We got 12-18 inches of heavy, wet snow Monday.

Neighbor had a tree split and half of it landed across his driveway. He called and asked if I could push it out of the way enough that he could get past until he got a chance to cut it up.

So I took the Cabota up there and spent 15 minutes pushing it out of the drive. When he said "How much?" I asked for $20 and he gave me $40 all happy that it was out of the way.

Then I noticed that the front wiper was hangiing way below it's usual arc AND on the wrong side. Shit. Must've caught it with a branch.

Good News is, it just stripped out the pot metal splines on the wiper arm. Bad News is, a replacement arm is $65 with shipping. Two on-line sources and the "local" dealer (120 mile round trip) are all within a couple of dollars of each other, so UPS will drop it here in a couple of days.

And, Trump-Level Business Genius that I am, I made -$25 on the deal...

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
And, Trump-Level Business Genius that I am, I made -$25 on the deal...

But helped out a neighbor in need.

Consider it a $25 investment towards the next time you need that neighbor's help on something.

Look at the positive side, whatever slapped against your windshield may have taken your eye out had you not had a cab.

I agree with Rogue and Ridewv, be positive. And i'm sure you're being a little facetious (but maybe not). Your neighbor had enough tact to pay you (double) what you wanted and you took a little shrapnel in the process. You're a good neighbor and it sounds like you're neighbor is a good person too.

It's good karma, Sir.

Next time something like that happens try to source the replacement elsewhere.
I bet there is an aftermarket replacement that may be even better for less money.

Yeah, I'm mostly kidding. It falls under the heading of "shit happens".

Could have been a lot worse. If it stripped a gear in the motor, I was looking at about double that amount.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Next time something like that happens try to source the replacement elsewhere.
I bet there is an aftermarket replacement that may be even better for less money.

Yes.... or just be a "real man" and take that sissy cab off!

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Next time something like that happens try to source the replacement elsewhere.
I bet there is an aftermarket replacement that may be even better for less money.

I normally do, but that appears to be a Kubota-unique part. The male spline is cone-shaped and the wiper is held on with a 10mm nut.

That cone shaped male spline system is also used for automotive windshield wipers.
Take a sharp dental pic or awl and carefully scrape the sheared pot metal out of the splines on the cone shaped shaft. Then follow up with a stiff wire brush like you would use on cleaning firearms, say a SIG slide breech face. Clean male and female parts with Brake Cleaner, reassemble with one drop of blue loctite on the spline.
I would be HIGHLY surprised if a new wiper arm had splines on the female part. New wiper arms for cars just have a smooth cone and when you tighten the nut it just forces the steel splines (male) into the softer cone (female) and all is good. This system will usually survive several occasions of being "stripped" at the cone interface. The key is getting the old material out of the male splines so the steel cone splines can be forced by the nut to take another "bite" into the pot metal female cone. Give it a whirl, the price is right!

quote:

Originally posted by cee_Kamp:
That cone shaped male spline system is also used for automotive windshield wipers.
<snip> Give it a whirl, the price is right!

I did not know that. Thanks!

I did take a pick to the splines, put it back on and snugged the nut down and it works okay on dry glass, just not real confident that it would survive much resistance in the form of snow or whatever.

Didn't think about the loctite, that's a good idea. I'll redo it with loctite.

I think I'll still let the replacement on order ship, just to have a spare on the shelf.

Hold the wiper arm with one hand, and tighten the nut nice and tight. The replacement arm you bought will likely never get used...

No good deed goes unpunished. The lesson is to put a sign up in your yard.
Want my advice 200 bucks
Want my help, 2000$ bucks!
Want me to do it for you 20000 bucks,
Want me to fix it because you did not do one of the first 3? 50000 bucks

lesson I've learned: having the spare part ensures that the original repaired one will never fail again.

And speaking of reinforced lessons...

I'm putzing around learning a little machining. I bought a used Grizzly mill that came with a raft of tooling. Among the stuff included was a key-type drill chuck. It was a complete piece of crap. Obviously a product of The Land of Close Enough and I doubt the original owner did much damage to a $20 bill when he bought it. Jaws wouldn't stay tight, beaucoup runout, gritty mechanism...just nasty. Impossible to drill a decent hole with it, much less a precision hole.

So I started looking around. Did you know that it's entirely possible (easy, in fact...) to spend $200 or $300 on a drill chuck? Just a tad outside my budget.

After searching the topic on a hobby machinist forum, I found a $70 precision (guaranteed .001 or less runout) keyless chuck on an R8 shank. Others found it entirely serviceable for the average home machinist, so I ordered one.

Came in today. The difference was immediately apparent. For starters, it weighed 2 or 3 times as much as the POS it replaced. Chucked up a .093 drill bit and drilled a hole edgeways through a 1/8 x 1/4 piece of rectangular brass tubing. Dead center, perfectly vertical, drill didn't even try to walk in spite of the fact that I didn't bother centerpunching the location.

Yet another example of "With a little luck, ya gets what ya pays for." Color me impressed.

PHPaul, can you send me a link to the home machinist?

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
PHPaul, can you send me a link to the home machinist?

Sure. You got mail...

Thank you!

Lesson learned for me. I have been taking care of our lanes dirt road about 1 mile once a month for almost 3 years now. 26 houses, farm vehicles. Etc. I have been the only one doing it for all but the last 6 months.

Since i was gone this last summer my neighbors son started running up and down the road with a rake on his tractor. I came back this last summer to find the crown completely gone.

The only time i can re make a crown is late winter early spring. I spent 6 weeks re cutting the road and making a crown, packing it down, getting rid of pot holes etc.

The day after i worked on the road for the last three weeks that fucktard drags the road with his rake digs the damn pot hole up and spreds the crown out.

He gets a point for trying, instead of bitching that you haven’t cleared the road.

Maybe just some education might help.

Ha just wait when you are ready to fix the new one on the 10 mm will magically disappear

quote:

Originally posted by SigJacket:
He gets a point for trying, instead of bitching that you haven’t cleared the road.

Maybe just some education might help.

Maybe, i have talked with him on other issues. The wanker is an askhole.

quote:

askhole
A person who repeatedly asks for advice from multiple individuals, only to ignore aforementioned advice completely. The askhole will choose the least logical option (usually their own), skipping merrily down the path into unbridled oblivion, blissfully and willingly oblivious throughout the entire ordeal.

We can conclude that an "askhole" is a gaping, cavernous pit of stupidity, into which good, sound counsel is thrown and subsequently lost forever.
Josh: So, Liz asked me for some advice about her boyfriend the other day. She said when she's with him she doesn't feel any sort of emotion... they're just kind of existing together.

Corey: So what did you tell her?

Josh: I told her if she doesn't get anything out of the relationship she should end it.

Corey: And?

Josh: And they're getting married next month.

Corey: What a askhole.