Off road tool cart

I started to building a off road tool cart for working outside of the shop. Here are a  couple of pictures of the progress so far

Cart dump boxes

I recently built some dump boxes for 2 Golf carts to use for the cup route. I  used three-quarter inch exterior plywood and some 1 inch tubing fab them up. Then I painted them with  black enamel paint. I then  installed a 32 inch light bar which I purchased from Amazon on the carts.

Winter work

People often ask me what I do during the winter. So I thought I would show you a few pictures of what we do.

Ball washer painting 

A golf cart engine being rebuilt 

Hydraulic wheel motor having new seal installed 

Reels lined up for grinding,we have 90 reels to go through.

Proactive Maintenance

TDo you look to stop problems before they happen or do you wait until they happen? Do you take shortcuts that create problems? Most problems can be prevented if you adopt a preventive mindset. The first step is to do a visual inspection of your equipment. This is most easily done when you do your daily adjustments. I do all my daily adjustments on the lift. I give rollers a shake and a spin to make sure they are ok. I look around for leaks and loose bolts. I then adjust reel to bedknife clearance. When the lift is coming down I look at tires and also look for things I may have missed on my first inspection. Last thing I do is check fluid levels. All this doesn't take very long. Operators are responsible  for blowing off, washing and fueling of there machine. I expect operators to do a good job and report any problems. Many mechanics don't treat operators very well. You need to treat them with respect, they run these machines all day and know if something doesn't seem right. Early in my career I didn't treat the operators well and consequently they didn't speak up when there was a problem. The other big key to success of a maintenance program is to repair things correctly. When I go to courses one of the biggest problems I see is half assed repairs. Do it right, that way it won't come back to haunt you. I hope this gives you some ideas on how start thinking in a more proactive manner. My philosophy on maintenance is don't do things twice, and don't make the same mistake twice. Thanks for following.

The clear plastic top to this gas cap is gone,it was directly below a conveyor carrying sand. It only took a day until the cushman had a plugged up carb. It would have been a a lot easier to replace the cap when it was first seen.

This isn't the way to fix a leak, the time spent on doing this would have been better spent on doing it right.

In the two preceding pics is a example of the mechanic causing the problem. When the tine fell out of the holder he tried tape to hold it in. When that didn't work he tried welding kit in. Neither worked! All I had to do was clean up the holder and reinstall the tines. Think of the time and money wasted, just because we didn't take the time to do it right.

Rake-o-vac rebuild

The sweeper when I started

The sweeper disassembled

The silver colored area was cut out and a new one cut,rolled and welded in. Replacing the worn out metal.

The fan blades were worn out ,so I had new ones cut and I weld then on to the center hub.

The rake assembly had the holes welded up on the paddles,new springs and plastic fingers installed.

The worn hitch was cut off and a new piece added. The rake- o- vac then was reassembled. The project was a big success.

Lee hand primer repair

I have a Lee hand primer which I like to use for priming shells and it recently broke. Seeing that I want to load some shells that day I decided to repair it. The ram as I will call it was made out of zinc die cast and it cracked. This is a third one that I've had do the same thing so I decided to make the part out of steel. I turned a small disk on the lathe. Next I  cut off a small piece of quarter inch rod.    Then I made a little flat steel piece to go between the two and I welded it all together. The new piece works well and it actually is improved the priming tool. The priming tool now has much better feel for seating the primers.

Some interesting pictures

I shot all pictures with my phone, a S-5 galaxy. I thought you might enjoy some of the things I see when at work. These are the reasons why I love working on a golf course.

Butterfly 

A Luna moth

A small hawk that landed next to me

A unknown moth

18 fairway on a fall morning 

A snake which had crawled into a irrigation module.