Hour Log

Weeks of 1/22/12 24.3 hours

Total Hours: 137.6

Friend's 5.9 Cummins Rebuild

So yesterday I helped a friend, Mike Gutman, out with his engine rebuild for his 1995 Dodge 2500. He had this new engine built that comes with a 600 hp at the rear wheels guarantee. So I helped him pull a bunch of stuff off the old head and transfer it to the new head, paint various parts, install several odds and ends, and basically make it easier for Mike by running in circles around him grabbing his tools. It was really cool because Mike, who is a mechanic at Rader Farms and he knows his stuff, has been taking the time to explain as much as he can to me while we are working on the engine and so far I have learned a lot! I ended up working 8 hours that day 1400-2200.

So I just got back from another afternoon with Mike where we put the engine back in the truck but that will be another post...got to get my pics from that. I'll probably be going back tomorrow after work to get some more work done on it.

Today's Project...

Today a customer came in who owns a insulation company and said that the motor that runs the insulation blower/spreader was making a really loud clanking sound and thought that it had thrown a rod. So he pulled his truck in and also dropped off a spare parts motor. My job was to pull the broken motor and then cannibalize the spare motor. Lynn tore apart the broken motor and it turned out that it had just spun a barring on the crank. So we pulled a piston out of the old block and are going to put it in the new block tomorrow when a few other parts come in.

Other than that I spent the rest of the day cleaning up around the shop. We have a customer who is going to bring in three bran-new generators that got damaged in shipping so I had to clear a space for them.

Snowcat Run

So yesterday we did another snowcat run, this time just to check on things. It ended up being quite a eventful day. We started heading up the mountain in the truck pulling the snowcat, the whole time chatting with some loggers on the mountain over the CB. About the 3 1/2 mile one of them asked us where we were heading and we told him all the way to the top. Well he says that they have the road blocked off with their equipment and that he was at the 4 mile coming down loaded. All the turnouts were too muddy to use so Lynn had to back the truck about halfway down the mountain with the trucker right behind us. We eventually got to a place where it widened up enough to let him pass and with a 6-8 point turn we were able to get down the mountain. At the bottom we ran into the ranger who runs that area and to asked if any of the other routes were open, turns out the only one we could take was the longest possible route and always had the worse winter conditions. But we ended up taking that trail. We came across a few downed trees and then the chainsaw decided to break on us so we had to use a ax to cut our way in. But once we were on our way the day went very smoothly from there on...just a really long ride. Once at the top we checked everything, which was all good, and then headed back. It was a uneventful trip back.

The snowcat sitting up at the top o the mountain. It was really nasty weather up there!

Stan was going to chase us up the mountain in this beast but he ended up not being able to go with us.

Update...

So I haven't been posting lately but that's because I haven't been working lately. I had Wednesday through tomorrow off and my boat was too snowed in to work on it at all. I'm planning on moving the boat inside tomorrow so that should give me something to work on the next time I have days off. Well I guess I'll just keep you all posted...

Hour Log

Week of 1/15/12 14 hours

Total Hours: 113.3

Half day at work today...

Today was really slow, I spent most of my time moving fuel pump test stands around. We just added another one so we had to move all of them to make them fit. That also included making new water lines for the cooling systems.

In other news, the snowcat will be making another run here in the next week! We want to take advantage of all this good snow were getting. This trip should be a quicker one than the last one because all we're doing is checking the generators and making sure everything is in good running condition.

Sorry that I'm not uploading very many pictures...but when I'm at work I don't feel comfortable taking pictures on their dime. I'm there to work. However when I finally get to working on my boat I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Hour Log

Week of 1/8/12 24 hours

Total Hours: 99.3

Tomorrows project

So tomorrow I'm not working so I'm going to put some work in on my boat. I was given this boat as a project from a friend and he said it ran good when he parked it 6 years back but it has just been sitting out in the weather for the past several years.

I don't know much about it yet but its a 1983 bayliner with a Volvo 4 cylinder and a Volvo penta stern drive.

So one thing I'm wondering about...can I count these hours towards my school hours?

Blaine Harbor Trip

Today I went with Lynn to the Blaine harbor to work on a 40-some foot boat. He had been down there a while back and had pulled the injectors and the injector pumps off both the Perkins engines. Today we installed all the re-maned parts and then spent the rest of the day chasing after fuel leaks. As soon as we would fix one another would pop up. But we finally got everything squared away and the engines ran much better, much to the delight of the owner. We couldn't take it for a test spin though...'cause the boat owner was drunk. Good fun though!!

Mobile Generator Project

This was my project for Wednesday, a mobile generator. The customer who is having us build this sells mobile hospitals to the army and such. We are having to modify the door so it will be able to be opened from inside the cart and also attach a second fuel tank. There are other things that will need to be done but that will be further down the road.

Slow day at work...

...but a good one. Did a basic lof on a VW Rabbit and then spent the rest of the day organizing the service truck, running around bellingham picking up parts, assisting the main mechanic, and other small duties.

Hour Log

Week of 1/1/2012 16 hours

Total Hours: 75.3

Hour Log

Week of 12/25/11 16 hours

Total Hours: 59.3

Hour Log

Week of 12/19/11 32.6 hours

Total Hours: 43.3

Hour Log

week of 12/11/11 10.7 hours

First day at Northland Diesel Service

My first day at Northland Diesel Service, December 16, 2011.

We took the snowcat up in the mountains to service a generator that ran a tower for one of our customers. Definitely a fun first day on the job!