What's the oldest project you've finished?

Today I can finally say I finished rebuilding a vacume pump for the milking system at my parents farm. A bearing went out in it probably 8-9 years ago and I got a good start on it, but then it sat in peices for 4 job changes and another 8 years. The new bearings I bought back then had a click so I had to replace them again, and I wasn't happy with the job I did welding up and turning down the bearing journal back then so I did that over too.

I welded up the journals yesterday after work and turned them back down today, then polished the rotor with emery cloth and cleaned out the slots for the vanes with a file. I blanchard ground the side plates to clean them up (one side had pretty big grooves in it from when the bearing went) and put it back together with plenty of air tool oil for assembly lube. Once I was done I spun it in the lathe at around 1000 RPM's for a couple minutes and dumped more oil in while it was running. I gotta say it sucked pretty hard.

I also had the body honed out about 2 months ago before my bathroom project took over my life. The bore was scorched a little bit and was glazed pretty bad. Only cost me about $25 to have it done. All told, I think I've got about $40 stuck into the pump and it should be ready to go if/when the current $1500 pump goes down. Last time it was on Christmas eve....

All I gotta find is a new QD bushing to install the belt pulley. Not sure what happened to the old one, and the newer pump has a bigger shaft so it won't work on this one.

Donovan from Wisconsin

It took me about 15 years to finish a portable hydraulic power unit. Started when somebody gave me a Wis engine powered hydraulic pump off a highway sander. I wanted it on wheels, then figured I might as well make it self-propelled with a hydraulic motor I had. I use it on the wood splitter, but the most fun is in parades. I went by the reviewing stand one time and the announcer says, "This what happens when you spend too much time in your garage."

My oldest daughter turned eighteen last summer. Not
what you are looking for, but it sure was a big
project. Now to finish the others....

I am still working on our hayshed. Every time I
think it is good enough, I think of some more
improvements to make on it. It has been a work in
progress for five years now.

Christopher

After 8-9 years, I"ll bet the cows were happy to see you again!

How about some pictures?

I installed about 400 feet of crown moulding in my house 11 years
ago.Finally filling the nail holes and painting it. Might as well keep
going and repaint the inside of the house as a spring/ summer
project.



Vito

Not sure it is finished - #30 kicker broke on the JD
336 baler in 1992. Baled on the ground the rest of
the day, and the rest of the year. After about
10,000 bales on the ground per year, decided to look
into fixing the thing.

The '76 Chevy 1/2 ton short box 4 wheeler I'm restoring for a customer has been a work in process for about 8 years. It's bounced back and forth between his house and my shop several times over the years. It's in my shop in the finishing stages now.

Still needs the grill, bumpers, some trim moldings, and the interior of the cab. I'm waiting on him to bring me some parts at the moment.

I admit it, I'm getting burned out on it and ready to see it gone.

Then the guy bought another one like it and his wife wouldn't let him park it by their house, so it's sitting by my shop. I don't know what he intends to do with it, but I hope it doesn't involve me.

50+ year old Mayfair Radio with 01A tubes and electrodynamic speaker. (no magnet) Still working pretty good. Redid in 1960 Dave

It was one of those projects where if I would have stayed on it at the time, I co9uld have had it finished in a matter of a couple hours of my time. Then it sat, I forget why, and things rusted up a little more. At the time Dad couldn't find a rebuilt one anywhere, so he had to spring for the brand new vacume pump.

That added to the postponement because I always figured if they got a good 7-10 years out of a rebuild, a new one surely would last longer than that. So far it has, but then Dad mentioned it a couple months ago and asked what it'd take to finish it up "just in case". I got a start on it in early January. I brought it in to work and cleaned everything up a little better in the parts washer, and then decided that the bore was looking pretty bad so I found an engine shop with a big enough hone to hone it out. (they get lots of 2 pops too). The new bearings felt rough that I had pressed in the side plates, so I took them out and then blanchard ground the side plates to get rid of the grooves that were wore into them, and then installed new bearings.

A little time welding up the bearing journals and turning them back down, cleaning up the vanes and some reassembly, and now it really sucks!! Still gotta come up with the QD taper lock bushing for it because the old one is lost, but that shouldn't be too hard once I figure out the size it needs.

Donovan from Wisconsin