Safety – Page 2 – The Jeep Guru

July 16, 2009November 12, 2010

Ball Joint Replacement – Jeep Cherokee Repair

How to replace the Ball Joints on a Jeep Cherokee

While I don’t fully understand the mechanism, our off road group has found a strong correlation between worn ball joints and broken front axle shafts. I did not really believe the theory until my ARB shaft broke. See the video of it breaking.

With the weight off the wheel you can see the joint separating.

I got my new ball joints from Crown Automotive. I installed the driver’s side ones last night.

Before I began, I coated my hands with Market America Clear Shield.

First, I lifted up the Jeep and removed the wheel.

Then, since this is an AMC Jeep, I used my 7mm hex bit to remove the brake calipers. Mopar Jeeps will use either a 12 or 13 mm socket.

Next I removed the brake pads and rotor hat.

I stored the brake caliper on top of the lower control arm and removed the pads and the rotor to expose the bearing.

Next I used a 13mm 12 point socket to remove the three bearing retainer bolts.

13 MM 12 point socket used to remove bearing bolts

I carefully tapped the carrier out of the knuckle. I left the axle in the bearing since it will go right back in.

removing the bearing and axle shaft as a unit.

Next, I used a 3/4 inch wrench to remove the tie rod from the knuckle. This step is not absolutely, necessary but makes it easier.

Next I removed the retainer bolts from both ball joints.

I used my tie rod separator to separate the ball joints from the knuckle. It came off rather unexpectedly and hit the floor. Glad it missed my foot.

Next I used a wire brush to clean up the surfaces where the press would rest.

I collected the correct adapters to press out the upper joint.

The upper joint pressed out easily

Next I collected the correct adapters to press out the bottom joint. Note that the screw for the press had to pass through the upper ball joint hole.

The lower joint was very worn.

Then I collected the correct adapters to press in the new ball joints. Note that this is a newer Dana 30 and the surface for the press is slanted requiring a tapered adapter. Some of the older axles had this surface machined flat.

Pressing in the lower requires a tapered receiver cup on this axle.

With the new joints installed I began to put it all back together. There is not enough clearance for a grease fitting on the lower joint. The kit came with a fitting that I put in temporarily and grease the joint. I then replaced the plug.

I then installed the knuckle and tightened the bolts. I then inserted cotter keys to keep the nuts from turning.

I then replaced the tie rod and keyed it.

Next I greased the inside of the knuckle and reinstalled the bearing and axle shaft. I used the bolts to pull the carrier into place.

Next I reinstalled the brake rotor, pads and caliper.

With the wheel back on I am done and ready to do the other side. Well maybe later.

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March 31, 2009March 31, 2009

Workplace safety and acceptance.

How to Improve the Safety of your Workplace

Acceptance

Knowing where you really stand is the first step to improving the safety of your workplace. All too often, I have seen managers respond to a directive to improve their plant safety by trying to cover up accidents. See my article on How to Improve your Safety Metrics without Improving Plant Safety for examples.

In order to fully understand how to make your plant safer, you need to accurately assess where you currently are in terms of safety compliance. Where are your trouble areas? How well do your policies and procedures reflect current practice? What is the emotional environment of the workplace?

If we fail to accurately assess the current situation, our measurements of improvement will be skewed. Sweeping problems under the rug will not help in finding effective solutions to them.

When beginning a new safety awareness program, we often see a spike in recordable injuries and illnesses. Sometimes this is due to employees learning what to report. Sometimes it is due to improved record keeping. But more often it is due to the safety programs being focused on accidents and injuries. The Law of Attraction teaches us that whatever we focus our attention on, we will get more of. New safety programs often demonstrate this law all too well.

Many managers seem to be afraid to accurately assess their actual workplace safety for fear of having their plant shut down by OSHA. If their plants are really that unsafe, then perhaps the reality of the situation is that the operation would be better off shut down and replaced with a safer one.

Allocating the time and resources to accurately assess a workplace environment requires a high level of commitment. However, you will not be able to effectively improve the work place safety until you accept the reality of the current situation.

Perhaps the reality of your situation is that you already have a very safe plant. Improvements may be hard to make. Compare your self to other operations in similar industries to see how you are actually doing. However, I find the only real and meaningful safety goal is zero accidents and injuries.

If you do find that you are truly the best in your industry as far as safety goes, then please make and effort to share your knowledge with others. Once you can accept where you really are in terms of work place safety, then you will know in what areas to focus your energy for the most effective improvements.

Begin by looking at your OSHA logs. Do they accurately reflect what is going on in the workplace? Or are injuries going unreported? Or do they show only frivolous results while the real problem goes unreported?

What about your safety policies? Do they really tell people how to do their jobs safely? Or do they simply list things they can do to get hurt? Remember that whatever you write down or focus on will expand in the thoughts and minds of the employees. Focusing on teaching them how to do their jobs safely will be much more effective than telling them not to get hurt.

How well do your work instructions reflect current practice? I will never forget a comment I heard during an audit review; “I did not know that was a procedure we were supposed to follow; I thought it was one we wrote just to satisfy [our customer]!”

By allocating the resources to audit your procedures and accepting the results, you will soon know where to focus your energies to create a safer work environment. Too many times I have seen audit reviews treated as punishment rather than a learning exercise. Management often fails to accept the poor results and rather than work to improve, they try to cover up the situation or become defensive.

Accepting bad news may be hard on the ego, but it is a necessary step in improving the process. Only by accurately knowing where you are starting from can you measure your improvement.

If you need help in making a true an accurate assessment of your workplace, you may need to bring in an outside auditor. Just be sure you are committed to accepting the results of the audit. OSHA tends to take a strong stance against employers who fail to correct situations that they have been made aware of.

If you would like me to help you assess your current situation and offer suggestions on how to improve, just contact me by email. Or you can read my other articles to know just what I would be looking for if I visited your facility. I am also available on a very limited basis for phone consultations. Email me for details. Just be prepared to accept the results before you ask for my help.

For more information on applying the principle of acceptance to personal development see these articles:http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/06/self-discipline-acceptance/
or

Acceptance

March 13, 2009

Safety Glasses

I have always hated wearing Safety Glasses. They are always in the way, they get dirty and I simply can’t see well through them.

However, I do like having my Safety Glasses on when I am doing work that generates debris like when I am running a table saw, or a drill. I can work much faster when I am wearing my Safety Glasses while performing these tasks.

I also love having my Safety Glasses on when I am working under a dirty Jeep. A pair of well fitted, lightweight fashionable safety glasses makes going under the Jeep much more fun and productive.

One safety policy I have always opposed is the blanket Safety Glasses policy. Usually this policy is put into place by people who wear prescription glasses and they don’t see why anyone would be opposed to wearing glasses all the time. They are used to it.

My first thought when I walk into a facility that requires Safety Glasses every where is, “Why do they have so many unprotected hazards that they need Safety Glasses everywhere?”

I always prefer to address hazards at their source. PPE should be the last line of defense against hazards. Especially when it comes to eye protection.

Eyes are easily damaged and you really don’t want to take chances with them. However, by making a blanket policy that you must have Safety Glasses on every where, you dilute the message that there are some places where extra care is needed to protect the eyes.

Whenever possible, guards and shields need to be designed to protect workers form flying debris that might damage the eyes. Also, work instructions and procedures can be modified to reduce the exposure to potential eye damaging projectiles.

For those situations where eye protection increases productivity, safety glasses can be required. Whenever safety glasses are required, there needs to be plenty of conveniently placed glasses cleaning stations. The provided Safety Glasses also need to be both fashionable and comfortable to wear.

When workers see the importance of wearing Safety Glasses and they see how they can feel more comfortable and confident doing their jobs, you won’t have to resort to forcing people to wear safety glasses. People will want to wear their Safety Glasses because it helps them do their jobs.

For more safety related ideas, see: http://www.mikestrawbridge.com/workplace-safety-training.shtml

February 11, 2009May 21, 2009

Free Safety Slogans?

Stupid ways to improve Workplace Safety.

I noticed that the most common search term associated with workplace safety is “free safety slogans.” Is this how most people are trying to improve work place safety? Probably.

When I worked in industry as a safety director, I was often told I needed to reduce injury rates and then not given any budget to work with. I was still able to reduce our TCIR from 24 to 3 over a three year period.

I still get irritated when I see companies trying to improve workplace safety by reacting to accidents and injuries. It really annoys me when I see employees blamed for getting hurt. Yes employees do stupid things sometimes, but they often have very good reasons for doing them.

When I first took over as Safety Director, I got a lot of experience in taking people to the hospital. We had about two injuries a month that required medical attention. Consequently, I spent a lot of time in the waiting rooms with injured employees.

I found that they were always angry about something. They were either angry at a spouse, a friend, a relative or the company. But the injured employee was always angry about something. They never meant or expected to get hurt; they were always just trying to do their job the best they knew how. And they were then angry or guilty that they got hurt. And they knew that they would get more guilt added by their supervisor when they got back to work.

In her book You Can Heal Your Life, Louise Hay says that 95% of the time injuries are the result of anger or guilt. When an injury occurs it is the sub conscience’s way of getting attention to a feeling that is really not of benefit to the body.

To truly improve workplace safety, we don’t need to be looking for a new free safety slogan; we need to be looking at the root cause of accidents and injuries. We need to look at the state of repair of our equipment, the policies and procedures that are in place and the emotional state of our workers.

Many injuries are caused by employees being aggravated that the machines are not working properly. This aggravation may come from a design flow or simply wear in the machine. Often there is a disconnect between maintenance and production on what constitutes a well running machine. The maintenance worker may assume the machine is fine if it performs most of its basic functions. However, if the machine is not operating at its full potential, then the production worker may become aggravated at not being able to make its production goals.

Policies and procedures are critical in reducing work place injuries. As one free safety slogan says; “It is not enough to know safety, you must practice it.” If your policies are not being followed, then they are not worth the paper they are printed on. Policies and procedures are too often used to punish people rather than to promote correct employee behavior.

Work instructions and procedures must be written to instruct employees in the safest and most effective way to produce the highest quality product. If any of these elements are missing the procedure is ineffective. If employees are not following the procedures, they you must find out why and correct the issue or the procedure. See my article on why written procedures are important for more information on this subject.

The most important single factor in reducing accidents and improving workplace safety is creating a positive emotional environment for employees to work. Happy workers will produce more products at higher quality levels and they will not get hurt as often.

There are many factors that influence the emotional well being of employees. Having to deal with stupid free safety slogans is probably one of them. Every time they look at a sign with a safety slogan and them look back at the job they are asked to do they either see that you care about their safety or you care about looking good on a spread sheet.

So instead of looking for new safety slogans, let’s start looking at how we can reduce the aggravation level of our employees. How can we make their work environment more conductive to making good product? How can we better educate them in the right ways to do a job? How can we better reward them for good behavior instead of providing hidden rewards for taking short cuts?

When we start to focus our workplace safety energy and resource to creating a better work place environment, we will be able to stop focusing on accident prevention and injury response. Lets all work together to find ways to improve the emotional environment of the workplace and stop looking for stupid free safety slogans.

Have a safe and productive day! How’s that for a free safety slogan?

Partnered
link: Occupational Health & Safety

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