In 1992, a small village owner became the richest man in the village by owning a car.

Chapter 92 Dismantling the Car
Yu Dawei returned to the scrap metal recycling station. It was summer, and road construction was underway on both the north and south sides of Luhe Town. There were significantly fewer construction vehicles available for rent outside, with only a few scattered around, most of which were broken.

Someone spotted Yu Dawei and, knowing he was a master mechanic who could repair imported cars, rushed over to strike up a conversation, hoping he would give them a discount on their car repairs.

Yu Dawei had his own car to repair, so he couldn't care less about others. The other party's price was too low, practically an apprentice's price. If he didn't have some self-control, he would have cursed the other party away long ago.

Duan Dahai was collecting scrap trucks from several villages when he saw Yu Dawei and the old man from the Yu family. He waved and greeted them with a smile, then stopped being polite to the father and son and went back to his own business.

Yu Dawei told Duan Dahai about the vegetables his mother had brought from the truck bed, and then led the old man into the house.

In the summer, when the stove is no longer needed for heating, it becomes particularly in the way in the small house. In the spring, Yu Dawei helped Brother Duan remove the stove and its pipe, and then put it back on in the winter.

Every household here does this every year.

As for cooking, a stove pit was built outside the dough, with a large iron pot placed on top. Anything stewed there tasted delicious, and the flavor was no worse than that of a small restaurant.

"Dad, you rest first, I'll go check on that excavator." Yu Dawei put the vegetables in the corner, then picked up the toolbox from under the wall and headed out.

"What are you resting for? You've already looked at the wheeled excavator before, let's start disassembling!" The old man took out a set of light blue work clothes from the second green toolbox. The work clothes were covered with black oil stains that couldn't be washed off, so he must have often worn them to repair vehicles in the past.

"Alright, alright, I'll listen to you." Yu Dawei shook his head and smiled wryly. The old man's impatience was unmatched by most people.

He carried a military toolbox about half his height to the excavator. Unlike his grandfather, who was very particular about his work clothes, he would throw them away as soon as he finished working and they were covered in grease. So he would have to find a set of tattered clothes from the junkyard.

As for the old man, even when he repairs cars, he does it meticulously. He carries his own toolbox, and when he opens it, every tool, although it shows obvious signs of use, is wiped clean with a rag.

If Yu Dawei remembers correctly, the car repair clothes he was wearing were at least five or six years old. Basically, after each car repair, the old man would soak the clothes in hot water, then cut off a small piece of soap and throw it into the water. After a day, he would wash and dry the car repair clothes and the oil gloves used for car repair.

Yu Dawei couldn't understand the old man's behavior at all, given that he was used to being frugal his whole life.

His mother also told him that his father was poor when he was a child and couldn't afford to buy pens for school. In the end, he would stick a used pen nib into the end of a soy sauce stick and write while dipping it in ink. When his family couldn't afford paper, they even used old yellow paper stored in the warehouse to practice writing.

Yu Dawei felt that his father's love of learning was no less than that of his book-loving wife, but he couldn't understand it; he couldn't comprehend people who truly loved learning.

"Dad, you take off the outer shell first, and I'll find some scrap steel pipes to weld two tripods." Yu Dawei put down his toolbox and suggested. He wanted to give some instructions on which wrench would be faster when disassembling it, but seeing the unfriendly look in his father's eyes, he decided against it.

Actually, the old man has a deep understanding of agricultural machinery, but he has not dismantled many excavators or other construction machinery like this.

Perhaps that's why he could even sense the old man's eagerness: "Dad, rest if you're tired, don't hurt yourself."

"Got it, stop dawdling." Old Yu picked up a No. 24 wrench and began to remove the large screws from the outer covers on both sides of the cab.

Duan Dahai suddenly remembered that he had a few old clothes, which he gave to Yu Dawei.

Yu Dawei casually picked out a plaid short-sleeved shirt and a pair of ripped trousers, put them on, and started rummaging through the garbage for steel pipes.

"I've found the steel pipes you mentioned before. What do you think of these?" Duan Dahai saw off several scrap dealers from the village, turned to Yu Dawei, and led him to the steel sorting area. He pointed to a spot and said, "What do you think of those two?"

The main purpose of welding the tripod is to lift parts, including the cab, shell, and other components. This PW40 wheeled excavator is too small, and using a crane would be a waste.

A tripod is sufficient for this rotary excavator, but the material of the tripod is very important; steel is naturally the best choice.

Following Brother Duan's gaze, Yu Dawei saw two steel pipes in the corner, each about 20 centimeters in diameter and 10 meters long. They looked brand new, and both their size and length caught Yu Dawei's eye.

"Is that enough? If not, I have more. There are more than ten in total. They were all sold to me by someone last month. I was originally planning to keep these two for something later. If you need them, you can take them." Duan Dahai wasn't really sure how much material Yu Dawei needed to weld the tripod, but he was sure he had plenty. He also had a welding machine, which was a bit old but definitely usable.

"We need another one, Brother Duan. These two steel pipes of yours are fantastic. I reckon we can get a big one this time. It'll be enough to repair not only this small excavator, but also parts for a large excavator." Yu Dawei and Duan Dahai carried the steel pipes outside the house, then brought over two more from the north wall, and connected them to the welding machine. Besides this, Yu Dawei also needed a cutting machine, specifically for cutting steel pipes. Brother Duan didn't have one, so he had to ask a nearby repair shop for help.

The farm machinery repairman on another street had also heard of Yu Dawei, the master repairman of imported excavators, and immediately agreed to help, bringing out his cutting machine.

Yu Dawei brought the cutting machine back to the scrap metal recycling station in his four-wheeled vehicle, and only then were all the preparations complete.

The measuring stick was used to measure the length. According to Yu Dawei's idea, a five-meter-long pipe would be enough. Two pipes were placed diagonally at the end of a small section of pipe, and the small section of pipe was welded to the other two steel pipes.

Yu Dawei estimated that the height was about 4.6 meters. One of the steel pipes was cut into two smaller sections and placed horizontally under the two slanted steel pipes, forming a true triangle. However, part of the long steel pipes on both sides were left open, and the two corners of the triangle were not sealed.

Repeat the same process on the other side of the tripod, thus creating two identical tripods.

"We need to put a pulley under the pipe so it will be easier to move it." Yu Dawei thought of this and immediately started asking Brother Duan about pulleys, but unfortunately, they didn't have one.

In the end, they managed to get help from Boss Liang, who brought several large pulleys from the hardware store next door, which Yu Dawei welded to the four legs of the tripod.

After all that was done, there was still one main steel pipe missing. This main steel pipe would serve as the boom and needed to withstand the load. Using the same type of steel pipe as before would definitely not be enough.

It needed to pass through the round tube at the very top of the two tripods. There was indeed such a steel tube in the pile of steel, about the thickness of an adult man's fist and about three meters long, which was enough.

Finally, Yu Dawei lifted one of the tripods, and Grandpa Yu also put down his work. Together with Duan Dahai, they inserted the individual steel pipe into the top section of the tripod, and then passed it through the other tripod in the same way.

And just like that, a homemade tripod hanger is completely finished.

After returning the cutting machine, Yu Dawei started disassembling the other side of the casing with his father. By the time they finished disassembling, it was noon. After lunch, he prepared to test the level of the tripod.

Because such a large tripod is very heavy, only one person can push the left side and another person can push the right side, placing the wheel digger in the middle, with the top horizontal tube directly above the roof of the vehicle.

This morning, when I asked Mr. Liang to buy a pulley at the hardware store, I also bought a five-ton chain hoist, two steel wire ropes (one long and one short), and four shackles.

The old man actually had shackles in his toolbox, as well as slings for lifting parts. However, Yu Dawei felt that both the slings and the horseshoe buckles were too old, and he had used them to repair farm machinery before.

Just to be on the safe side, Yu Dawei replaced the steel wire rope with a newly purchased one and used a shackle that could weigh two or three tons.

After securing both sides of the cab, Yu Dawei attached the chain hoist. One hook was attached to the steel wire rope above the cab, and the other hook was attached directly to the middle of the steel wire rope tied to the cab.

Everything was ready. There were no fixing screws at the four corners of the cab, so you could just pull down the chain hoist.

The newly welded, massive tripod was extremely sturdy. When the cab was lifted, the tripod stood like two mountains on either side of the small excavator, watching its cab being lifted and removed bit by bit.

Following the same method as Duan Dahai, Yu Dawei slowly pushed the tripod northward until it reached the base of the north wall. Only then did Yu Dawei lower the chain hoist. Finally, he placed wooden blocks on both sides of the cab to prevent damage to the cab itself. The first step of disassembly was now complete.

The father and son then began disassembling the engine, removing all the connecting wires and component interfaces. In the same way, the small excavator once again saw its heart being lifted up and removed bit by bit by the two large machines on either side.

With the new engine available, the old one was no longer needed. Yu Dawei simply gave it to Duan Dahai, since he couldn't let Duan help for nothing.

Then, following the same disassembly steps, the boom, arm, bucket, and the three hydraulic cylinders were disassembled. The distributor and small pump didn't need a crane; the father and son simply lifted them up and carried them away.

Next are the excavator's slewing gears, hydraulic lines, radiators, and so on.

Everything was disassembled, and in the end, the entire vehicle was just an empty shell, except for the counterweight.

(End of this chapter)