Stuff you have fixed today

[awemawson]

This time it was the turn of the Halfords 2.5 ton Trolley Jack

I needed this the other day to support the lower end of the Ford 4000 spindles that I rebuilt but it was still sitting on the shelf where I'd thrown it in disgust several years ago when it let me down. A long time ago and pre-covid I can't even remember what I was jacking up, but it was more than it could cope with, and the pair of side frames bent like bananas !

So I thought I'd dismantle it and see if I could beat them back to shape on the anvil.l No chance, too springy and I didn't want to heat them in the forge or I'd lose what ever properties the steel had. So I asked my 60 ton Epco garage press for a bit of help. Worked a charm, a few judicious squashes and what was previously a banana shape began to look much more civilized.

Putting it all back together all seems well. I'd not trust it to work under, but then you should never work under an item only supported by a trolley jack.

No 'before' pictures I'm afraid, I forgot !

 

[RobCox]

It's taken more than a day to complete this, but I've finished degreasing, wire wheeling, paint spraying and reassembling this nice little "Ixion" pillar drill. To say this thing is vintage is an understatement - it has been in my parents' shed for as long as I can remember and probably belonged to my step-grandfather before that, so I'm guessing it's 70-80 years old. It looked like this a week ago:

It now looks a bit tidier, having been stripped into component parts, degreased (ugh!) and tarted up including a nice new beechwood handle:

I only found out how the feed mechanism worked a week ago! The spindle is driven by the handle and the flywheel at the top is driven by a 10tpi ACME thread off the top of the spindle. If the flywheel rotates slower than the spindle, the spindle feeds down and an adjustable plunger resisting flywheel rotation sets the downward drill pressure, so it self-feeds down with constant drilling pressure.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

It's taken more than a day to complete this, but I've finished degreasing, wire wheeling, paint spraying and reassembling this nice little "Ixion" pillar drill. To say this thing is vintage is an understatement - it has been in my parents' shed for as long as I can remember and probably belonged to my step-grandfather before that, so I'm guessing it's 70-80 years old. It looked like this a week ago:

View attachment 463821

It now looks a bit tidier, having been stripped into component parts, degreased (ugh!) and tarted up including a nice new beechwood handle:

View attachment 463822

I only found out how the feed mechanism worked a week ago! The spindle is driven by the handle and the flywheel at the top is driven by a 10tpi ACME thread off the top of the spindle. If the flywheel rotates slower than the spindle, the spindle feeds down and an adjustable plunger resisting flywheel rotation sets the downward drill pressure, so it self-feeds down with constant drilling pressure.

They are great drill.
I have a few myself.
I know a grumpy human who has a few gathering dust.

 

[Keithmac]

2002 R1150gs.

Gearbox oil contaminated clutch disk at 36,000 miles.

Madness really!, 4 hours in and just got clutch in bits.

I wouldn't have taken it on but customer is a lovely chap and he's waited 2 months for a slot so fairs fair..

 

[Beanwood]

2002 R1150gs.

Gearbox oil contaminated clutch disk at 36,000 miles.

Madness really!, 4 hours in and just got clutch in bits.

I wouldn't have taken it on but customer is a lovely chap and he's waited 2 months for a slot so fairs fair..View attachment 463904View attachment 463905View attachment 463906View attachment 463907View attachment 463908View attachment 463909View attachment 463910View attachment 463911

I feel your pain - when the splines stripped on the driven plate for no apparent reason on my own1150GS....

 

[Gragson]

Folks house, couple of jobs, first garage door which one of the sprung arm plates had come away along with some channel and angle (ancient door in dangerous state so priority) Had a look before, took compressor air riveter and kitchen sink thinking it would be an ass of a job, half hour on the job all SS riveted up, jobs good.

Next kitchen draw fronts come off, Brum make, what a total PITA to work out how to release the captured screw brackets to attach to the draw front via a hidden release mech, clever but the designer wants flogging - 2 hours to put 4 screws in - easy WHEN you know how I guess..

No fuming pics I'm afraid

 

[GRW]

2002 R1150gs.

Gearbox oil contaminated clutch disk at 36,000 miles.

Madness really!, 4 hours in and just got clutch in bits.

I wouldn't have taken it on but customer is a lovely chap and he's waited 2 months for a slot so fairs fair..View attachment 463904View attachment 463905View attachment 463906View attachment 463907View attachment 463908View attachment 463909View attachment 463910View attachment 463911

I did a 2001 R1150R clutch for a mate (stripped splines). I'd not done one before, but had (have) a Haynes manual.

I ignored the steps though to remove the shaft drive & swing arm, and just split & separated thr engine & gearbox.... a bit like splitting a tractor.

Maybe not the recommended practice, but it worked fine & cut a fair chunk of time & aggro. IIRC I left the rear wheel on, and jacked/chocked under the 'box & just moved it back enough to swap out the clutch.
(I seem to recall aligning the clutch by doing up the bolts just tight enough for the pressure plate to grip the clutch plate, then wiggling the box on to align it. I then tightened the pressure plate bolts through the starter motor aperture).

 

[GRW]

Today I removed and replaced the chainring, chain and cassette on my Whyte E160RS e-MTB.
I expected it to bring a lot more faff and awkward tbh - where it was actually very easy indeed to remove the crank arm, locking ring and chainring.

 

[Gregb23]

New front pads on the Hyundai and brakes bled all round. Used a pressure bleeder, what a revelation! Had a fight previously bleeding and the two person method is a faff when no one else is around. Brakes feel like new again.

 

[Keithmac]

I did a 2001 R1150R clutch for a mate (stripped splines). I'd not done one before, but had (have) a Haynes manual.

I ignored the steps though to remove the shaft drive & swing arm, and just split & separated thr engine & gearbox.... a bit like splitting a tractor.

Maybe not the recommended practice, but it worked fine & cut a fair chunk of time & aggro. IIRC I left the rear wheel on, and jacked/chocked under the 'box & just moved it back enough to swap out the clutch.
(I seem to recall aligning the clutch by doing up the bolts just tight enough for the pressure plate to grip the clutch plate, then wiggling the box on to align it. I then tightened the pressure plate bolts through the starter motor aperture).

Customer wanted all the seals replacing and it was all covered in oil so I took it to bits in chunks as I wanted gearbox easy to work on really.

If it was just a cluch disk as you say a lot easier just to chop it in half!.

 

[T5 TDI]

Cut this hole for a mains socket in my kitchen with a standard (dry) angle grinder. They are porcelain tiles and quite brittle. Took 4 attempts.

 

[badabec]

Stop counting after it is fitted.

 

[MattF]

Tidied the edges of this stainless hotplate up today.



They'd left the edges as cut by the plasma. The ends had nastily sharp edges. Used a file to get the front edge something like, then finished off with the 12V die grinder jobbie on the rest.

Some crap photo's of the edges. A before, (the ends were much more raggy):



& an after:



Not perfect, by any stretch, but I didn't want to remove any more metal than necessary. Put a minute bevel on the corners with this:



At least now the edges don't look dog rough & aren't sharp.

Thanks to @Hood for checking whether a file would work. That prompted me to finally get round to whipping it off & sorting it.

 

[Keithmac]

R1150GS all back together, quick ride on Saturday and it was picked up same day.

RD250 came in with excessive smoke from exhaust.

Drained oil out of geabox and took exhausts off. Ran it for 10 minutes and smoke cleared up..

Found the smoking gun but technically it is a crankcase split to fit a new seal, a lot of labour.

Said I would try and work a way out to press a modified seal in but no guarantee it will work (got 3 seals on the way).

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This came my way yesterday.

it was complete, but the mantle was in a poor state.



Even the pump cup washer was good.

I had a look and it looks like some one recently had used new seals. But the mantle was fitted wrong.

Washed the tank out and did the water leak in a bucket of water, no leaks on the air pressure side.


So new mantle, fresh lamp oil.

Ignore the one on the right, it was the other donated one, but has a air leak.

 

[Bobupndown]

Clutch change on my son's Peugeot 108. Release bearing was getting a bit grumbly and the pedal bite point was very high.
Although this is a small car with a relatively light gearbox it's still an awkward brute to wrestle back up into place on your back on the floor.
I really do need to get a twin post ramp, that and a transmission jack would have made this job so much easier.

 

[RWD3M]

Clutch change on my son's Peugeot 108. Release bearing was getting a bit grumbly and the pedal bite point was very high.
Although this is a small car with a relatively light gearbox it's still an awkward brute to wrestle back up into place on your back on the floor.
I really do need to get a twin post ramp, that and a transmission jack would have made this job so much easier. View attachment 464438View attachment 464439

I recently did a Mk7 Fiesta and whilst I was expecting similar I was surprised to find that Ford had provided a bolt hole for a lifting etye in exactly the right place. That and the engine crane made the job almost pleasurable!

 

[Turbo]

Clutch change on my son's Peugeot 108. Release bearing was getting a bit grumbly and the pedal bite point was very high.
Although this is a small car with a relatively light gearbox it's still an awkward brute to wrestle back up into place on your back on the floor.
I really do need to get a twin post ramp, that and a transmission jack would have made this job so much easier. View attachment 464438View attachment 464439

I've a very heavy 6 speed box to swap in my van. No lift so jacks and axle stands only, not looking forward to it.

 

[GRW]

I recently did a Mk7 Fiesta and whilst I was expecting similar I was surprised to find that Ford had provided a bolt hole for a lifting etye in exactly the right place. That and the engine crane made the job almost pleasurable!

Think the last clutch I did was years ago on a 1985 Fiat Panda. IIRC I was able to lift the gearbox out by hand, out of the top of the engine bay by grabbing hold of the cable clutch actuator arm.
It wasn't as heavy as I was expecting (just as well cos I had no lifting gear)

 

[Smouser]

The bottom 'cap' or impeller casing of my Semco mill's coolant pump is cracked.

To prevent it from breaking apart completely, I decided to make a cap fitting over the original part.
I had some material in my stock cabinet which looked like it could be suitable for a simple fix.

I got to use my biggest drill bit, a 2" monster.

I then used a boring bar to get the correct inside diameter.

Test fit.

I then parted the cap off.

Installed back onto the pump.

I have not tested the pump yet, but, I am sure it will work just fine.

As a bonus, I used the remaining part of the stock that was still in the lathe to make a replacement cover or 'lid' for another coolant pump which had a damaged cover.