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Ruined for life...


By troy, Section Homebrewed Electricity
Posted on Fri May 16th, 2003 at 11:13:45 AM MST
Guard your car spindles...

I have a Ford 3/4 ton pickup.  A seal went out of the left rear hub and everything was awash in 80-90 gear oil which doesn't help the brakes work at all. The shoes were pretty thin anyway, so I disassembled it to replace the seal, shoes, wheel cylinder, etc.  In and of itself, this repair is insigificant.

But I have certainly changed.  The whole time I'm doing this job, all I can think is how strong that spindle looks, and how durable those massive tapered roller bearings are.  I had to resist the urge to get the cutting torch out and chop the spindle/hub off and turn it into a wind driven 16 foot diameter dual rotor axial alternator/windmill.

Opportunity is everywhere.  Tell all the nice folks in the middle east to keep their oil and send us all of their old car spindles.

I will never be the same, and it's all the fault of this wonderful group of people and this board.

Thanks...

troy
Ruined for life... | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 editorial)

I agree! (none / 0) (#1)
by windstuffnow (elenz(at)windstuffnow(dot)com) on Fri May 16th, 2003 at 11:32:04 AM MST
(User Info) http://www.windstuffnow.com/main

It seems like no matter what your doing or where you go, when you look at things you no longer see them as what they really are and start seeing them as what they could be.  Definately addictive !!!

Thats just a portion of the fun! Who says you loose your imagination after childhood... or is it some of us never really grow up.  I guess I'll always be a kid at heart...

Ed

Have Fun! Windstuff Ed



Change of perception... (none / 0) (#2)
by xeroid (centurion27@lycos.com) on Fri May 16th, 2003 at 11:51:42 AM MST
(User Info)

I know what you mean troy.

I have an air tight fireplace insert which I can burn wood in 24/7 in winter to offset the astronomical fuel oil bills (No wonder I became interested in alternative energy, eh?!).  Just load 'er up at about 10pm, and the next morning around 7am, there's plenty of hot coals to load more fuel onto to keep going.  The blower fan helps capture heat and blow it out into my livingroom nicely too.  Now... if I could just run that fan off a battery recharged by a wind genny... but I digress...

When I bought a 20" chainsaw, suddenly, dead trees weren't just dead trees... Now all of a sudden they were FUEL!!!  FREE FUEL (except for the labour and chainsaw fuel of course!).

I always thought trees were beautiful, and I still do, but now I see them as the renewable energy source they are.  (Don't worry guys, I only take down sick or dead trees... and only after making sure with the proper land owners that it's okay!)
Regards, XEROID.



Pinching rear ends (none / 0) (#3)
by Wyomingbob on Fri May 16th, 2003 at 03:38:07 PM MST
(User Info)

... of cars, that is. You don't want Middle Eastern spindles -- to much sand damage in the bearing races. No shortage of good ones in N. America. Got to swap out those sticky roller bearings for angular contacts, bust out the welder, and thar she blows! Our junkyards are filled with overbuilt industrial refuse. Sweet karma, salvaging it to reap the wind.


Junk Yards (none / 0) (#4)
by Johnny Cool Pants on Fri May 16th, 2003 at 08:24:14 PM MST
(User Info)

One trick I use is to act like I know little (hard for me lately) about it.
"Do you think it will fit, if I have it modified?"

or tell the truth about building an experiment and ask for any pieces they can't seem to sell.,
er?...so you can try making a lift for your wheelchair ridden students.

Whatever you do, don't let them think you (need) the part.  
Often you can get transmission for $20 if you are not picky about what car it came from.

If the parts can be used, it sure beats trying to machine those parts.



Right on Troy (none / 0) (#5)
by Norm (peppysue@suite224.net) on Fri May 16th, 2003 at 10:08:24 PM MST
(User Info)

With me it's old junk bicycles...all those bearings the bearings on the crankshaft...the bearings for the front fork....the front wheel weld some blades on the rim and you've got an old fashion windmill a bicycle generator to run on the tire ....so on and so on... Norm.
( :>) Norm


A nice design made of bIcycle parts (none / 0) (#6)
by hvirtane (hannu_markus_virtanen(at)yahoo(dot)com) on Sun May 18th, 2003 at 12:12:23 PM MST
(User Info) http://web.archive.org/web/20050404022706/www.cc.jyu.fi/~hvirtane/cooker/

There is a nice design of a wind turbine made of
bicycle parts in the Australian 'Soft Technology' magazine.
It is available on their CD ROM.

[ Parent ]


Bikes (none / 0) (#8)
by Johnny Cool Pants on Sun May 25th, 2003 at 06:24:10 PM MST
(User Info)

I know what you mean Norm, ever since I got that "Saws all"  no bicycle is safe around me, and you can find them for $10 at the thrift store all day long.

DTT
JCP

[ Parent ]



Neighbor's Keep an Eye on Me (none / 0) (#7)
by Wolfles (lester.bickerstaff@sbcglobal.net) on Tue May 20th, 2003 at 02:03:06 PM MST
(User Info)

I will admit to being a Junk-a-haul-lic, better know as a recycler expert. As many neighbors have come to know me, they now park their cars in the garage, lock their riding lawn mowers, kids bicycles, and tools in a shed, Even on trash day, they will seperate out woren out weedearters, aluminum, and metal parts so I don't ripe open their garbage. Any aluminum I melt down and recast into book ends, etc., and so on. Yep, my neighbor's new aluminum wheel rims sure do look tempting, hehehehe!! Les...spell checker still broke...!!


Aluminum (none / 0) (#9)
by Johnny Cool Pants on Sun May 25th, 2003 at 06:25:22 PM MST
(User Info)

I'm in the process of building a propane foundry.  I tried that charcoal version but it was a mess.

DTT
JCP

[ Parent ]



Ruined for life... | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 editorial)
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