Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Alignment

Today in class I learned how to do alignment on a truck. This was very fun and interesting I'm glad I learned the tape and string method. I don't need the expensive tools to align a truck. I learned how to measure toe in, toe out, axle alignment, kamber, etc. Here are some pictures.....




Monday, November 28, 2016

Yoke

Today I pulled in a truck and the second axle rear end yoke was loose. So I popped off the drive and got my impact on the nut and tightened it down. To take the drive shaft off I used a little bottle jack near the u joint to relieve the caps. Then I used a big bar and hit the yoke to pop the caps off. I inspected the u joint and after I installed it I made sure grease was coming out of all four out lets. And inspected the yoke after installing the drive line and the problem was solved. Here are some pictures.

Clutch

At school I got to take out a transmission and "change" the clutch. I tool out the transmission learning tricks and ways to set my jack so it's easier to install the transmission. I also learned how to take out the pilot bearing I had never done that before Jeff showed us how to us the bearing puller. I learned a different way to install a clutch on the fly wheel the way I did it but some people like to put it together on the transmission out side then install everything at one time. Also I learned how to do measurements before installing the transmission I has never done this before. I had to go through the service information so I knew what to measure. For example the fly wheel, the bell housing, pilot earing housing, etc. Here are some pictures....

Monday, November 7, 2016

Electrical and lighting problems

Today I brought a truck in for inspection and first thing I do is check the lights. One of the fog lights was not working. So I started looking at the light I saw that the ground was very corroded and bad looking. I disconnect the light from the butt connectors and it had power coming in from the main line. So I know the problem is from the wires coming from the fog light. Two problems the butt connectors that connect the main power supply wires to the fog light wires has croshion and green stuff in it. And the wires had rubbed through the rubber sleeve to help keep water out. I put new butt connectors and heat shrinked the bad wire. Here are some pictures....

Set up 

Main power supply for the fog lights.

 Wires from the main power to the fog light. 

Fixed where the wire rubbed through 

New butt connectors and the light works

I also had a truck come in today because  every time the driver hit the brakes the left turn signal would come on. I had to think about this for couple minutes I had never seen this before. After about 30 minutes of investigation I found that the trailer cords yellow wire had come out of the connector that plugs into the trailer. And because of that the left turn signal would go off when the driver hit the brakes. So I recut the wires replaced the old dirty plug with a new one and the problem was fixed.


Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Cab heater core

I worked on a truck this week that I brought into the shop it had coolant leaking on to the fuel tanks. I investigated that and it was heater core for the sleeper. I have done the main heater core job before so this was easy. I took the heater core out of the cab and making sure I kept my work area clean because I was working in a cab that a driver called home. The job took about two hours and went smoothly. Here are some pictures.....



Also in school I have been learning a lot about wheel end adjustments and hub lock but adjusting. Also s cam wear. I have done all these things but now I have a reference or a nation wide standard. For example with a dail indicator you can measure how tight your lock nut is supposed to be between 1-5. I have a lot more research to do on s cams which I will post about in the next blog. I am hoping to be able to use all these standards at my work place if possible. Here is a picture of my teacher teaching us how to use the dail indicator....



Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Slack adjusters

This week I changed a lot of slack adjusters. One I even had to torch one off. It was stuck on the s cam. After an hour of hammering and pulling i gave up. I torched the slack from two area then off of the gears so it wouldn't mess up the s cam gears. Then on another truck all four s cams were bad. I learned easier way to change slacks, start first by putting the pin in the locker. Then lining up the second pin by putting in a center punch or a metal pen to line it up. Here is a picture



Monday, October 17, 2016

Trailer shoot


Today one of the repairs I did was fix a trailer shoot. A forklift operator took the load too high in the trailer and took down half off the trailer shoot in mount Vernon. So the boss sent me there to repair it because the next pick up the driver had would reject the trailer with a ripped shoot. So I went to the distribution and cut the shoot all the way to half of the trailer because it was no good. Then used plastic shoot rivets to hold the good shoot to the roof of the trailer. Pretty simple fix got the job done and I will make note of it and the shoot will be fixed when it gets back to the yard. I learned how to manage my time and get the job done. It might not have been the best repairs but that load got picked up on time and I had a happy boss. Here is a picture...                                          



Maintenance

I have been working on catching up on my services and inspections. I am very behind because I had a lot of big repairs that needed to be done. I went through some trucks today and I have 8 services to do and 19 inspections. But this is how I find more work and the more work I find the more I will learn. But what I need to work on is time management. I been mustly working on just learning and doing things right the first time up unit now. But this week in class I'm looking forward to leanring a lot about taking apart an axle. I have done must of the work but I like learning different ways of doing things and having a deeper understanding. Like knowledge about different types of parts and the variety of parts by manufacturer. I have done a lot of brakes but I did one type of style because I have always worked in fleet management and most things are same through out the fleet. But in class I got to take apart racing bearing and learning a different way to take it out by welding in it. I plan to use that method as soon as I learn how to weld.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Radiator

Today I was supposed to change a radiator. But the truck is going to be traded in a month. So my boss told me to install a used radiator from a crashed truck. I took out the old radiator and tested it to see where and if it was even leaking. It was the bottom seal was shot. So because I was going to install a used radiator I decided to check that radiator to see if it was leaking. Man was a I glad I checked it because it was leaking more then the one I pulled out of the truck. Both top and bottom seals were leaking like a sive. So I was unable to finish the job that day the new radiator will be here tomorrow. Here are some pictures...

 The new but used radiator is one hanging from the forklift and the old one is in the back. I tested the radiator by putting air through the system and using soup water with plugs in all the openings like the line taking coolant out and in.


This picture just shows the process of taking the radiator out. 
I learned to always check parts especially used parts and not to take someones word for it because if i had put that radiator in with out testing it i would have wasted a lot of time and would have had some unhappy boss's. 

I will show you the brake tools I use here are some pictures...

 This strap I use to pick up drums simple but it works very well. Favorite tool for brakes for a tall guy like me its hard to put drums back or take them out in trailers, its a tight space.
 This is a nail puller just torched the front a little more and i use this for the springs.

This is a bar i use to help with the springs and shoes. With these three tools changing breaks is a piece of cake. WAYYYY faster less chance of the spring hitting you in the eye. And I will bring these tools to class to show the class and Jeff. Maybe even demonstrate it because i feel like this can help a lot of guys that struggle with brakes. 


Monday, October 3, 2016

clutch fan

Today i had to change a clutch fan become it was leaking a lot of air. i diagnosed the problem when i was pulling the truck in for an inspection. The truck was not building air in the secondary tank. So I opened the hood and i knew where the air was leaking from but i did not know the name of the part so i asked Vlad and he told me it was a bad clutch fan. I have never done a clutch fan before so it took me about four hours to do alone. Here is a picture of the new clutch fan...


This picture shows how i started to take stuff apart. I took off one clamp off of each hose that was attached to the radiator. Then the i took off the support arms that hold the radiator in place. The point of doing this was to be able to push the radiator back so that i can slide the fan out. I also removed the cover for the radiator. 


You can see the clutch fan in this picture. so i dismounted the fan and used the belt as a way to get the clutch out. i left the belt in the grove and used it as a rope. i was very careful i didn't want to ruin the radiator with the studs of the clutch. 


It is hard to see but the clutch fan is removed. And you can see how i prevent things from going into the air to air. 

And here is the used air line fitting that i reused and installed on the new clutch fan. I installed the clutch fan the same way using the belt as a rope. i was not able to finish it i still need to double check everything and put radiator fluid back in the tank because i made a very big mess. All in all i learned how to replace a clutch fan. And easy ways to help speed up the process as well as not dropping the clutch fan in the radiator causing damage. 

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Final blog

This week we are putting together the engine that we tore apart. And we will find out if it seals up enough. But I will be putting together a truck that was in a accident after the engine rebuild. Here are some pictures....



This truck will need a new fender, grill, bumper, fog lights, head light, and a little bit of buffing. The driver said a car cut him off and he couldn't stop. 

All in all this quarter was good. I leanred a lot. Especially towards the end because of the engine rebuild. I leanred how to organize my self so that I can pull anything apart but I can also put it back together a week later with out forgetting how. By taking pictures organizing all the bolts with the correct parts. Marking things with paint pens etc. I look forward to coming back to school excited to learn more about the Diesel engines.

Hours  351