GRIZZ’s Chevy S10 - Random Rambling NEXT ROADTRIP 27/10/23

Hi,m8t!

Cutting a hedge this way in May?
In germany this will cost you up to 50000Euro penalty....!

Because birds are breed now....

Greet

Why didn't I think of this as an opening slide? So appropriate!

But yes, you're right, we're lucky that we can work from home. Many here are struggling badly.

My next door neighbour drives a Jeepney, so hasn't turned a wheel for weeks. Apart from having to shift it from in front of my garage of course. Yes, he's an idiot!

Gave a couple of the local lads a few peso to machine polish the '38. Did a damn fine job too. I overpaid, but still cheaper than buying my own polisher! So they went off very happy.

Basically, any little jobs that need doing, I get a local guy in to do it. As I'm here all day, they get watched and tend to do good work under constant supervision!

I also send my company driver a bit of cash each month, as they don't get paid whilst they're not shipping us.

Our weekly food parcels are given away as well.

We can only do what we can do.

So Saturday morning, I started early.

Insomnia and body aches have their merits.

Cut back the hedge as reported before.

Alarm set for 09.20 to remind me to lock up and head out to @johnnybravo to check out his new machine shop and collect the mixer he had offered me.

His build of engineering amazement here: forum.retro-rides.org/thread/178941/1972-mazda-rx2-moves-home

35 minute unencumbered drive was the longest drive I have done in 8 weeks, and showed just what a pleasant and comfortable drive this Galaxy offers.

Johnnybravo getting on with the whole social distance thing after the House Elf helped him move the mixer from his Berlingo van to the Galaxy, leaving me to capture the load on film.



Along with the machine came a new replacement fan and cover for the electric motor, part of the “Needs some attention” message, needed some modifying to get to fit.



Had a restricted visit and shop tour with JB and the House Elf, who is both better looking and nicer (not yet jaded by life sucking) than his dad would admit ;-)

Amazing how much efficiency they have managed to bring to the shop through sensible planning and layout, with the Mezzanine level adding another 60% of useable space for machines and of course automotive storage.

Being that they are working alone, against the proverbial clock, we kept it shorter than usual, and I missed out on a coffee and cookies, so after leaving a case of Bud Lights, I headed home where work was not doing itself.

Back home, I carried on with cleaning and clearing up the hedge that I had cut back earlier.

Sally popped over by about 11.30 to help me unload the mixer and plant some sunflowers and green beans she had grown.


So first view of the mixer was not exactly encouraging.



After coffee and cookies with Sally, I started to look at the mixer barrel, and decided that a bucket of gravel and some water would be the way to go.



Messy cement and dismissive use in its previous life as a hire company (that had gone bankrupt) evident around.

Note exposed motor axle on left, that would be needing some attention.



The stand again, showed dismissive use in the past, with cleaning not a priority, ever.



Two hours of running it in various ways with changing content left me with the drum inside looking a lot better.

Lump hammer had to be pulled into service to break out a load of real thick concrete in the bottom nd around the paddles.


At one point when it became obvious that the stones were not progressing, I added some sharp metal edges and chain, which seemed to help, along with the the lump hammer.



And a sobering last thought at this point.

The cost of a new mixer online means the three or more hours it may take to get the machine back to where it will be an asset here when I start mixing and building is time well spent.




.

Many a happy hour spent (not) cleaning out mixers that bone idle sods just left! Thankless job , especially big 4/3 diesel site mixers where you end up head and shoulders in! Far easier to keep clean than get clean.

@johnnybravo gave me a 5 litre can of brick and paving cleaner, but I have not used it yet.

I think that if I keep on top of cleaning it, the way it stands now, it should be good.



I never cease to be amazed at the way some people who borrow tools, will return them dirty, broken or disabled.

Despite loving Mickey next door, he has lost me more than one tool over the years and now there are certain tools I outright won’t lend him.



I still need to figure out servicing the angle drive on the machine too.

I suspect it has never been serviced or maintained.

Somewhere whilst discussing Galaxy stuff I mentioned seeing a photoshop in a Cossie style, and as you can see I finally found it!

Probs too low for practical use, and as they're VW not Ford the wheels are an unlikely choice, but doesn't it look fantastic!?

might have a gearbox (in bits) here , if needed. it was stripped as oil seals gave up the ghost but ended up scrapping the rest as i ran out of storage. shame as the drum was new and only ever had half a dozen mixes trough it at most.

I hate when a rebuilt item fails due to some older part not being up to the demand of the newly fitted parts.

I guess YouTube and Google will have guidance on how to service the drive,

Another Sunday afternoon job was to address more of the wear and tear from abuse to the mixer.

A bit of grinder and welding action resulted in what will hopefully be an extended life.

Both the paddles in the barrel showed holes where the welds had torn away over time, and obviously leaked out when mixing cement.

Started by cleaning them up and cutting patches to weld over



The rolled rim was broken and barrel torn and one could see the metal was worn thinner around the edge.

So I took a 6” nail and bent it, cut a 50mm length off the top, including the head to slide into the rolled rim.

The nails head would partly fill the gap and allow me to bridge the tear.



Aligned and kept in place with my extra fingers.



Gluing metal.



Camera menace



Barrel patches.





Rim.



And finally late afternoon, just because I am like that, I took a belt sander and ran the mixer and sander in different directions to clean up the barrel a bit more.

Then added some random Dulux paint I bought unidentified years ago for £1.00 for a litre tin .





Ready for work once all the prep is done and materials ordered in.


.