a fairground life

The last few days have been busy. 

Friday morning I went and got the tyres fitted to the jeep, all the diff problems have disappeared. To say I'm happy would be an understatement. The rest of the day was spent doing minor jobs around the equipment. Over 30 this week for me and "r" has completed a few others too, including touching up the Foden paint, washing all the lorries and waxing the cabs, repairing some loose earth wires on the taillights and more. Not bad when you think he is still attending Uni.

Saturday started off quiet, a long lie in before starting a few jobs and fuelling up the lorries for moving this weekend. At 5pm however I got a call from my father in law. He and his wife had went up to Granton on Spey to a caravan site for the weekend. From there they were touring all the towns and villages they used to travel when they were first married. Unfortunately whilst out with the car they were victims of a bad driver. They had to swerve to avoid colliding with this other car and in the process damaged theirs. They had hit the kerb, broken the near side wish bones, coils springs, tyres and discs. The other driver quickly sped off before they could do anything. So when the dust settled they got the RAC to uplift there damaged car and drop them back at the caravan site in Granton on Spey. I drove up to take them and their caravan home while the RAC took the car away for repair (unless it written off). So at 9pm we set off from Granton. The jeep was quarter full and I thought this would get me to Perth where I could re fuel. Wrong, by the time I was approaching Pitlochry the red light was on. It was 10:20pm and I pulled of the A9 into the town to get fuel. The garage was closed and I also knew that the next two garages in Dunkeld & Birnam were closed too. Luckily we have friend in Pitlochry who keep Derv in their garage for such emergencies. An hour later with 20lts we set off for Glasgow again. It is strange that in this day and age there are no 24hr service stations between Aviemore and Perth, also there are no A9 service stations directly off the A9, you always have to  drive into small towns for local services that close early. I tell you we were close to spending the night on the A9.

When we finally got down to Dunblane (after midnight) there was a patrol car sitting on the roundabout. A few minutes later he pulled me in to the hard shoulder. He asked if I knew why I was being stopped. I told him yes, because the trailer number plate doesn't match the jeeps. He asked why this was and my father in law explained. He took my details which he undoubtedly already knew before he let us go on our way again. At the back of 1am we were finally back home.

Monday, the tenants of Burntisland summer fair met in the Scottish sections guild office to discuss issues of this years fair. It was a meeting of a few hours that covered items such as fencing ,stewarding, promotions and advertising.

Tuesday, attended a meeting of the Scottish section committee, I didn't get home until 7pm.

Wednesday, attended a meeting on behalf of the Scottish section at Bradford in the Yorkshire sections offices.Drove 470 mile round trip.

a fairground life

New rubber fitted and the jeep is driving great, no whining,no shuddering. An easy fix to a problem that appeared serious.  After that it was back to the yard for some more minor jobs. I fitted a heavy duty isolator to the Foden for the batteries as the light weight one melted. Then spent an hour re-wiring Blakey's lights on his juvenile wot he supposedly refurbished himself????Suppose your dad was there just for the good of his health?

a fairground life

New rubber fitted and the jeep is driving great, no whining,no 

a fairground life (eco or not eco that is the question)

Today's mission was to sort out the Kia's problem. So at 9am I drove it down to the mechanic who MOT's our cars. We took it for a spin then we put it up on his ramp. His conclusion was a distribution box problem but suggested I took it around the corner to the automatic transmission specialist (who repaired my mothers old Pajero twice) for his opinion. So I did, luckily he was in and remembered me, so we took it for a spin. He too put it up on his ramp but this time he stripped off a flange mounting plate on the distribution box and put in over a litre of oil. Confident this would surely solve the problem we took it for another spin. Alas it was just the same, possibly due to the damage already being done??? Not giving up here I took it to East Kilbride to a diesel specialist there (who also had done work on my mothers old Pajero). He too was in and remembered me, but this time he could not help as he only worked on the diesel fuel injection side of things. He did offer a few words of wisdom-DONT BUY A KIA SEDONA and I should consider getting rid of my Sorento. Feeling less confident than this morning I headed off to the nearest Kia service centre for answers. I arrived at Parks in East Kilbride, the service centre was busy and after a few minutes I was front of the queue at the Kia desk. The chap was sympathetic, "if only you had kept up the service history" he said, "maybe we could have gotten Kia involved". Aye right I thought, as the car was out of warranty time by a whole year! Anyhow for £60 plus VAT they would diagnose the problem. This seemed a waste as I already new the problem was the diff winding up and it was coming from the distribution box! So I took their number and headed off home a little dismayed. Now this is where Mrs Showman comes in handy, she always seems to say the things that are too simple to be the answer, but always seem to come thru! "Why don't you phone the man from the garage where we bought the car" she said. Doing it to get peace rather than answers I did. The service chap came on and told me very confidently that my tyre tread depths were out of range. No more than 3mm tread depth difference between tyres. So not having too much faith in this I needed to test the theory before forking out hundreds on new rubber. I decided to borrow tyres to try out the theory. I knew I could not get 18" alloys anywhere, but I decided to get everyone else's brand new spares. So I took my bro's,mothers, Blakey's and mine. Four brand new tyres (245/70 17") all with the same tread depth. Over an hour later I had fitted the 4 new wheels to my jeep. Blakey and I took it for a run. Was it a wasted effort? Immediately we were out the yard and stopping at the first corner, I knew it had worked!, No whining noise, no shudder from the diffs dis-engaging. So I promptly ordered the other 2 new tyres I would need to balance my tread depths between front and rear. It is wasteful but, my two front tyres are only at 50%, a good 6 months life left in them, but I have to ditch them for new ones. The ironic situation is that I would have been better off financially by fitting two part worn tyres to the rear way back in December!!! In this world of eco friendly recycling and minimal waste to save the planet- some idiots designed a drive system that can't cope with  odd sized tyres to zero point 5 percent (0.5%) of their diameter!!! 

But hey- problem solved, mission accomplished. Wait a minute, may be I got it wrong, maybe this is an eco friendly car cos you are only meant to fit part worn tyres?

a fairground life

All the equipment is in the yard at the same time, I can hardly believe it. I've been taking full advantage of this (and the sunshine) the last 3 days doing all those wee jobs that never make it to the top of the list. I drained the tank on the EC10 and the diesel looked fine, the water and dirt that came out of the bottom was very minimal, not even 1/2 a pint so what's the verdict on the diesel bug?Hey I though bio diesel was meant to be cleaner thru the engine so how come it is more corrosive??? I got the cab tilt working again, it only needed topping up. On a different note the miami was running crab after me replacing that bush & spring. When I measured the axles centre to centre there was a 16mm difference between off & near side."r" and I tried always to re align the axle by loosening the spring's U bolts and pulling with a strap, but no go. In fact somehow we made it worse to 25mm difference. At that the only solution I could see was to cut the torsion bar on one side, then pull the axle into alignment, mark the torsion bar again and cut the remainder out. So 9" grinder later we had removed 20mm  then I welded it all up again. It looks good on the tape but I'll only really know when we are out on the road. My Kia's diff is making a whining noise again, I had a look under and I'm sure its lack of oil in the distribution box, but I can't see anywhere to replenish it, mind you it was lucky I looked because two shaft bolts were so slack I could turn them with my fingers!!! Just made the last payment too and I really needed this year off to try and get the overdraft down. Hope I can solve this cheaply. 

As for Blakey, he's been painting painting and painting his wee machine chassis. A nice colour of Hammerite Black which is in fact GREY???? Anyhow it looks pretty good.

Blakey's Blog (interrupted by showmans travels)

It was a lovely sunny day today, a perfect day for pulling down. At 6pm we started, the crew had arrived from Falkirk and "r" &"s" got right into the skydiver while "w" and I tackled the show. After that (35 mins) I moved onto the miami while "w" helped "r" finish off the skydiver. The miami came down well and only had the packing to pick up when I moved onto the DZ. I thought that by lowering the tower before the team came down from the skydiver I would give them a head start. Sure enough, as the tower dropped the last couple of inches onto the cradle they arrived from completing the skydiver. Another hour later and we were already for the road. "r" wanted to take the DZ so I could take the skydiver and listen for the bump bump bump. I'm pleased to say it seemed A ok. The new hub,wheel nuts , studs etc etc had cured that. Lucky for "r" he did take the DZ because as I crossed the Kingston Bridge the engine started to die. I knew instantly -filter or lack of fuel. I pulled into the hard shoulder and dipped the tank. It showed a quarter of fuel, so filter it is. It took me a few minutes to find the spare. Then the cab would not tilt (probably lack of oil) so I squeezed in behind the front wheel. I struggled to remove the filter, then realised I was turning it the wrong way! Sure enough when I finally got it off it was thick with gunge. That is the second filter in about 130 mile (going to secc in Dec). That means the tank needs cleaned out. Probably after effects of the East Kilbride saga way back in August. Any how I have only travelled about 14 mile and have created another two jobs-good job the yard isn't further away.

As for Blakey's Blog--well you lot seem very pleased to see him back. The only good thing about him being back is that it implies he was away in the first place. And his story of knocking in a couple of fence posts is no where near as exciting as my traveling escapades. Don't encourage him, lord knows he doesn't need any.(and if you hadn't bought a mutt- you wouldn't need a fence!!!)

A fairground life

So the big news last week was how the homecoming music event at Irvine was cancelled. Even bigger news to me, as I had 2 rides booked up for it. Luckily I have a fall back option, but maybe not so lucky for the other 8 rides booked to attend. I told you all in Januarys posts, that 09 would be an unlucky year. Anyhow we finish here Sunday, a week in the yard then out again, only not to Irvine as previously planned.

A fairground life

so the big news last week was how the homecoming music event t Irvine was cancelled. Even biger news 

a fairground life

Sorry its a bit dark, I took it on my phone. 

I'm a bit out of touch with the kids cartoons today. I wonder if they know of  yogi, the flintstones or sylvester and tweetie??? "r" did the bugs on the front its very good and impressed me that he had hidden artistic talents. Need to do the top up now. Probably a re-colour and maybe some vinyl stickers instead of painting onto the PV material.

Easter was very quiet for us too, every one must have been at the sea side. Pity KLM wasn't last week eh? Not much happening, spending a lot of time on paper work for coming events, at least  I'm feeling the benefit of my mobile b/band. Everything working well (don't jinx it) , only had a couple of tack welds to do as repairs, one on a speaker hinge the other on a motor bracket. Closed next week, but have plenty of wee jobs to do unless find a last minute gaff. Replaced 1 weekend of the time capsule, just working on the other now.

a fairground life (264 easy payments)

I've lived in the house for six months now. I love it, she hates it with a vengeance. Not the house its self ,but the life style of it. When at the house you are away from all that you have grown up with, being in a yard surrounded by familiar faces in close proximity.No one popping in for a quick chat or cuppa. There is also the security of the yard, no one enters without a reason and there is no passing traffic by your door. Our house neighbour had his house broken into while he was inside sleeping, they took his cars keys and stole both cars from his drive!!! It is also a bit harder being in the house due to the fact that during down time the rides are no longer parked outside and this means commuting to do any small maintenance jobs. I myself miss walking around to Blakey's to watch his Sky, drink his beer and eat his biscuits (even if he's at home or not). In fact since I left the yard he doesn't buy beer anymore! (and if he told the truth he would say he misses me too). But surely the benefits must out weigh these annoyances. Six months and I've never changed a gas tank, filled the kerosene tank, had to defrost the water supply or empty the WC tank, BLISS!  And I'm sure that if I keep it long enough (depending on making those pesky mortgage payments) it will eventually come back upto the value that I paid for it 24 months ago. I should have known that the market would crash as soon as I got on the ladder.

So I do feel like I have achieved something, worked hard enough for all these years to get myself into mega debt, but I don't think it will stop the NEDS calling me a gypo. Only another 264 easy payments and it will be mine.

a fairground life

If ever I needed a reminder of how frail this business is, it came today. A phone call to say that the Timecapsule fair is cancelled in Coatbridge. The swimming pool is being done up and the contractors are using the car park for storing their container bodies in. Unfortunately for us that means 2 weekends closed. The funfair organiser did try for an alternative site but 3 complaints from local bodies put paid to that. I've been on the phone most of the afternoon trying to dig something up but the fact is we are too many and events too few (at this time of the year anyway).

Now where did I put that old UB40?

a fairground life

   Went to start the (generator) set yesterday. It spun & spun & spun but did not kick up. I changed the filter, no go. I tried the lift pump to no avail. So I put it on a 1 gallon can  to gravity feed the injection pump. It ran for about a minute until the gallon was used (it had no return line to it). This was only to confirm the problem was indeed the lift pump. Luckily the local supplier had a replacement on the shelf. So off I went to pick it up. I returned an hour later and had the replacement fitted in a few minutes. I turned the key and the engine growled to life, perfect timing as the rain started to fall and fall. Oh well.

Got the tyre for the jeep this morning so we will be back to full transport now. I have been sharing the pick up with "r" and begging lifts from everyone else.

Biz is very very quiet.

a fairground life

Went to start the set

a fairground life( ying and yang)

Yesterday afternoon the other skydiver lightbox went down too. So the ride was almost in total darkness apart from the coloured spot banks (AKA traffic lights). While I was trying to determine the problem, which turned out to be a loose connection, I had pulled a wire out of a small transformer on the logic board. So a quick surf of the net revealed that this was a "sub miniature transformer, mains input,100 ma load, 9v-0-9v" (great thing this internet) and Maplin around the corner had 1 in stock. This I picked up at 10am this morning. While en-route,  I had a discussion with "r" about the top light box (10x4 matrix). I told him a story about how 25 years ago me and "bk" had reversed the ribbon cable inside by mistake one day and that this resulted in no lights working". OH! he said, I had the ribbon cable off by mistake and thought it would only go back on one way. Well not being too optimistic, "r" reversed the cable while I fitted the new transformer to the other light box. "Hallelujah"(hope thats not a racist remark these days), not one but two working light boxes! A few minutes later the cosmic balance was restored when my wife called and told me that she had a blow out on the jeep. One of those expensive new tyres that I put on in December. The spare is back on and yes the diffs are winding up again, top speed 10 mph!!! So I've ordered in another for Monday. I almost thought Kia's were perfect.

a fairground life

Again up and away for 9am. I took the tyre to get the disc swapped over. While that was being done I nipped away for more aluminium paint then picked up some bulbs for the top of the Tempest. The sun was splitting the sky today and we started on the top lights of the skydiver ride. Already the day started bad, the running light box was frozen on with all lights illuminated at once. "r" opened it up and spotted a blown triac. I had none spare so nipped away to RS components to get some. Meanwhile "r" painted the rest of the floor. I came back with the triacs and promptly fitted one. We put the power on again to try it out----NOTHING,NIL,NADA,ZERO,ZILCH not even a flicker. For the last 27 years I have patched this thing up and kept it going, but today after 6 solid hours it's got me beat. There is power in, the transformer rectifier is producing 12v DC for the logic controller, there is no visible signs of any damage. I even tried a spare set of EPROMS I had. Looks like I bought those new bulbs in vain. Maybe the tooth fairy will fix it tonight?

"r" put on the lorry tyre and did numerous other small jobs while I was tinkering inside the RL box. At 8:40pm we headed home and put out the ad billboards en route. 

a fairground life

9am. Off to ERF's, well MAN now, to see about the hub. After getting nowhere fast, due to un enthusiastic counter service and being told "sorry ours internet is down", I headed off to a nearby breakers yard. He had nothing in suitable so I made a call to another breakers in Bathgate. He told me I would have to bring in the old hub as a sample as there were too many to choose from. Back to the mall to strip off the old one. In the daylight it was easy to see that the centre cap did knock out. Using a cold chisel I removed the two bearing nuts. The hub slid off very easy. Forty five minutes later I was at Bathgate searching through a good selection of front axles. We found two to choose from so I picked the one with the best looking wheel studs. Another forty five minutes of hammering and we were heading back to the mall. The only difference between the two hubs was that mine had ABS brakes, so I tapped off the serrated sensor ring and knocked it onto the replacement hub. Twenty minutes later the lot was fitted back on the lorry. I have to say the job looks a "good un". Only the tyre disc to sort out tomorrow, Fatso has given me one he had laying on the yard, all I have to do is get the tyre changed over. 

The rest off the day was spent painting the skydiver boom and the floor. I had to stop at 8:30pm cos the light was failing and I had ran out of aluminium paint. Start again tomorrow.