Saturday, September 26, 2020

ARRRRGH! Blew a Shock Out!

 Actually, both shocks on the right side of the little RC truck. This is the right rear, and the right front is equally well soaked with the silicone oil that leaks out when the o-rings fail. The OEM shocks on these cars are notorious for leaking as the o-rings get worn, and these went from being "slightly damp" to "puddle on the floor" in one battery pack. The truck probably has 10 packs usage on it, and I was wondering when they were going to fail.


Geez....I most definitely HATE the way Blogger makes you resize images now. The way it was up to a couple of weeks ago gave you a "+" and a "-" when you clicked the image. Now you have the grab a corner and drag it open to the size you want, and it's a PITA to get the images the same size.


Anyway.....got some shock oil, some rebuild kits for these OEM shocks (Traxxas uses a different design o-ring, of better material, than Arrma does), and some cheap eBay "Big Bore" shocks, that look like they might take a bit of "fettling" to install. I filled them up and bled the air out last night, so now I'll top them off and screw the tops back on.

So off to the workshop to fix the leaks and/or swap the shocks, TBD.


And the Cameron Peak fire has cranked up again, adding over 6,000 acres in the last two days. In the screenshot below, you'll see two big "protrusions" to the North of the largest burn area. We don't have the "apocalyptic" looking sky like we did a couple of weeks ago, but there's smoke in the air you can see looking down the street, and a distinctive smell to go with it. The NWS was predicting a 60% chance of rain on Sunday, but I see they've cut it back to a 30% chance, not good.


And there's a 36,000 acre fire in Wyoming, just across the border in the Medicine Bow range, about 75 miles Northwest of here.


10 comments:

  1. Sad about the fires. We're praying for rain or snow or both.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I always watch the weather here, and this is the first time that I've been able to see the smoke plumes on the weather radar. I don't expect rain any time the NWS calls less than a 40% chance, and even then you might not get more than a few sprinkles. I'll be watching to see how this incoming front (the baro started going up about 6 hours ago) develops.

      Delete
  2. Wind shift about an hour ago brought us heavy smoke. Wind gusting (estimate) 30 mph. Not pleasant doing the nightly walk with the dog, but he didn't mind.

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    Replies
    1. It's been from the East all day here, at about 3MPH. We can sure smell and see the smoke, but it's nothing like a couple of weeks ago when all the ash fell on us.

      Delete
  3. Comments from the cheap seats: if I were doing that ATV shock repair, I would just measure them and go grab the closest cheapie shocks from Advance Auto Parts, or Pep Boys. Slap 'em on, there ya go.

    All of that ordering this and that, pulling them apart, etc., life's too short. That's why God invented Napa.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a small radio controlled "Monster Truck", Fredd.

      I don't think NAPA, as good as they are, carries parts to fix toy cars.....

      Delete
  4. "Fettling"
    Now there's a word you just don't see every day.
    ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I picked it up from my days of working on British cars and reading car magazines. One automotive writer used it in a sentence, and I always liked it because I understood what it meant.

      On a British car you have to do fettling to make even new parts fit. On an Anerican car you just say you have to fuck with it until it fits!

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Keep it civil, please....

Gloomy, Gritty, Grey Day

 At 1700 local it's as described in the headline; 30*F, 88% RH, completely overcast, snowing like crazy (small flakes, but lots of them)...