Work Car 1009 ("ROWMOW1") - Official Work Thread

[Dave Crow]

I think the fan waving will/could serve two purposes:  1) Keeping OP cool and comfy, and 2) Swatting the mosquitoes in his direction...   

[Tom Casper]

Get serious guys or this will be moved again to the Silly list!

Tom C.

[Mike Fox]

As James noted this week in the Work and Events thread, we finally gave Rowmow a workout today.

The biggest problem is with things working loose. The first thing we did after mowing 3/4 of a mile was loose the bolt for the pitman arm. Luckily it was quickly located with the bushing still attached.

Repairs were made along with a few other loose bolts tightened with loc-tite.

We mowed in yard limits after and I found one of the belts fraying on the side so a tension pulley was re-aligned. And some loose teeth tightened.

We also found how well the break away feature works. We hit several stumps and one grounding rod, and in Daves case a mound of dirt.

Dave and HWMNBM both operated it today to familiarize themselves with it.

I am pleased with how it operated. Always room for adjustments though.

[Bill Reidy]

I thought ROWMOW1 performed great today.  Yes, some parts worked loose, just like happened when Big Joe was used in its early days.  Mike will work through these issues pretty quickly, I suspect.

The big deal today was, despite the teething problems, ROWMOW1 cut a 4-foot wide swath along nearly the entire active main line track, both east and west sides.  May not sound like much for a 66-foot-wide ROW, but this will keep the goldenrod and other brush from growing right up to the track and brushing the cars, freeing the summer cutting crews to work on other areas of the right-of-way.

Thanks, Mike.

- HWMNBN

[Mike Fox]

Don't look now but it looks like we are being invaded

[Gordon Cook]

Bravo Mike! Sounds like it was a rousing success.
Losing a few nuts and bolts isn't too much of a setback. I had a snowblower once that used to shake itself to pieces and I'd spend as much time putting it back together as blowing snow.  The vibration of a gas engine is pretty tough on threaded fastenings.

[Mike Fox]

A fairly common occurance happened to Rowmow on the July 4th mowing. The section bar broke. I had a broke bar that I was going to use as a pattern and make a new bar. Now I have to. We will have spares on hand, as soon as I get them made.

[Steve Smith]

Mike, I wonder whether Loctite would help with nuts coming loose problem. I had some success with it in the past with a mowers that vibrated pretty badly. I see that they now have two grades, one that allows loosening the nuts with just handtools, and a stronger one that requires heat also.

www.loctiteproducts.com/threadlockers.shtml

I am NOT an agent for Loctite.

Oily

[Erik Z. Missal]

Hi,
Another possibility is lock rings. It is a flat washer that has tabs that you bend up withe screwdriver. I used them when I worked at Electric Boat building submarines. They hold through just about any vibrations.
Erik

[Mike Fox]

Steve, I had one bolt I could not get out at home. That was the one that worked loose. I put in a longer bolt because some of the threads got buggerd, and loctited a nut to it. Essentially double nutting it. That solved that problem. I had used a couple of bottles putting it together because I knew it would shake.


The steel is on order, and hope to have it this week and cutting again Saturday. But that depends on the delivery.

[Bruce Mohn]

Another option for loose nuts is to either drill them or look for the equivalent sizes in aircraft nuts and then wire them in place, which is what jet mechanics do.  What sizes would you be looking for?  I may have a source.

[Mike Fox]

There was only one that fell apart. Not really a problem.

[Keith Taylor]

Mike I find that in cases like this giving the offending part a good thump with a hammer is just what is needed.
It doesn't actually help the problem.....but you feel a lot better.

Keith

[Mike Fox]

I think they call that peening Keith.

[Keith Taylor]

I think they call that peening Keith.

Yes....but it is also called being upset when applied to things like alarm clocks!
 
Keith