in good shape - brunnhilde part 17

Tired of waiting for the replacement shipping of the tire carrier hooks I pushed forward with the fabrication of the steel mount for the hinges.

the two hooks that I am still waiting are the long poles in the tent now but I push ahead to make as much progress as possible during the very raining December; so far we have over 10 inches of rain and the month is just half over

this is my original sketch of the design

I have to pay attention to the hinge action of the spare tire basket and also to include restraining its lateral movement; to this I used 1 1/2 inch angle for the two vertical arms instead of 1 inch angle I originally planned

 the test fit is perfect including the locations and size of the two mounting holes!

While test fitting the hinge bracket I happened to notice the lock nut and washer of the Koni shock absorber on the rear driver side is missing. That is odd, I thought to myself.

I would not have discover the missing lock nut and washer have it not because of the spare tire carrier project

the preliminary test fit of the spare tire carrier basket

I went and looked up my blog post on the installation of the Koni rear shocks to see if I forget to install the lock nut on the driver side.

this photo that I took during the installation back in July of 2012 shows I did not forget to install and tighten the lock nut

the threads on the bolt have considerable wear from close to 10,000 miles keeping the shock from disengage from the mount of the rear axle

The shock did not disconnect from the axle because the bolt, while without the nut, have kept the damper from separated from the lower bracket of the axle. I was stumped that I could make such gross mistake in failing to install them. I went back to my photos from the installation post in July 2012. Bingo! I did install them, as evident in the photo that I took. I pondered on all the possibilities of how the lock nut could loosen and fell off. I even checked the passenger side nut to confirm it is a lock nut and the considerable torque requires to loose it. It is not possible for the lock nut to work itself loose and fall off the end of the bolt. It could not be a failed thief attempt as there are many more easier target than trying to steal a set of used Koni shocks.

Eventually, I narrowed down the most likely possibility - sabotage.

I concluded to very high confidence the grease monkey at Discount Tire (also known as America's Tire) where I bought the set of tires was unhappy at me for insisting he use the jack points as specified by Mercedes to raise the vehicle. He had to summon up 4 floor jacks and that took considerable more time and work for him.

He sabotaged the left rear Koni in a way that it will not be immediately apparent who the criminal is. Normally I monitor their work like a hawk, but not that second trip to this shit tire outfit. One Seattle James Cook owner with his wife recognized Brunnhilde from my blog posts and struck up an enthusiastic conversation with me. Because of that I was unable to closely monitor the tire guy's work and that leave him the opportunity to carried out the criminal act. That second trip to this store, is the only opportunity that someone can carry this out without I noticing it.

this photo was taken during my first visit to Discount Tire in 23 May of 2013

with my insistence the grease monkey grudgingly complied and have to use 4 floor jacks instead of using the hydraulic vehicle lift

That second trip to this shit tire store was necessitated because they use cheap Chinese made (heavy duty) tire valve stem which one of them failed. I reluctantly bought a set of tire from them because it is such pain of the neck to find a local installer if I bought from Tirerack, especially due to Brunnhilde's titanic height.

because of the Chinese made "heavy duty" shit tire valve they use one failed and I return to them the second time; that was the trip the sabotage happened

And yes, the driver side rear wheel was where the shit "HD valve" failed that they replaced in the second trip.

I put in close to 10,000 miles on Brunnhilde and amazingly the loose bolt kept the shock from disengaged. I remember noticing the slightest knocking at the rear and have wonder what that is from. Now with the locknut replace it is all quiet. What didn't kill me make me wiser and stronger.

this is the first Lodge steel skillet (right) that I bought to try against the French ones (left) that I love

the Lodge is 16 gauge while the French one is thinner at 18 gauge

picking it up with then handle immediately one cannot help but to notice how poor the ergonomic is; the angle of the handle is too horizontal given how heavy the pan is; the handle is too narrow compared to the French one that I so love

made in USA

I bent the handle to correct the angle and it is a lot more balance in the hand - the reason the balance in the hand changed so significantly is due to the change of force vectors; with the handle at a steeper angle you hand is supporting the same weight but more vertically

The French skillet is more versatile because of the higher rim and gentler curve at the bend of the cooking surface. The only pros of the Lodge is the cheaper price and heavier gauge steel for better resistance to warpage under high heat. The cons are many making it a very limited use of mostly shearing. There is nothing wrong at all with the French one's thinner gauge. In French cuisine, you seldom has the need to cook anything under extreme high heat. This design has withstood the test of time by some of the best chefs.

I cooked this NY strip steak with the new Lodge steel skillet

i went to a well stocked hardware store during my grocery shopping trip to pick up the lock nut for the shock absorber

they have in stock some of the most obscure hardware and I often like to go there and browse just for fun, and to take stock of what they have in case a project need hard to find material and parts

while there I also found the rubber grommets to replace the missing one on Brunnhilde's fuel filler door; i came prepared with a caliper to check the crucial dimensions

this store have the biggest stock of fasteners of all of Oregon; who would have left hand thread metric nuts?

 they also have fine metal screens which these days are next to impossible to find

$4.75 total expenditure of the most fruitful hardware shopping ever; the stainless steel metal screen is for Isolde's luggage rack to keep leaves and debris from collecting under it

in no time the Koni shock is once again secured; no more knocking from the shock moving about the lose bolt

the rubber grommets are $0.75 each - I picked this because it has the lowest price and best fit

here is one of the few places you would find the English word petrol being used in the US for gasoline; the German word is Benzin

the weld is poor because I forgot to turn on the inert gas valve of the MIG welder

i etched and then painted the steel angle with rust inhibit primer

very Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin color

for shade tree mechanic large flatten cardboard boxes are the most valuable commodity

in addition to the two hinge brackets, there are also two steel bump stops for the spare tire that were cut off by Airstream to mount the generator

this is one photo that I found that I discovered the missing bump stops on the other box beam

I determined the elevation of the two hinging points by trial and error with the tire in the carrier

once again my toy jack continue to earn its keep; the 225 75R 16 wheel is very heavy

my home made steel angle structure is perfect - there is very little room for error

the key hole is where the steel hook drop down that help raise the heavy spare tire and secure it; note the curved recess on the box beam to house the spare tire

I have not decide on the fabrication of the two hinge brackets. I aim to use what I have on hand. The choice must be robust enough to withstand the element and wear and tear from vibration of supporting the circa 80 pound wheel.

these are the finalist found material of material I have on hand - yes, I am proud and at ease of my frugality

now with the spare tire restored back to where it belongs, I can go ahead and order this exquisite wet bar for the boot

recently the Swedish health organization advises the adverse health effect of rice consumption because the grain's natural tendency to absorb arsenic; for me this new found FUD will not alter my diet and I think they are all wet

I will stay the course of eating everything good in moderation and eating real food

this is the original need that prompted me to fabricate the iPhone stand; I want to be able to watch video during meal preparation in Brunnhilde

fabricated out of egg carton

low aspect ratio and shallow foot print

It has been close to two weeks now since I called Mopar Parts Overstock on the missing steel hook and the parts have not arrive. I decided to call them today to follow up. Unfortunately I found out while the lady was nice and pleasant, she failed to ship the parts as she promised. Two gross mistakes on their part is testing my patience. I asked them to expedite the shipment. Lets see tomorrow if the shipping tracking number is sent to me as he promised.

One last thing. I have notice recently the search function on my blog no longer work for quite some time. I did some research and found out it apparently were due to a problem on Google side. I also chimed in in reporting the problem. Just a few days ago I notice it is now working again. Only now if Google would fix the horrible legibility problem for bloggers like me that choose to use dark background for their blogs.

the broken search function is now fixed