Geoff Weeks

With today's gasoline cost, that would some expensive lumber! No doubt the K-7 would make the trip however.

Holmes 880 were pretty useful also.

Took me a minute to see it. A tornado came though (before I owned the place) and that tree was how close to the house it got!

I made a fixture for lifting the big cam's at near perfect balance. You installed one way if the clutch was already installed and flipped it around for if it wasn't. Single line lift makes aligning the engine to the mounts easy, a line-up bar with the engine suspended just off the mount, and you could start the bolts. same for stabbing the trans, with the single line you had more then enough movement to stab the trans. I had done both with a big fork truck, but found the overhead line method easier.

Here is a pic of both of them

My special tool

Just ran mine a bit today. 1st time this year. What it burns in gasoline makes me not drive it esp with fuel prices today. It is also my fuel caddy and I needed to pump some off road diesel out of one step tank for the tractor. Once primed it fired right off on 6 volts.

It'll hold up to anything you care to put on it. I've had 5 ton on mine between Des Moines, IA and Manhattan, IL.

Heater hoses look like they need to be moved. too close! I ran into a "heat problem" with a wiring harness I thought was far enough from the turbo/exh. It was, except when pulling a grade in the summer. Heat shield came to my rescue. I had much more space then you have there. I thought it wouldn't be a problem but I was wrong.

Paul, I would agree with that! What we don't know is how long we have left. My Aunt is 99 and sharp as a tack, and still active. My friends father worked 3rd shift until he was forced to retire at 65 and was dead before 66. Genetics has a place in it, but is not the total picture.

I can still get motivated, but the motivation is tempered by the cost to my body. I can still torque the main bearings on a 855 Cummins, but have to question if it is worth it for ME to torque the main bearings on an 855 Cummins? Last year I completely rebuilt a light tower, including a block change, stripping the old diesel and building back up. Motivation is there, but not the speed. Before that it was a Saab 900. Each project taking most of a summer to complete. When the costs out weigh the enjoyment/satisfaction of the completed job, motivation wains.

Stock R or B isn't likely to be set to "cruise at 70 mph" so unless it has been updated, you'll likely need an axle ratio change at least. Just so you are aware.

I am not sitting in a chair watching the world go by, I just got back from doing repairs at my brothers, car repair and house repair. I go to the YMCA for exercise 3 days a week, never the less, what I can still do today is vastly reduce to what I could do just 3 years ago, when I was felling trees, and rebuilding an old building. Point is you don't know what the future holds for you, I never thought I would see the decline I have. I can no longer rise from a chair without using my arms to assist me getting up. My wife, who is 8 years my senior, can do it no problem. I am writing this, not for your pity, but as a warning to those who have grand plans that they hope to do when they can retire, I hope you can, but you can't count on it. Do it while you can, if you have continued great health, you'll have great memories, while making more, if later you can not, you at least got to do it when you could, not lament that you now can't. I try and keep my hand in helping others where I can, in their projects, even if it is done from a keyboard. I still learn things every day by "keeping my hand in" even if I don't do the work myself. My mind doesn't recognize my bodies limitation, and it may kill me trying to do what my mind knew I could in the past. I have an outer CV joint boot to replace, I"ll feel great if I can get it done in one day. I don't even want to know what "book time" is on the job, it no longer applies to me.

Yeah, and the chipper is scary also.

When I had the interest, body and ability, I didn't have the time. Now I have the time, but the 1st 3 are rapidly slipping away.