Thread: Another Case of Production Design not Communicating with Mainenance Design

A guy I know needed a new H/L bulb in his newer VW was quoted 2hr's so decided to do it him self , never again he told me had to take whole front off the car & working by him self took him 4hr's .
My brother buys bulbs for the front running lights on his 5 year old VW by the carton & he recently had to make up some bulb holders because the plastic ones had melted & shorted out, burning some of the wiring.

Originally Posted by spudfan

I think cars and other stuff are designed to be assembled as quickly as possible. The ease of future maintenance or replacing parts is a minor consideration. Future labour charges don't generally enter customer's minds when making a purchase. How many people ask how easy it is to change a headlight bulb or how much time would be involved in changing a starter motor? Not many.

Probably the largest single cost in building a car is assembly. And this means it is the fruitful place to reduce costs, enabling the manufacturer to compete better. Henry Ford realised this before WW1, and from then on the most successful manufacturers were those who found ways to reduce assembly (as well as part manufacturing) costs.

A large part of this is achieved by designing for assembly - and this means the design is tailored to the assembly machinery and processes (and worker skills) that the factory already has. Unless it is planned to build a new, more modern or better designed factory for the new design. This has been done repeatedly through automotive history.

But this does not necessarily mean that the vehicle has to be hard to maintain or repair. This usually comes about either because the design process simply has not worried maintenance or repair, perhaps because it was rushed, or the designers/manufacturers were inexperienced, nut possibly more commonly, when there is strong pressure to put together parts that were not originally designed to fit with each other. A good example would be the puma engined Defenders, but there are lots of others I could have picked.

Originally Posted by scarry

I am sure many on here would be glad they dont

Hhhmmmmm, that is alright for some but my Mower is a ROVER (MTD) already. Sometimes it is possible to fit an awkward V Belt by turning it on it's side while trying to pass it through close tolerances, but I guess Lionel has tried that.


These days my (neighbour up the back not the Frog one ) usually does any work on my 38" cut machine 'cos he seems to have all the right gear
ie. Ratchet gun.

In my Fridgie days you could buy a belt composed of many sections & joined by one Metal connector (all clip on stuff) because some Units were a bastard to fit a conventional Rubber V belt in situ. Maybe you still can? I think it was called a Something xxxxxx Link Belt.

Gates Link V Belt Suppliers | AIMS Industrial





I purchase the required bits from The Bay & he removes & fits the new.
Seems to only take him not so long to fit new cutter disk pedestals once the deck is out & that doesn't seem to take him long.


The thing that really ****es me off is the design of the Vinyl Seat. The more use it gets the smoother it gets & sliding on a bit of a slope becomes unsafe. Tried a New Loose seat cover from online but that is more than useless & it bags out so no gain. Any suggestions on this would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by 4bee

Hhhmmmmm, that is alright for some but my Mower is a ROVER (MTD) already. Sometimes it is possible to fit an awkward v Belt by turning it on it's side while trying pass it through close tolerances, but I guess Lionel has tried that.


these days.
My (neighbour up the back not the Frog one ) usually does any work on my 38" cut machine 'cos he seems to have all the right gear
ie. Ratchet gun.

I purchase the required bits from The Bay & he removes & fits the new.
Seems to only take him not so long to fit new cutter disk pedestals once the deck is out & that doesn't seem to take him long.


The thing that really ****es me off is the design of the Vinyl Seat. The more use it gets the smoother it gets & sliding on a bit of a slope becomes unsafe. Tried a New Loose seat cover from online but that is more than useless & it bags out so no gain. Any suggestions on this would be appreciated.

G'day 4Bee,

I have a rattle gun. They are too big for access to where I need to get to for the variable drive pulleys and what things hold them on. I worked out with the access restrictions that a 1/2 drive ratchet and deep impact sockets work out best in the space. All my extension bars - even the shortest one is still too long. However, just fitting a standard socket does not give you enough clearance over rods and other obstructions to work on the bolts. If the 1/2 option fails I go to a 1/4 inch drive set of ratchets and sockets.

I even took the whole body cover off so I could get better access. I suppose I could have gained even better access by taking the cutter deck off too. However, where do you stop. I drew the line at removing the cutter deck as it is only recently rebuilt. Been there done that.

Oh well, by the time I drop the diff/tranny so I can reclaim the incorrect belt that I was given at the mower place, I will be able to dismantle and reassemble the mower in record time. Hmm, although this is not a skill I had wanted to add to my repertoire.

Meanwhile ... the grass grows even longer....

Kind regards
Lionel

Originally Posted by 4bee

Hhhmmmmm, that is alright for some but my Mower is a ROVER (MTD) already. Sometimes it is possible to fit an awkward V Belt by turning it on it's side while trying to pass it through close tolerances, but I guess Lionel has tried that.


These days my (neighbour up the back not the Frog one ) usually does any work on my 38" cut machine 'cos he seems to have all the right gear
ie. Ratchet gun.

In my Fridgie days you could buy a belt composed of many sections & joined by one Metal connector (all clip on stuff) because some Units were a bastard to fit a conventional Rubber V belt in situ. Maybe you still can? I think it was called a Something xxxxxx Link Belt.

Gates Link V Belt Suppliers | AIMS Industrial





I purchase the required bits from The Bay & he removes & fits the new.
Seems to only take him not so long to fit new cutter disk pedestals once the deck is out & that doesn't seem to take him long.


The thing that really ****es me off is the design of the Vinyl Seat. The more use it gets the smoother it gets & sliding on a bit of a slope becomes unsafe. Tried a New Loose seat cover from online but that is more than useless & it bags out so no gain. Any suggestions on this would be appreciated.

Lino tacks in ya jocks, Bee.

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

G'day 4Bee,

I have a rattle gun. They are too big for access to where I need to get to for the variable drive pulleys and what things hold them on. I worked out with the access restrictions that a 1/2 drive ratchet and deep impact sockets work out best in the space. All my extension bars - even the shortest one is still too long. However, just fitting a standard socket does not give you enough clearance over rods and other obstructions to work on the bolts. If the 1/2 option fails I go to a 1/4 inch drive set of ratchets and sockets.

I even took the whole body cover off so I could get better access. I suppose I could have gained even better access by taking the cutter deck off too. However, where do you stop. I drew the line at removing the cutter deck as it is only recently rebuilt. Been there done that.

Oh well, by the time I drop the diff/tranny so I can reclaim the incorrect belt that I was given at the mower place, I will be able to dismantle and reassemble the mower in record time. Hmm, although this is not a skill I had wanted to add to my repertoire.

Kind regards
Lionel

Sorry. The rattle gun is used mainly for the pedestals & blades & any other tight buggers.


Rolf has never had to "demolish" the Mower, but he has had it with the 4 wheels up on blocks to give access below. One time in the early days of ownership it was chain hoisted by the front to a near vertical position Fuel was removed just in case & oil was allowed to establish once it was back on the floor. Seemed to be worth the trouble.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Lino tacks in ya jocks, Bee.

Great idea Ian, but in reality it doesn't bear thinking about. 2 hours on the mower there'd be nuthin left of my undercarriage let alone put it away for the night.

I'll keep that in mind though.

Originally Posted by 4bee

Sorry. The rattle gun is used mainly for the pedestals & blades & any other tight buggers.


Rolf has never had to "demolish" the Mower, but he has had it with the 4 wheels up on blocks to give access below. One time in the early days of ownership it was chain hoisted by the front to a near vertical position Fuel was removed just in case & oil was allowed to establish once it was back on the floor. Seemed to be worth the trouble.

G'day 4Bee,

I have used D shackles and lengths of chain hooked to the current and previous mower's chassis and lifted them up with my mobile crane so I can get better clearance and access. However, these mowers were driven into the big shed. Mower is currently in the small shed. To get it to the big shed I would have to push it quite a long way.

I just used some of the time I have to wait until the mower shop opens tomorrow. I did some maintenance. I gave the variable sliding pulley a couple of sprays of lanolin penetrating spray because the pulley was not sliding on the shaft that freely. It was 'sticky' not smooth flowing. I also removed the four bolts that hold the bearing housing onto the bottom of the variable speed pulley assembly. I repacked the two bearings with some high temperature grease and wiped some grease around the casing. There was a bit of play in the bearings - mostly due to not having been greased since they were fitted back in 2013, I suppose.

When I get the right-sized V-belt and get the variable speed part all reassembled again I will have to get ready to hit the brakes as the speed part now is all spinning freely the mower might want to bolt away.

As long as they give me the right belt on my upcoming trip to the mower place! I have the correct part number - this time I looked it up myself.

Kind regards
Lionel