Jim's Air Horse

Got another Air Horse here today. It's been at another shop for 3 months and they didn't fix anything, had a big bill, and he got it back in pieces. What else is new with these so called mechanics...

Peeps don't get to see many of these so since I hadn't been putting much work up here lately I thought I would this one.

It just got a good steam cleaning and on Monday I'll start putting some of it back together so I can find the leaks he wanted fixed. The last shop tore it all apart, broke the steering wheel, now it has to go back together enough to find and fix the leaks. He drove it into the last place and got it back like you see it, minus all the cleaning I did on it today to find the leaks, watch out who works on your stuff...

Geno wrote: Got another Air Horse here today. It's been at another shop for 3 months and they didn't fix anything, had a big bill, and he got it back in pieces. What else is new with these so called mechanics...

Peeps don't get to see many of these so since I hadn't been putting much work up here lately I thought I would this one.

It just got a good steam cleaning and on Monday I'll start putting some of it back together so I can find the leaks he wanted fixed. The last shop tore it all apart, broke the steering wheel, now it has to go back together enough to find and fix the leaks. He drove it into the last place and got it back like you see it, minus all the cleaning I did on it today to find the leaks, watch out who works on your stuff...

that doesn't look like they worked on it looks like all they did was take it apart.....

They took it apart and I'm not sure if they did anything else or not...

The man I need to talk to at the place that made the tug is out till Wed. I have the top steering cylinder plate off and found a kinked line and some hose clamps all over the place that I don't think will hold the pressure they need to. There are also 3 big washers under the cylinders that aren't shown on the parts diagram, I took pics so I can send them to Tiffin Aire on Wed. What a mess but what else is new...

Geno wrote: They took it apart and I'm not sure if they did anything else or not...

The man I need to talk to at the place that made the tug is out till Wed. I have the top steering cylinder plate off and found a kinked line and some hose clamps all over the place that I don't think will hold the pressure they need to. There are also 3 big washers under the cylinders that aren't shown on the parts diagram, I took pics so I can send them to Tiffin Aire on Wed. What a mess but what else is new...

strange in deed and them hose clamps aren't made for that...must of been worked on at jiffy lube................

Lol Nappy, haven't heard that one for a long time but it just may be true.

I've been talking to the owner at Tiffin this morning and just got off the phone with him ordering parts. The steering cylinders were upgraded a long time ago, they had trouble out of the ones on this one as it was one of the very early Air Horses. For phase 1 of this job she's getting 2 new upgraded cylinders, the 2 center hoses and hardware, a new greasable kingpin for the center swivel that has a regular bolt in it now, and 2 new seats for the fender and hood that are missing. Parts will ship via UPS today and be here on this Friday or Monday.

That should be enough to get things hooked back up and under pressure, be done with the steering cylinder area, then we can go from there.

Something I was supposed to do today didn't happen so it's on to more Horse fun lol.

If it's one thing I hate is getting into a tractor that someone's favorite tool is a welder... There are some problems with the tower, bushings, a froze up pin as usual in the shift lever, and the welding was the icing on the cake. They even welded one of the tower bolts in... It's getting the tower replaced so I've been getting the old mess off and ready to get it back the way it belongs. After a few hours of cutting, splitting welds and getting the old mess off without damaging the frame it's all cleaned up and ready for a new tower.

I have a really nice donor tower I found up on the rack/shelf in here that I need to just gut the 8 speed parts and get the auto parts freed up and out of the old one to use. It also has the outboard regulator mount to make it easier to work on in the future as the old tower had the hydro steering pump where you couldn't get to the regulator. It will literally be better than new.

Well at least he found the Stable. Hope he didn't pay for the hack job. Guess he must want to use it.

He's a commercial airline pilot and has his own plane too. You don't want to know what it cost to make that mess, isn't it normal for peeps to make big messes and charge big money, I hear about it every day...

If I ever make a movie like Nightmare at the Stables, (like Nightmare on Elm St) it will be about getting the old auto shifters apart and trying to save everything. For cryin out loud I know they have to be clean and grease free to work right but anti-seize on the main mounting pin wouldn't interfere with the workings of the rest of it. It's one of a few things that push my patience a little more than I like. This one still took a long time but the fact that the tower was already garbage and the plasma cutter was close by helped a little. Good thing is I knew this would be the worst part of the job so the worst should be over.

I also blasted the replacement tower to make sure there were no cracks starting anywhere and structurally it's like a new one.

Geno wrote: He's a commercial airline pilot and has his own plane too. You don't want to know what it cost to make that mess, isn't it normal for peeps to make big messes and charge big money, I hear about it every day...

If I ever make a movie like Nightmare at the Stables, (like Nightmare on Elm St) it will be about getting the old auto shifters apart and trying to save everything. For cryin out loud I know they have to be clean and grease free to work right but anti-seize on the main mounting pin wouldn't interfere with the workings of the rest of it. It's one of a few things that push my patience a little more than I like. This one still took a long time but the fact that the tower was already garbage and the plasma cutter was close by helped a little. Good thing is I knew this would be the worst part of the job so the worst should be over.

I also blasted the replacement tower to make sure there were no cracks starting anywhere and structurally it's like a new one.

WOW what a mess that was....you need a vacation.......