I was waiting for you to mention the inevitable phone message waiting for you
23 hours later that tells you about the repeat/disable switch you forgot to
throw as you walked out the door...
What brand genset chewed up its gear?
Bob M.
======
--- On Wed, 1/7/09, skipp025 <skipp...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> From: skipp025 <skipp...@yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Site Generator - First 09 War Story
> To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Wednesday, January 7, 2009, 7:05 PM
> Jan. 2009 Site Generator - War Story
>
> Well... the first train wreck of 09 hit early in the
> calendar
> year.
>
> A critical care customer reports a serious problem... off
> we go
> to the super remote solar & propane radio site. We
> arrive to find
> everything looking just peachy... but since it's a 5
> hour drive
> we figure to check every detail and do regular maintenance
> anyway.
>
> Move around some cable to find a one repeater cuts in and
> out...
> oh my god, the feed line is *&^#$%@ LMR-400 from the
> original site
> owner. Out it goes and everything quiets down, life is good
> once
> again. Or so we thought...
>
> Packed up ready to leave... let's do one last generator
> test.
> Switch on to hear a really bad sounding metal on metal
> grinding
> noise... quick switched off.
>
> Let me give the short version...
>
> Genset (generator engine) starter removed to see the most
> of the
> flywheel ring gear missing. The grinding noise was the
> starter
> chipping teeth off the flywheel ring gear. Bad, very, very
> bad...
>
> Dark clouds form in my head while I/we try to figure out
> how to
> fix this remote mountain site cluster #...@%&.
>
> We resign ourselves to at least get the major pull-down
> part of
> the repair started, then think about how to allocate
> resources
> and dive into pulling the genset apart.
>
> Much to our surprise... we properly unbolted 10,000 items
> to
> end up with the flywheel in our hands 3 hours later. Down
> the
> mountain to the nearest, largest nearby town where we
> quickly
> relearn how nothing happens or moves fast in Hooterville.
> So I
> ask and find a local full-service machine shop and off we
> go.
>
> The appended version is the machine shop did a fix to the
> ring
> gear and repressed it on the flywheel while we ate a late
> lunch.
> I had a RB sandwich with fries... and Ice Tea of course.
> Picked up the beast (repaired flywheel) and off we went
> back
> to the site...
>
> Another 2 hours or so to reinstall the flywheel and restore
> the
> unit. Big smile as I hit the switch to hear the engine
> cleanly
> roar to life every time.
>
> Down the mountain we go... dirty, mangy and might unclean
> but
> no longer wanted men (sorry to those of you who get the
> AC/DC
> reference). Forget the decafe coffee, stocked up with 20oz
> French
> Roast (light cream), snacks, a recently renewed XM-Radio
> subscription and start the long drive home. Walked back in
> the
> shop door some 23 hours after we left...
>
> So, how was your day?
>
> cheers,
> skipp
>
> skipp025 at yahoo.com
> www.radiowrench.com
