M38A1
Admin
Today I started a new little project, not much different than probably six previous similar projects I've done in the past like this. I got ahold of a little 70's Dilly tilting boat trailer for not much coin and debated on just flipping it. Then today I was staring at it going "well, i can grind off that broken tongue wheel jack and grind off the sail bucket carrier thing to make it look better". Then a bit more looking "...well the plywood is only held on by four carriage bolts and two are rusted/rotten through the wood - lets see it i can just flip that plywood deck off and boom, it's off". Hmmm I wonder what the bearings are like so I pull the wheel/tires off and pull the hubs. Original yellow/cream nasty grease in there and one seal leaking... Dust seals one is great for matching, the other toast. I'm at a cross roads of sorts with it torn apart. So........
I need four 1" tapered spindle bearings and two dust seals. How hard could that be, right? I mean, I even had the bearing numbers and know what it came off of. Turns out all afternoon was running to Advance Auto, Auto Zone, O'Rielys and they either didn't have them or only one. The dust seal was a total bust at all three as all they could do is say "hey - come back here and take a look for what you need". Heck - I even measured the shoulder size for them and provided it. And I wanted some emery cloth to clean up the spindle shafts a bit. All three stores looked at me like I was crazy - emery what???
So I run to Home Depot - Emery cloth is in paint. "Oh - you want rolled? That's in plumbing". Plumbing says it's in Paint. No Joy. None to be had.
Then I run to Ace Hardware. The guy kid looks at me like, "um.... emery what"? That's when the 17ish y/o girl said "hey, if we have it, it's over here but I've not seen any in a while". Sure enough, none there. But she knew what it was!
Mind you, I've now spent probably 2.5 hours looking for this stuff.
On my way home there's a little homegrown auto parts store called FOX Auto. I stop in there and the gal says "yep, we've got two of the bearings in stock and can have the other two here Tuesday morning". Great! Order the other two now. Sure - no problem, Timkens are on their way!. "Hey - do you have emery cloth"? Yep - over here, several grits to choose from. This. Was. Awesome.
Then came time for the dust seals. They guy asked what it goes to while pulling out the big Timken book and flipping to the dust seal chapter. There's several to choose from that were close but the thickness wasn't right. When I said "boat trailer" he said "Ah - that's this reference". He pulls out a well worn sheet, looks up the bearing number, goes to the back and come out with two perfectly matching proper dust seals.
Fox Auto will have me as a customer from now on.
Now - off to clean up and get one side done tonight before the goblins take over...... Hopefully I can get the mechanicals finished up tomorrow. Then it's sanding/prime&paint. Hmmm... What color?