Minivan rear axle for trailer?

On Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:15:22 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Gunner quickly quoth:

That's good.

Oops! Y'mean poor Ned's fiber-optic stuff?

Ditto here on the handyman side. I did get another quickie website to do, though. I'm glad my family is coming here instead of me doing the long drive to CA. I couldn't afford the gas after buying xmas presents!

Hydraulic surge brakes work fine on *either* side of "The Pond". All it takes is the right Master Cylinder in the surge coupler for the intended axle - the MCs for drum brakes have a residual pressure check-valve in the output line, the one for disc brakes do not.

And a lot of new trailers are disk-brake axles, especially boat trailers where they're All Stainless and they live longer with the repeated immersions. (Being open, they drain and dry. No self-adjusters to freeze up or springs and pins to break.)

So make sure you read the descriptions and get the right one...

(Trying to rig up mechanical brakes with the old parking brake linkage would be pointless, they were never meant to apply full braking force. Though if you want to mount a hand-lever brake actuator out of an old Dodge Truck or an older Toyota on the trailer tongue, and rig up a parking brake for the trailer, go ahead.)

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Indeed. But he will be most happy when he gets it. Ive been tossing in tooling and other Good Stuff to help make him happy. The light sources are in the pallet racks..but I tarped them just before the first rain of the year..and have to skinny under them to locate where they are. Ive 50 linear feet of racking up, 8' tall..

Its a debt far far too long unpaid, and frankly..there has been little excuse for it. I gave the ex the money to send him via money order several years ago..and she claims she did..so I put it out of mind. But he evidently never got it..and based on her record of such things..I doubt she ever even purchased the MO.

Work has been picking up. I came to So Cal Tue morning with one job scheduled for the week. I just finished my 4th. And have to return to do Hardinge spindle bearings between Chistmas and New Years.

Now..Ive nothing sched for Thur/Friday of this week..will light a candle for some phone calls.

Gunner

Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"

Ah, right. I hadn't realised that anyone would even think of using the handbrake linkage instead of the main mechanism.

Mark Rand RTFM

On Thu, 21 Dec 2006 07:10:37 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Gunner quickly quoth:

You really have made a lot of progress since I helped clear out your lot a teensy bit. ;)

That's ratty, wot?

Are you charging enough for what you're doing? Terry was charging $100/man-hour when we worked on those gamma cameras and the bone densitometer we repaired, and he's getting that for the candy machines he's now working on. He doesn't skimp, either, charging for phone time, travel time, etc. I'm betting that you don't keep a tight reign on that yourself. I'm somewhat that way, too. It makes for happy customers and tight belts.

On Thu, 21 Dec 2006 07:27:53 -0800, Larry Jaques wrote:

A smidgeon. Ill post pictures soon.

And only the tip of a very big iceberg, Im afraid.

Actually..No Im not charging enough. Though I do charge for travel ($25 per hr, portal to portal) and mileage ($0.50 portal to portal)

Im somewhere near $20 or so lower than my closest competitor.

The problem is..is that I do more than just machine tool repair. Many of those guys charge triple digits, portal to portal, down to the mid $90hr rates. But..they only work on machine tools. I also do electrical, light welding, rigging, infrastructure repair..air/water/lights etc..and in those fields..many are in the $50hr range. So rather than have a staggered rate scale..say I do 45 minutes of machine repair for a client, than an hour installing a branch air line, then replace the fart fan in the bathroom...it gets clumsey as hell keeping track. So I charge a calculated "average" and it works out to be about $65ish. I think Im going to raise my rates $10 after the first of the year..but Ive got to consider the ramifications carefully. Many of my clients are mom and pop companies..many still struggling or borderline profitagle. I go in and replace a blown Indramat C axis drive on an OmniTurn for example. (done 3 in the last 2 weeks)..the cost of the replacement drive, simply for a rebuilt exchange is $4000.00. The client tends to turn various colors and gets weak at the knees. I turn in my bill for $250..(two trips, one to diagnose and remove for shipping to the factory and one trip for reinstallation, set up and get machine back running, 1 hr minumum per visit) and they, while something of a captive market so to speak..dont have to call me back the next time something needs repair. I simply cannot make a living doing only OmniTurn repairs. Much akin to the Maytag guy. So I keep my rates down to the point that whenever they need Anything fixed..they automatically think of me, and pick up the phone. Many shops consider me to be more cost effective than having their own maint staff fix machinery etc. And frankly..Im faster, better and get it right the first time more often. A lot of my business is fixing stuff that their maint guys f***ed up. Shrug. And a reasonable jack of all trades.

Sigh..some of the poor boy outfits..I do a fair amount of free stuff. It usually pays off in the long term..but Ive been burned badly a time or two. I kept a shop going in La Habra, California..Multiscrew Inc...and then they went bankrupt, leaving me holding invoices for a bit over $3000. That happened in October..and it was money I could ill afford to loose. I was probably out of pocket for a third of that..the rest being labor. Ill never see a cent from that cluster f*ck. Though I did help auction off his 15 OmniTurns and got a few customers from the buyers. And am part owner with two OmniTurns, that Im hoping to rebuild after the first of the year and resell. Soon as I can generate enough cash to purchase servos and so forth. Takes money to make money.

Others on the other hand..appreciate that I dont try to rape em, and give me the odd machine now and then, which Ive been pretty good about fixing up and rolling over for money. Thats how Ive managed to build my own personal shop up, with some pretty decent machines. I helped a guy close up a shop over several weekends, rigging and moving, disconnecting and palletizing..and I wound up with my HLV-H, the TFB, a good OD grinder and other stuff. Probably $10k worth of stuff for a couple weekends work. And his new company calls me for virtually all their infrastructure work. I installed 8 ground rods a couple weeks ago for them. Shrug. 3 hours labor plus travel/mileage.

I am fortunate/unfortunate that I live up north, and work down south. My housing costs dont overload my revenue. If I lived in So. Cal..Id have lost everything by now, when the industry went into the shitter

Yes..Im something of a bottom feeder in the business, but my network is growing and business is picking up. Getting more and more referals to new customers from satisfied existing customers, which is helping, and Ive been fortunate enough to have been able to buy/sell/broker some machines, welding equipment and so forth. Im honest, take care of my customers well, dont get whistle bit or greedy and know when NOT to take a job too. But on those..I know who to call..so the customer is happy he is being taken care of, so Im developing a rep for being the Go To guy, and they call me for other stuff too. If I could shuck off the family..Id be way ahead..but..shrug..one cant do that and sleep well.

Im optimistic and am slowly finding my own niche..or building a niche in the market place. Not one Ill ever get rich in..but...

If I could get more billable hours each week, it would be very nice. But working througout So. Cal..travel time is the big killer. I may bill an hour on site..but spend 5 hours on the road going to and from. only part of which is billable. So. Cal traffic is unpredictable.

It costs me $200 a week, just in expenses, fuel, food etc just to GO to So. Cal and work a week, not to mention my basic expenses such as insurance, rent at the RV park and keeping the homestead going. So at the end of the day..I dont have a lot of disposable income. Virtually none actually...chuckle/sigh. And my truck has 419,000 miles on it. And because of the medical issues the ex (and myself) have had..my credit is zero. Which is a good thing actually. I cant get in trouble with credit cards and so forth. So Ive had to learn to scrounge pretty well to get things done, rather than throw money at problems. Though that in itself is scary shit. Hoping I can figure out how to get by and get the job done properly and have the client call me back again and again. Im starting to go into the usual slow period from New Years to the end of Febuary/March. Ends of many companies fiscal years..so they are out of money, or keeping a close rein on it. So Ive been busting ass to make a nest egg, in both money and machinery to be able to sell/broker to get me through. Hopefully..Ill be sucessful. If not..Ill learn to say "would you like fries with that" with the best of em. Least as a survivalist..I know how to make shelter out of raw materials so wont have to resort to living in a refridgerator box. Shrug

Gunner

"Aren't cats Libertarian? They just want to be left alone. I think our dog is a Democrat, as he is always looking for a handout" Unknown Usnet Poster

Heh, heh, I'm pretty sure my dog is a liberal - he has no balls. Keyton

No ! They're practically unheard of (some boat trailers is about all).

The thing is that we very rarely tow any trailer over 1000kg, our tow vehicles are usually too light to tow much more than this anyway and there's a big domestic market in small trailers / caravans with very simple brake systems. If you're pulling anything over this weight, chance are that you're either industrial (separate air brake systems) or agricultural (you do what you damn well please).

Every british built caravan I've seen over here less than 20 years old has had hydraulics - but admittedly that has not been many. "British automotive engineering" is still in the stone ages, from the sound of it.

Over here, if your trailer weighs more than 50% of the tow vehicle weight, you better have working brakes - and electric/electronic controller systems are the standard.