Daily carnage thread

[Rhodemont]

Not my carnage but almost:  This morning on the way in to work a semi truck with VT plates loaded with logs pulled out just in front of me from what I believe is going to be a solar farm. Looked like a lot of small junk pine. We do not see many logging trucks here in RI. Just at the underpass to I 95 the top couple logs slid off into the road in front of me and half of the remaining stack was balancing off the back.  The driver hoped out and started to try and roll the logs off the road.  My first thought was to  help but then decided that was a bad idea.  He was going to be there a while until some equipment came to straighten things out.  good ting he never made it to the highway.

[Satamax]

Guys, that's a very specialized hydraulic cylinder. The rod is hollow, and has a tube inside. At the end of the rod, there is a metal piece, with two outlets, with metal tubes which are linked to the second cylinder. 

The two are in series.

Look at how the fly jib extends.

Palfinger 34002-SH E with JIB - YouTube

[newoodguy78]

 

 

 Pulled in the other day after getting rained/blown out of the field to find this about had the big one. Guess this really belongs in a got lucky thread 2 1/2 feet in either direction and about 8 thousand in pumps would have been flattened. We're looking into upgrading our pump situation but some glad we weren't forced into it ;D

[mike_belben]

Oof.  


Day after i got my king quad i laid a tree on it.  Lucky the dozer track minimized it.  

High cost of "self-taught." 

[Don P]

I loaded up the trailer a couple of weeks ago and something sounded bad when I pulled out. Broken equalizer between spings, the opposite side had a broken U bolt and the axle had slid back on that side. As I looked it over the axle tubes were pretty badly rusted, hangers were worn. It needed new running gear. About 2 grand of parts arrived this week and I welded enough to get it back last night at a crawl.

We flipped it this morning and commenced the destruction.


 
I forgot to get a picture but by the end of the day it had new spring hangers welded on, springs, shckles and new equalizers and we got the seats welded on one axle and got it mounted, hopefully we can flip it sunny side up tomorrow, although a slathering of rustoleum under there would be a good thing.

[mike_belben]

 Literally $2,000 usd?!

[Don P]

Yup, ain't nuthin cheap right now, including freight. Basically everything from there down. I went ahead and changed over from mobile home to 6 bolt hubs, wheels and tires, new brakes etc. I still need to get wiring and redo that, and protect it better. I might expand the old rough holes enough to slide Pex through the frame... I'm seeing another coupla days thinking about it but it should be basically a new trailer, with old decking  :D. The old stuff is looking like the beginnings of a farm use sawdust/shavings bin.

Funny thing was as we measured from the hitch back to put the new hangers on it had been originally built with the axles dog tracking about 3/4".

[Tacotodd]

It sounds like it (the trailer) needs an alignment. I guess they're ways to do that, but I don't know how you'd go about it, other than trial & error. If anyone knows, please speak up.

[mike_belben]

You just stringline em off the hitchball.  Dont even need measurements really.  Just visegrip a string in the middle of the coupler and cut it to length for the far axle.. Swing from side to side using a consistent point like perch or backing plate.  Adjust axle based on the string and not on squareness, tack it up. Do the front axle, tack it in and now go nuts trying to prove anything is out of trail.  It doesnt matter if the deck rides straight behind the body of the truck so much as that tires are all inline or theyll chew apart.  My old 8 wheeler 4 axle tag will kill a new tire in 2 thousand miles because they were all welded outta wack. 


 Its common to square axles off a framerail not realizing theyve welded up a parallelogram.  

Obviously the goal is everything square, inline with the tow unit and excellent tire life.  The tire life is most important imo. 


@don  ive gotten very good service life out of romex main wiring and wirenuts with dielectric grease at the lights.  Every 5 years or so just trim off an inch, restrip, new wirenut.  I use the ground conductor instead of steel grounding.  That never lasts long.  

[Don P]

That's basically what we did, measured from the hitch to the center, equalizer hanger on each side, then forward and back for the spring hangers. It also went from 33" axle centers to 35" just based on the parts I got.

I tacked some conduit along the frame rails, patched and spliced the wiring and slid it through the conduit. Just wire nutted the brakes to try them. It was getting ready to rain again, raining now, so just put it back on all fours. Didn't get paint on it but I'll dangle it from the Lull at some point and get to that. I'll go down in a bit and finish getting the lights going.



 

 

There it is. It sits several inches higher than it did, hopefully the ramps still work. It'll go out with about 1500' of white pine siding tomorrow. BTW, 2 similar loads of pine green from the saw, one right into the kiln, 5 days of fans on the second load cut 2 days off the kiln time. Free water  :D. 

[mike_belben]

Completely new axles? 

[moodnacreek]

You just stringline em off the hitchball.  Dont even need measurements really.  Just visegrip a string in the middle of the coupler and cut it to length for the far axle.. Swing from side to side using a consistent point like perch or backing plate.  Adjust axle based on the string and not on squareness, tack it up. Do the front axle, tack it in and now go nuts trying to prove anything is out of trail.  It doesnt matter if the deck rides straight behind the body of the truck so much as that tires are all inline or theyll chew apart.  My old 8 wheeler 4 axle tag will kill a new tire in 2 thousand miles because they were all welded outta wack.


Its common to square axles off a framerail not realizing theyve welded up a parallelogram.  

Obviously the goal is everything square, inline with the tow unit and excellent tire life.  The tire life is most important imo.


@don  ive gotten very good service life out of romex main wiring and wirenuts with dielectric grease at the lights.  Every 5 years or so just trim off an inch, restrip, new wirenut.  I use the ground conductor instead of steel grounding.  That never lasts long.  

Run wires down both sides of trailer; tail lights both sides, brakes, both sides, r/h turn, right side and l/h turn, left side. Solder everything and shrink tube. Truck recepticle use tractor trailer [7 pin[ style mounted in bumper, not under or behind wheel , rubber boot, sealed. Will last 30 years.

[Don P]

Yes, new axles, the rust on the old tubes was pretty serious, its all new from the spring hangers down. I should have pulled diagonal measures but yes it i slightly out of square. Not enough that I had ever noticed it but I'm sure they did what Mike was saying and either squared off the long rail or measured back from the angled corner rather than from the hitch when they set the axles originally. It rode, well, it rode like an empty tandem axle trailer  :D. It is a well built thing, 6"x1/4" C channel perimeter with 4" C channel inside to support the deck. I really should upsize to a 2-5/16" hitch, it's just a 2" on it now. I've had it for over 20 years and if it makes it another 20 it'll probably be at the big auction.

 I like the idea of running the wiring down both sides. I pretty much just patched the wiring and protected it better with some conduit. I've snagged it in the brush and had cows strip the wiring on one job, copper thieves :D.  It is a 7 pin plug. It's all running down one side and crossing at the axles, through the front axle tube and then across the back for the lights. It had brakes on just one axle before, I got brakes for both, those wires are gonna be the weak link for damage. I'll pull new wire and probably go to LED lights when I do that. Those aren't that old but the sockets are corroded. The 4" pipe surround on the lights are pretty good protectors but I've still managed to bust lenses a time or two with sticks backing up to load logs in the brush.

[mike_belben]

Alright the price makes more sense now.  


The 7k torflex axle i ejected out of the GN near albany was an obsolete $1100 custom build replacement quote, a year before covid.. I bet its near $2k and a forever wait now.   The current ones have replaceable splindles but mine are welded.  I got one out clean and still need to do the other.  Then find a pair of weld in stubs, make both angle brackets, and go up yonder to put it back in the trailer.  


Thats what i get for maxxing everything out.

[Don P]

It was a tossup whether to put it here or in "Did something dumb today" :D


 

My partner decided to check out the undercarriage the easy way today. When he came walking up and we went to go look my first reaction was "I know a guy with a crane. I never thought the Lull had that much grunt in it. They are each about 10 tons.



 
Ahh this is why we got into slabs.


Just another day at work  :D



 

So that is where we left it at about 6:30 this evening. I drug it, we haven't fired it up. What do I need to check/do prior to hitting the key?

[thecfarm]

First thing I would check, where's the battery? Is it still in the correct place? Check all fluids. Too much, too little. All mixed up, contaminated?

[mike_belben]

Is that groundwater where the cage is in pic1 ?

[Don P]

You mean in the roof impact crater, oh yeah  :D, it is a bog. I was nervous taking the Lull down there.

Good thinking on the Battery. I was going to let everything settle overnight, check fluids, probably remove the sump plug and make sure just oil is coming out.

[mike_belben]

Look and see if the injection pump has its own little dipsticks. One of my old boschs does, one for the plunger section and one for the governor.  If it flipped it would probably leak out and the engine does not supply.

[barbender]

I've seen a rod sent through the side of a block before from that situation. Oil gets past the piston ring when they are submerged when the engine is laying sideways. If you're lucky, that piston will be at or near tdc when you hit the key. If not, and another cylinder fires first and sends the oiled piston up at full force, there's no where for the oil to go and you get the rod through the block surprise. You can turn it over by hand first to be safe😊

[Don P]

Good thought, it was on its side for about 5 hrs till I could get the Lull over there. I've seen them hydrolock on jobsites before when this happens. Took loosening the injectors to let the oil/water/fuel, whatever, blow out then it ran smokey/rough for a few minutes. Hand turn sounds like a good safe way to check for that.

[Resonator]

Check the exhaust over good. Hopefully just bent the pipe, but look for cracks in the manifold. (And of course for mud plugging the muffler). ;D

[Wudman]

Next question is "What did he run up on to turn it over?"  

Wud

[kiko]

You need to bar the engine over at least four complete revolutions with out it getting locked up before you ever touch the key switch. It really only need two but I feel better with four. Also oil in the intake can cause the engine to run away. 

[Don P]

Thanks for the replies, we turned it over by hand several times with no trouble, checked fluids, added trans, it had popped the dipstick out. Everything else was fine. Luckily the muffler was the only thing bent, below it is good. She fired right up, needs a bath. The lift cylinder on the right side is spooging hydraulic oil, we had done the left side but had a blade dropping problem, well, this might help diagnose it  :D. Need to watch the rod as it moves. I dropped of fluids and did a few minutes of wrenching with him today but spent most of the day cleaning up and moving outta the woods.

As to how it happened, welll, I was needing to move the Lull out of the woods. The road was narrow, off camber muddy and it had rained, oh and it has several vertical drops right alongside it. We decided to get the dozer over there and do a little road work. It is only several hundred yards from his house to the property we were working on but across the blacktop. He loaded up, didn't chain and was just going to crawl over there. As he swung a corner in his back yard the trailer tracked onto some soft ground, tipped a bit and he said when he looked in the mirror it looked like a BB on a dinner plate, slid right off, over an embankement, over the roof and onto its other side. A 3/4 gainer with a sow cow thrown in for good measure  :D. Chain em up every time!