In charge

At the tractor parade.

At the fair

Tractor showin'

Makin' a good tool great!

A while back I laser cut and welded up this handy little handle for my Jims sprocket shaft bearing/seal driver tool. It did away with the awkward use of a very large adjustable wrench.

°F

Bakin' the corn!

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Proverbs 21:30

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
that can succeed against the Lord .

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Born free 4 update

Thus are my hopes of making Born Free 4!!!! After installing the fresh engine in Caroilne I discovered that one of my old lifter blocks was worn out and two of my hydraulic units were not pumping up. Switched out lifters and bases and went back to the solid conversion. Put on a few miles. The further I went, the noisier she got! Pin pointed racket to the primary, specifically the compensating sprocket. Took primary apart, AGAIN, and discovered that my new rotor was too thin causing the nut to bottom out on sprocket shaft before tightening over splines.  I also managed to cut the o-ring seal into two unequal pieces. Straightened that out only to break one of the flanges off of my starter housing on reassembly and busted the cap off of the starter solenoid white twisting off one of the copper posts. I've made myself a slave in my garage to get my bike going, blew my vacation budget on parts, neglected my family, and ignored the pile of customer bikes I need to be working on. Suffice to say, I don't feel very "Born Free"!! I'm closer than I've ever been to selling an FL Shovel off in parts!! Caroline is a bitch, and I FREAKIN' HATE TROUBLEHEADS!!!

That is all.

At last!!!

It's about freakin' time!!

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Pretty please,

Would someone make one of these out of metal?

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Out with the old,

In with the new. Or in this case, out with the spare, in with the original.

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Sneakin' up on it!

Making it to born free 4 is finally looking like reality. Caroline should have a new heart beat by this time tomorrow.

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Love, hate relationship.

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Born Free 4

It's just around the corner, and this is the engine that is supposed to take me there!! I've got to build it, install it, and break it in before we leave. Someone better pick up the pace!!!

Tools of the trade

I really really really like my tools!

Balancing Act

I spent some time at Williams Precision Engines recently working on a static balancing job on Carolines' fly wheels. I weighed my pistons and found that they were 2 grams different in weight, so I worked some material off of the internal bosses to balance them. I also worked some material off of the wrist pin end of one of my connecting rode to balance the weight of the rods. They started out at 11 grams difference, I was able to bring them within two. Then after weighing out all of my up and down and roundy round parts, I balanced the fly wheels by drilling weight out of the heavy spot. I've probably gone further balancing this engine than I have any other, we'll know soon enough if my efforts were in vain. Over kill you say? I say "like spit in the ocean, every little bit helps.

Work sucks today!!!

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Branching out

Why not, nothin to it but to do it.

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Foiled again!

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Stator plug clearance

After securing the new inner primary to engine locating ring with "Retaining Grade" green Loctite, it is necessary to create clearance for the stator plug. I like to do this after the ring is in place so I can blend the surfaces. Probably not totally necessary and would be very difficult to do without a pencil grinder. In the past I have also put the ring in place, used a carbide tipped scribe to trace the stator plug clearance onto the O.D. of the new ring, and then, using a 4" fender grinder, cut the clearance to the scribe line. Either method is effective.

+.030"

Yep, Carolines' cam bearing failure chewed up her breather gear bore also. Fortunately, I acquired a Jim's tool designed to correct just such an issue. It locates on the dowels that align the cam cover to the cam chest and is retained by four screws. The precision ground bushing positions the reamer over the breather gear bore. A little elbow grease and a few squirts of oil later, and I have a perfectly fit +.030" breather gear.

Next victim

Thank you Taiwan Teddy........

For wasting 4 1/2 hours of my holiday weekend removing chrome from gasket surfaces and bearing diameters!! Only to have the customer tell me, "I think I liked the polished aluminum one better."!!!!!

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Psalm 119:49-52

Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life. The arrogant mock me without restraint, but I do not turn from your law. I remember your ancient laws, O Lord, and I find comfort in them.

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Never Forget

Always remember to thank a soldier for his or her service on this, one of our most important holidays. To all who served, a heart felt THANK YOU!!

Muh Bruddah

He's my home boy, and captures some pretty cool images. Check out his link over on the right in the "Check it out" section.

Heeeeey Shortbus!!!

This summer needs to include lots of days like this!!

Idle hands...

Are the devils playground. At least that's what my grand daddy said. Fortunately, work keeps rollin' in the door. No idle time here!

Redundant much?

Do you suppose the last guy who worked on this had any idea that was actually a lock tab that he smashed with a flat washer and a lock washer before safety wiring the bolts?!?

Sheared imperfection

This guy wanted the mid control shift linkage removed from his inner primary after having switched to forward controls. He says "Oh yeah, I think my clutch was slipping. Can you check that out?" Some people just are not meant to ride Troubleheads!