Week 4 "The Difference Between Lubed and Unlubed Fasteners"

During the last week of class we were given a short demonstration by our instructor on determining the  highest clamping force compared with the amount of ft. lbs. used to get it there. Using the set up below, we were to test our choice of grade of bolt and put it in this 50ton jack pre-load the fastener using the jack and take the fastener to failure while recording the ft. lbs. of torque and the corresponding clamping force.

 I chose to take 2 grade 5 half inch fasteners one lubed, one not and start out at 50 ft. lbs.and take each bolt and add 25 ft. lbs of torque at time until each failed.

 I was able to take both the lubed and non lubed fasteners to over 125 ft. lbs. of torque and over 15,000 pounds of clamping force. The difference being that it took less ft. lbs of torque for the lubed fastener to reach a higher clamping force than the non lubed fastener. For instance at 131 ft. lbs just before failure the lubed fastener had a clamping force of nearly 17,000 lbs, where as the non lubed bolt only reached 15,350 lbs. of clamping force with over 150 ft. lbs. of torque. It was easy for me to see the point of this assignment and I enjoyed doing it. That being said, with a lubed fastener you will reach a higher clamping force with less ft. lbs. of torque applied.

Week 4
Shop Hours 17
Total Running Hours 87ish

Week 5 The progress on the 1998 International project "Its Alive"

Over the last week we have made great progress on the International project. We were able to test the engine and determine that it was indeed turning over. We then set out on a mission to hook up the fuel lines and loop our coolant lines by bypassing what would be the heater core and start working on the electrical. The coolant lines and fuel lines were easy enough, however the electrical wasn't so smooth.

 The first problem I ran into was finding all the wiring connections we would need to get the key switch to work, power up the computer so the engine would stay running assuming we could get it running and hooking up the throttle pedal. After spending most of my day in the shop and some time with my instructor we were able to find everything we needed left over from the scrap of the truck

With a lot of learning and researching of schematics we were able to get power to the computer, the throttle pedal working and the key switch barely working. We were able to get the engine running and to stay running, the only problem being the engine would only stay running with the key in the start position. As soon as you released the key the engine would die. We were fairly quick to determine that we had a mix up in some wires at the key switch. We were then able to go back fix the problem and had the engine running at a good idle for several minutes. There was a lot learned this last week, for me it was all about the electrical side. With a bit of help and instruction I broke down the electrical schematic and was able find and put power to everything on this engine that it needs to run.

Week 5
Shop Hours 19
Total Running Hours 110-115

"Cutting out a drop axle" and "Scrapping a cab"

 During this last week of class one of my main focuses has been on preparing a drop axle to be able set on stands similar to the picture below. At first I thought it would be rather quick and easy and in the end it didn't take me to long. However I did run into a few issues.

 The first issue I ran into was someone had welded the axle itself to the frame with the airbags. I noticed this after cutting the U bolts off one side and nothing happening. After realizing that the axle had been welded I tried to grind the weld out but was unsuccessful.

 The next plan of attack was to cut the air bags and as much of the assembly away from the axle making it as light as possible. I began by making cuts on either side. This is when I ran into my next little problem, a little thing called rust. The inside of the frame was so rusty that I was having to blow the molten metal out of my cut line and come back and burn away the rust. After spending about 15 minutes on a cut that should have taken 2. I grabbed the biggest hammer in reach and set out smacking the rusted steel off the inside of the other half of the frame, my next cuts went a whole lot faster.

 

 Another one of my tasks last week was to remove everything from the cab of the truck so it could be sent to scrap. This was actually a very interesting day, I have never taken the air-conditioning out of a vehicle and that was just one of the things I had to remove from the cab.

In the end it was a lot of little screws,nuts and wiring connectors. Plus some added patience and a big chisel for all the fasteners that were so rusted I couldn't get them apart.

The next thing I started on was the sorting out of all the wiring for the engine, and the coolant lines so that we can hopefully in the future here have a running engine that we and future classes may be able to work with.

There was a lot learned for me this last week, from locating and sorting out the main wiring harnesses needed for an engine to run, to the removal of the AC unit out of the cab of a heavy duty truck. I would say the thing I ended up learning and appreciating the most was how bad rust can really affect the cutting of steel with a torch. I have always known rust is bad wherever it may be but definitely didn't know it could make cutting with a torch so difficult. Lesson learned!

Week #3
Shop Hours 16
Total Hours 23
Running Hours 60ish