two weeks have been very interesting at school.  I'm finding that I am not that mechanically inclined as I had hoped.  Some of the basic concepts in the transmissions and torque converters seem to confuse the heck at me as I just sit at a moving diagram of how stuff works, not understanding how stuff works.  It is making school extremely challenging for me.  I love it.

 
  Here I helped some of the guys take apart an axle from a 744 John Deere Loader.  Pretty interesting stuff here.  Turns out it 2950 lbs can really ding a concrete floor.  What I learned these past couple of weeks that I consider to be the most valuable is this:  if working on something heavy, have it as close to the ground as possible.