Looking HARD at purchasing a 100T portable track pin press......anybody use one and have thoughts??

[Monkeywithawrench]

Turned 900 RPM, had twin fuel injection pumps per cylinde

Our engines were set for 800 rpm..............maybe 820 rpm rack trip out for overspeed. We cruised at 720 rpm. We had a couple of shaft generators set behind the reduction gears. That was beautiful, because we could shut down the scream'in detroits gen sets. It was such a relief to be able to switch to shaft gensets after we were offshore and stretched out (barge on a long wire). Cool the gensets down at idle and then such satisfaction shutting them down. A kind of peace settled over the whole boat. Firing up one of the detroits in the middle of a cruise, without being close to an expected port...........that was usually a good sign of trouble and caused the whole boat to turn out. If we got into the crap and needed to slow to a jog or a walk to keep the barge from getting beat to bad then we had to fire the gensets up. Amazing how tuned in you got to a boat and its usual noise, shudders, and vibrations.
Was that an upper or lower rod that broke?? Still remember setting up the chainfalls for the up crank removal. Used 6 of them spread along that crank, marking the vertical drive, disconnecting all 10 rods...................10 cylinders.............20 pistons!!!
We didn't have problems with fuel dilution because we just burned No. 2 fuel. Changing out an injector was pretty easy.........as I recall........just pull the old one, put the new one in, and set the shim height with the pump stroke gauge...............only easy if you know how to do it. Man..........I haven't thought this much about those engines in a long time. Fairbanks Morse.........suck, squirt, squish, bang, blow...........repeat hundreds of times a minute!! Those engines were just about bullet proof. We had made a run up to Levi, Quebec through the St. Lawerence. Coming back we had exhaust gas coming out of the FW expansion tank. Cracked liner............kept getting worse as we chugging south. Company wanted us to keep going, because if stopped in O'Canada again then that meant a pilot in and out of whatever harbor we chose, shipping agents, and dealing with customs. Finally talked them (das company) into letting us stop in Shelburne, Nova Scotia to change out the liner. We were heading down to Pascagoula, Mississippi from O'canada. Ahhh..........good times...........ohhh, we had really crap weather forecast for going across the gulf of Maine...............hence, NO WAY, JOSE!! We stop and fix!!LOL
Joke I usually played on the new guys. Mid watch........put survival suit on.........show up in pilot house ......."I've got good news and bad news.......whadda wanna hear first??" The good news!! "Ok...........the fires in the engine room are being put out!!" what's the BAD news??!!! "We're sinking!! That's what's putting the fires out!!" Quick shine of the flashlight on my chest showing the bright orange gumby suit............"I'll see you guys back at the life raft. Last one out don't forget the EPIRB!!" LOL

 

[John C.]

I can't remember for sure anymore but I think they were eight cylinder. I was told the double fuel pumps were to ensure the engines could take the startup load that would hit them in a reactor fill.

You bring back some memories though talking about the feel of the ship. Our berthing was above and to the back of the aft engine room. Most everyone would wake up when something changed.

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

I can't remember for sure anymore but I think they were eight cylinder. I was told the double fuel pumps were to ensure the engines could take the startup load that would hit them in a reactor fill.

You bring back some memories though talking about the feel of the ship. Our berthing was above and to the back of the aft engine room. Most everyone would wake up when something changed.

RIGHT!!!! Amazing how in tune you became to the boat........your home. Just remembered some fun moments, thinking back......
We'd get in the gulf stream and the flying fish would be everywhere. At night, they seemed to get confused and aim for the deck lights on the boat. If it was nice out, people would leave there portholes open to get some air into their cabins. A few times, we'd scoop one of the wayward fliers and toss them into a cabin or 2. It seemed more often than not, the crew member whom we'd played the gag on would sleep right through the flapping of the fish on their bunk or in their cabin. They'd usually find it at watch change. It was hard keeping a straight face in the galley when they were telling you all about it.

I think Fairbanks had 6,8, 10, and 12 cylinders. Pretty sure about the 6's and 8's (you confirmed this on the 8's). Definitely had the 10's. I was told they used the 10's in WW2 subs. And the I think I remember reading in a manual about the 12's.
A 50-100 rpm change would bring people up out and pretty quickly. If it were rough out, then not so worrisome. FACTTR (Flat Ass Calm Teeny Tiny Ripples........a real log book entry for both engine room and pilot house.........I can't think of who invented that..........but it stuck forever) If it were smooth and nice, engine rpm changes would bring you up and out to see what was going on. Now keep in mind.......we're usually offshore whatever the best route and currents are. Heading S we followed the TV route, catching back eddies off the gulf stream. Coming N, we stayed right in the heart of the gulf stream way offshore.

I'll take you up on that track book, thank you!! I'll PM you after the weekend.

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

Ok...............so after mulling, stewing, and analyzing..........I finally pulled the trigger on a 100T pin press from WTC machinery. I was in a quandry over getting the 100T press or the 150T press. 150T press was $5-6k more.
I talked it over with a couple of my buddies. That really didn't help........."Yeah, 100T would be GREAT!! But it would nice to have the 150T in case you ever need it........." So I took a week or so and dwelled upon it. Monday the sales rep called. I got more info out of him on that call than I had the other 4 phone conversations I had with him. I was so pissed that I was going on Linked In looking for someone else in the company to talk to.
I asked him in the intitial coversations, which track press they sold the most.............his answer was "Well, it all depends on your needs........" How to dance around the subject. He gave more ambiguous answers to my other questions.
Yesterday he called and gave definitive answers to my questions. I told him flat out, this is the best conversation we've had in all the times we have talked. Don't be ambigous and give people answers.
He told me yesterday that they move more 100T units than anything else............after I asked him for a 3rd time in the 4 different phone calls.
Anyway..........I can feel my heart rate going up thinking about the previous calls.........its on order.
I'll post pics when it shows up.

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

So the 100T Ball Joint press shipped Friday..............according to tracking, will arrive at the terminal on Weds. Sadly, with this heat we've been having.........not looking forward to it showing up. Just means more bull work of taking tracks apart.............been busy cleaning condensers and stuffing 134 back into them. Gotta keep the meat linkage cool otherwise the heat disconnects it from the controls and you get error messages!!LOL

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

Well...............I picked up the 100T press yesterday afternoon. Is it sad that I felt kinda like a kid at Christmas morning??? I unstrapped the press and box of fittings in the yard of the freight company, inspected quickly, then loaded it up into the truck. It was kind of funny. A guy brought the pallet out to the truck and positioned himself right behind the back bumper with it 3 ft in the air. He looked at the mess in the back (I hadn't made room yet) and asked "Where do you want it??" I told him just put it on the ground, I'll be all set. "How are you going to get it into the back of the truck??" I have a crane. "But its too heavy to lift and get it into the truck by yourself?? I'll just slide it as far as I can with the forklift" I have a crane. "Did you want to unstrap it and then put it in without the pallet?? I think we can do that." I have a crane. Just put it on the ground please. It took a while but I finally conveyed I didn't need the forklift.

So I got the kit home, pulled out the hydraulic pump and hoses after looking it over. Started coupling up the hoses.........the fitting for the retract cylinder was in there hand tight. Started looking further...............bolts not screwed all the way in...........WTF. Ok, we treat this like a Harbor Freight tool. Go over and check every nut and bolt. Tightened the hydraulic fitting, the extend fitting was tight, tightened all the other bolts..........the bolts for the ram were loose too. The bolt (1/2" x 13) to hold the receiving collar wouldn't screw all the way in. But someone had put some ooommph into tightening that. The bolt came out all burred up. Chased the bolt hole with a tap. I didn't have another 2 1/2" x 1/2" bolt to replace that one. Chased thread on bolt with a die.
NOW.............WOOHOO............We're ready!! Put some juice to her!! Extended the ram to its limits, brought pressure up to 9k psi.............no leaks!!
Retract ram........bottomed her out............ran pressure up........4k..........5k............6k............needle bouncing........WTF. There is a pressure relief valve next to the retract fitting. Nothing in the manual regarding what the setting is. I had ASSUMED it would be 10k psi. Keep in mind........I've been studying this manual so I could know it when the unit showed up!!! So the pressure relief valve vents to atmosphere.........the brand new manual sitting on the back bumper is now soaked in oil, my new phone that replaced my phone that got crushed by a dump truck tire last week is now covered in oil, my glasses are now speckled in oil (we all know how much fun it is to look through a windshield covered in oil). I'M PISSED!!
I call WTC...........woman answers the phone...........I coarsely ask to speak to tech support. What model?? FP100 What's the problem?? I need to know what the pressure relief valve is set at. She then takes on an air of superiority........"WELL.........the pressure relief valve is set by the manufacturer at their factory." GREAT!! WHAT'S THE SETTING??!! I didn't ask WHO set the pressure relief valve. PLEASE give me tech support!! It's hot, I'm covered in oil, my phone is covered in oil, the manual is soaked, and I need to do my own QC on a unit I just paid over $15k for..........WTF!!!
So tech support gets on the phone and explains that pressure relief is set at 5k psi. WHY ISN'T IN THE MANUAL???!!! Ahhhhh.......it should be. 5 minutes on the phone while he looks through the manual..............."Yeah, your right. Its not in the manual!! Here........let me give you a few email addresses you can write to make them aware of the lapse of information." I told him to email me those addresses.
Like getting a toy at Christmas and its already broken!!
Then throwing a little more salt in the wound............a bunch of paint had rubbed off during shipment and there were discernable holidays on the whole paint job. I saw this unpacking it at the freight yard. Figured they put it together while the paint hadn't cured yet. Wasn't too concerend about it.
Over all.............big initial let down. I'll have to pick up another box of bolts today to fill the bin. I walked away last night and just let it sit hanging on the other trucks crane.
I'll post pictures later tonight. Hopefully I've got the kinks worked out and it will perform flawlessly. Just not happy.
On a positive note............the range of push pins and track pin holders look nice and should be useful. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts.......

 

[Mike L]

Where are these pictures I heard about?

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

WHO TOLD YOU ABOUT PICTURES??
SSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!!! SECRET PICTURES!!

Here ya go Mike,



Fresh off the fork lift. I cut the banding off and cut all of the plastic wrap away. It was well packaged w/ a stout 'pallet'



Home and hooked up.........running the ram out to test it and check for leaks.


Just a view of the whole setup. Pump, hoses, etc.

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

This is the large pin assortment (I think.........I just grabbed a box and tore it open). Hot, end of day.......probably been hosed down with hydraulic fluid.



These are the adapters for the pins in the box that I opened. 4 pins.........5 adapters. You can take the driver out and put the track pin in to drive it in.


Flat face drivers. Some longer than others. The bottom left adapter with the roll pin showing on the inside is threaded into the ram, then the tool holder is put in. Camlock action on the roll pin

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

Cam lock pin and tool adapter



Pin holder mounted in cam lock adapter



The whole shooting match assembled........if you zoom in I have text descriptions

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

Mounted in the press..........the bar sticking out is for twisting the camlock in.


Cam lock adapter.........note roll pin inside for camming action. Left handed thread



Cylinder rod end with LEFT HANDED THREAD

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

RECEIVER MOUNTED IN END OF C PRESS.........again, zoom in and you can see annotation text

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

I'll post more later. Tried doing this from my phone last night.........I'm not that adept (as you can see from the size of text annotations) with phone or laptop.
It's only easy if you know how to do it!!
If you want particular pics of something............shoot a reply and I'll try and get them. Guess next week we'll take it out and fire it.
LOL...........so when I was playing with this, after I got hosed down with oil, covered the phone in oil, soaked the new manual.............I heard a high pitched squealing from around the corner. Dog had gotten into a wood chuck. Dog faired fine, big fat woodchuck not so much..........had to drag the dog off, bring her home, grab gun, put woodchuck down, and then back to my problem at hand. Just wasn't in the mood for that at all. Felt bad for the wood chuck.

 

[Old Doug]

I cant under stand why its so hard to find out the good and bad points to some thing you want to buy . About 2 times in 100 will you run across a guy that will tell you flat out what you need to know. Good luck it looks like it should be a great tool to own.

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

GAWD I hope so...........that initial disappointment of having to go through and torque everything down...........because it was all loose or partially threaded in, needing to take a tap and chase the threads, running the die down the bolt that was galled up from someone trying to force it in (and me finding out I don't have any more bolts).........that was a kick in the teeth. The breaking point was oil spraying all over everything..................because they put a pressure relief valve in but don't tell you its set to 5k psi.........and everything else is rated for (stated in the manual) for 10k psi. It was the insincere "Sorry....." from the company.
I'll take it out next week. Got a dozer to changes sprockets on..........need to pop a pin on that. CAT 330 that needs sprockets too........but I think that has master links. Those will be the litmus test and shake down cruise. Work my way up to bigger stuff.

 

[Mike L]

Sucks to hear about your troubles. Hopefully once you get the bugs worked out it will work flawlessly. Looking forward to seeing it at work!

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

Sucks to hear about your troubles. Hopefully once you get the bugs worked out it will work flawlessly. Looking forward to seeing it at work!

Yeah..........me too!! LOL
Looks like its a well thought machine. It may turn into one of those.............WHY DIDN'T I BUY THIS SOONER!!! things. You don't miss what you've never experienced. Worked for years without a crane.............don't know how I did without it (well.........I know.........didn't lift it or found an excavator or loader.....or struggled).
This Tuesday will be trial by fire.
Diving on Sunday to move some moorings.............pulling out the 2,000lb lift bag and playing with that...........I'll bring one of those and a 1,000lb bag (well its 1100lbs/ 500kg) Getting paid to go swimming?? Ok!!
But how are you going to pick them up?? Your crane won't reach way out here!! Bouyancy my friend, bouyancy!!

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

Maybe I should wait until Thursday of this week.............forecast for Thursday.........99F for a high, probably 80% humidity!!! Gonna have to sneak up to Mikes house and find out where he keeps his umbrella!! I've got a plan in my head for a misting system on the fan.........55G barrel of water in the truck, a pump, fan on high, and some nozzles on the fan!!! Now........just have to figure out the GPH. 10 GPH would work.

 

[hosspuller]

M I've got a plan in my head for a misting system on the fan.........55G barrel of water in the truck, a pump, fan on high, and some nozzles on the fan!!! Now........just have to figure out the GPH. 10 GPH would work.

10 GPH works out to 21 ounces per minute. Think about someone squirting you with a large drink every minute. You'll be soaked ! Might as well work in a rain storm. Or maybe snow making during the Winter.

For Summer cooling, you'll want the water to evaporate before hitting you and the machine as droplets. A repurposed paint sprayer to put mist into the air stream.

 

[JD955SC]

Maybe I should wait until Thursday of this week.............forecast for Thursday.........99F for a high, probably 80% humidity!!! Gonna have to sneak up to Mikes house and find out where he keeps his umbrella!! I've got a plan in my head for a misting system on the fan.........55G barrel of water in the truck, a pump, fan on high, and some nozzles on the fan!!! Now........just have to figure out the GPH. 10 GPH would work.

Lowes has a misting fan that sits on top of a 5 gal bucket you fill with water.