Cruising under control once again......

7:57 am - Sunday - March 31st - Fontana, CA - 57° F, 36% humidity, wind 11 mph out of the north......crystal clear blue skies on this day with a forecast high of 83° F.

As I alluded in yesterday's blog entry Saturday was dedicated to removing the signal generator assembly from the transmission, and replacing the broken drive tip.....at least I hoped it was a broken drive tip.  Of course, my mind always goes to the worst thing, which would have either been a non-functioning signal generator, or a broken gear drive, either of which would have required I find a replacement somewhere for this at least 37 year old device.  A broken drive tip would be the best for which I could hope....after all, it has been that the last 3 times.  

Removing the signal generator assembly is not terribly hard, or physical, just tedious, and time consuming.  To get to it I must slither under the coach on my back and then fully extend my arms to reach the assembly.  First I detach the signal generator (on the left in the picture) from the gear drive (center of picture) as it is connected to wires which I have no desire to disconnect.  Next I must remove the gear drive from the transmission.  The suspected broken drive tip is between the gear drive and the transmission.....if it is broken.....

......and, alas, it was a broken drive tip.......broken drive tip on left, and replacement drive tip on the right......↴

.....the missing part of the broken drive tip was stuck in the gear shaft which is threaded into the transmission, and very difficult to get at........↴

.....I only have one 15/16ths SAE socket, which I purchased specifically to remove this gear shaft a few years ago when the drive tip last broke.  Then as now the broken piece stuck in this shaft, and I had to remove it (gear shaft), and then apply heat via a butane torch to get it (broken piece) to drop out of the shaft.  This gear shaft is about 4" long, and most of that length is buried inside the transmission.  The 15/16ths socket barely fits inside that quite small space.  It took me a while to find that socket which is only used a few times a decade, but I did find it, and after a few minutes of struggling to get it squarely over the gear shaft I successfully removed it.  As I did three years ago I heated the shaft up while tapping it on a piece of 2 x 4 wood until the broken piece dropped onto the wood.  Once the broken piece was removed it was just a matter of repacking the gear drive with grease (the grease from 3 years ago had dried out, and the gears had frozen up causing the drive tip to twist, and break.....need to remember to pull it out and lube it once a year!), inserting the new drive tip, reattach the gear drive to the signal generator, reinstall the gear shaft into the transmission, and finally reattach the assembly to the gear shaft.  By the time I was finished putting everything away some 4 hours had passed, I was filthy dirty, and ready for a long, hot shower.

We had agreed to meet my son Tim, his wife Laila, and their 2 month old son, Crosby at Mariscos del Pacifico at 5 pm for dinner.  This place is one of the best, if not the best, Mexican seafood places at which I have ever eaten.  Yelp gives them 4.5 stars on 288 reviews.....I would be at 5.0.....no question, no debate.

Little Crosby was quite well behaved, as he always is, and we lad a lovely time talking about everything under the sun.  We, of course, ate way too much, but every single bite was thoroughly cherished.  Tim, Laila and I ordered their Picositos Tacos (Shrimp), which are simply otherworldly, and TLE their Shrimp Cocktail, which I have had several times.  It is all mind blowingly good.  They are located on Foothill Blvd. and Tamarind Ave. in Fontana, CA.

We bid adieu to Tim, Laila and Crosby around 6:20 pm and headed for home where we would immediately change into loose, comfortable clothing.  There were a couple more March Madness NCAA basketball games, and both were close until the very end.

So, the biggest project, for me, has now been completed.  In order to utilize my beloved cruise control I must have a functioning speedometer, and it is now functioning once again, and that makes me a happy guy once again.  Well, I was already happy before, so now I'm just a little happier than I was before.

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