Pellet heads!! What's up today?

And I.. am the King..

Dan

 

Here's a fixer-upper for you to begin with:

7100 Seton House Ln Charlotte NC 28277 | MLS #3777514 | Hendrix Properties


And then you can buy the summer cottage:

1118 Seminole Dr Fort Mill SC 29707 | MLS #3782803 | Hendrix Properties

 

You’re a big help….

 

I couldn’t bring myself to live in those shacks…..

 

Yesterday got the "spring cleaning" done on my stoves . Actually the P61a had been given a basic cleaning on April 18 and then only cycled once or twice before I shut it down for the season. So the there wasn't much to do besides dust the firebox and clean the exhaust with a soot eater and then LBT.

I had cleaned the P43 at the same time, but it ran intermittently until early July, so I had to clean everything on it.

Down in the high 40's this morning. Glad I brought my tender house plants inside. Have the mini-split going to keep the house from getting colder than I like right now as it would be overkill to start up the P43 (plus I plugged the stove exhausts on the outside to keep critters out).

 

High of 86*, low of 56* today.

 

Summer has been long and very hot at times.....we had a few days that it reached 109 F
This is extreme for us.....
I hate anything over 75 F with a light breeze and puffy clouds....so it was miserable at times for me anyway.

We had a few days recently that we needed a spot fire for a bit in the little stove as the house had cooled to 65 F overnight.

Sounds like we are going to finally see the start to the September rains by the end of the week....

I have been working very hard (Subjective) trying to get as much work on the snow cat project completed as possible.

Just a lot of re-designing work on the front axle/s
Totally new design that just took a great deal of time and fooling to get it right.

The past couple days have been spent going through all of the road axle hubs and replacing all the bearings.....(These are in the same class as boat trailer bearing hubs....R&R at the end of every season....or they rust up due to water infiltration)

I have two hubs left on the LH side to go through......
Seems that as soon as I get all wrapped up into the task....somebody wants something and I need to put down my work and go off elsewhere......

Decided a few days ago to go back to the original plan of putting a Chevy Astro/GMC Safari body on the cat.....

I really love the room and passenger capacity and comfort of these small Vans.

Put an ad on Craig's list the other day.....Gotta be a dead one out there cheap that I can scare up.....

A few pics
The LH front axle assembly with air bag suspension
Things back together and getting the road wheels back on.
The tires are pretty shaky....but will do until the rig is ready to get its tracks back on.

A few weeks ago I finally acquired 2 complete tracks from a fella up near Mt Hood.....

This provided enough grousers and tire guides and backing plates to build two new tracks.

The track build is going to be a real job to say the least....

Bolts and nuts by the barrel full.......

Each track when complete weighs about 1200 lb.......

I ordered up a few new tires to fill in where we have empty spots.

The odd White wheel (Now silver) are customs that I had to put together.

The wheels are 12" and the centers have 5 hole on 5-1/2" pattern.

This is an odd duck that was made special and is not made any longer.

So I designed the "Snowflake" centers and had them water jet cut from 3/8" steel plate.
The white wheels are a standard 12" trailer wheel that is available today...

I cut the center plates welds loose and toss them.....The new stuff is 5 x 4-1/2"

Then fit the new centers and weld in place.
The other option is a new aluminum wheel hub hybrid that is made....$600 each
NOT GONNA HAPPEN...
The front wheel on the cat is that type....and were standard on the fronts.

The front tires get urethane foam filled so they don't go flat.

A flat up front and the track comes off.....BAD ...SERIOULY BAD JU JU

A piccy of the RH assembly completed.....
Both are now independently adjustable to tighten the track.....(Before it was a straight axle across)
Big reason for the change....these axles are no longer available and most used stuff is junk....

Decided to cannibalize the old axle, and to reuse the spindles and housings and then build a complete air bag articulating assembly for each side.

Parts are readily available and easy to work with...

The axles are suspended in two large red urethane bushings on each side.....(Standard off the shelf stuff that was available locally)
Air bag is a rear axle kit for a Dodge pickup.....Modified of course for it's new assignment.....But still readily available and reasonably priced.

Other than the original outer track adjuster slide....everything else is all custom built to fit....and do it's job.......

 

I would even go lower...
like 65°

Dan

 

75 F is my upper limit before I get Bitchy.

At 109 F I was not fit to be around........

Stand in one place in the shade and just drip....YUCK.

I can be quite happy outside in a T shirt at 45-50 F if its not raining and the wind is not blowing.

I see some folks this summer in sweat shirts at 70F ......Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat ???

 

I missed it again. Hope you had a good one.

 

Afraid you will get lost in them?

 

I did, all three of my kids were here.

 

I need to move where you are. Bring on the cold!

 

I hope they're lying.

 

Hello pellet heads!

Just did the yearly glass cleaning and thought i'd drop in and say hi.
Helga the heatilator is going strong as we enter the 11th season.
Bunker is full.

Still hoisting weights.
Had a meet July 24th, and have one coming up Nov. 6th
515kg total (Squat/Bench/Deadlift)as things stand.
535kg is possible this next meet.

60 years old in two weeks.

Stay toasty.

 

Good to hear from you. Sounds like you are keeping yourself busy and healthy with those weights.

 

Thanks for checking in. I was wondering where you fell off to.