You are probably right Bob... thanks. My children have zero interest in this business except for the money that is involved. Grand children too scattered and not involved. When my health dictates, I will offer the business up for sale - or worst case, liquidate.

Operating as a non-profit school is a direction that interests me, and we are not far off from having the facilities/resources to support that, but still remains an energy demand that is in question at the present time.

dieselgman

Hi Gary. it would be a crime against humanity if your knowledge and skills were not passed on. love the idea that you would like to teach even in a not for profit organisation. I would enrol as a student but probably wouldn`t get through customs due to my age. We all know the world is going to need a lot more engineers so why they are spending the education budget on training more computer programmers is a mystery. Perhaps the plan is to have everybody live in an alternative reality while the government loots their bank accounts.
Bob

 

Quote from: ajaffa1 on December 13, 2017, 11:27:37 AM

Thank you so much Glort. It grieves me to know that you are also suffering health problems.

Well you sure got that right.  My problems are mental and grief related.  I have never had any physical problems anything like what you have and I would have said a while back that mental problems were BS and all in a persons head..... till I got and suffered with them.
It's hard to get better when you don't care about anything, least of all yourself.

You sound like you have real motivation and drive and that's your biggest asset.

I looked after my father in law through cancer.  He was incredible. He had to do these exercise as part of his rehab after being bed ridden for months.
the Phisio told him to do the exercises so many times a day and when he could do them easily, make another appointment and he'd show him the next lot.
If father had to do them 3 times a day, he did them 15. I had to help him and he'd no sooner  do one lot, catch his breath and we were back at it.
After a few days he got me to ring the physio to make another appointment. Guy said must be doing them wrong, it should take him at least a week to get up to doing them properly, Bring him in and we'll see where he's going wrong.

Took him in, father reeled off a set and the guy was amazed.  Told me I would have never thought he would be doing that.  This went on several times.
Physio was in awe of him and said I can't understand how he's doing it. I said I can, he hates being sick and relying on other people. He'll get better or kill himself trying.

We went one day and the local first grade footy team were there who father idolised.  The physio got father to come meet them and gave them a pep talk and said father left them all for dead in how hard he worked on his recovery and he was a real role model.  After that, the physio would book father in whenever the bulldogs were coming in for their workouts and he trained with them which was a dream come true.
He went from hobbling along on on rail supports and a wheel chair to walking normally around the shops in less than a 1/5th of the time they predicted.


If you want to get better as you do, you will despite what the medicos tell you.  The mind is the most powerful thing of all. In your case it's a real asset.  Mine is the opposite. Physically I'm fine but there is more to incapacitation than the physical side.  You have to make the most of what you have going for you and that's the determination you clearly have. There is no Physio, pills or anything else that can match that let alone outdo it. What they expect of you is always the Minimum. If you treat it as such and always exceed it as far as you can you will get better in a fraction of the time. I saw my father in law do it first hand.

I bought myself a 12/2 today with a gen head kind of thinking of this thread.

I have been told to do something I enjoy and find an interest I can stick with. I couldn't be bothered doing much past getting out of bed for a long time.
The solar thing I have been playing with is pretty much a goal reached now. i don't think there is much more I can learn with it and now it's on the roof doing what I want, all I can do is add some more panels to the system and enjoy the free power.
I have another roid I could play with but I want something that I can play with running rather than fixing. I wanted a gen head for the 6/1 but haven't found one in years of looking. This one came up, 600Km away and I thought stuff it, I'm going to try that one as some of my rehab. I'll do a road trip with the Mrs south near the Vic border and make a weekend away of it.

When I get it back I want to set it up in the shed and see if I can make it as nice as your ST. I have always had this thing about power independence and this will fill that nicely. I have other gennys but this one will be  the icing on the cake.  Promised the Mrs to offload some of the others to make room for this one.  Might sell the 6/1 but I'll get rid of some of the China verticals I seem to have amassed first. From now on, water cooled engines only.
In two minds about my Merc engine. I won't need it but I have been talking about setting it up as a genny for years so I kind of want to complete that even if I offload the thing once it's done.

First thing to do will be clean the shed to make way for the thing. Still disorganised from moving in a few months ago. Mrs is partial to the new engine for the motivation to do that alone! :0)
I want to set this engine up in a multi configuration. I want it to be able to backfeed through the solar inverters if I want to play catch up and I want to put a transfer switch on the meter box so I can run the whole house off it. Not sure if I can wire the single phase gen head across all 3 phases but I can't see why not.  Only the AC is 3 phase, everything else is single, so I won't be able to use  the air but everything else should be fine. Might just be some creative wiring through the transfer but that will be something else to learn about.

I want to go north next year to Visit family and friends.  Maybe I could call in and see your engines in the flesh?
I think it won't be long before this one is finished and you are running round all over the place like nothing ever happened!

Hey Glort. sorry to hear you are suffering black dog syndrome. I have had it myself(my father passed away and I walked in on my wife fu**ing the next door neighbour in the 1990s). The hardest thing for any man to do is acknowledge that they have a problem. Men are supposed to be tough and anything less is considered weakness. What a crock of sh1t! I was lucky, I spoke to my boss at the time and he phoned my Brother, that night I tried to take my own life. I failed(just another in a long line of personal failures). I was collected from the local hospital by my Brother and delivered to the Priory Hospital in London. I spent six weeks as an in patient and twelve months as an out patient, I underwent a lot of therapy. I am very glad that I did. When I had my accident, and was disabled for months on end, the lessons I learned in therapy kept me sane.

So, you have already taken the first step towards recovery by admitting that you have a problem. Well done!
The next step is to seek out and find the help that works for you, even if it scares the sh1t out of you.

One of the things that my Psychiatrist told me was to think back to when I was 18 years old and imagine that I had a pile of pennies six foot tall, for everything good that happens add one penny to the pile, for everything bad that happens  take one penny away. When you run out of pennies it`s game over. Time to start stacking up those pennies.

My father told me that life is short and the way to a happy life is to find out what you like and then make sure you get plenty of it. Sounds selfish but still very sound advice.

I am very glad to here you have followed me in using your obvious mechanical abilities as a form of rehabilitation, I hope it takes your mind away from grieving and to a happier place. I look forward to seeing future posts of positive progress on the 12/2 and your own state of mind.

If you and the Mrs are out and about near Grafton NSW I would love to meet you, please send me a PM.

Bob

Hi Samo, as an after thought, rather than trying to fit an oil seal to the cam shaft bush just fit one of these with a suitable gasket.
Bob

G`day everyone, The JB Weld finally arrived today, so I have used it as a bonding agent/filler for the gusset I showed earlier.
I believe that this will produce a strong and lasting fix without having to resort to welding/brazing with the inherent danger of further cracking. See photos. Got to wait overnight for it to harden before finishing/painting.
I have used the time while waiting to continue with the cleaning process, I now have a bucket full of shiny nuts, bolts, washers, and assorted fittings.
All going to plan, will have to wait till new year to start ordering new parts.
Bob

Wow, you`re going to need a bigger shop.
I predict a global shortage of spare parts.
Bob

Hi Folks, haven`t posted for a couple of days, been crook (Oz for sick).Another round of visits to doctors, more expense, more time without work, no closer to a diagnosis. What a crock of sh1t. Got to go for another MRI scan more blood tests & etc.
Symptom: loss of feeling/numbness in hands and fingers shooting pains up my arms.
History: broken neck 12 months ago. Stiffness and pain ever since.
Doctors suggested diagnosis: celiacs disease, poisoning, alcoholism, vitamin deficiency, smoking.
Thank God none of these highly paid individuals service diesel vehicles or the entire Australian transport industry would grind to a halt.
Back to the main topic. Managed to haul my cracked crankcase to a series of engineering shops. Prices varied from $50 to over $200. Further conversation with these welding experts revealed that none of them planned to pre heat the casting, no annealing after welding, no peening of the weld, no facilities for a controlled cooling.
My crankcase is now back home. I have access to oxy-acetylene but no confidence to braze it myself. So I propose to do what I do know how to do, (an engineers solution). Today I ordered a pack of JB weld (very strong epoxy adhesive). I plan to make a 1/2" steel plate that I will fit to the back of the crack. I will grind and shape it to be as close a fit to the back of the cracked area as possible. I will drill a hole in each corner. I will then clamp it in place and drill through it into the crank case. I will tap the holes in the crankcase. I intend to score the steel plate and crankcase before applying JB weld and bolting. The following day, when everything has hardened, I will V-out the front of the crack and fill with JB weld.
This is not a perfect solution but requires no heat and should provide a lasting & invisible repair. I will post photos as I go.
Thank you Mikenash and Dieselgman, both of you suggested drilling a relief hole at the end of the crack to stop it spreading. I will be taking your good advice before proceeding with my repair.

I`m not sure how we got off Listers and onto the subject of pickup trucks but for what it`s worth, in Australia all pick up trucks are called utes. They come in all sizes and shapes and are all now made overseas mostly the USA, Taiwan and Japan.
Sadly the government felt that it was not economically viable to support a local motor vehicle industry here. So we now have to import all our vehicles and provide welfare to thousands of skilled people and their families. Way to go! The rich must get richer and the workers can go f*ck themselves. Who are the rich going to sell their products to when no one has a job?

Crook and cranky Bob.

Thanks AdeV, I`ve got a block and tackle but I`m worried about getting enough swing on it to lower the crankcase into the back of the wife`s 4x4. Don`t want to chip the paint she`d kill me.
Bob