Occam's Razor ...

Simply put...

Indeed! But did you ever check to see if all your tire treads were put on straight?

I asked the tire guy to lay on the ground and look while we ran the tires over him, but he refused. Can't get good service anywhere, antmore...

Now, that's asking for service above & beyond. Most folks would ask their tire guy to jack it up & spin the wheel while watching to see if the tread tracked true. Any tire guy who had been in business more than a couple weeks should make that check automatically while spin balancing a tire. What kinda' tire people do you have down there in the lower right corner anyway? Even our trained sasquatches up here know enough to do that. At least when we can coax 'em out of the woods.

Seriously, the tires were checked for tread issues I checked them myself) and the hubs for runout. No problems.

Well after chasing the vibrrrrration issue for over a year, it is cured. I had the truck tire place remove the balance beads, rebalance, and it's smooth up to 75 mph.

Problem is with he original shop's machine being out-of-calibration.

Where do I get spark plugs for my diesel?

I've had good luck at dieselcarburetors.com.

Part Deux:

I was at Nick and Donna Cagle's last week, and went to town for another tire balancing. When I got to the tire place, I noticed dripping from the power steering reservoir (it's remote) overflow. My first thought was overheating, but on uneventful return to the Cagles', I checked the temp and they were around 100°F, so not too hot. There was aeration in the fluid.

I was back at my lot at Deerlick Astronomy Village setting up the temp power pole today, and found the store have me a wrong part, so I decided to go back up the road and get the right one, but the power steering pump wasn't working consistently; it finally settled down. So I ran up to the main field where the RV hookups are, and the fluid was again full of bubbles, but the level on the dipstick was OK.

So I started the engine and checked the level, to see if there was still some in the reservoir; nope. I added a few ounces of fluid and tried things again - now it's normal.

As a precaution, I ordered a new P/S pump from Spartan, and with Nick Cagle's generosity, am having it shipped to the Cagles'. I decided to try to limp back to Nick's, as the P/S seemed to be working reliably. Response noticeably improved as I drove over (~40 miles), so apparently I got the level up where it should be, and entrained air was finally purged.

I suspect the pump is OK and that the entrained air expanded and caused the overflow at the tire dealer's. Low fluid was, I think the real issue; I've never had a power steering pump "fail". Usually they're replaced due to leaky seals.

So I'm agan at the Cagles', awaiting the pump which I'll keep as an onboard spare.

Oh yeah, the P/S pump supplies the power steering, brake assist, and the pressure to release the shaft brake...

Occam's Razor...

Since I didn't have a clue
Occam's razor (or Ockham's razor[1]), entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, is the principle that "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity" and the conclusion thereof, that the simplest explanation or strategy tends to be the best one. The principle is attributed to 14th-century English logician, theologian and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. Occam's razor may be alternatively phrased as pluralitas non est pudenda sine necessitate ("plurality should not be posited without necessity")[2]. The principle is often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae (translating to the law of parsimony, law of economy or law of succinctness). When competing hypotheses are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selection of the hypothesis that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities while still sufficiently answering the question. It is in this sense that Occam's razor is usually understood. To quote Isaac Newton, "We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances. Therefore, to the same natural effects we must, so far as possible, assign the same causes."[3]
In science, Occam’s razor is used as a heuristic (rule of thumb) to guide scientists in the development of theoretical models rather than as an arbiter between published models.[4][5] In the scientific method, Occam's razor is not considered an irrefutable principle of logic, and certainly not a scientific result

Must resist.......

Must resist.......

Must resist comment on Occam.

OK. Yeah, aeration can be a real problem in hydraulic systems. Our planes used 3000 psi that would get totally crazy problems with aeration. Noise, bypassing, overheating, you name it. Before temp guns, a mechanic with particularly heat-sensitive fingertips was a prized asset in locating a problem. As time went on the airframe and airline engineers installed traps and bleed points that made it easier to cure. But each new model of plane had to have its aeration problems cured piecemeal all over again.

I have had some vehicles with steering systems that would de-aerate themselves when the steering was turned lock to lock a few times. I think that opened the overpressure valve and increased flow back to the reservoir, which made the aeration dissipate.

quote:

Originally posted by Richard_Muise:
Where do I get spark plugs for my diesel?

Believe it or not, I have seen some old diesel engines that had plugs. They were for starting. Perhaps in cold weather. I don't remember if a different fuel was used for starting or not. It was in Austria or Germany, and the explanation went by me to fast for my limited command of the language. It is also possible that I mistook a glow plug for a spark plug, but I seem to remember a seemingly ignition cable and a coil or distributor.

We will spend a weekend at www.agsem.com in a coupla months, and I will ask around. Some of those old guys there are fountains of knowledge.

Some older construction equipment used a small gasoline engine (with a spark plug) to turn the diesel engine over to get it started.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
I've had good luck at dieselcarburetors.com.

I think they shut down due to lack of business.

The last diesel that used a carburetor was the OK Cub model airplane engine of the mid-fifties, and the difficulty of a consumer obtaining amyl nitrate cut the Herkimer factor way down. They just couldn't keep the doors open on that traffic.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
I've had good luck at dieselcarburetors.com.

I once had a driver that made his own diesel carburetor by stupidity.

He ran his truck out of fuel and tried to re-prime his fuel system with a can of starting fluid and a large cup of diesel.

First, he added fuel to the tanks and cranked his batteries almost dead - then he hooked up his pickup truck and recharged the batteries. After removing air cleaner, he then poured diesel into the air filter housing... You know... sort of like pouring a little gas down the carb. After this failed he used some starting fluid.

It started up on the starting fluid fine. But, the diesel fuel had ran downstream into the impellers of the turbo. Once started, the turbo made the diesel into a froth and those vapor particles caused the engine to over-rev as there was no way to meter it.

The panicked driver, in a failed attempt to stop the motor from blowing up, dumped the clutch causing the driveshaft to blow out and the rear end to puke. The force of all this caused the back top of his cab to strike the front top of his trailer. Think Pop Wheelie

A crushed cab and exhaust stacks, were the least of his problems. The driveshaft looked like a cross between a Twizzler and a French Cruller. The motor, predictably, had a severe knock too.

All I was told, by his company, when I got this call was... Can you replace a U-Joint on a roadcall?

I would have loved to see video on that one.

Of course, to make this actual event sound even more ridiculous... This former driver now owns his own Hot Dog Cart in the City of Newburgh and I still see him on occasions.

quote:

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.
Mark Twain