Spring14 Miles

Last week my group and I started the disassembly of a Mack E7. I learned how to pull cylinder liners and what can go wrong in the process. At maritime I was a assigned to repack two shaft stuffing boxes on a vessel. The post side went just fine with no eyebrows raised. I noticed the starboard side had major pitting and if simply repacked would have leaked again. Also the pitting has created a weak point so if the operator was to accidentally hit a rock (happens more often then one would think), it would most likely shear clean off at that point creating huge problems. The customer was notified and is taking preventative maintenance measures (new shaft) to avoid a disaster down the road.

w: 42.5

t: 185

Shaft corrosion

Spring14 Miles

Last week I learned a bit about identifying gear wear patterns on Volvo outdrives. I learned what the different patterns indicate and what possible parts are failing due to the wear patterns. I also learned a great deal about semi truck and trailer wiring and the different components involved from our electrical final last week.

w: 38

t: 142.5

Forward and reverse gears in a Volo DP drive

There was major pitting on the gears in the drive above....

Lower drive gears in said drive

Spring14 Miles

Last week consisted of mostly R&R and service work at Maritime. At school, Travis demonstrated how a cam shaft sensor works. We hooked up the Motis scanner to the sensor and examined the voltage patterns the sensor outputs and talked about how those readings come about via a reluctor ring rotating in front of the sensor. 

w: 35.5

t: 104.5

Small block Chevy had a dead hole. After a coworker pulled the head, he noticed the head gasket had actually been pulled into the combustion chamber slightly.

Spring14 Miles

Last week I was tasked on a DPH drive service. The drive turned out to have water in the oil and bellows. I learned how to pressure and vacuum test the drive and make the necessary repairs. I also had the opportunity to drive a boat with Volvo's new IPS system on it, familiarizing myself with the all in one joystick control. It is an impressive system and the experience will help me in future situations guaranteed. More basic info on the IPS system here and here:

w: 36
t: 69

It might go fast......

Understanding diodes

Spring14 Miles

Last week we started class again studying electronics. We diagnosed a handful of test boards for voltage drops, opens, and shorts. I really began to understand diagnosing for shorts and how I can use an amp clamp to find them. At work, I mounted a nifty outboard bracket for a customer along with a skag pad on the deck. 

w: 33

t: 33

Laying out position of outboard bracket.

Bracket mounted with port hole to access the carriage bolt nuts. 

Test board results

Winter14 Miles

Last week I serviced my first Onan genset and v8 8.2 liter four stroke Detroits. As stated many times before, I really like familiarizing myself with engines and equipment I haven't worked around before. It's always a learning experience. I also have been doing a lot of parts locating and cross referencing. In the case of the picture below, I was unable to locate the paper gasket I needed for a Sureflow seawater pump in a reasonable amount of time so I just carefully traced and cut out a custom gasket. And of course, it didnt leak ;)

w: 38

t: 415.5