Pellet heads!! What's up today?

I bought one of those fairly cheap humidity and temperature gages at Cabelas (where nothing is really cheap anyway's.) Cabelas is real convenient for me, it's about 4 miles from here. As a rule I don't go there. All their clothing is made in China and I think they should pay you to wear anything with the word 'Cabelas' across the front. Guns are over priced as well as their ammo when they have any that is.

You can tell I'm not a fan of them.

 

Maybe the distribution plate in your furnace needs cleaned. They all get mineralized after a while. Time for a Vinegar soak I'd say. Just like a biomass stove, lack of cleaning leads to poor performance.

 

Soooo, got the sn*w blower running a week and a half ago. All running fine and about to put back in the garage when she stopped moving-tracks aint going anywhere.

Belt is good so off to interweb to see if common fix.

15 year old Honda HS928 track machine and it turns out that a pin on the driveshaft in tranny gearbox breaks. Labor intensive job and about 200 plus on parts to fix. So, very expensive to have it done.

This machine was around $1800 new back then and now its $3400 so its try and fix it time. If it was closer to 2K I might have thought more on replacement

I tear into the job only to find the pin intact, crap!

Start inspecting the gears and find the intermediate gear between the pump output drive shaft and driven wheel shaft (this is the shaft with the pin) is stripped, as are the splines on the shaft it turns on.

Order parts and the stripped shaft is not in stock, but will ship in 2-3 days. That was 10 days ago!! Still not shipped but now showing tomorrow plus they have changed to overnight shipping for me.

Luckily it was a bad bearing on the driven wheel shaft that caused the intermediate to strip. If the issue came from the other side of the intermediate it would have meant hydrostatic pump shaft and that would be too expensive to repair.

Fingers crossed the final part shows up and this repair works as if this doesn't work, its off to buy a new machine.

Oh, I am still replacing the drive shaft with the pin that breaks. That pin had to take some high torque to strip the gear and shaft next to it. For 75 bucks, its all apart now so its crazy to take that chance on a fracture I cant see.

 

I use this one...similar to what you describe. Has 2 big water containers, and fiber wicks.

 

Humidity is a funny thing. When it is humid enough to stick to your skin, but not hot enough to perspire naturally, it can make it seem colder. But when it is really low in the summer, 76-80* can seem cold (to me) . Same thing in the winter, too little and 69* just ain't warm enough, too much and you sweat, which may cause you to feel cold.

That being said, I prefer my humidity 35-40%. I'm going thru a couple of gallons/day right now and it is 36-42% (depending on area of house). But, I have to start early as later in the season I'm normally struggling to keep it near 30.

 

Over the weekend I tried to fix the old leaf blower that was mainly used for LBT. Glad I jumped on the CL deal because as I expected, nothing is ever easy. I watched the youtube video but missed the part where I need a specific tool to get the thing completely apart - or I thought I could get around that (you actually have to take it completely apart to get to the puller spool). Anyway, I got it to this point



And there she sits. Can't get the nut off and need an impact driver according to the video. I don't have one and certainly am not buying on for a one time use. I have lived my entire life without need for, or wishing for, such a tool.

And yes, that box is how I buy TP, for one person . I only have to buy every 2-3 years and don't worry about shortages. Normally there is stuff on top of the box, but I'd just gotten done cleaning up from a project before I started on the blower. Oh, and I put some pieces of wood on top of it later to keep Spot from making her way into the box and shredding my years of supply (learned from experience).

 

I finally broke down and bought a compact impact wrench (same as but more torque than the impact driver) this week. It should be here today or tomorrow.

Its always been something I could use but battery versions were too expensive. Now they have come down in price.

With my hands hurting more these days, it makes sense-at least for me- as I will likely use it several times a year.

As I am already in on Dewalt 20V, I went with this..
DEWALT 20-Volt Max Cordless 3/8 in. Impact Wrench (Tool-Only) with 20-Volt Max Premium Lithium-Ion 5.0 mAh Battery Pack-DCF923BWDCB205 - The Home Depot

If I was starting fresh, I would likely go Ryobi or Rigid as they are cheaper and fine for home diy

 

Update on sn*wblower parts-

Another delay
WTF WTF WTF WTF
Beond pizzed right now

 

Reason for impact driver here is that the impeller will turn. If you get ambitious, I would try wedging something or finding a way to hold the impeller. You may be able to break that nut free.

Or (and more likely) it's just not worth it

 

They DO come in quite handy, but I understand not buying one for just the occasional use. However, Harbor Freight makes very inexpensive ones that are fine for occasional use. I bought one for the car to remove wheels.....works fine.
Here's one to possibly get for home use. HF has inexpensive bit sets that cover a lot of the things you might need for around-the-house use:
20v Cordless 1/4 in. Hex Compact Impact Driver - Tool Only
1/4 in. Drive Nut and Bolt Extractor Set, 9 Pc.

 

Yeah I got one to take the tires off a few years ago for the same reason. Got a Harbor Freight Earthquake 1/2", plenty of power. Also have a Ryobi set that came with a 1/4" impact driver very good for small, semi-rusted stuff w/o the worry you'll snap it off like a 3/8" or 1/2" with higher torque might.

sam

 

How friendly are you with the guy that works on your car?
Take it there if you are a regular customer.
He'd have to be a real $%#*&@ if he didn't take that nut off for you..

Dan.

 

I ain't touching that with a ten foot pole....

 

My 2 cents here on battery powered tools.. I have a DeWalt driver drill, my 3rd one. The last two expired in a puff of smoke and it took me a couple more to get wise.

Now, I only buy Bauer (HF) battery powered tools. My reasoning is simple. Why pay a hundred bucks plus for DeWalt when the same tool at HF in.the Bauer brand is 1/3 the price I can roast 3 Bauers for the cost of one DeWalt. Interestingly, I have not found the smoke in ANY of the Bauer tools I've purchased and I use the hell out of their 20 volt, 4.5" angle grinder. Li-Ion batteries are 1/3 the price of DeWalt batteries too and guess what... The Bauer and the DeWalt use identical Li Ion cells. I know, I've taken them apart. The workbench in my shop has a line of Bauer 20 volt cordless tools (and one yellow one).

 

For 35 bucks you can buy a Bauer impact drill driver and you can use it for many things. I believe it even comes with a charger.

 

Saw someone on here posted about using an old slide to get bags in the basement. I just happened to have one laying around and gave it a go. Why hadn't I thought of this sooner! It works great!

 

I was seeing drill driver combos on sale as well. Already have the drill so dont need that and sales this year are higher-like everything else now.

Regarding the impact driver (less expensive) vs impact wrench, I was concerned the driver didnt have enough torque for truck lug nuts torqued to 140 spec. How has the dewalt driver worked breaking higher torqued lug nuts free? 140 ft lbs is rather tight.

Also, I really like the newer compact versions.

Oh, Arthur-Itis is a royal butt head

 

Always use an air impact on truck lug nuts. Have 3 of them, an IR with 650 foot pounds breakaway torque and a Thor with 1000 foot pounds breakaway torque. Having said that I NEVER tighten any lug nuts with an impact, always a torque wrench always in a X pattern. The Thor (Astro Pneumatics) is the highest rated 1/2" drive wrench you can buy today. It's comparable to a 3/4" drive. Have one of those as well but it's a bugger to use, very heavy. 1400 foot pounds wit it.

I hear the Milwaukee 1/2" drive battery wrench is pretty good but so is the price. If you really want to know about impact wrenches battery and air, visit the Torque Test Channel on You Tube. They provide the best tests and show the 'beans'. Why I bought the Thor. Holds the top spot on their tests of air 1/2" drive wrenches.

Best impact sockets I've ever bought are the Harbor Freight Impact sockets. Impossible to break. I've split Snap-On, MAC, SK Wayne and Proto but I've never split a HF impact socket and I beat the hell out of them. I replace wear steel on the bottom of snow and dirt plows as well as grouser teeth on excavator buckets and I have to beat on them as the fasteners are usually corroded bad. I put the socket on and hold the gun wide open until the nut comes off or the bolt snaps. Could never do that with a battery operated wrench, not enough 'beans'.