RE: Travelette powertrain.. brownies..

["Mac @ TRIAD" <mac@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

## >> The RA-15s axle shafts?   I don't know if even you can break
## >> those....  ;)

now you got *me* wondering...  *can* you break those shafts?  i never
worried about it before, but now i'm curious.  my dad stuck three and a half
tons of bricks in the back of the B122 with an RA15 and the truck didn't
even seem to notice, though he never did take it out of first gear (he was
using the truck with the bricks for traction to pull a locked-up-in-gear
early '60s F750 flatbed truck around our back lot)...

and, uh, Tom M?  i thought you had an RA20?  what gives?

## >> Seriously though, I've never heard of anyone breaking an
## >> RA-15, have you?

well, Ryan, then you just weren't paying enough attention to my earliest
posts when i first got to the Digest.  *I* broke an RA15 once (and my mother
detonated the original open diff third member once herself about 14 years
before i broke the replacement "No-Spin", though i won't say how she did
it).  i did trash the axle, just didn't break the axle shafts or anything
like that.

in my case, i went out into the back 40 where i couldn't get into too much
trouble (little did i guess), revved up the newly installed 304 to 4000rpm,
popped the clutch in second gear, and spun the wheels like crazy in our
fairly soft freshly ploughed field for maybe 200 feet, had 'em spinning
really good too, till we hit asphalt...  at which time the extremely
agressive old-military-style deep-lug-tractor-like tires bit hard into the
pavement, stopped spinning abruptly, and the entire third member grenaded.
when i opened up the axle, i wound up digging out handfuls of itsy bitsy
pieces of ring gear and differential, mostly small chunks and powdered
metal, mixed with gear oil, in a sort of yuckie greasy soup.  i'd even
managed to break apart and tear bits off the inner diff housing itself.

that was a seriously expensive lesson.  shameful and embarassing too, as my
dad came home right after it happened and stood by the side of the road
laughing at me, telling me just how expensive that third member and gearset
was going to cost me *used* from a junkyard, nevermind trying to buy one
brand new.  and you can bet i never intentionally popped the clutch like
that in any of my trucks again after i fixed this one, either.  i also
immediately sold those super-aggressive tires and haven't purchased anything
like them since.

--Mac the RA15 killer

(to this day, when i need a dose of reality-check or humility, my dad still
reminds me of this incident.  i think he likes to see me turn red)

---------------------------------------------------------------
Take care and be well, all thee and thine;

May the Hamr lend thee Strength and Courage,
May the Twin Ravens lend thee Wisdom and Guidance,
May the Wolves Guard and Protect thee, and
May the Light of Harmony ever shine brightly upon thee and thine,
Through all thy Life's Journeys, from this life unto the next!

Hail the Gods and Goddesses of our Folk!
Wassail!

Krystof "Mac" MacBryghde
TyrGothi

http://master.triad.ath.cx/