20 something kids

[140mower]

I read some reviews on the cheaper ones & they were all very hot/cold. People either loved them or hated them 'cause they didn't work. Decided I'd save myself the grief & just bought a good one: Lisle 39000.

Was surprised to find out that dead PS pumps are actually fairly common. First one I've ever come across.

I would have loved to have bought a better one, there's just not much selection in our little town and asking the parts guy to bring something in for some reason seems quite futile, apparently sales don't mean much there and service is pretty much non-existent...

 

[slow-poke]

I just replaced an electric hot water heater. There was a bit of plumbing work....

I did the same not long ago. We have two HW tanks, one was just for the kitchen and it was a 40 gallon. I replaced it with a Kijiji special space saver IIRC 10 gallon and I tucked it up under the joists in the corner. I now have 4sq ft of valuable floor space. Sold the old one for more than the almost new one, and will save a bit on the hydro bill.

Plumbing is so easy compared to most of what we do. The one thing I don't like about plumbing is the obscure wrench sizes and it seems you often need 10 fittings (I'm exaggerating) to go from one thing to another. I think the plumbing trade went out of their way to make simple things complicated.

BTW basic gas fitting is not rocket science either, not that long ago you could do it your self and then have an inspection a bit like electrical work, but they have now stopped that option in Ontario.

 

[slow-poke]

This morning ...replaced the power steering pump on the truck. It cost me $97 for a puller...

The power steering pumps and ram on the early Mustangs are a POS afterthought design that was prone to leak and heavy.

I went modern instead, pulled an EPS from a Equinox, decoded the CAN messages, used a $1 microcontroller to emulate the main Equinox CPU. Thing of beauty, about 50-60lbs lighter, variable assist that I tuned to vehicle speed. Nothing under the hood or attached to the steering linkage, just one small integral motor in the shaft between the steering wheel and steering rack. Torque sensors "feel" what you are doing and assist as required. One finger turning when parked and tight when at speed. Best mod ever. Oh and no leaks or fluid;-)

 

[Mcgyver]

It is hard to get the 25 n under crowd to focus on the job at hand it seems. Phones provide too many channels of social media...which then feeds the aforementioned depression and anxiety issues...
I learned my basic self sufficient work ethic from Dad...something broke, he fixed it. If he didn't know how, he learned how, by asking people who might know, or hitting the library to get a book about it...The carport @ 1000 sq. ft size, the front of the house reno extension, a complete workshop garage from the concrete pad poured to framing, wiring and the roofing. Burnt a head gasket in his '63 Olds ragtop when he was in his late 20's...tore the engine out and rebuilt it himself. He just put his head down and got to work. He figured if he had two hands and the will, and that is all that was required.
This younger than me generation ( can I say that now that I've turned 50 two days ago? ) seems to suffer from self worth paralysis...if they don't know how to do a thing, they lock up. Asking will make them feel like they can't do it naturally. I couldn't ride a bike from birth, I had to fall a few times to figure out pedalling, not coasting kept me upright. It's a learned fear of failure, the way I see it. And yet...

First
Attempt
In
Learning...

No one seems to use this anymore

Symptoms of "everyone gets a trophy" and "instant gratification". Nobody fails, nobody loses = poor understand cause and effect and puts a low value on striving. Endorphin rushes from 30 seconds of video games vs 1/2 a year build a shop (like the whole 30x30; building) or take a $300 junker, towed home with a rope, to a hod rod (things i did as a teen) = no ability to stick with it for the long haul reward.

These are not so much the fault of the kids, but real results of their environment. Not all of course, but there is no denying it is different for them vs when I was a kid

 

[slow-poke]

Symptoms of "everyone gets a trophy" and "instant gratification". Nobody fails, nobody loses = poor understand cause and effect and puts a low value on striving. Endorphin rushes from 30 seconds of video games vs 1/2 a year build a shop (like the whole 30x30; building) or take a $300 junker, towed home with a rope, to a hod rod (things i did as a teen) = no ability to stick with it for the long haul reward.

These are not so much the fault of the kids, but real results of their environment. Not all of course, but there is no denying it is different for them vs when I was a kid

It's unfortunate because all those experiences we had were so much fun and we learned so much incrementally. We did the pull it home with a rope quite a few times I can still hear my buddy " you are the brakes keep tension on that rope." At least the car was easy to steer with no engine under the hood.

 

[JustaDB]

I would have loved to have bought a better one, there's just not much selection in our little town and asking the parts guy to bring something in for some reason seems quite futile, apparently sales don't mean much there and service is pretty much non-existent...

I brought mine in from the, to quote @BaitMaster, Jungle store. I know, I know...

 

[BaitMaster]

My thoughts on younger people coming into the workforce:

I’m 32 so take everything I say with that grain of salt.

I don’t try to fix willingness/attitude.

I will bend over backwards to show a willing guy all the skills he wants to learn, down to and including how to use a drill or impact, or pair of pliers.

If a guy isn’t willing to show up with a good attitude, on time, and put in an honest effort, can him.

There’s too much available work these days at least rurally where I’m from. You show up at any trades shop or any farm yard around here and they are looking for the right kind of help.

My experience is that some young people don’t want to do the type of work that isn’t glamorous….. all of them want to be an “influencer” or “businessman” or in “finance”.

Running wires in a hog barn or digging a trench in a field I guess doesn’t qualify.

When an apprentice works with me I make sure to show them that I am willing to do EVERYTHING that I ask them to do, and that I can do it faster, better, and with ZERO complaints.

The kids that think they are too good for trades work, can go and fight the temp foreign workers for server jobs for all I care.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Going back in time, every generation has complained about the lack of drive and work ethic in younger kids......Not all of them are lost causes, so I'm hesitant to write off an entire generation......

Most young kids are 2-3 generations or more removed from anyone in their family working hands on with tools to make a living, and any DIY projects around the house. How much of the gen pop would tackle building a deck these days, or even know where to start besides watching youtube? The schools don't teach this stuff anymore either (seriously don't get me started here.....). So where do they learn it? I can teach anyone anything I know if they want to learn. I actually love doing it. But if the attitude and work ethic aren't there after a few attempts, then I very quickly write them off and move on unless I really see some potential, then my personal stubborness kicks in and I'll really go out of my way to bring it out. Takes a while sometimes though.... I see it alot on the ball diamond coaching kids too. Not everybody is born with natural talent, but everybody can put an effort in if they actually wanted to. Give me a team full of c/d players that want to be there, and I'll turn them into great ball players by the end of the year. We did that this year and they just won the B championship Wednesday night.

My new job has me working with the younger generation a lot. Bad attitudes and work ethic get weeded out generally pretty quick so I don't really see it a lot. You work as much as your reputation and connections allow. Sometimes when we just need bodies and get sent whoever is next on the list from the hall it can be interesting though......But for the most part a lot of the younger people I work with have very bright futures ahead of them. Good, hard and smart workers. None of them get my jokes or humour though.....Gotta work on that.....That generational gap is hard to bridge 😀.

Going back to my younger days I'm not afraid to admit now that I was a big floater. No real drive or ambition for anything except sports and things that moved and went fast. I'm a quick learner, but always gave minimal effort in school and college. Was never about getting grades, and money didn't really motivate me. I always just figured I'd fall into working the line at GM like the rest of my family did. It wasn't until I fell ass backwards into my first job (CAD Designer) that it really "clicked for me". About a year in I had a Manager take me aside and tell me that they were looking to downsize and get rid of me (company was bleeding money), but he saw something in me and would try to get me moved to another dept to learn if I wanted to actually put some effort into it. I was kinda shrugging my shoulders and not really into it if they weren't going to pay me more to do both jobs, but he gave me a good "coach talk" and drove the point home.....It was free knowledge and experience that nobody could take away from me, and when this place closed, I'd be more employable somewhere else. I moved into the CMM/inspection dept, then eventually the CNC dept, and it really just flipped a switch inside me where I wanted to learn everything I could, wherever I was. Turned my brain from a closed cell foam to and open cell you could say lol. They hung on for 3 more years before going tu, and I eventually learned a ton and had a few toolmakers out on the floor take me under their wing on the machines too. Which led me to my next job.....and next job.....and here I am working on my 2nd Red Seal.

I always wonder what would have happened and how my life would have turned out if he didn't do that for me, and looking back on it I appreciate the hell out of it (yes I've told him). It was my TSN turning point. Would I have figured it out on my own? or would I just continue to float through life doing the bare minimum effort getting bare minnimum results. I owe everything I have to that moment. I've tried to be the same way to people when I see potential.

I look at my own kids and wonder sometimes......lol. My Son is a lot like me (too much it's scary). He's a good worker....when he wants to......Like an old engine that's tough to get started, but will run good once you get it going.....You'll pull your shoulder off trying to start the damn thing sometimes though..... My Daughter, similar but different. She's much more driven like her Mom (she doesn't stop), and is generally much easier to get rolling, just harder to keep focused (she get's that part from me 😀 ). They're still kids though and need a nudge once in a while. I think they'll be fine, and I'm very proud of both.

That's enough rambling, time to go golfing.

 

[Susquatch]

We did the pull it home with a rope quite a few times I can still hear my buddy " you are the brakes keep tension on that rope."

I did that this past spring with a tractor.......

The neighbour experienced run away diesel on his big CaseIH. He called me in a panic. I went cross country on my own tractor to help. He was out in a field going around and around with a big set of rippers in the ground. It was dark out but everything on that motor was red hot. There was no way anybody was gunna climb up on that hood to kill that monster by plugging the intake which is the normal way of dealing with it, and he had no fuel shutoff. His eyes were popping out of his head in a total panic. I suggested that he stop and then pop the clutch in a mid gear. It was taking a big risk, but thank God that killed it.

We unhooked the plow using my loader and then I pulled his tractor home with a big chain. Those big Case IH articulating tractors are steered with hydraulic cylinders 6" in diameter (just a guess). Let's just say that trip was not a picnic! Steering was more like dragging sideways than pointing in the right direction!

I think that engine glowed for a week! I've never experienced that before.

I think it was a 7488. The whole front half of the tractor steers, not just the wheels.

 

[KeeponDragon]

What triggered the runaway Sus? Did your neighbor get it figured out?
I've sold the positive air shutoff kits for vehicles working in the oil patch...due to H2S etc...
But I'm curious as to what could be out in a farm field to set runaway off...

 

[JustaDB]

There was a story I heard years ago from yet one more AGT (pre Telus) worker. They had a crawler plowing in phone cable & hit a high pressure natural gas line. They cut off the diesel, but there was apparently enough natural gas to keep the engine racing. They tried putting a Calgary phone book across the intake & it sucked it through. At that point they moved well back & watched it grenade.

Don't know if it was true, but it made for great beer talk.

 

[Bandit]

The older 766, 866, 966 International tractors would often do a runaway when getting low on fuel, not sure why. A friend changed the oil in a oil bath air cleaner on a Cummins powered truck, the oil level in the filter was a bit high, when the engine hit higher rpm after being started, it did a runaway, as was pulling oil out of the air filter. Shutting the fuel down did nothing, and could not close air off as due to piping etc. One new engine, please.

 

[DPittman]

I’m 32 so take everything I say with that grain of salt

You just BARELY qualify then to complain about the next generation! 😛

 

[Susquatch]

What triggered the runaway Sus? Did your neighbor get it figured out?
I've sold the positive air shutoff kits for vehicles working in the oil patch...due to H2S etc...
But I'm curious as to what could be out in a farm field to set runaway off...

It's not easy to figure out what caused it.

Nobody in their right mind wants to be starting up a runaway diesel engine to do any trouble shooting.

Possible causes are running off of engine oil, fuel in the oil, external fuel sources, etc etc.

But the one that made the most sense to all of us staring at it like a herd of blind farmers the next day was an internal failure of the injection pump. But we didn't have the courage to try it out. We even discussed installing a fuel shutoff valve but couldn't satisfy ourselves that there wouldn't be enough fuel to run the engine after shutting it off.

In the end, he pulled the fuel injector pump and had it rebuilt. That fixed it...... Or at least it ran properly after that. I also machined him an air shutoff (a big piece of 1/2" steel plate on a pole to plug the intake, that would shut it down if it did decide to become an airliner. Hopefully it's fixed for good...... Each time he uses it, he gains confidence.

Of course, my preferred fix was to paint it green......

 

[Chicken lights]

Of course, my preferred fix was to paint it green......

So it never runs again....?

😀

 

[DPittman]

In the end, he pulled the fuel injector pump and had it rebuilt. That fixed it...... Or at least it ran properly after that

I had a tractor with a bad injector pump that let diesel into the crankcase and if I had stared it up without noticing it would of likely self destructed from running away.

 

[Susquatch]

I had a tractor with a bad injector pump that let diesel into the crankcase and if I had stared it up without noticing it would of likely self destructed from running away.

IF (a really big IF) you have access to the air intake, you can always throttle it to kill the engine or at least reduce the speed. A strong plate or plug is best. A rag will probably just get eaten as a snack by the angry beast!

As far as I know, there are only two choices - kill the fuel or kill the Oxygen. Maybe a big CO2 or Nitrogen extinguisher would work too, but I am just speculating.

 

[jorogi]

I worked in the bush with a guy, running big Cat hoes mowing hydro right of ways. As such we had massive bush cages on the machines and I bitched about them to no end. I got a call from the bosses wife one night around eight, had I heard from Max ? So of I go and find him around midnight in his hoe lying on its side. My beef with the cages was the only exit was the door. He lay on his side for about 20 minutes, praying to every God he could think of, that the machine wouldn't catch fire as it ran away. He said even after everything siezed the noises the heat made were terrifying. We got modified cages before any of the machines went back to work.