Just another day in paradise

[Mike L]

Could have been much worse than just a belt. That's just typical rushing to get **** done and on to the next job stuff.

you are absolutely right.

 

[Mike L]

How's the new truck?

It’s been pretty good. I had to replace some spring pins and bushings, air bags, leveling valves, etc, to get rid of a bunch of rattles and make it sit right but I’m happy with it. Typical used truck stuff.

 

[Mike L]

Had to remove a broken main boom pin today. The first half came out good. The second half- not so much. Actually had to drive the pin the wrong direction and when it hit the hydraulic tank I had to cut it off…with a sawzall. You know how many blades it takes to cut off a 2” pin with a sawzall? 18. Going back Monday to lift up the boom, replace the boom bushings and install a new pin.

 

[DMiller]

Cannot imagine the stress load on that.

 

[JLarson]

We had to cut a 2 1/8" stainless mixer driveshaft in a tank that someone got the prop stuck on a while back. They wouldn't let us torch or grind so I was like what about a sawzall, the plant ok'ed that one, I bet we killed $200 or more worth of those carbide thick metal blades lol

 

[John C.]

Now that takes dedication on that pin.

 

[Birken Vogt]

Good thing you were able to get it with only 1 cut....

 

[treemuncher]

18 blades? Did you bend a bunch of them or just wear out the teeth? I'm sure that was a hardened pin and difficult to cut but I can't help but wonder if your cutting speed was maybe too high or not enough proper cutting fluid to go through that many blades. Maybe the pin was of a material that I have never had any experience with and was super tough.

My machining skills are rather limited but I have found that slower is better with a portable bandsaw or sawzall when cutting steels. Heat on the blade must be kept to a minimum so no excessive speeds and no excessive feed force. I've also noted a difference in selection of cutting fluids and ease/speed of cut - not all oils are equal in cutting applications. What about blade quality? Lenox blades are not cheap but they last a long time in comparison to imports. Lots of factors in reciprocating blade wear and lifespan.

I'm just thinking out loud here and think that maybe I see a problem that has a solution. I have blades that have cut through several 2"-3" rounds that are still going strong. Good quality blades should last a lot longer than what you experienced on that pin. Of course working in such conditions make it a bear to deal with and maybe lots of bent/wasted blades. I'm just curious to know and always interested in learning more.

 

[DMiller]

Oil, cutting oil and keep blade cool lasts a LONG time.

 

[Birken Vogt]

Helpful if you have a helper to feed oil onto the blade as it cuts. Even more helpful if he can hold the sawzall while you give instruction and feed the oil instead.

 

[John C.]

Looks to me like a field job and you don't get a lot of options while you are on site. Probably not many wrenches carry it and not many stores are located out in the woods. Looks to me like plenty of perseverance was cheaper than having to pull all kinds of stuff off the machine and it being down for multiple days.
Good Job!

 

[Birken Vogt]

I used to thread pipe in the field a lot but partner does that now, but I kept the cutting oil on my truck because I never took it off. Comes in handy for all sorts of things, chiefly drilling things.

 

[Mike L]

I used exactly zero cutting oil. I bent 3 blades and wore out the rest. They were Lenox blades. I ran the sawzall wide open and leaned as hard as I could on it. The sawzall got hot enough that I put a rag between my hand and the tool. I probably did everything wrong according to the book but after spending hours getting it that far I’d had enough messing around. We were in the woods with limited options and to be honest I was just glad that I was able to cut it off. I actually thought the sawzall would barely scratch it. The cost of the blades is nothing compared to the cost of the machine being down. Once I cut it off I pounded the rest of the pin back into the center of the boom because I was afraid I’d need to cut it again. Crude? Absolutely. But when it absolutely positively needs to be fixed in the woods, I do what I gotta do.

 

[Birken Vogt]

How many spare blades do you normally carry and how many were left when done? My fear would be running out of blades before the cut was done.

 

[Mike L]

I had a package with 20 blades in it. That part was just luck. I almost never need a sawzall. I typically keep a bunch of cut off wheels for my grinder but due to fire dangers I couldn’t use anything that would make a spark.

 

[JLarson]

I keep a stash of 12" blades too cause they've gotten us out of a pinch before on the road.

 

[Mike L]

It’s been a minute since I posted anything here. Went over to my buddies this afternoon. He wanted to pressure test his trucks cooling system. He blew a coolant hose yesterday and it’s been pushing coolant from the overflow. Couldn’t find a leak but it built pressure quick after starting and it just pukes coolant if we start it with no cap on.This was less than 2 minutes at 1500 rpm’s.
We bypassed the compressor checked the precooler to make sure but no such luck. 500k since the last rebuild on this C15 acert. Looking like it’s time again.

 

[John C.]

That's the test I did on a few older engines. Worked a lot better than the dye test for compression in the coolant.

 

[Mike L]

That's the test I did on a few older engines. Worked a lot better than the dye test for compression in the coolant.

I would have used the combustion gas tester but the coolant was pushing so hard I didn’t figure I’d get an accurate read.

 

[Bluox]

When you shut the motor off did the cooling system maintain pressure ?
Bob