Thursday, April 24, 2014

Making Other Plans and Other Misadventures.

Nothing like cutting it close to the wire. I am supposed to be in Yellowstone on May 1, and the bus is broke and so is the Puddle Jumper.  I had a doctor's appointment the other day and I lost the clutch in the puddle jumper while looking for the office.  It totally failed.  No Clutch at all.  

I love my Puddle Jumper but finding parts can be a chore.  I had to go on line to find a new Clutch Master Cylinder.  It was going to take several days to get here and I would be without a car.  My friend Jimmy lent me a car of his so I could do everything that I need to do to leave.

In the mean time I try to install the throttle cable in the bus.  I had been sent an original equipment cable from a guy that replaced it with an air throttle.  When I installed it I discovered it was 18 inches short.  I went back to plan B and installed wire rope.  The size of the wire rope that came out of the bus was 5/32.  Not the most common size.  Lowes and Home Depot both did not carry it.  I went to a couple of rigging supply houses and could not find it.  So I opted for 1/8 inch wire rope.  For all of you that are math challenged that equal to 4/32.  I mere 1/32 smaller.  Unfortunately that made all the difference in the world.  After spending the better part of 5 hours messing with the thing I started the bus up, stepped on the throttle and the rope did not hold.

I decided to regroup.  I found a source of 5/32 wire rope on the other side of town.  I went and got it.  I had the ends fixed and now I have a cable identical to the one that came out of the bus.  

In the mean time the part for the Puddle Jumper shows up and I tried to install it.  Not happening.  The fittings don't match.  One of the fittings is called a banjo fitting.  The one off the original cylinder is too big for the new part.  I search all over town and can not find the part.  Maybe I can solve the problem tomorrow.  So two complete days of working on the bus and puddle jumper and they still are not fixed. 

When did I say I was leaving?

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