Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

Haven't run the VW very low or out of fuel recently have you , I had a car that needed a pump replacement if you ran the tank empty ,mukanics said not to let the tank get below 1/4 ,sold the fkr as a pump was about $700 AUD a pop back then ,and coming to a sudden stop was dangerous and unappreciated .

Nah Wazza ..... generally fill it once it gets to half a tank .... like to be able to get in it and drive all night if I have to .... you never know when you might have to ... me mate who I called has a garage and said they're known for just giving up the ghost, without warning ... annoying, but C'est la vie ..... have had it with other vehicles too ... SD1s were also prone to just dying and the classic Rangies and / or discos with the in tank pumps

[Wazza]

Haven't run the VW very low or out of fuel recently have you , I had a car that needed a pump replacement if you ran the tank empty ,mukanics said not to let the tank get below 1/4 ,sold the fkr as a pump was about $700 AUD a pop back then ,and coming to a sudden stop was dangerous and unappreciated .

[v8druid]

so ....... Clara arrived at 7.45 this morning ...... Vicki says " you know the CH pump you came and tweaked last year ? " : ... " could you call by after dropping Clara off and give it another one ..... pretty please " ..... keep telling 'em to just run the thing every couple of weeks when not in use
Dropped little 'un off at nursery at 9 and nipped up to the village ... sorted said pump with a quick flick of the driver in the armature hole and away it went. Cap back on the pump and headed home.


I'd just pulled round a friend out walking his dogs in the lane heading for Druid central, put me toe down to pull away and ...... nada .. dead stick .... thought I'd stalled it - God knows how?? - but pulled in for a restart ... won't do it on the move .... and would it bloody start


so... walked the last two miles home after shoving the Golf, back into the hedge/verge as far as I could ... least it wasn't raining !!!






Spoke to a mate as I walked back ... "Fuel pump Gra ... known for it ... fine one second, dead the next ..... under the back seat squab is an access hole ... not too bad a job " ............ thank f**k it didn't die on Pam on the way home from Plymouth last week!!!


She was surprised to look up from her weeding and see me stood beside her ....... "get yer coat - we're going for a pull "


Shot back up in the Rangey, stuck a rope on it and dragged it back to me patch





Back seat squab took some extracting ... doubt it'd ever been out, but sure enough there was the access





note the unit locking ring ..... ..... only evident after 5 min.s with me trusty hoover, clearing all the crap off the top of the tank ...... couldn't believe the amount of crud that'd collected !! ..... and didn't want any of it ending up inside it





what a bar steward that was ....... hence the earlier posts .... no way José was it coming off/out, without either buying summat from VAG if you could find one ...... or getting creative





even with my foot on top of it and a 10" adjustable on the leg ... it still had to be tapped loose ... and i mean TAPPED!!


it did surrender though





and the suspect ended up where most things do ..........





on me bench ..... an application of 12volts soon determined the lil' bar steward'd given up the un-ending struggle with gravity ... and'd quit being a team player


Lunch and an ebay sesh later and I have one coming ......... into me local factors in the a.m. at 08.00 ..... 108 quid ..... ebay was anything between 48 quid, but Tues/Wed.s (maybe?) and 178 quid .. same speed ...... so went for the local and OE unit ... sod it ... want it sorted and it's VAG/OE ... or had better be ... was what I was told/sold for the bucks


Not been my month for fuel pumps, eh !!


on the plus side ......... I did have a nice 'score' with this Tuesday .....











pity it's missing its 'woodboss' badge, but came from a trusted friend who's had it donkeys and only uses it for his wood burner these days.
he's bought summat smaller, lighter and easier to start (like auto recoil thingy) .... and I've had first dibs on this one for years ... new pot and piston 12 months ago, new chain last month and running like clockwork ..... a hundred quid sounded like a bargain to me ... so's not been all s h 1 t this week

[v8druid]

" here's your first bonus Q. for 5 points "..... "you may confer " ....













"I'll have to hurry you "

[v8druid]

and here is your starter for ten points .........











been one of 'those' days ........... TBC

[v8druid]

in spite of the bloody weather today, managed to get this back together ....











....... in a few stints, interspersed with torrential bloody rain 'sposed to have been dry all day .... and absolutely hurling it down here ATM


glad to report we now have a stealth washing machine .... can barely hear it run .. and the 'test drive' proved uneventful, with a nice dry floor afterwards ... .. at least under the machine ... outside's been a different matter, most o' the day

[v8druid]

May I just casually ask ,where is da shed or mancave junk storage work area type thing ? ....
Must be about a year since I dared ask

aye ..... probably is Boyo ...... ..... dunno WTF the time goes TBH ...... got some boxes to move shortly, then I might just get started on some founds

[Wazza]

May I just casually ask ,where is da shed or mancave junk storage work area type thing ? ....
Must be about a year since I dared ask

[v8druid]

guess where we've been the last couple of days ?








did manage to escape for a couple of hours though and caught up with Delbouy to pick up a few items i'd bought from him over the last few months ..
a very creative chap is our Mr Woods ....





went up to see him, outside of Plymouth, equipped with josh's newly acquired tranny van .... and filled it with all sorts of goodies from Del's Aladdin's cave of a workshop
was great to finally meet him and put a face to the name


Came home with said van last night to two 'starving' cats ....




Vicki & Clara fed 'em wednesday .... they did not stopped eating all evening thursday ... you'd think I'd been gone a week


Left granny down there with the Golf ....


Also came home to find an oil seal in the letter box ..... so if it's dry in the morning yon washing machine can go back together .... whilst i can still remember how ... has pissed down all day today


seems we had better weather down there than it's been here ....











bloody hammered down for the last 15 miles of the journey home

[v8druid]

sat having lunch and there's this "did you say you're going to mow the grass, 'fore it pees down for a week? " "er when did I say this?"


was easier to do it than debate it and it'd give me some peace for a while ... apart from Sparty's mitherings ...so new tactic....





no chance of bungee-ing him down so a bed'd be the next best thing LOL


He loved it ......











saved him doing his usual dance from lap, to bonnet and back every five minutes, and I could give it some, with him safely strapped on
did all the lawn and a couple of passes beside the drive, 'fore he decided he wasn't keen on the angle of operation and baled out .... the side of the drive gets a nap of the earth cut once or twice a year with the Countax and 'twas dry enough today so cut and collect in one hit


looked ok afterwards





and'll need it if it's gonna rain for a week, as forecast


lawn's not looked this good all year .....








and Pam's 'pruning' has re-tamed some of her 'gardeny' bit








must get the gate retainers made



first rocks I found here digging with Jakie








keep forgetting to say ... for those of a sad persuasion or want more pix to look at LOL ... i keep me 'bucket' up dated so there's always more in there than i post ....
https://s1275.photobucket.com/user/v...?sort=3&page=1
just have to nose about in the various folders

[v8druid]

woke up with a bump, Friday, rolled over and looked at me phone ... 05:31 .... WTF hasn't the alarm gone off?? .... old body clock is remarkably accurate when it needs to be ... had set it last night ... but forgot to check it was for all days ... and was set for weekend only


on site for seven .... shame the rest of the 'team' weren't .... half seven the guy with the gas axe turned up ....we were ready to rock ...





hour later the gathered throng were still ing about, as to how/who/when/what/why .... FFS ...... it is no wonder everything takes so long and costs sooooo much these days ....


was on the floor eventually by half nine ...... and on to the next lift ....



LIEBHERR LTF 1035-3.1


same issue .... plus everyone'd disa-fkn-ppeared







one lift turned into three .....so much for the RAMS .... and ....on to the next .... 4.8t of cooler





...... after waiting another half an hour to get into spot, after they'd shifted the crud someone'd dumped in the way Thursday .. organisation be damned !!!!!


......and the next, after yon cooler'd gotten dropped on a truck .... which was another half an hour late turning up





2t of cooler base frame and blowers out on to the road-side, ready to get transported away ... tomorrow ?? ... when they'd have to fork it on????? the lack of organisation beggars belief. !!!!


I used to put my cranes in here almost fortnightly ... and they weren't a lot better back then ......


Steve the maintenance manager's looking at me, whilst we were waiting for the truck to arrive and says "you're Graham aren't you ? .. thought you'd retired? "
"Aye ... I had ... Russ was stuck for a hand" ... " so're you coming back with him, in a few weeks, to put the new stuff in? "


let's hope they're better organised for that lil' escapade .... two an' a half hours work and we were there for six ....... Russ had a wedding to go to in the afternoon LOL ...... beautiful day for this though ..... and the wedding


Pam collared me for a pic when i got back at lunch-time
Russ had said dress code was hi-viz ...... he sure got HI VIZ from me !!





no missing me clambering about on site Friday


aside from all the waiting about the job went smooth as silk ..... Russ said to me after "Bet you were stood there wondering WTF he was pissing about at .... 15 min.s a leg that took him " .... I'd have had the four of 'em off in under 5 minutes for sure ... never seen anything like it .. talk about creating / wasting time use


Saturday morning shot to hell with one of those "can you justs" .. empty the three barrows please and burn it all .....





ooops !!





an' tha's not fog LOL


it got a bit monotonous after the ninth barrow load ..... 'specially when I had to crack out the magic fire lighter ...





due to it being so ****ing green it wasn't having it, 'til it'd been 'barbied' a bit
she was filling 'em faster than it'd burn


but Pam eventually ran out of things to massacre just as I'd gotten well and truly kippered


Posty arrived after lunch, as I was on a box roof trying to deal with a drip with some Evode flash band .... (for now ) ... "get down yer and sort the washing machine ... they've arrived!" ..... "slight problem; need the oil seal too and that's coming from some where else " "Bugger !!!"

[v8druid]

well it got weighed this morning .....





I was surprised TBH .... 925kgs is what the clock says ... couldn't get any closer to it to get a good pic


then it got shifted out the way for now ... and made itself useful in a supporting role .... for Del's placcy pig chassis ....





I've been threatened he's gonna collect it at the weekend LOL .... together with Mr Sanders


shoved it in there with the hook in the eye ... went in sweet as ... some serious flexibility at the end of the boom/dipper .... could put that just about anywhere even sat on the armrest ..... Sparty had taken up residence in the seat and left him and the 'Drema here, 'til he'd vacated .... and I'd had me lunch





Found a bit of 12mm for Rob65 's chuck key for a tommy bar..... really needs to be 1/2", but it'll do for now ...





he did a nice job on freeing it off and cleaning it up ... works well enough for what i want it for .


been another stunning day here today .... sat after tea (which i don't do very often) letting it go down a bit ...enjoying the evening sun ...







........ and me phone rings ..... Russel, me crane mate ..... what was i doing tomorrow?
Did I fancy a few hours slinging for him ... got a silo to take down (amongst other things) and wanted someone who's not afraid of a basket .... plus the site he's on's ticketed bloke is ****ing clueless ... got the paperwork ... and that's as far as it goes.
and he's terrified of the basket
So ... gotta go to work tomorrow LOL ... will be a good craic with Russ ...... an' I'll get to have a play with his new crane probably


He said " why don't you do your ticket Gra ... could keep you real busy " LOL ... like I'm not already !!!!


got some pix today from Plymouth .......





apparently he's gonna be called Beau Ebeneezer Griffiths was expecting summat biblical again !!





his 'big' bro, Shem, will be two shortly .... hell he's grown some in the last few months .. incredible

[v8druid]

dragged it out, turned the taps off, dropped the cold hose off, cracked the hot and got covered in hot water ????? managed to eventually seal the hose on the coupling again ... and after I'd cleared up a bit
... discovered the placcy bit'd gone round fine .... bloody valve hadn't though
so having gotten it turned off it came out ......and on to me sack truck .... heavy lil' sod





trundled it up to me boxes and set about it .


never seen a washing machine without a removable back panel : ... " HTF do you get into this then " ???


All comes out the front!! very clever design ... Creda 1200 -- must be 15 yr old, but I was impressed....eventually, once i had a suss on it :giggle: .... lid off, once I found the screws ..... followed by a gert heavy lump of concrete ... made it a lot lighter





couple more screws and the front panels off ...





label all the multi plugs ... which're all the bloody same ..... few more extraneous wires and it'd fallen over





once id gotten the front off ..... some more clever designs ... forgot a pic of the clip retaining the door rubber ... well clever and a pop to get off, as was the rest of it .. more bloody concrete ... and it was a LOT lighter


lots more odds and sods ... all pretty straight forward and yon drum was on its way out ... PLASTIC!! least it won't die from the usual problem







all the wiring is in one loom and comes away with the drum .. pretty neat, once it's all ready to exit and well labeled for its return


so ..... to the bench ...





tha's bollo-ed .....





split the outer drum ... POP ... and set about getting the drum out o' the burger ......





came out sweet as





think I may need some new ones of these ....





outer rear race knocked out pretty easy ..... the inner was a different story ....








couldn't be arsed to cut a shorter bit of tube .... this 'un fitted fine





bearing was looking similarly second hand after it eventually succumbed





think the goodness has been exhausted out o' them


it's been 'grumbling' for a while ...... can see why now





from here on in it was a clean up job ..... and suss the new bits ...





another very tired one


and all measured up for sourcing ......





as usual, 20 minutes on Ebay and they're ordered and on their way .... 18 quid all in
everything cleaned up and sat in a box awaiting the arrival of the 'spare bits' ...... let's hope i can remember how it goes back together


this, once i'd sussed it, has to be one of the easiest washing machines i've ever had apart .... and I have done a few .... as a young teenager I used to have quite a lucrative lil' biz re-firb.ing 'em ...
in those days a new washing machine was a significant investment
... and was always a market for decent s/hand ones ... had an 'arrangement' with the local scrappy ... I had first pick on anything he got in ... and he used to get quite a few .... Mother always had a row of three top flight Bendix,s ... she ran a guest house/B&B and there was always one or two going round (and I always had a spare sat for her -- in case.) ...... wish I'd had ebay in those days would've made life so much easier


anyway .... apart from the obvious, this un'll be good for another few washes, ......... once it's re-assembled .... you could put a few of these together in a day .. a very well designed assembly


tonight's sky ..... been a glorious day here

[v8druid]

Rude awakening .. sort of ... was dozing ... 'bout 8 this morning ... Tony, me scrappy. His first job's cancelled can he come up to the farm earlier .. like now !!!!!
.... "Gimme an hour mate ... still thinking about breakfast"


Met him in the village, with the truck, his van and his grandson for a convoy up to Ken's ...


left Tony to it on the side of the drive whilst Shane and I loaded the van with the rolled ali, from the truck body we chopped up and all other miscellaneous ali/stainless bits, plus all the 'bluey' I'd set aside as we'd been sorting.





he must've been napping 'cos we were down there 'fore he'd made a dent in it ...





he sure packs it on








but even he had to concede defeat and have a second run




all cleared and gone by two ... at last, after he'd gotten back and 'mopped up' ... surprising how full he was going off on the second trip -- pile hiding behind that tank, you can't see ....... progress, of sorts


this came damned close to getting Tony's hiab on it





the bed swings/slides and it rotates, but'll want a belt and some ing up


these of any interest to anyone? ..... gonna chuck 'em in Brightwells otherwise ... can't be arsed to ebay 'em

















This sunday's job/mission ..... collect a big chuck from one of the guys off a.n.other forum and a little summat else I bought a few weeks ago .... 230 miles away

she knew it was on there ....

















mmmm new smells












counter weight






a looong Druid day ...... but not as looooooooong as Rob's was ..... huge thanks to the man who brought this down from Sheffield


his loooong day was a lot more than mine ... but ... body was complaining Monday ...
180 miles for me was a LOT, with 90 getting my spleen shaken to s**t with a lump on the back and then assailed by me 'Hamster juice ' yesterday morning, between taking Clara to school, collecting her at 12 and entertaining her 'til half four ...


Collected from Rob's dad's place 45 miles away ... back to Druid central - 'nother 45, woke up the 'Drema and offed it. Headed back with an empty trailer, which although faster, wasn't the same as a solo and although it towed well, kept me well informed of its presence on the back, on the back roads I used for the trip - much shorter than 'the long way round ' .. 'nother 45 .... gave Rob his trailer back, etc. and headed home for tea ... 'nother 45 .
most driving I've done in a day in a long time ... and didn't I know it Sunday night .. but again as Rob said ... mission accomplished, limited dramas (was an 'interesting tow ' ) and everyone mostly in one piece


good job he had that chuck to strap to the front of his trailer's tow bar for some nose weight .... would've been an even longer day..


was going to hang it on the dynamometer yesterday, but weather was abysmal and today has be a bit frenetic ... so


the 'weigh in' for the new 'acquisition' will have to wait 'til tomorrow ..... have sussed the tyres'll take 3,300kg ... each!! .... so a good capability in the lugging stakes, by the time the draw bar gets its share too ....... so assuming a circa 5-6 t build rating ... as long as yon ram'd cope with lofting that much .... will have a measure up and get the calculator wound up when I'm a little less zombie-fied


am now on screen saver ... been now't but interruptions and visitors all day .... Granny is not quite so bouncy-abouty now Thankfully we do not have to be up quite so early tomorrow!!


and now the bearings've just collapsed in't sodding washing machine .... that's the morning buggered ... quick shufty, but doubt it's fixable ... new one required probably

[v8druid]

well this lot arrived on a tuesday morning ..... I wasn't up to struggling with it all, after a bad night and most of the day - were too late with me 'hamster juice' Monday evening and no activity after it, to circulate it about .. so me spleen gave me hell to remind me





slightly different unit ...





but after a 're-assuring ' conversation along the lines of - "it's the only one we've sold in years" it went into the tank -- it'd better ****ing work !!





and everything got a liberal application ....


was a tough afternoon getting that bloody great lump of a tank back in its home under the RR and even harder getting everything back into place and re-connected ...
the filler pipe was a complete nightmare ... and took a good hour and a half to get back together ...
no room for hands or tools
..... and left a lot of my skin under there in various locations




the breather that has caused all the issues had also appeared to have been shortened, by the looks of it ... I had to extend it to get it to reach, once I'd attached it to the tank end





no way was I going to go tugging at it to try to stretch it to fit


anyway ... it was all re-assembled and dogged up ... ready for some fuel in the morning and a test for leaks .... which i hoped there would be none of ... ran out of time ... had to go to meeting at 18.00


We had Clara here on the Tuesday ... Pam thought this was hilarious ....... and stood and watched her unwind it





She'll be bloody sorting it next time
took me ages to unravel it all

so Thursday ..... No leaks and went first flick ...... and no smell of fuel either ...... could do with a wash though





be nice to use it without worry.





Sparty has taken to disappearing at odd hours ...... found him sleeping here now, on several occasions and at all hours. .......
Getting older and dafter by the day. When the sun's out I can see why .... but not after sun down





mixing some mortar this afternoon ....... and had to look twice !!!! when I found him lying by me sand bag ... fast asleep





he's getting his old man's coat rapidly



our trip to Newport week last Friday, for Pam, was 'successful' ... in that it got done ... she was sore but better than expected ..
took the dressing off on the Sunday morning, as per instructions ....





6 dissolve-able internals and 8 that'd come out last Friday ....
a mole she's had all her life, about 6mm across, just in front of her ear ... but quite flat ...
caught it with a comb, doing her hair several weeks ago and scalped it
.....
it promptly went berserk and when she went in on Friday, the best description I can give you is ......
imagine pushing a pencil into the side of her head and the only thing left showing was the 'rubber' ...
about 8mm dia. and a good 10mm protruding ....
was weird ....



anyway, as the dermatological consultant suspected, was deep rooted and needed quite an 'open up' to deal with.
Consultant was quite surprised at its growth in four-ish weeks
been sent off for biopsies ....
we have our fingers crossed

so ....
last day clearing, up at the farm, we got a puncy in't traccy front, which curtailed the day's scrap clearing activities a bit earlier than planned ....
BIL said he'd get it sorted .... two bloody weeks ago !!!!
... guess who had to go see to it .... !!!
not been able to organise me scrappy to come and have a pick up session, 'cos said beast is in the way.


followed this down, from chez Druid ...





must've been 11ft wide and FILLED the road -- this is a wide bit


took this after i'd stopped in a hurry .... Rangey is abs and just dealt with it .... me 8 x 4 trailer behind, with tools, toe jacks and a 49 kilo 'air bottle', running light, simply locked up and HOWLED to a halt
.... traccy driver turned to see WTF was about to run up his arse ..... big green parcel machine had to haul his mirror in - or lose it ....
anyone else'd have had an escort for that ... an' a bloody movement order


anyway... got to the farm and soon had the offending item in the air and said wheel off





after twenty minutes with a sledge and levers, t'was obvious the lil' b'stard was not gonna have it and it got slung in't trailer for a trip home to meet the 'Drema and me forks


reckon I had a good 4-5t of pressure on't bead before it surrendered ..... and discovered a surprise tube hiding in there
.... looked for all the world like a tubeless valve screwed into the very ropey rim good job I'd had the valve between the forks
Doug swore it was tubeless


inner bead wasn't quite such a bugger and soon had it in bits





good job I did .. rim was in a hell of a state and whoever had put the new tyre on hadn't bothered cleaning it, obviously ....


this was a better bit ..



after i'd hacked off about 4mm of scaley shite
hour well spent with the grinder and it was looking a bit more like it and a damned sight smoother, for a re-fit of the round black rubbery bits

patched the pin hole in the 'surprise tube' ... be damned if I could find the cause - not a mark inside the tyre and only a few minuscule particles in it
.. applied more lube, than yer average hooker'd use in a year - EVERYWHERE - and it went on, sweet as a nut
.... have had more blood, sweat and tears with a 5.20 x 10


helped a lot that the bloody thing was so heavy; it wasn't trying to escape off the bench at every effort to re-mount it
..... had visions of having to drill a hole in the middle of the bench to bolt the bloody thing down..... but nope .... one of the easiest I've ever done


going back on at least




put 10 lbs in it to seat the beads (all that lube did the trick, sweet) and dropped the forks onto it for the rest of 35 psi it needed ....





'twas going no-where with the 'Drema leaning on it


Lifted it back into the trailer ... sod grunting it about with mechanical handling to hand and we went back to re-instate it in its rightful place
Think Doug enjoyed his afternoon out, getting chauffeured about ..... not having to deal with the damned thing .. and a free lunch


Scrappy organised for the morning ... meet him in the village at ten ..... he's been to Ken's before, but can't remember HTF to get there .. be glad to see the back of an enormous pile of tish, that took a LOT of collecting together .... so that'll be a.n.other day shot to sh*t