What prevented you from working on your bikes today

[RDfella]

Had the same thing with a customer's VW Golf a few years back. Parts to construct a new one were almost £400. Outrageous. As these items are regularly bashed / knocked off they should be a readily replaceable, reasonably priced (say £20) item.

[Greybeard]

Any part for a VW, £20? Yeh, right! In yer dreams! 

[lawnmowerman]

Lovely sunny autumnal afternoon here in Kent so I fired up the grey Fergie and cut a few more logs before winter arrives.

Jim

[bsa-bill]

That I think is a Fergie T20, used one when I started on the pig farrowing unit 60/61 ish, up here we generally refer to the later grey 35 as the grey Fergie.
Thanks for the memory

[berger]

last Thursday night I took back the morris hate/ mmmm diff from the " o yes we do diffs garage" after weeks of waiting the geezer who took it on had b*gg**d off on holiday for a few weeks with stress . I went to another garage a well known one who DO diffs, not mine tho!!! because its not a simple taper roller diff or a throw it in the bin diff and fit a new one. I would love to hear the conversations in the pub when they talk about their jobs and say they are transmission technicians  so I took it to a transmission and diffs place Saturday morning for another try. the conversation went something like this. as i arrived two geezers were having a break outside so I asked " DO YOU SET DIFFS UP ? he says" yes we do gearboxes and diffs" so I say" I have rebuilt it with all new bearings but haven't got box spanners or sockets to fit the bearing retaining nuts", I only have a MAHOOSIVE  bahco adjustable nutter shifting spanner and can't gauge the pressure on the angular contact ball races. one of the geezers looked at the older geezer and left pretty sharpish. older geezer says what is it? I said a 1948 morris 8. he says can you bring it Monday and I said its in the van mate have a look. so he looked at the diff and the pages in the workshop bible ummmd and aaarrrrddd and finally after talking him through the  procedure he picked it up put it on a bench and asked for my name and phone number. I await the outcome. today I got the old original horn working which is 6volt by putting a 30watt 1 ohm resistor in the 12volt UPGRADE!!!  wiring . the morris now has a working petrol gauge  a working windscreen wiper,- yes only one! and a VALVE radio. not really a radio cassette I found hanging about, the major problem is its getting cold now and it doesn't have a heater . o well thankyou for listening it is certainly keeping me away from the pub

[RDfella]

Way of the world I’m afraid. My son wanted to follow in my engineering footsteps but I pointed out there wasn’t the work there was. In the 60’s a car would need a new clutch & waterpump by 30,000 and a rebore and pistons soon after. A few more miles and the diff would need rebuilding. In fact one of the examples I use these days is - who can rebuild a diff any more? These days the breakdown & failures are electronic. Apart from cam belts etc the mechanicals are good for well over 100,000 miles but the old skills are dying out I’m afraid. If you’re talking about preload, Berger, you’ll often get away on the older stuff setting by feel as opposed to the usual spring balance on the flange.
And best of luck with the Morris. My oldest is a Pathfinder.

[berger]

RD fella the input shaft and the pinion are set up by MOWOG [ morris Wolseley garages] it has shims put in at the factory for the double ball race setting and all four nuts on the flange tightened up , the crown wheel and pinion are acid etched? with corresponding numbers. my problem is the backlash setting because you put the bearings thrust side to crownwheel and tighten both bearing caps fully. then you pull the crownwheel shafts left or right on the inner races to set the drive and backlash ---- no less than 8thou no more than 10 thou. because the bearings have a lot of movement in themselves and I haven't got anything remotely the size of the nuts that pull the shaft in the inner races I am lost with it and don't know how tight these angular contact bearings have to be. so to save me buying things I will never use again and having to make a tool to turn the crownwheel --- [unless I become a differential technician   ] I thought the easiest thing to do was to take it to a transmission specialist all built and just need setting up, it hasn't turned out as planned YET!

[cyclobutch]

Lounging in Corfu.

[morris]

Lounging in Corfu.

Hope not with Thomas Cook...

[Gerry]

My bloody hip. Fell over a kerb when going to the pictures about 9 weeks ago and the day after could hardly hobble and no better today. Getting a cortisone injection next monday and hoping it will solve or improve the problem. Got 7 small jobs to do on the A10, 2 on the C15 and about 4 on the B40WD......I'm climbing up the wall.

[Black Sheep]

Not with that hip you're not 

[RDfella]

Same here. With the colder / damp weather my right hip has been giving me grief over the last week. As a result can't find the enthusiasm to do anything. It's taken me a week just to touch up paint around the shower where I fitted a new base nearly a month ago. The original had cracked and was leaking. Of course the new one is different and needed a different plinth to sit on. Always find this time of year depressing, knowing it'll be six months before the days are long enough and the weather pleasant enough to get excited about going outside.

[Gerry]

 Always find this time of year depressing, knowing it'll be six months before the days are long enough and the weather pleasant enough to get excited about going outside.
Spend your winter months here in Auzzie its just beautiful at the moment in Adelaide but will get so hot later that its not wise to go anywhere other than the pub.

[muskrat]

Wot's winter?

[cyclobutch]

Lounging in Corfu.

Hope not with Thomas Cook...

Sadly not - being trapped here would be a real bummer.

Sleeping on the beach. Flying out tomorrow with Sleazyjet.