Excavator Repair: Solar Charger, Hydraulic Leaks, Bucket Teeth, Throttle.

For that throttle, why not fabricate a ledge for it to fit under when twisted? Push it down, then twist it under... to remove twist back.

John needs a wrench, he just makes it! I have said it many times, this man is super duper talented y'all, a natural teacher!

great channel i've been following for years at this point, congrats on 500k, much deserved and i'm sure 1mm will follow in a year or two

I just love Marge!
She keeps developing new things.... and with you being determined... That's a match in heaven for us, getting lots of great videos!! I love it!! 🥰🥰🥰
And thanks for being stubborn and constantly coming up with good ideas 🙏👍

Sevral Nutches against the wall in a piece of sheet metal where the one ear of the ''T'' knob would grab when being turned, would make the perfect adjutment

Do you like that dewalt die grinder? Been thinking about buying one but am skeptical

You fought the saw and the
Saw won😂😂😂😂😂😂

you won't regret that solar charger. I did the same on my 7.5 tonne Hitachi mainly because the counterweight blocks all access to the engine (but is also much cheaper....). It is only 50watt and 12 volt so I have to swap from one battery to the other manually. I have angled the panel at 35 degrees to catch the winter sun and to shed dust and debris, so when it is parked up we face it north and it lives under an open barn that is open to the south. It's biggest test was two days working in a gloomy woodland and it passed that. Also useful when using it as a crane in the yard where it does lots of stop start working - you don't have to run it for five minutes each time you use it to top up the batteries.

Hi Jon, on these controllers preferably first connect the battery, then the panel. Removal in reversed order. The high voltage on the controller without battery might fry the controller, at least on the older models

Well done adding the shim and magnet to the sloppy wrench 👍

Small aircraft throttle cable. Get the experimental version. Much cheaper. Aircraft Spruce.

In future drill your hole first. The drill tends to knock the part around a bit in the chuck and often you will lose center and the previously machined OD will be out slightly. Also internal stresses in the material will relax and distort the part.

On the throttle you could put an angle on the wall with notches that you turn the handle into. Angle the slots a little and the push back force will keep it in.

RV/Marine Electrical Tech here, the solar charge controller needs 5v above the battery voltage to turn on. So having a higher voltage panel means the SCC will turn on earlier in the day and stay on later in the afternoon. Since you've got a 4 wire conduit already, just run one pair to each of the 12v batteries. It will help balance the batteries and the lower 12v battery voltage means the SCC will be on more often. Your 24v stuff will still be 24v, just the SCC will see 12v and it'll take the higher voltage and step it down. I'm assuming that Wanderer is a 12/24 model, so it'll be good for both. Also a fuse would be a good idea, just in case. Don't want to light any hydraulic fluid on fire 😬 I own a small solar business for RV solar, always been a tinkerer and it turned into a business on me! Give me a call anytime, and I'd be happy to help. Long time watcher, love the content, oh and congrats on 500k! 🍻 -Tom

I was just coming into the comments section to add that advice! Ask me how I know ;p.

Next time you're trying to get an o-ring passed a snap ring groove take a thin piece of flexible plastic wrap it around your seal with the o-ring on it that will allow it to slip past snap ring groove

And for testing purposes if you have an auxiliary function on either your tractor or your skid steer hydraulics as long as you match your pressure for your motor and flow you can use an auxiliary source of hydraulic fluid to test for leaks before reassembling the fan

Why didn't you replace the hydraulic cooler motor with an electric one? Greetings from Spain.

Why not put in an isolation valve or two to make it easier in the future? Enjoying the channel. Tks for sharing.

Are you using a dc to dc battery charger? You should put fuses on both sides of the charge controller.

Our Little Margie definitely requires some powder lipstick and mascara ! If you are old enough you will remember the TV show that references ! Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year Mr. and Mrs., Farmcraft

SUGGESTION: It would make a lot of sense to build a steel panel with raised edges that will mount on the machine using some sort of latch that allows you to remove what will basically be a shallow box that you can then remove from some location and place over the solar panel if you’re going to use the machine and you’re doing something like working on tree removal type stuff where there is a high risk of something falling onto the solar panel and destroying it!
It wouldn’t take you more than maybe an hour to fashion the metal cover and then maybe another 20 to 30 minutes to mount it somewhere it isn’t in the way and is easily accessible where you can take it and place it over the solar panel. Perhaps use magnets to hold it in place? Or some other type of fixation? It wouldn’t take be worth the extra time to save the panel from getting destroyed. Just saying!

SUGGESTION: It would make a lot of sense to build a steel panel with raised edges that will mount on the machine using some sort of latch that allows you to remove what will basically be a shallow box that you can then remove from some location and place over the solar panel if you’re going to use the machine and you’re doing something like working on tree removal type stuff where there is a high risk of something falling onto the solar panel and destroying it!
It wouldn’t take you more than maybe an hour to fashion the metal cover and then maybe another 20 to 30 minutes to mount it somewhere it isn’t in the way and is easily accessible where you can take it and place it over the solar panel. Perhaps use magnets to hold it in place? Or some other type of fixation? It wouldn’t take be worth the extra time to save the panel from getting destroyed. Just saying!

I remember when I was young, young i asked my dad why would you need a crows foot socket if you had a wrench? Me many years later," yeah crowfoot sockets have their place in the world".

FYI we would love to have watched you weld scrap together and paint it. ❤
Thanks for all the awesome content; I wish I had your knowledge!

I knew Marge was large, but that tooth work REALLY put it into perspective. Holy cow!

You should of put the new tooth in the middle

Hey Jon, what oil analysis company do you use to have your machines oil tested? I'd like to do the same thing with a few of mine. I know you didn't mention this process in this video but you have in the past, just curious, Thanks!

Hi Jon, fantastic problem solving as always, that cable will almost certainly be made by teleflex so maybe a replacement could be found?

Install an L-shaped bracket under which you can turn the handle. It may also be possible with a large lock screw. This could then be precisely adjusted in height to keep the full throttle position.

Hey Jon, a quick thought on your solar wire. That wire isn't very heavy gauge, and it's a fairly long run. Yes, voltage drop isn't a huge concern for you here, but you've got those two extra conductors, so you might as well just bond them together. Strip the white and green wires like you did the red and black, and just squish the green's copper in with the red and put them in the charge controller together; likewise on the black/white, and same thing on the other end.

That doubles the cross-sectional area of the conductor. If those are 12-ga wires, you end up with something halfway between 8 and 10 gauge, which is much nicer for a run that long.

Alternatively, you could bond all 4 wires together as the positive and then use the machine's metal as the ground, which turns those 4 12ga conductors into a single 6ga one.

Again, voltage drop isn't a huge concern for you... but you might as well use what you're using to its fullest potential, right? =)

And the fuse everyone has mentioned is worth having too, yeah, though just having a thin section right by the battery will make an effective fusible link as well. Where you connect your positive charge wire to the battery, join the wires together, then have a couple of inches of just one of them (cut the rest a bit shorter) and connect that one to the battery alone. Now if you get a short somewhere down the line, that skinny section at the battery will melt and protect your batteries from damage... but you get the benefits of a heavier conductor against voltage drop. =)

Your throttle cable looks like throttle cables used on boats with outboard engines.

I enjoyed the machining.

Are excavator teeth made in china?

Your replacement tooth looks alot smaller.

Why not just fix the alternator? Probably spent more on the solar than the alternator repair would cost.

I would add valves to the hydraulic tank so you can shut it off from the rest of the system anytime you need to service your equipment.
All you would need is a valve on the supply and one on the return.
That would allow you to use a vacuum to pull all the oil in the tank, then just shut the valves!

When you do paint her you need to paint her name on the dipper

I build railroad tracks and operate a lot of different rail bound equipment .. in every piece of equipment we leave a railroad spike to wedge in the throttle. all our equipment has a push lever for the throttle.. sometimes the rig is the fix... cheers 🍻

You seem to have the right answers almost every time. Unfortunately “MURPHYS LAW” is a resident in all problems in an effort to attempt to make getting to solutions complicated. The 2 large nuts on the machine that you thought were the same size—maybe the previous owner or A previous owner caused or had a problem & they possibly didn’t have the right size or couldn’t get the right size. Who knows. It may have even been 1 of those “You can’t fix stupid” situations that might have happened a long time ago. I love your comedic injected approach (wink wink, pictures of seals, asking for your dogs opinion, etc.). I personally think the same way & it makes me at least feel as if I’m doing a sneak attack on MURPHYS Law with a problem solving answer. Good luck with whatever you find is the problem underneath in the back with the final drive. Great job & thanks for taking the time to capture your work with the video. Great camera work by the way. Stay safe & be careful-don’t let impatience lure you into doing something that might result in injury.

search " twist locking throttle " and you may find the part you need

Is it safe to handle hydraulic fluid on bare skin?

Are you going to paint the throttle weight emergency stop red like on cnc or conventional mills and lathes?

This is like watching a magic show! Brilliant work, make your own tools, sort the problem, make the parts needed and move on with life! For me, your patience and perseverance is truly inspirational! And, the lack of audio-beeps is simply unbelievable; you obviously have to edit it a lot? Large-Marge is a gift made for you. Thanks for sharing.

I will subscribe to your channel if you get rid of that throttle weight and fasten a metal "L" bracket to the throttle box with the tab just the right height that the throttle handle twists under and holds it down.😜

ive learned so much, making tools, making parts, camera is always in the right spot, everything well explained and seen, I feel like im right there as an apprentice, your a great teacher

Your videos are awesome ! So much patience and ideas to solve problems, i admire you ! I hope there are much more videos and content in the future, an much more thumbs up for them ! You deserve them !

Lol how many watts on that vac? Even a 60v tool is going to struggle to compare to a run of the mill corded shopvac

Old Margie is keeping me on my toes! Found a new problem that needs to be fixed before I can do any work with her, and it turns out to be a pretty time consuming job. But I'm stubborn, and I'm determined to get this machine fully operational and reasonably dependable. Even if it kills me... ;-) Have an awesome weekend everyone!