The Descriptive Process

[northmanlogging]

Well, are you gonna tell us about it?

I guess...
Friday I was hauling the excavator to a new job, started making noise in overdrive.

then in low range it started really making noise...

got the excavator unloaded, but now I'm 40 miles from home, with the equipment trailer in tow, all told about 48000# (self loaders are heavy and so is my equipment trailer)

well direct drive works fine, and overdrive is working ok, so bomb down the freeway, and head up the hill to home

where some moron decides to stop in the middle of the steepest part of the steepest hill and let a pedestrian cross... who had no intention of crossing I might add.

Well by now its obvious low range wants nothing to do with this trip, but direct isn't going to get me rolling on this hill... so pop er in low, she makes a few horriffic crunches but its enough to get me up into low gear but in direct drive...

get the trailer parked (about a mile from home) and limp her the rest of the way home...

where I need to back down my street cause its a dead end...

by now low range isn't working at all and 90w oil is leaking pretty good...

Anyway that was Friday, today I figured I need to get her to a shop, cause I'm not equipped to pull a truck trans here (they are big and very heavy and all I got is gravel and sand to work in let alone a massive trans jack)

So I fire the beasty up and Hel or high water try for the 20 miles to the nearest truck mechanic....

... I made it about 7 miles before the top of the aux box came loose and cut an air line, smoke rolling off the exhaust from the oil splashing all over it lol... pulled her onto the shoulder and called in the cavalry...

That 7 miles did likely save me $2-300 in tow bill as its all windy back roads...

Anyhow she's at the mechanic's now looking at a rebuilt trans and a couple days labor

Did I mention I'm already broke, as I just spent the better part of the last week putting new chains a sprockets on the excavator (solo is a terrible way to get that job done... i suggest bringing a dumb friend thats good at lifting heavy things and hitting them with hammers)

 

[northmanlogging]

The alignment looks a little off - nothing you can't fix I bet. Wrenching and solo logging go hand and hand I am told. Sorry for the set back. Ron

Well, for the record, this will be only the second time I've ever taken something to a shop for repairs, besides tires cause... yea they are way faster at it then me and tire balancing is arcane science

This project is simply outside the scope of what I can accomplish on my own (and that is difficult to admit) partly for lack of tools and space, and partly for a serious lack of time, even if I had the tools to pull it off it would take at least 3 days if everything went smooth and I didn't need to chase to many parts.

At a minimum I would need 2 6 ton or better jack stands($90 ea), and a truck trans jack ($1300 for 1.5 ton trans jack) roughly $1500 in one time use tooling... meanwhile 15 hours shop time is...$1500

This doesn't include a 30' level concrete slab to park the truck on... and a new creeper, cause they don't work so good on gravel I don't have one, or the forklift and or hoist to pick the new trans off the truck when it did get here.

 

[Skeans]

Well, for the record, this will be only the second time I've ever taken something to a shop for repairs, besides tires cause... yea they are way faster at it then me and tire balancing is arcane science

This project is simply outside the scope of what I can accomplish on my own (and that is difficult to admit) partly for lack of tools and space, and partly for a serious lack of time, even if I had the tools to pull it off it would take at least 3 days if everything went smooth and I didn't need to chase to many parts.

At a minimum I would need 2 6 ton or better jack stands($90 ea), and a truck trans jack ($1300 for 1.5 ton trans jack) roughly $1500 in one time use tooling... meanwhile 15 hours shop time is...$1500

This doesn't include a 30' level concrete slab to park the truck on... and a new creeper, cause they don't work so good on gravel I don't have one, or the forklift and or hoist to pick the new trans off the truck when it did get here.

Plus the flywheel being turned and maybe a clutch.


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[Tannerbob]

Use some of them plywood sheets you guys throw and borrow a jack. I’ve done it more than I care to admit in my yard doing that but I have my own jack. Double up the sheets and your good to go. Little over a day to day and a half tops if you don’t have to run to much for parts. I also understand about not having time and the comfort of paying the job done and not worrying about it also.


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[northmanlogging]

Use some of them plywood sheets you guys throw and borrow a jack. I’ve done it more than I care to admit in my yard doing that but I have my own jack. Double up the sheets and your good to go. Little over a day to day and a half tops if you don’t have to run to much for parts. I also understand about not having time and the comfort of paying the job done and not worrying about it also.


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maybe for a pick up truck, or car, and maybe on level ground, the trans on this thing weighs more then a geo metro, Hel i've done several trans geo's, ferd vans, 5 yard dumb trucks, in the driveway where I currently live, all of them much much smaller then this one, with and without plywood lol

Also, I don't throw plywood for my projects... i tear up yards and driveways... I don't trim rose bushes with a glorified ATV fitted with a pallet jack

 

[northmanlogging]

Plus the flywheel being turned and maybe a clutch.


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gonna just ignore the clutch... its behind the brake saver, which is basically another trans removal... and I'm already broke

never worn a clutch out, shredded a few, and had other folks ruin them for me ("hey dude can I borrow your van"... "can you drive a manual" "uh sure..." ring, ring..."hey man uh theres smoke coming out of your engine and we can't make it up the hill into our driveway and its been smelling funny the last 50 miles")

 

[Tannerbob]

I’m talking big stuff also. Eaton 18913a and a 20918b on the ground doing it how I described it. I know there is heavier by weight also but they are class 8 truck trannys


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[northmanlogging]

I’m talking big stuff also. Eaton 18913a and a 20918b on the ground doing it how I described it. I know there is heavier by weight also but they are class 8 truck trannys


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The biggest issue, is space, right now both trucks (got a dumb truck too) park on the street, more or less in a ditch, and the driveway is far from level too even if the log truck could fit in the driveway, cause its right around 30' long.

I don't know about you, but I'm not about to start wrestling a 3000# anvil 2' over my head with nowhere to run attached to a sketchy jack on wheels, thats trying to roll away, or tip over in the sand

and to reiterate, I have no way to move said 3000# anvil once its out of the truck, both my machines are 40 mi away, and the log loader runs off the transmission pto

 

[catbuster]

Use some of them plywood sheets you guys throw and borrow a jack. I’ve done it more than I care to admit in my yard doing that but I have my own jack. Double up the sheets and your good to go. Little over a day to day and a half tops if you don’t have to run to much for parts. I also understand about not having time and the comfort of paying the job done and not worrying about it also.


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Bud, there isn’t any flat ground where our gyppo lives that hasn’t been leveled with something that says Cat, Deere or Hitachi on the side, those old truck transmissions are pretty damn heavy and what yer suggesting is a good way to get the dude killed. Not that it can’t be done-it most definitely can-but it can’t be done safely where this dude lives. Not by a damn sight.

gonna just ignore the clutch... its behind the brake saver, which is basically another trans removal... and I'm already broke

never worn a clutch out, shredded a few, and had other folks ruin them for me ("hey dude can I borrow your van"... "can you drive a manual" "uh sure..." ring, ring..."hey man uh theres smoke coming out of your engine and we can't make it up the hill into our driveway and its been smelling funny the last 50 miles")

What’s floating an 18 speed into low among friends?

 

[Tannerbob]

Bud, there isn’t any flat ground where our gyppo lives that hasn’t be leveled with something that says Cat, Deere or Hitachi on the side, those old truck transmissions are pretty damn heavy and what yer suggesting is a good way to get the dude killed. Not that it can’t be done-it most definitely can-but it can’t be done safely where this dude lives. Not by a damn sight.



What’s floating an 18 speed into low among friends?

I get that to. He explained the terrain well and wouldn’t want to try it either.
As for floating an 18, you won’t hurt it or clutch doing that in any gear. It doesn’t have a synchronizer in it. The smaller trannys that have fs or fso and I’m sure other model numbers with an s in it have synchronizers that go out from floating. Wife’s car has a synchro tranny and I still float it without any problems but I don’t drive it much.

 

[Skeans]

I get that to. He explained the terrain well and wouldn’t want to try it either.
As for floating an 18, you won’t hurt it or clutch doing that in any gear. It doesn’t have a synchronizer in it. The smaller trannys that have fs or fso and I’m sure other model numbers with an s in it have synchronizers that go out from floating. Wife’s car has a synchro tranny and I still float it without any problems but I don’t drive it much.

The back box is synchronized in an 18, just like a 13, or a 15.


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[northmanlogging]

I think the only real difference between and 18 and a 13 is how the rear section is shifted, mostly its just a lock out that keeps you out of overdrive in low range, just me spit balling here, but the few i've drove didn't seem like the gear ratios were any different, just the 18 let you use OD in low range, and frankly I never did cause its more then a little pointless with 475+ hp even dragging 105,500# unless you find a big long hill and your starting at the bottom

in direct drive I use OD function all the time the splitter shifts way faster then I can so it is nice for climbing hills or chooching on the freeway, generally try to ignore it when down shifting, and usually skip a gear or more, let them jakes work as long as possible before interrupting them just to shift.

The 18's are nice cause you can split while grabbing a gear, where a 13 you have to preselect, which can be bothersome but not a big deal

As for synchros, only the auxiliary trans has a syncro, the main box is all straight cut spline on spline action 10-13-15-18spds all the same main box, its the auxiliary box that makes the difference

 

[northmanlogging]

I get that to. He explained the terrain well and wouldn’t want to try it either.
As for floating an 18, you won’t hurt it or clutch doing that in any gear. It doesn’t have a synchronizer in it. The smaller trannys that have fs or fso and I’m sure other model numbers with an s in it have synchronizers that go out from floating. Wife’s car has a synchro tranny and I still float it without any problems but I don’t drive it much.

war dept gets mad at me when I drive her beloved volvo... I mean its got an overdrive button and its a standard H 4 spd so it might as well drive like a truck... that and its a breeze to float gears in

Been more then a couple times that it ate clutch cables and I've had to drive it all the way home without a clutch at all... usually stuck behind a school bus

 

[catbuster]

I like the 18 speed over the 13 because it can split the low range. Moving a 345 or the 349 that weighs 110-120,000 lb plus tractor, four axle Rogers and the jeep dolly around on steep ground at low speeds it makes life easier even with a 3406 set at 550 and 4.10s on the rear.

 

[northmanlogging]

30 miles out a basically dead end hwy, narrow 2 lanes (at least its advertised as 2 lanes) Paved? Maybe? if you squint...

Windy, hilly, crooked and and very scenic lol

anyway, at the sketchiest of sketchy blind corners the air line to my trailer decides its had enough and punches the clock one last time...

so the whole 88,000# **** show comes to a screaming, smoke filled stop...

Its 2:45 pm, the mill is an hour away on a good day, and they shut down at 4pm

Ruts n futs n gerch olly sons of didly why I oughta...

Anyway, I hop out, to see what the hel just happened and what needs done quick fast in a hurry to get this poorly painted filthy greasy pig off the road before some nut bag on a crotch rocket impales themselves on the 40' hemlock hanging out the back

The very first car, and I mean the very first car, Slams on their brakes and hollers my name... my full real name lol

Da fuQ says I?

anyway one of the nice gurls I went to school with and haven't seen much of if the last 30 or so years lol, Sadly we couldn't catch up as I had to get the truck moved... anyway despite all the mess a bad day in the woods is still a better day then gazing out a factory window

 

[rwoods]

Glad you are enjoying your occupation - sure makes the rough times easier.

Ron

 

[catbuster]

I got up this morning, it’s pouring rain and we had some storms overnight. No big deal, didn’t have to cut any blowdown out of the driveway. I go to the office to read through a 463 page design manual (yay...) So at 7:15 I get a call from my foreman/superintendent/whatever title he has today, and he goes “I don’t think you’re going to believe this, but I think the 336 got hit by lightning last night.” I asked how, and he promptly told me that the cab smelled like burned plastic, there was cooked wiring everywhere and it wouldn’t even bring up the startup screen when he changed batteries.

I went out, and, well, he was probably right. Something cooked the electrical system in the excavator. So we promptly loaded up the 345 and the medium stick that carries the thumb on the lowboy, and bullied the dead hoe on the trailer.

How in the hell lightning couldn’t be bothered to hit all the other taller stuff in the area I will never know.

 

[Skeans]

I got up this morning, it’s pouring rain and we had some storms overnight. No big deal, didn’t have to cut any blowdown out of the driveway. I go to the office to read through a 463 page design manual (yay...) So at 7:15 I get a call from my foreman/superintendent/whatever title he has today, and he goes “I don’t think you’re going to believe this, but I think the 336 got hit by lightning last night.” I asked how, and he promptly told me that the cab smelled like burned plastic, there was cooked wiring everywhere and it wouldn’t even bring up the startup screen when he changed batteries.

I went out, and, well, he was probably right. Something cooked the electrical system in the excavator. So we promptly loaded up the 345 and the medium stick that carries the thumb on the lowboy, and bullied the dead hoe on the trailer.

How in the hell lightning couldn’t be bothered to hit all the other taller stuff in the area I will never know.

Do Cat’s have a deadman in the cab to kill everything? I’m surprised there’s no fusible link in the system for this.


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[catbuster]

Do Cat’s have a deadman in the cab to kill everything? I’m surprised there’s no fusible link in the system for this.


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There’s a battery master that takes the two pronged Cat key as its fusible link just behind the cab they recommend you turn off and remove when the machine is parked. I don’t know if that would make much difference when the entire machine is energized and providing a path to ground, though.

 

[Skeans]

There’s a battery master that takes the two pronged Cat key as its fusible link just behind the cab they recommend you turn off and remove when the machine is parked. I don’t know if that would make much difference when the entire machine is energized and providing a path to ground, though.

In our harvester it has both a master in the cab for complete kill of the machine, if the cab sees the kind of surge like that it has a fusible link that will blow.


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