What was your most interesting recent non solar project?

[green mountain boys]

I do get excited when a Hawker battery comes in. Its what i made my portable power station from.
They have very stringent parameters to meet and they cost about $4k. They fail criteria all the time but are still good for any other non-aircraft purpose.

My pickup truck came with 4 Hawker batteries wired 2S2P. The batteries have a service life of at least 10 years. It has a dual voltage alternator and half the truck runs on 12V and half on 24V. Tires are 395-85-20 so 47" tall x 15.5" wide with an air inflation system that allows the driver to change the tire pressure while driving. An hydraulic winch with 100 meters of cable that will pull anything. A Caterpillar mechanical engine and Allison automatic 7 speed transmission. It weighs a little less than 10 tons and gets 6 to 8 mpg. Top speed is 58 mph. The top of the cab has a turret mount for a .50 caliber should you need it. It comes with a 15,000 page service manual for maintenance and repair. It is fun to drive in traffic, everyone gets out of the way.

 

[PreppenWolf]

My pickup truck came with 4 Hawker batteries wired 2S2P. The batteries have a service life of at least 10 years. It has a dual voltage alternator and half the truck runs on 12V and half on 24V. Tires are 395-85-20 so 47" tall x 15.5" wide with an air inflation system that allows the driver to change the tire pressure while driving. An hydraulic winch with 100 meters of cable that will pull anything. A Caterpillar mechanical engine and Allison automatic 7 speed transmission. It weighs a little less than 10 tons and gets 6 to 8 mpg. Top speed is 58 mph. The top of the cab has a turret mount for a .50 caliber should you need it. It comes with a 15,000 page service manual for maintenance and repair. It is fun to drive in traffic, everyone gets out of the way.

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Nice. This is Dozer, our custom camper built on a M916 chassis.

 

[green mountain boys]

Nice. This is Dozer, our custom camper built on a M916 chassis.
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That is awesome! Love the front bumper.

 

[Andrewr05]

Nice. This is Dozer, our custom camper built on a M916 chassis.

It is fun to drive in traffic, everyone gets out of the way.

...

Speaking of getting out of the way!

 

[PreppenWolf]

Speaking of getting out of the way!

56,000lbs of I'm coming through

She has a 24V solar system. Panels on roof.

 

[jimf909]

Rebuilding the diesel for my old John Deere tractor. I dropped the block, head, crank, etc. at the machinist yesterday so this is a slow period of the project. Hopefully it will be running by the end of April.

It might be powerful enough to operate an air compressor for Dozier...might.

 

[green mountain boys]

56,000lbs of I'm coming through

She has a 24V solar system. Panels on roof.

And both your truck and my truck are called "Light" transport trucks.

Somebody walked up to me while I was fueling up my truck and asked, why I did not get a smaller truck. I said, "This IS the smaller truck!"

 

[Ron Asbury]

Finished up another 10lb batch of pucked and corned FFg black powder for the stash...

 

[green mountain boys]

Finished up another 10lb batch of pucked and corned FFg black powder for the stash...
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Do you have a picture of the cannon?

 

[ericfx1984]

God bless you if you live in an area where freedoms still survive! Town permit offices in NYC are run like cartels.

Amen

 

[Ron Asbury]

Do you have a picture of the cannon?

No cannon. Muzzleloaders and fireworks.

 

[Dagoth Ur Does Solar]

Rebuilding the diesel for my old John Deere tractor. I dropped the block, head, crank, etc. at the machinist yesterday so this is a slow period of the project. Hopefully it will be running by the end of April.

It might be powerful enough to operate an air compressor for Dozier...might.

While I don't think I'd ever touch a transmission, I do want to try rebuilding an engine at some point.

I tinker with small engines equipment on the side, mowers, weed eaters, etc... I have an old JD lawn tractor with almost 500 hours, and if the Kohler engine in it ever craps out, I think I'll look into rebuilding it as a learning experience.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Next will be injector cups..........

RiffRaff Stainless Steel Injectors Cups Much easier to install when the engine is out and on the stand!

 

[jimf909]

While I don't think I'd ever touch a transmission, I do want to try rebuilding an engine at some point.

I tinker with small engines equipment on the side, mowers, weed eaters, etc... I have an old JD lawn tractor with almost 500 hours, and if the Kohler engine in it ever craps out, I think I'll look into rebuilding it as a learning experience.

It's absolutely doable. Begin removing parts and pieces, tag or bag them so you recall where they go during reassembly, get down to the engine, remove it and disassemble it. Something like that. Patience and technique is needed for the parts that don't want to come apart. Some special tools are needed such as torque wrench(es), gear pullers, micrometers/calipers/bore gauge, piston ring compressor, etc. An impact driver is a nice plus and really helps remove stubborn fasteners. A good manual with specs is invaluable but they can be hit and miss. The diesel in this 1986 JD 855 is actually a Japanese Yanmar (they make millions of small diesels found in tractors, sailboats, generators, ag equipment, etc) and has an outstanding tech manual.

The critical work of boring cylinders, installing valve seats, machining the crankshaft is done by pros at a machine shop. The equipment to do these things is too specialized and expensive and the skills and knowledge required are developed over years/decades.

Oh yeah, youtube helps too.

 

[Bad Randy]

Jumped off a mountain.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Converting a big white pine into firewood. About 48" at the base, it was around 120 feet high. I hired a tree climber to climb it, He dropped the top 50 feet while up in the tree and then dropped the lower 70' in one piece. It cracked in two spots, but I did get two nice base logs and a couple of others a bit higher. Counting rings that tree was around 125 to 130 years old, a youngster by west coast standards but good size for northern NH. I started out trying to split the logs by scoring them with a chain saw and then using hydraulic jacks but that didnt work (dont believe folks on internet forums ) so I sawed the biggest two with a big chainsaw. That took a lot of effort and some waste, so I then hired a guy come to the site to slab the wood into 8" deep slabs log width with a Lucas portable mill. The logs were 10'6" long and estimated weight was 4000 plus pounds each green. Sitting in the background of the Lucas mIll shot is my trusty FLU 419 (Unimog) army surplus backhoe loader that was used to drag the logs around the lot and load the slabs onto trailers. I was right on the edge of its capability. We made two 46" 2" thick slabs, one of which is now someone's bar top. Then (no photos) we hauled the slabs to my friend's bandsaw mill and after sawing the slabs to 28" wide with a chainsaw to fit in the mill, then sawed them into boards. Ended up with two piles of boards 4' wide and about 5' high. There was a bit of ant damage in a few spots but most of the bottom logs were clear and relatively tight grain. Tight grain white pine is not something you see at most lumber dealers as most loggers cut pines when they are half the diameter of this one. They are sticked up and drying. The last stack photo has some aspen boards that I had cut earlier on top of the pine to keep it flat. In the next to last photo there is a 2 foot wide by 2" thick slab I kept just for the heck of it for some future project. WIde slabs can crack and warp as they dry so I usually stick with the smaller stuff. I paint all the ends of the logs with wax penetrant that reduces splitting and also leave the logs a bit long so when I need one I have some end trim.

372xp?

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

RiffRaff Stainless Steel Injectors Cups Much easier to install when the engine is out and on the stand!

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Yep should just spend the cost for riff rafts install tool, it makes life
Much easier

 

[pvdude]

Yep should just spend the cost for riff rafts install tool, it makes life
Much easier

The Riffraff tool is on my list, when I need to do injectors & cups!
Riffraff has helped me keep the old 7.3 on the road for decades.

 

[peakbagger]

372xp?

No idea, its the biggest model the local logging supply store normally stocks for New England logging. They make them bigger for west coast logging. If the compression release is not pushed when trying to start it I swear the piston is scored as it turns over real hard. Its got an extra long bar for an Alaskan mill. That Lucas mill is basically an Alaskan mill on steroids. He can handle up to 60" and they make them wider. The chain he was using only had a cutter every seven links. The wood was clean (no mud on it) and he still needed to swap chains every 3 slabs.

 

[Zwy]

No idea, its the biggest model the local logging supply store normally stocks for New England logging. They make them bigger for west coast logging. If the compression release is not pushed when trying to start it I swear the piston is scored as it turns over real hard. Its got an extra long bar for an Alaskan mill. That Lucas mill is basically an Alaskan mill on steroids. He can handle up to 60" and they make them wider. The chain he was using only had a cutter every seven links. The wood was clean (no mud on it) and he still needed to swap chains every 3 slabs.

I run a MS462 and that thing can really throw the chips. It was not cheap. A Husky 572 would be about comparable.

I only run a 26" bar on it, I use it for felling, blocking and bucking. The 26" bar works great when limbing, don't have to bend over. Pretty amazing saw, I can't imagine running a 48" bar on it unless milling.