Bearings, Bolts and Gremlins

 The last time we talked about the BSA I was complaining that I lost the bearings for the clutch basket. Twenty of the little suckers and I figured I had lost them during disassembly a few decades ago. I ordered new ones and have that side of the engine buttoned up now. I used new allen head bolts in place of the buggered up phillips head screws that were in there.

 So I figure the next step is to put the engine in the frame because it's already too heavy for me to lift and set in there without damaging the frame paint. I laid the engine on its side and planned on setting the frame over it.

Simple, right? Just grab the engine bolts...now where did I put those bolts? They must be nearby because I only separated the engine and frame a few years ago. I searched for a while and guess what I found?

 Twenty clutch bearings lightly oiled in a sealed container. Good for me to have packed them this way and marked the container. Now why couldn't I find them before I ordered new ones? Sigh. Where are my motor mount bolts? I swear if I buy new bolts and then find the old ones I'm gonna be real pissy.

 I think I'm gonna go on an all out cleaning mission in my shop. I'll touch everything. Some stuff will be put away and a lot will be tossed in the garbage. I think if I touch it I'll remember that it hit file 13 and then I won't spend hours searching for something that isn't there. We'll see how it goes when it comes time to actually throw the stuff away.

Later.

Next Project-Continued

 Those that follow know I'm adding a hooded sprayer system to a stand on spreader/sprayer machine. Those that are new here, welcome and where the hell have you been? Click the "hooded sprayer" link in the first line to get caught up. I'll pick up where I left off.

 Above pic is the completed mount. I built it this way to spread the forces from the hood evenly across the frame of the machine. At least it seems that way in my head. The hole will accept an old wheel bearing that Al saved for me. Yes uncle Tommy, these came out of the caravan.

I removed the studs and flush cut the face of the hub so I could weld a receiver bar on it.

 The receiver bar will accept the frame for the hood. This will also serve as my quick disconnect point.

 A little more detail in case you plan on building one yourself :-) There really isn't much weight here so the plates I used for hinges will work just fine. If they slop out after a year or so I'll just drill them out to the next size bolt.
 One thing I worried about was attaching this hood to the sprayer and then someone (oh anyone I suppose) running into a solid object and damaging the frame or transaxle of the stand on unit. I'm no engineer but I think the upright bar that's in the receiver is the weak link and will bend first before any other damage is incurred. That piece would be easy enough to duplicate in a pinch. The other thing we have going for us is that the stand on is articulated. If the hood takes a glancing blow the machine will kinda fold in half and give the operator time to back out of the throttle. At least it seems that way in my head.

 This pic is pretty much the completed unit, at least as far as fabricating goes. It needs some wiring for the foamer and all the plumbing to the spray nozzles and foamer heads. A few other details like some solenoids to control flow to the left or right foam head and a flow meter to monitor spray nozzle health. I think we may also add a water level gauge for the main chemical tank too.
 I ran it around the yard just to see how it handles and I think we'll be happy with this unit.

Later.

Next Project

 No bike related news today except that it may get warm enough for a ride later. Yea!

I've talked about how part of my job is doing turf pesticide applications. I know, you're thinking, "No, not more of this fert and squirt crap". Anyway, every year I set a goal of doing one new thing to become more efficient at pesticide apps. One year it was adding a foam marker system to the tractor sprayers. Another year I added hose reels. You get the idea. I've done this every year for as long as I've been at this and it has allowed us to be quite competitive and successful.  This year, just by chance, I've come up with two, count em, two ways to be more efficient.  The first involves the bullshit paperwork end of the business. After an application we are required to leave behind certain info for the customer.  We do this with a laptop and portable printer but we don't use one of those fancy expensive software programs. We use a form that I created and manually enter all the customer info and then enter the numbers for that application. This involved filling out hundreds of forms that are "saved as" today's date then filed appropriately. What a pain in the ass but I don't want or need a fancy schmancy program that costs a bunch of coin or has monthly fees and does shit I'll never use.

 What I've done this year is edjumacate myself on creating a database and how to add formulas to my form. Probably basic stuff for the youngsters or people with formal computer training. I am neither young nor trained but I'm happy to report my form now auto fills a bunch of boxes after selecting a customer. It also does the calculations for product used based on the pre-measured size of the property and rate of application(oz,qt,gal, lb) per (square feet, acre). There are a few other mods that will speed up the process and my arm is sore from patting myself on the back.

 Many of our customers have traditionally been the ones with large lawns. Our big tractors and hooded sprayers make short work of these. Most of our customers also like that we spray under hoods. I like that too. A few years ago we picked up a stand on sprayer/fertilizer. These units are smaller than our tractors and fit well on small lawns. They work quite well for granular fertilizing lawns but they use a single open spray nozzle with a very fine pattern for liquid apps. I don't like this and really only use it to do cemeteries where I can spray over headstones and then not have to follow up and trim spray. Our smaller residential customer base has expanded and I hate taking a huge tractor on a small lawn. Customers don't like it much either. The other options are to use a spray hose and walk it out or use the open tip stand-on I just talked about. I don't mind walking but that method doesn't work as well as the mist under a hood that gets all parts of a plant leaf wet with chemical. So if you follow all this then maybe you figured out that I am going to put a single spray hood on our stand on sprayer. We recently picked up another stand on so its ok to bastardize this one.

 This is the single hood we purchased.The machine already has a tank, pump, filter, switching, plumbing and hand wand. 

 Basically I'm building the mounting point for a spindle that will attach the hood and allow it to rock left and right and hinge up and down. It should float along the contours of the lawn. More details as they become available.

Later.

Workshop Wednesday-Winch Update

 You may remember a post about a winch we built at work to use as a skid loader attachment. It turned out to be one of those projects that works pretty good on the first effort. So far it has been used to do the logging project it was built for, recovery of an off road bucket lift that was stuck in the mud, and dragging pallets out of semi trailers so they can be forked off. A handy tool to have around and it gets the Greasy Shop Rag stamp of approval.

Later.

GoPro Tough!

 I told you about the Ebling back blade we put on my plow truck at work. My goal was to get some footage of this blade in action and put it on our company web page. Sometimes things work out as planned and sometimes they go to crap. The first video recorded just fine. Here is the second video I took. There is nothing wrong with your video, there are a few blank pauses in the clip.

 I ended the video "gopro tough" but the fact of the matter is the camera is shot. I'm sure the designers didn't plan on their product being monster trucked numerous times by a Ford F550 with two blades and a couple tons of salt on board, but it actually held up better than it should have. The camera powers up but the display is half blank, half burnt. That means I can't change any settings. I thought maybe I could connect via the remote app on my phone but the camera no longer syncs with it or with the smart remote. And, the real killer, the camera gets suspiciously warm as soon as I put the battery in it. Yikes! Rest in peace (pieces) GoPro.

Later.

Big Gun

 I'm enjoying the sun and warmth we've been blessed with lately. It has brought me out of a slump and really lifted my spirits. So much so that I've found myself doing odd things. When I perused my phone for pics to write a blog about, I found a video I forgot taking. The other day the sun was so inviting that I was compelled to film it. Not much of an action film, just me feeling good about the day.

 I know winter isn't over and the forecast is for some real crap weather this weekend but these past warm days are in the books and you can't take them away from me. I'm writing this at 5:30 a.m. and it's 42 degrees and starry with a forecast set to break records in the 60's. I'll be taking the sporty to work. The few days of riding that I got in here in February will carry me through till spring.

Later.

Record High?

 It usually happens at least once each winter, a day when temps get warm enough to justify rolling the bike out of the living room and take it for a frigid ride. Yesterday was such a day but it was special. Temps have been above normal all week and the roads are clear of snow and ice. We were set to break a record 50 degree high and those of us that ride were excited!
 I slept in till dang near seven thirty. I knew there was no reason to rush things as there would still be over night refreeze of melted snow piles that wash across the roads. After going through my morning ritual, pushing the bike out the front door was no big deal and took only a few minutes. I cleaned up a small oil spot on the wooden floor and we rearranged the living room furniture to "summer" mode.

 The bike got the usual once over to include fluid levels, air pressure and such. The only issue was a sticky carb float that fixed itself with a little persuasion from a hammer. After the bike was warmed up I threw a leg and started rolling away. As I pulled out of my drive I noticed a realtor across the street giving me a dirty look as a family was getting out of their car to look at the house for sale. All eyes were on me for some reason and this would have been a good place for a smokey burnout or wheelie, but as I stated in January, I was gonna try to be less of a dick head this year and I thought about that as I gingerly accelerated away.
 The bike ran pretty good for a 28 year old machine and hauled me about ten miles before I remembered I only added a splash of fuel that morning. While at the gas station another patron commented about how unusual it was to see a bike out in February. I looked at the boat he was towing and told him the same could be said about his boat and asked where he thought he was gonna float that thing today. He chuckled and said it was going to the dealer to be traded in. I quickly suggested he trade it in on a bike because it was a beautiful day for a ride. That didn't go over well as he stated he'd seen way too many people die on bikes. I wasn't in the mood for his debbie downer bullshit so I just commented that I'd bet the cause of death to those bikers was probably never from drowning. I thumbed the starter and rode off, I mean wtf? Nobody ever died in a boating accident?

 A quick stop for a selfie and to check ice conditions.

 It was pretty obvious I wasn't getting across that heave on the sporty. Good thing because I needed an excuse not to go out and do something stupid.

 I guess the sporty gobbled up much of that tank of fuel as I wandered around three counties just enjoying the bright sunshine. I stopped a few times just to stretch and kick some mud around. It was nice to step on some soil that wasn't frozen.
 I had been sick all week and was just starting to feel better and didn't want to jeopardize that, so I found myself at home earlier than expected. While dinking around in my shop, my wife came in and announced that a wall hanging had fallen and we needed a new sticky-back hanger. The nearest hardware store is almost twenty miles away so...back on the bike!

Later.