Let's start with the broken equipment. I don't know if I have mentioned before but I have a 2005 Ford F-350 with a 6.0L turbo diesel in it. Stock these engines are notorious for breaking down due to faulty parts. The EGR cooler has a tendency to clog which overheats the oil cooler for the injection system which takes out the injectors, injector pump, turbo, etc. Well this all happened to this truck just before the warranties went out. So all damage was repaired.
Since then I have taken the time and money to upgrade the power plant to eliminate most of these problems. I changed the exhaust from the stock 3" exhaust to a full turbo back 4" exhaust. I completely removed the EGR system. The EGR system recirculates hot exhaust gases back into the engine to reduce nitrates in the exhaust emissions. In turn the truck burns double the fuel and puts out a lot less power. By removing I use far less fuel, the truck runs a lot cooler, and best of all, a LOT more power!
I also put an on the go adjustable engine programmer on it to control horsepower output and transmission shifting. It also monitors 40 different parameters that were available to monitor on this engine on the go.
Now, I was hauling a pretty heavy load of hay for my parents from Medina to here at home. I was not hitting the throttle hard but I was working the engine good. I was attempting to switch from one highway to another and half way up the on ramp I heard the turbocharger pop followed by a lot of rattling and a lot of smoke coming from the exhaust. UGH!! We coasted to a stop as I immediately shut the truck down. We had the neighbor come get the trailer and my wife and I waited two hours for the tow truck.
The instant I heard the sound I knew what happened. Under full load the turbine and compressor wheels in a turbocharger can reach rotational speeds nearing MACH 1. If there is a weakness it will be found under full load.
This is the turbo split in half after I got it out of the truck. As you can see the shaft connecting the compressor wheel and the drive turbine together has broken. The turbine wheel, spinning at about 10,000 rmp was then free to grind around inside the housing till it came to a stop. In the process it lost a couple vanes and a lot of metal and destroying everything around it.
I ordered a new one yesterday and it is supposed to be here today. The new one is a OEM upgrade that supports the extra heat and power that my engine is putting out. All in all the repair is gonna total about $1500. That is just the cost of the new turbo. My labor is free because I am installing myself.
Ok, that is enough talk about broken stuff. Lets discuss our new guest.
My wife has always wanted a donkey but would never let me get her one because she didn't want to worry about having to take care of it. Well now the kids are getting old enough to know about horses and ponies, especially my daughter. I found out from my business partner, Steven, that another neighbor had a miniature donkey he was selling. It is only a couple of years old. So I went up and brought it home yesterday.
He is a little cutie! very gentle and seams to be easy going. He will be a farm worker though! Donkey's are very good at protecting the livestock from predators such as coyotes which we now have a lot of here. He may be small but he has a very powerful kick and is not afraid to use it when needed. The cows were once again very interested in the new guest and followed him around for a while and he and the bull even had a little standoff. However, Donkey quickly settled the argument with a quick jab to the nose and the contest was over! By the time my wife got home from work everyone was getting along just great and everyone was laying in the shed to get out of the never ending rain!The other duty he will have is with the wife and kids. My wife wants to train him to pull a small cart for her and the kids. So I am now looking in to someone to train him or teach me how to train him.
Since I didn't have transportation I was not able to go to work yesterday or today. So I have been working on some unfinished projects here at home. I took some pine logs to get sawed on Friday for use as barn siding and to build the pig shed doors. I built the doors Sunday night and moved them down to the barn. In between raindrops yesterday I worked on finishing off all the little detail stuff on the pig shed and finishing the doorways to prepare to mount the new doors.
I will take some pics today as I could not yesterday due to the rain. It is coming along nice!
Lastly, we are going to pen up Mallory today as she is very close to having her first litter of piglets.
Hope everyone has a great day and I need everyone to do their sunshine dance today. We have just finished another 48 hour rain event and need some sun light to cheer me up!!!
Kenny
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