Small Fence, Big Difference (Final)

Today, I return to building the fence. Again, we are using fencing material we salvaged from a neighbor who was having their fence replaced. While the initial cost was $0US, nothing is free. Instead of paying for wood, we are paying with time cleaning and cutting. We start this final installment with more of that. One unrelated bit: on the day we finished the fence, we sold GoRo, the 2009 Audi A4, to a guy down the street. He saw it parked and asked. A couple conversations and a test drive later, it's gone.

Prepare the Pickets

finished

In my prior update, we sanded and ripped down 30 pickets for our fence. Before we could start hanging them, we needed to cut off any rot from either end. Basic math says that's 60 considered cuts with a circular saw. Each cut took a few minutes so, again, simple math says this took a few hours. For each board, we would find where the rot ended, and score straight across the plank with a knife. The board would then get laid onto a work table, clamped down and then cut. We would repeat the process with the other end, and then move on. Considering how randomly we selected the old wood in the first place, Boo and I were quite surprised that we did not need to throw any away, nor did we come up short, in terms of fence-height, once we cut the ends off. We did, however, need to produce a few extra pickets on our final day.

Fence Hangers

I described the efforts to build the gates last time. I still had the short section of fixed fence to receive hangers and then 2x4's to which we would eventually afix pickets. I arrived at the location for the set of hangers closest to the person-fence by aligning to the bottom of the runner along the top of the gate. With a level, I confirmed it was correct height-wise and then held a piece of scrap picket to set the depth the same as the gates. I repeated this process for the lower hanger, and attached the hangers with roofing nails (they don't rust). To set the height for the post closest to the house, I used a picket and a level. Again, I set the front-to-back depth with a scrap picket and mounted the hangers with roofing nails.

laying out pickets

By this time, we had run out of viable fence runners from the salvaged fence. I was surprised we found enough material to build the gates, but 2 more 2x4's which needed to be just over a meter long was just too much. What remained was mossy and dusted off in chunks: rotted out. I looked in the garage and found a couple of 2x4's from when I removed the little closet around the furnace. While these are not pressure-treated, they are in perfect shape. I cut off a little bit off each end (because whoever built the closet hadn't and the ends were not square), and then measured and cut 2 runners. I slid them into place in their respective hangers and nailed them into place with more roofing nails.

Picketing

fixed fence

While I worked on getting the fence runners done, Boo was considering the pickets, deciding which would fit where and which side should face the street. We decided that we would start with the section of fence needing the least skill on our part: the not-moving part of the fence that I just prepared. For each picket, we would determine it's location left-to-right, using a spare picket as the spacer. Once determined, we would lay that spacer on it's side on top of the upper runner and use it to set the height of the "tooth". Since this part of the fence is so low, the bottom runner is practically on the ground. So, we decided that trimming-for-length by cutting the bottom would protect against a bad run with the circular saw, leaving any error virtually un-seeable. We flipped the boards over, and did it again, this time marking the cut line with a knife. I took the boards over to the work table (in the shade, it was practically 35*C or 95*F by this time) and ran the saw along the lines.

Taking the boards back over to the fence, Boo set them back in place one by one. I then drilled a single hole through the picket and then the top runner. Through that hole I sent a coated outdoor grade screw I had found in the toolshed. More free materials. We repeated this process to get the "fence" section, versus gates, picketed. Once the run was done, we visually set each picket vertical and drilled/screwed to the bottom runner. We returned to this a few days later and repeated the process for the vehicle gates and then the people gate. Remaining nimble, we decided that having the bottom of the gates level with each other, rather than contouring with the uneven ground looked better. This also avoided the gates from getting hung up on the uneven ground as they opened and closed. Last, this meant that I could cut every board the same length so the process got much quicker.

The install remained the same, though. We quickly discovered that the gate sizes did not perfectly allow the pickets to be exactly one picket width apart. To resolve, we started by installing the pickets on each end of each gate. Then, we installed boards much like you would cut sushi: put in the center first, and then keep doing the picket in the  exact center between the pickets until there is insufficient room for another picket. In this way, all of the pickets are spaced evenly, relative to the size of the gates. Since the vehicle gates are identical, the pickets appear consistent all the way across. The people gate ended up having the pickets placed maybe 1/4 inch closer together than the vehicle gates, but the space difference is not really noticeable. To us, the imperfections are part of the charm.

Latches

We were feeling the end approaching. While the heat of the day was unrelenting, Boo and I both simply wanted it done. So, I started with the latch for the vehicle fence. These were part of the gate-frame kit, so no additional cost. They are simple bar-to-latch style, mounting with a pair of screws for the bar and 2 pairs for the latch. For the vehicle gates, I put the bar on the gate closest to our neighbor's fence, and added a second latching mechanism to his fence so the gate could be latched open. The latch for the people gate was a fairly simple install as well. I added a spacer behind the bar so the front side of the gate would be aligned with the other gate and fixed fence. Last, I added a footer "cane" to the vehicle gate which had the latch (versus the post) so the gates would remain in place without putting pressure on the small latch. I did not drive a pipe into the ground for the cane to fit into, so that step remains, but otherwise, the work was finished.

gate latched open

With the fence/gates fully built, the next test was to bring Tuukka over to see how well it worked. He does not like them... because they effectively keep him in the back yard. While we were building this, Tuukka would come out and hang out with us, walking from the back yard to the front, not threatening to run away even when other dogs or people walked by. He just sat or laid there. If one of his dog-friends happened by, he would sit upright and wag his tail, but wouldn't move. So, while the gates will keep him in the back yard, we will probably leave the gates open most of the time where we are out there with him. These will be a big win when we need to put him outside so we can get a big project done (move the furnace, build the kitchen, etc). Those times, we can keep the gates closed, and Tuukka safe.

That's it for today. The total cost of this fence was $120 for the steel gate frames plus the "cane".  All the wood was salvaged and the fasteners were just in the shed (prolly, maybe, $20US for a box). We have not decided about the height of the posts, so we will cut them later, or maybe not.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

Small Fence, Big Difference (Part 2)

Continuing the fun of building a fence or series of gates, to keep Tuukka (the dog) from escaping from the yard. This stretch is literally less than 8 meters wide, but with only 2 peoples doing the work and trying to do the whole thing with salvaged wood extends the timeline significantly.

Where Were We

gate frames hung

In the first post, I described the fun of freeing planks from salvaged sections of fencing. A few weeks of occasional or infrequent labor resulted in a large pile of pickets, a small stack of 2x4's and a small stack of 4x4's. The best 4x4's became the fence posts. The best 2x4's will become the runners and gate main support sections and, of course, the pickets will become the pickets. The fence we salvaged had pickets that varied in width, but they were around 5 or 5-1/2 inches wide. That fence was a 6 foot fence and we are planning on a fence that is around 4 feet tall. I say "around" because the ground is not perfectly level. We installed 3 posts: one nearest the house, one about a meter away from that post and a third another meter away. Our plan is to have a "people gate" between the second set of posts and a "vehicle gate" between that third post and the neighbor's fence. So, the 4-foot fence will be 4 feet high at that third post. The ground drops a little bit toward the neighbor and rises a little bit towards our house. So, the top of the fence will be level, but the bottom will not be.

More Material Prep

prep area

Boo and I were having a hard time visualizing the fence enough to make seemingly easy decisions, like "will the fence have teeth and if so, how long?". By "teeth" ,I mean some length of picket above the top runner. Some fences stop clean with a runner along the top, and some don't. Without that clearly known, we could not plan for the gate construction because the location of the upper runner was unknown. So, we return to materials prep. This time, we selected 30 pickets, and ripped them down with a table saw to 3-1/2 inches wide. Then, we cleaned them up with a belt sander to get the grot off, and expose the wood. We laid 2x4's down to simulate the ground, bottom and top runners and then laid some of the cleaned up pickets on top... all on the grass... so we could imagine different configurations. We resolved to even spacing of 3-1/2" between each picket and  3-1/2" teeth with the bottom runner aligning with the bottom runner of the neighbor's fence.

Measure, Cut and Assemble Gate Frames

considering gate visual

At this point, we did some measuring, and ran some math for how large the rectangular gate frames needed to be. In retrospect, there was a flaw in my logic here, so the fence will either be a couple of inches short or the teeth will need to be a couple of inches longer. Why? Well, we considered where the top runner was based on the measurement at the neighbor's fence measuring up from that bottom runner rather than triangulate off of the middle post. So, while we had everything else assumed right, the gate frames are actually 2.5 inches too short, resulting in a fence that will be 45.5" tall at the third post rather than 48" tall there. Will it matter? No, not really. The dog will not jump a 45.5" fence any more often than the 48" fence. Honestly, reaching over a 45.5" gate to unlatch it might be easier and while having it 48" high at the at post would have been great, at the neighbor's fence it would have been over 50" high. Anyway, with an angle square, a measuring tape and a circular saw, I prepared 3 gates' worth of 2x4's. Then, with a cordless driver, I drilled and set up the angle-irons I had purchased (Azn link). These angle-irons were the only new bits for this fence, by the way. Constructing the frames took a few hours.

Hang Gate Frames

cleaned pickets

Next, I shifted to hanging the gate frames onto the posts. I started by attaching the hinges to the frames, making sure I had the right end of the gate, and had the hinge swinging the correct way. Once all 3 were equipped, I took them, one at a time, over to their respective post for install. I started at the neighbor's fence end, so I could get the bottom runner height correct. I put my racing car jack under the frame and lifted it up, against the neighbor's fence, until the top of my bottom runner was aligned with the top of the neighbor's fence's lower runner. This would have the best visual appeal. Since we want the pickets to align with the post faces (not behind or jutting out in front), I accounted for the width of the picket to set the hinge spot on the post. Before I went any further, I made a couple of templates: one for the hinge screw pattern, from the leading edge of the steel plate and a second for the space from the leading edge of the hinge to the leading edge of the post. This way, all 6 hinges would install in the exact same relative spots.

With the templates formed and the location of the first pair of hinges defined, I drilled the holes and sent the screws through. We had one gate frame hung. I needed Boo's help to steady the other 2 gates, but the process was very similar. We would set the gate onto a jack (or 2x4) to set the height. To get the height correct, we aligned the top of the top runner against the adjacent gate. Once the gate height was set, we marked the top of the hinges with a scrape of a screw. From that scrape-mark we would use the templates to define where the holes were to be drilled. We'd drill the holes, and send the screws through the hinges into the posts.

hinge close-up

In a weekend, we went from a pile of 5" unfinished grotty pickets to 3 gate frames hung and a pile of pickets nearly ready for install. Next is the addition of the short section of not-gate runners between the first 2 posts. The pickets require a little more prep (cutting the rot off one end), but then we will be attaching the pickets, fresh-cut side down. Once attached, there will be some trimming off the top to get to nice straight teeth. We have not decided if we are going to paint the fence or not. So, we are going to clear-coat it after the fence is built. Then, we'll finish the job by add latching hardware. I'm getting quite a bit ahead of myself, and I'll post on all that next time.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

Hapy No-Start Again

Sadness arrived again just prior to Summer Solstice: Hapy refused to start. Today's post covers the initial issue, it's resolution and the subsequent issue that arose along the way. Finally a car post! Before I begin, for my US readers, Hapy Independence Day.

Glow-Plug Not Glowing

I jumped into the driver seat to get to an appointment on a relatively cool weekday morning. By relatively cool, I mean 55*F (13*C) or so. Hapy didn't want to start, and he was throwing a code. I checked and it was the glow-plug P0380 error. Joy. Hapy had been harder to start in the mornings on cooler days, and I probably could have put one and one together, but my brain is pretty full these days. Anyway, that evening after work, I shifted into diagnosis mode. It being so close to the solstice, we have workable daylight until 830PM or so. I started with checking the resistance for the 4 plugs. I feel like I replaced these when I did the new injectors, and when I tested them (lowest resistance setting on your multi-meter, you want them within like .6 of each other)... they all came up with the exact same resistance (.8). So, not a glow-plug problem. Before tearing into the harness that Justin and I installed, I thought I would check the relay and the fuse.  

First, I pulled the relay and checked the voltage at the relay: almost 0V. I concluded it was not the relay. Recall that I just redid all the wiring a couple of years ago, so I pulled out the notebook diagramming the circuits, and found the right battery-top fuse. It's the same as the one any other TDI of this vintage uses: #2. Knowing the wire was fresh, I figured it was probably not the wire. Still, it was wise to check the connectivity of the wire: almost 0 resistance, so the wire is good. I moved on to the fuse.

original adapter

On the supply-side of the fuse, I had 12.45V. Hmm... even after all those start attempts, and there were many, I still had lots of juice. On the other side of the fuse, however, I had almost 0V. Not 0, just a shade above 0. So, the fuse wasn't blown, it was just acting like a big-ol resistor. So, I removed the nuts (10mm) and pulled the fuse. Sure enough, there was almost infinite resistance. These fuses are basically a metal bar (see picture above), but because they are exposed to the elements, they can become compromised by the weather. I do not have a replacement, so I cleaned it up with a metal file. I would grind away on the crud a bit, check resistance and repeat. Once I was able to consistently get nearly 0 resistance through the fuse no matter where I set the probes, I re-installed it. The referenced image on the top-right, shows both the result of some filing (on the ends) and the built-up crud in the center. That crud covered the entire fuse bar.

Grinding Starter

new adapter

Had I not allowed the glow-plug situation bloom into a dead-bus condition, I would have been driving that next day. Unfortunately, In my repeated attempts to start the engine, the symptoms went from won't start to won't start and now it's grinding. Neat. I was having a minor flashback to the last time the bus was stranded, and started to conclude that the glow-plug circuit was probably the originating cause then too. Anyway, I got under the bus, and noted that the starter was a little loose. I tightened everything down, and tried again. The engine tried to turn a little bit, but then returned to grinding. I removed and re-installed the starter. Same thing happened. Thinking maybe I fried the starter again, I removed and tested it. The gear popped out and ran like mad. So, nope, starter seems good. I did note, however, that some of the edges of the teeth were ground/broken off. Much of the gear, however, looked brand-new. I re-installed and had the same experience. One other observation: the addition of the rear anti-sway bar significantly impacts the freedom of movement under the bus around the starter. The bar is right where either your arm or your head wants to be for starter work. I am glad I have the bar when I'm driving, but, wow, it's hard to work around.

At this point, it was finally getting too dark to see. So, I put the tools away and thought about things. I concluded that the adapter that I bought and modified all those years ago was the true issue. Had the glow-plugs not prevented a start, I probably could have kept going for years. Instead, that weakness helped point out another one: the adapter is too thick, so the starter gear only engages for the first, maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the gear width. Since repeated failed starting attempts caused many of the tips to chip off, there simply is not enough meat on the gear to mesh enough with the flywheel to actually turn the engine. Fortunately, there are now adapters designed for the TDI start mating to an old 002 transmission. I ordered one ($89US from Dune Buggy Warehouse), hoping I would not need to replace the starter again when the only thing wrong with this one are the chipped teeth. Since the starters cost double the price of the adapter, I felt this was worth trying.

hanging adapter

In the images on the above right, you can see that the starter seats slightly deeper into the newer adapter. The actual adapters seem to be about the same thickness, but the cut-out for the nose of the starter appears to be slightly deeper with the new one. The new adapter delivered with bolts that were far too long, and includes studs/nuts rather than bolts to hang the starter. I really like the change to studs, since the installer is otherwise holding the starter in place with one hand while setting bolts. This new design means that you can hang the starter on the bolts and then set the nuts. The kit also includes a small tube of blue locktite, which is to be used to set the studs and hex bolts.

The install was very easy, and the adapter seated very well. One of my challenges with the original adapter was that it did not seat perfectly. Recall, I had to grind some of the adapter to sit against the transaxle (See TDI Install Retrospective: Primary Electrical for more details). I believe it was still imperfect, as I noticed that the starter had a slight wobble when I installing and re-installing it. The new adapter, however, sat perfectly flat, and by re-using the (8mm hex) bolts from that old adapter (with some blue locktite), it popped right on and held firm. The starter set on the studs, and the 19mm nuts threaded on without issue. The kit includes lock-washers, which I hope will help prevent the nuts from backing off. The primary electrical (13mm nut) was next and then the trigger plug.... which suffered a splicing failure and needed repair. Considering that splice lasted 12+ years and multiple starter install/removal/re-install cycles, it's failure comes as no surprise.

bolt differences

With the starter in, I hooked up the battery again and realized that I had not put it on a charger after the failed start attempts. Well.. it was at 12.45V when I did the glow-plug thing, so I figured there was enough there to start. I was right; with a turn of the key, the engine fired immediately. I mean immediately, I never heard the starter, didn't hear the engine think about starting. I turned the key and the engine was running. I cannot remember Hapy starting that fast before.

So, that's it for today. With Hapy running, he has returned to my daily-driver. I have been sitting in on bass around Hillsboro, so having a means of getting myself and my stuff to an event independently was fairly important. After Hapy, we only have ToyoTruck as a dependable daily-driver since we are unloading GoRo (per Car-Go-Round).

Thanks, as always, for following along-