Bearing Between Teeth

Remember that bearing that blew up on us about a month ago? Well, we
now have the replacement bearing and when we had it almost all put
together again, I noticed a little crack in one of the teeth of the
drive shaft that had happened when a ball got wedged between a couple of
the teeth when it failed. Unfortunately there is no easy way to get a
replacement shaft, or the gear that was also slightly damaged. So, we
did the next best thing: we ground out the crack, put it together and
hoped for the best. The tractor has now been running up and down the
airstrip delivering it's dirty payload for about ten hours now... so
far, so good.

I also had fun with a chainsaw yesterday. It needed a new bearing as
well, which was hand delivered up the river the same time as our tractor
bearing. It's the clutch bearing and this new clutch is tight enough
that the chain doesn't want to stop moving even with the idle turned way
down. It required a pretty substantial change of the mixture (as it
turned out both high and low) before it got sorted out. Silly
carburetors and lots of air at this elevation. This was the first time
that I've ever used a big chainsaw and I was glad to get it running well
and hand it back.

We've got about a week left in Kaiam before we rotate out for a little
break. My body probably needs it more than my mind, but it would be
nice to see more than just three buildings and a field of dirt to move.