February 29, 2024 EDIT: post has been reset from PRIVATE to PUBLIC view today.
Message below was forwarded to me Sunday April 30 that included the first two pictures of the spline yoke drive assembly.
Horsley said: “Hey Scott… Mike Horsley your neighbor with the container/grader… I saw a couple of facebook posts where you were wondering about what was going on with the grader. Randy Skinner and I were trying to nail down some mechanical questions yesterday and the drive yoke broke, as you can see it had a significant crack in it where the weld broke. It rolled back down and into my container and there it landed. I removed the parts.this morning and am having a friend of mine remachine this yoke as they are not that common for an 80’s rig and he will overbuild it for me. I should have it on UPS to Randy or Thomas to reinstall and get it outta my driveway. Maybe we can use it to help my backhoe move the container off of the easement but we gotta be operational before trying anything creative. Hope this helps.”
Horsley said “It rolled back down and into my container”.
How does a machine roll back in soft sand? Looking at the sand around the back wheels, when he tugged on the container he may have gotten a quarter turn on all four rear tires digging them in before he snapped the shaft. Reminds me of films in grade school shop class of Primitive Pete, wrong guy using the wrong tool for the wrong job.
Full quote “Randy Skinner and I were trying to nail down some mechanical questions yesterday and the drive yoke broke, as you can see it had a significant crack in it where the weld broke. It rolled back down and into my container and there it landed.” Myself I don’t believe for a second Skinner was present at the time of the failure, rather called after the fact, he would have said STOP!
I’m trying to figure out why the Property Owners Association’s ASSET the Motor Grader was in a position for it to roll “back down and into my container and there it landed.” in perfect alignment.
Actually the weld didn’t break; the SHAFT was SHEARED (zoom in) from torsion / torque just above the collar (doesn’t look like a weld to me) that attached the shaft to the 4 bolt flange. In all fairness the shaft does appear to have old stress cracks, that isn’t the issue here, where it failed, what the motor grader was doing when it failed is the issue?
There is no reasonable explanation for the Motor Grader to be backed up to our POA Presidents personal shipping container other than to knowingly misappropriate by TUGGING, attempting to TUG, or planning to TUG his Earthship onto the property, you decide.
The drive line snapped so there it sits, just broke.
Horsley “Maybe we can use it to help my backhoe move the container off of the easement but we gotta be operational before trying anything creative. Hope this helps.”
Who is “we” in this caper as in aiding and abetting? Saying “Maybe we can use it…” tells me Horsley doesn’t see what is wrong with his behaviors? Seems to be a typical trait with all the Board members.
How does a Motor Grader roll “back down” on level ground? Why in perfect alignment with the open right side gate as waiting to be pulled onto the property? Was the Motor Grader purchased with this is mind as a use (“Maybe we can use it…”) to remedy the stranded Earthship issue?
In the picture below: trying to figure out if that shiny ring around the shaft is a very bad weld or grease balled up with metal shavings from the gouged / scored shaft at the spline end?
Obviously shaft seals are worn out and the shaft has lateral movement. Another obvious is we didn’t lube it, the grease zerk on the yellow yoke shows no signs of being greased, no fresh grease on the shaft, when you grease you wipe excess off……… just get in it and go.
This is why you put the equipment monkey on someone else’s back. Imagine our Board going ahead with their plan to gravel N7300 (materials $70K plus on top of the $30k for the Motor Grader) that doesn’t include cost for a rental water truck and roller and in the middle of road work when you have all the other equipment on site, rocks (80 plus trucks) showing up on schedule, your Motor Grader breaks down? A contractor has back up and a duty to perform in a timely manner.
Below is an email string asking about the grader, note Horsley wants me to come over and hang out, what are the odds of that happening? This is the first official acknowledgment the POA purchased the grader.
