Hardware Bug
 

Happy Father's day y'all.

I spent it troubleshooting a hardware bug.

A couple weeks ago, my friend came down to visit for a morning of quading. Well, after helping another friend make a dump run that took much longer than expected, we were on the way at 1pm.

The truck (Big Yeller) was reluctant to start, which was the second bad omen (the first being a line at the dump going all the way back to the main road).

Entering the steep gravel road, I put the truck in 4x4 mode to pull both quads and minimize my contribution to the washboard. During my frequent checks, I noticed no quads were in the trailer. I turned around to find this;

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The washboard road caused the strap to vibrate and break, and this is where I found the machines. Fortunately I had set the brake and left them in gear, so they didn't sail down the steep road.

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I loaded the quads back up, devised a more secure lashing process, and the truck would not start. I coasted down the hill to a flat area off the road, and it still wouldn't start. Acted like I had lost prime.

Not wanting to miss out on the adventure, we decided to take the 4-wheelers out and worry about the non-starting truck later. Mine immediately started running terribly. It would start and idle, but any throttle and it would cut out and die. I figured out if I closed the choke, I could get about 25% power, so we continued on to explore with a max speed of about 20 MPH due to my need to hold the choke on and only get 1/4 power.

I rode the good running quad home, grabbed tools and another car, and went back to the truck. Just jumping the truck was enough to get it going; no bleeding necessary. Not sure how to explain that. Certainly a problem that will require me to fix.

This weekend, took dad to the Evergreen Aviation Museum for the SR-71 event. Various crew were there to talk about their experience, got to sit in each seat and ask questions from the crew that manned those seats, and my dad augered in the space shuttle (in simulation). Was awesome talking to everyone and my favorite person was the engineer. The engine grows 6" in length and 2" in width as it comes up to operating temperature. The fuel is chilled prior to loading, and is how many systems are cooled, including the cockpit and the engine. Fascinating what was built back in the era of slide-rule.

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Tore apart the carb on the poorly running machine and found bugs in the bowl. The main jet had a bug obstructing about 75% of it (which is explains why I only got 25% power). Cleaned everything up and reassembled. Machine is running better than ever. Also fixed a showerhead, drain, toilet, brakes, idle problem, and slow tire leak.

Pretty good Father's day weekend.