flagmanruss

Well, I'm working at home & don't have a parts washer or even a shop sink. I was only able to soak paper towels or rags in solvents & it only worked to a point. I decided to hold the gasoline approach in reserve & try high concentration of detergent in straight hot water. It's a cold & rainy day & can't work in the driveway anyway. So I waited until the wife was not home! I brought the hub & a plastic container up to the SS kitchen sink... pouring in a ridiculous amount of detergent & ran straight hot water into the hub, rotating & scrubbing with a wire parts brush (Harbor Freight). Reverse & do the same from the other side. Double rinse & done. The water was hot enough that it evaporated quickly. The center of the hub feels rough but may just be unmachined casting. It may have some surface rust. But the **** is gone. There's no loose crud. Mind you this is still the first wheel but I'll know how to do the second one. Skipping things which did not work. If it needs more, I can chuck it in the lathe & spin it with a scotch pad inside & see if that does anything. I think it's too deep for me to reach inside with a boring bar... and it wouldn't do to remove the seat step. LOL! I wish I had an arbor press to seat the bearings & seals but hopefully they'll go easily.

What would dog poo be doing in the bearings? Some friggin lube!! It it nasty. I tried acetone... I think gas is next. It would take a large container to soak the whole hub. I'm thinking a coffee can of gas under the center & a toothbrush. (She'll never notice! LOL!!) The bearing buddy for 1" axle fit, the exterior diameter of bearing for 1" axle fit... center race did not fit... hole too small. Hopefully the last time these axles will need service.

The hubs looked like 1" but wasn't. Was bigger. Got new bearings at NAPA but had to order seals... be in tomorrow. The inside of the hub between the bearings is yucky, slimy grimey... resisting my attempts to clean it. Maybe need a different solvent?

Deduct time spent washing the rig from the travel time saved... if any... at least you did not find any low bridges or narrow turns. With my rig... we just don't.

I need to clean up the axle stub & I'm looking at the hub now... guess I need to pop the outer races now.

No, my locking collars (a gift from a former customer whose shop made them) stopped just under an inch & it's a 1" axle. The ATF soup didn't help. I tried grinding notches in the bearing race & ground the ends of my puller flat... rounded excessively where they polished it... but no go. So I ground through the race most of the way & popped it with the cold chisel. Hardest part was holding the chisel in my weak hand. A lot of choice words to accompany the droppcies. I'm pretty beat.

I had a thought. I used to have a box of assorted bolt on locking collars... I wonder if I might have one the right size to clamp on over this inner race so I could use the puller again... on the inner race. What are the odds?

The mixture would probably work better if the parts could soak in it. Hard to do on fixed horizontal parts. It might be possible to clamp a sleeve around the axle & plug opposite. Acetone is pretty volatile... wouldn't stay around long in open air. Even something like a hunk of intertube, a pvc plug, a couple of clamps... but it would penetrate?

Acetone & ATF? Yeah, throw some sparks on it & problem solved! I got A + ATF. Can't hurt.

HA! HA! When was the last time something went the easy way? The cage came off spilling muddy shrapnel into the dirt. The remains of the lapped out seal, slip off so now I'm down to just a naked race stuck on the axle. It's pretty thin & nothing at all to get a hold of. Had to quit for the night. I should mush out & spray some penetrant on it... but I really doubt anything but force & violence will help. I have a grinder. I'm thinking to make 2 cuts at 10 & 2 so maybe the race will pop. Might get a thin chisel under a weakened section.

I have acquired a set of pullers so must be one to fit. Have a grinder... grinding the race had occurred to me. The heat from grinding might help to expand the race. The inner fender is solid so getting a good rap on it will be challenging. Wish I didn't have the deck on now.

OK, yas all talked me into it. I bought 2 news sets with inner, outer bearings & seals. (ARF, ARF... that's a couple of seals! LOL!!) The kits were on sale for just $12 each. I picked up a set of pullers. Now I'm expecting the inner bearing to pull apart. I can only hope the center race will come off the axle. I don't suppose the original assembly of the axle used Never Seize on that race. Once the bearing breaks apart, I will lose the ability to tow the trailer. I can winch it up onto my other trailer to take it to a shop... not seeming like a good use of time. If I can tow it, I can take it to my inlaws who has a big torch... of a wheel & brake shop.

I was ready to install the bearing buddies & needed to be sure the bearings were packed properly. I jacked up one side & worked the outer bearing out... the pretty new grease was a decoy. The bearing had a few traces of slimy brown mud that might have been grease at one time. There were water signs & rust in the outer hub . I tried to pull the hub wheel & all. When it came off, the bearing (same brown mud traces) & what was left of the seal stayed with the axle (pulled out of the hub). The bearing is stuck to the axle. I smeared a bit of new grease on the bearings & reassembled this first hub because I can't move the trailer if I don't. I'm thinking I need to send this out... probably a job for my wheel & brake shop. Wouldn't do to loose a wheel & wreck it on the way there. I'm going to pull the other wheel & see the condition of that side. It might be better to replace the hub with new bearing & seals as an assembly. I haven't screwed the deck boards down yet. I can't send the trailer out with the deck loose so I need to proceed with that.

I had sent away for some "special" trailer deck screws with coating which are supposed to be self tapping. They are black coated & look like the illustration. We'll see how they work. The next snag was the decking planks had shifted & been sitting on the trailer all winter. The front edge had to be forced (driven) into a channel in order to get the back edge to drop (I had used an intermediate block of wood so I didn't mash the carefully Cuprinoled edges.) The thing is, the boards don't quite make a solid deck... there are or should be small gaps between the boards. They were carelessly positioned & now swelled in place. Some I was able to shift with a pry bar. Others, I drove in carpentry shims... decided that'll be my spacing. I got down to one at the front... The pry bar was flexing the angle iron frame side but board remained stuck. I used an old pipe (bar type) clamp that was my Dad's. I couldn't get it into the slot but was able to insert the pry bar & was now pushing against the other side of the frame & I moved it. So now I have all the boards spaced & ready for my chalk lines. I just have to check where my wires are, so I don't screw through them! While I was working on it, I noticed the axle dust cover has a dent with a hole through... when removed it doesn't appear any water got in... yet! The seller claimer to have repacked the bearings for me & I do see new grease. I'm going to pull the outer bearing & fill in between with new grease before installing bearing buddies. I've seen cases of inner bearing failures with bearing buddies where insufficient grease had been able to work it's way through to the inner bearing. Filling the center, helps to eliminate the air bubble.

Many years ago... a college classmate cashed in the ticket his grandmother sent & drove home to Tennessee for a vaca. When he came back he had a number of gallon jars in the trunk. Oh, yes, he drove a flat black Dodge, 440/4 speed... no chrome, no emblems, something wrong with his taillight switch.

I have the lights wired, installed & the extra wire zip tied up. I would have backed the truck up to it to test but my sweet wife decided to turn the trailer around when I wasn't here, so the plug is away from the driveway. Her explanation is that she's afraid she back into my car which is nosed up to the trailer (where the truck was all winter so we could plug it in) with her Hyundai. (Funny, she thinks I can levitate cars, trucks, trailers but she can't seem to drive them.) Think she's becoming lazy or an air head? All winter, she's been driving through the truck's normal space so she can drive through hers. The big space we normally park the truck is a straight shot backing out, so I swapped the truck into her space until the trailer is done. (When I use the truck, I'll have to park my car someplace else.) I have to have the trailer up by the house so I don't have too far to lug tools... or it doesn't get done. The first set of LEDs were working so I hope the new set will. I'm going to start marking for the deck screws... the only tricky thing is to reach under & measure where the wiring conduits are & mark on top. I'm thinking I can drill down through the wood until the (clearance) drill tip touches the steel frame... soak Cuprinol in the holes good before drilling through into the frame.... Tap drill size for 1/4-20. May be tedious but not difficult. I found the last holes I drilled in this frame went hard... hard steel... It's been a while but think I ended up with cobalt.

Deer ticks are so tiny, I can't usually feel them crawling. We seldom get bigger ticks anymore. Lyme can cause big problems if left untreated. The problem is once you get a positive titer it will stay positive for years. BUT it the actual level is looked at, it should be going down. If it's going up, the person needs to be retreated. (Wife is a retired lab tech... used to do this testing.) BTW, mice carry the deer ticks. It's not just deer. Rain has stopped. I'll see how wet things are. Might be able to get the lights tightened down. I sent away for coated decking screws... torex drive, supposed to be self tapping. Not many screws on a 6x8 deck... might be worth while using a real tap. Judging from the screw holes this is the third deck on this frame... I have Cuprinoled the PT decking. Over kill? I don't want to do it again. I'm thinking I'll Cuprinol the screw holes before I screw it down. "PT" really doesn't go through... at least not what they are doing now. Quite apparent when I saw cut it. So even if I can't work out there, I can get ready.

I have used mothballs in closed up campers & boats where they work well. Put them in a paper cup so you can retrieve them in the Spring. The mothballs dissolve over time & my wife couldn't stand the smell of the remaining fragments which hid in the old camper. I found them ineffective under the hood in my truck, open to the air. Smelly dryer sheets help too. Mice destroyed the under-hood insulation in my car & truck. I kept them out of the truck cab by stuffing behind the hood hinges with SS pot scrubber (steel wool) where the cowel drains are. I use expanded metal... my favorite is aluminum gutter guard, which is easily worked to screen air inlets. I have not found anything to keep them out from under the hood though I'd sure like to. I have done the screening thing on numerous vehicles... the worst was a neighbor's wife with a then new GM car with a stuck heater that burned up. GM would not warrantee the heater motor against rodent damage. At the same time I found his engine filter box full of acorns. I had the air hose on my C30 stuffed with shredded paper towels from the horse trailer as we were packing to go camping...

After snipping the ties on my "future service" wiring loop, I had enough length to get the splice beyond the frame. Sweet! I slipped on my shrink tube & held away with a forceps, stripped back insulation extra long & wrapped on my pre-tinned leads very nice. Solder then position shrink tubes. I loosely mounted the lights before quitting for the night, just ahead of the rain. The off side can just get tightened up but on the left side the light needs to come off to dress the wires so they are protected & zip ties. Now all this is on & off (kneeling) & fighting my legs... on the gravel drive... So, I'm eating dinner & see a dark spot on my light shirt. Nope, no crumb... a d*mn deer tick. Lyme is rampant around here. Now I have to go search myself. Can't feel 'em. Anyway, I feel good for the progress. Next I have to spot the crossmembers (chalk line) & drill for hold down bolts. I want to add enough weight to the rear so the tilt will work.

I got the trailer up to my work table, unbolted the busted lights. We must have a storm coming because it was quite uncomfortable (knees/legs) to sit on my step stool to work. I got the new LEDs out stripped the leads & tinned, soldered the ground eye on. I had bought a new small size wire stripper for working on the LiFePO4 battery pack for my TravelScoot... came in very handy. I remembered a trick... to pull the insulation off 3/4 and the use the insulation as a handle to twirl the wire strands together. I was very through in securing a loop of wire "for future service" at each light... zip tied underneath. I'm going to getting down to clip the ties & hopefully will give me enough slack to work with without going fully under. I'd like this to go easy.

This is for all you guys who think my rodent battles are works of fiction!

How to protect your car from rodents By Eric Evarts Rats! You can buy the most reliable car on Earth and still find convoluted electrical gremlins, fluid leaks, and even outright failure when rodents take up residence and begin chewing on wiring, hoses, plastic, and other critical car parts. But we’ve found a deterrent for these four-legged terrorists. Rodent-inflicted damage is an age-old problem that some observers say is increasing as automakers use more plant-based biodegradable materials to reduce waste. It turns out that rodents sharpening their teeth and feasting on cars is more prevalent than you might think. We uncovered various technical service bulletins from Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, and Subaru instructing their technicians how to remedy chewed wiring harnesses. So many people have been looking for solutions that the topic was trending on Reddit recently. Readers posted several solutions, from covering the wires with a metal mesh to painting them with hot sauce. Some Consumer Reports staffers also have stories of small furry creatures chewing through power steering lines, filling engine intakes with acorns, and plugging up air-conditioning ducts with their nests. What you can do We found a clever solution in a TSB from Honda: rodent-deterrent tape, essentially an electrical tape treated with super-spicy capsaicin, which Honda describes as “the stuff that puts the fire in a bowl of five-alarm chili.” The tape (part number 4019-2317) is available through dealers for about $36 for a 20-meter roll, about 22 yards. You'll also find it online. We bought a roll of rodent-deterrent tape to check out. Beyond the cute rodent graphics and gray color, it deceptively seems like regular electrical tape to us humans. There is no tear-inducing odor, but it does carry a label that warns against prolonged exposure to skin. Despite dares and double dares, we did not taste it and will trust that it is potent enough to deter even the most ravenous varmint. Other suggestions for dealing with rodents under your hood include installing a metal mesh around wiring harnesses and rubber hoses and across any openings where rodents could crawl into your ventilation or intake systems. Or you could put mouse poison mixed with peanut butter around your garage for a more severe solution. Even if these measures don’t work, you can take heart: “A mouse ate my wiring harness” excuse at least sounds more creative than “The dog ate my homework.” —Eric Evarts Read More: https://autos.yahoo.com/news/protect-car-rodents-150000981.html

Yes, I already bought the replacement LED lights... so I have them. I also have a replacement set of old bulb lights that could be repurposed (I once had a portable set of lights for moving a trailer with a large covered wagon on it.) I will use the new LED lights this time. It looks like a nice day today. I will pull the trailer back up to the work table today, get it set up & see how far I can get. This trailer is quite low & hard to work under... worse now that the deck planks are on. I might be able to get the outside planks back up or maybe splice the wires further out this time**. It is challenging working mainly with one good hand but I'm not ready to give up yet.

OK, hopefully any snow will melt away quickly. Before I mount the new LED lights (keep the wife away from them)... I am questioning my plan. I went to the extreme of trying for a deluxe renovation. Example: running the wiring through tubing, soldering & shrinking all the splices. So the solder splices on the tail lights are about to be re-done. Am I naïve thinking it's worth while doing this up "nice" or do I just crimp connect figuring it'll not last anyway... or why am I using LED lights??

Is the stock housing still plumbed in & sensor connected? I did leave it in at the expense of extra filter & hardware, but most bypass it. If the wires are disconnected, they can read resistance across dirt & moisture.