solar pv with batteries and micro wind is the way to go especially if you have a grid connection as you can get credit for the excess you produce and you have ample power.
and in remote areas it can be cheaper than getting a grid connection. and fuel prices are only getting worse. and a bit of advice dont choose just on price many have been stung by poor quality and more by bad workmanship and fly by night companies that disappear and you have very little comeback. deal with a reputable company and have less problems.

Thanks, you raise good points. If everyone had the same experience that I have had with contractors, there would be no contractors. Watch them like a hawk, catch the inevitable screw-up before it's final, because there's no going back for a redo after the paint's on. It's particularly tough right now. There's more work than they can handle and the price gouging has started. Just my area, I don't know about elsewhere.

I am doing some repair work on the generator now, looks like I'll be running it through another winter. There's some problem developed over the last decade that resulted in vibration in the engine PTO pilot bushing. I worked on it last year, but didn't get it completely true. The machinist didn't believe in center drillings and I suspect that he just chucked it up and didn't dial it in true. Anyway, I'm going to be starting over, make a new shaft if necessary. Maybe I can phase it out next year.

And about that grid connection: The power company will never write you a check. They will credit your account for makeup of your own draw for one year, after which they pocket your excess and start counting from zero for the next year. Build capacity to the extent of your own use as close as you can get, but go over only as much as material expense will remain minimal. It's no doubt in the fine print. I just heard about it.

But, we're digressing away from the subject of WVO fueling.
Are you located anywhere close to NW Oregon?

no im in sunny Queensland. although its not so sunny at the moment we have had a fair bit of rain in the last few days. and yeah it works a bit different here as we have a state government regulated feed in tarrif mind you its only 13 cents per kW/h we are charged around 23cents a kW/h but your excess generation is credited of your quarterly or monthly bill (depends what deal your on and your type of meter) for a small few they do get a payment at the end of the year. they are talking about incentives for installing battery storage along with solar or wind for grid tied systems part of the idea is if every neighbourhood has enough battery storage not everyone needs solar power on thier roof and they dont need to spend a fortune on grid upgrades or building state owned battery storage.

you say your getting vibration issues and might make a new coupler. well have you heard of the fenner cushion rubber couplings they allow for slight misalignment and are anti vibration. is the engine and alternator rubber mounted? the coupling im thinking of is like a tire clamped by two discs which are taper lock mounted on the the shafts. another type uses two plates one with pins the other drilled for rubber bushes the pins go into the bushes thus allowing a bit of movement and shock reduction.

Good suggestions, but both were rejected because the tractor flywheel has no drillings for an adaptor plate, and there isn't any machine shop reasonably nearby to machine a flywheel of that weight, and no machinist that knows or cares to get it right. So, what I did was make up a shaft that pilots into the center bearing hole in the flywheel and holds a 5U clutch disk between two heavy steel plates clamped tight onto the clutch disk and pressed hard onto the shaft. This is supported by a single pillow block that can be aligned perpendicular to the flywheel, dialed in on the wheel's machined rim. It all worked very well until I got ten years of wear on it and attempted to make a new bush for the flywheel. I didn't think the straight roller bearing which Cat used would hold up on a mild steel shaft, so I made a bronze bush. It was great when it was new, but I slipped up on the rebuild somewhere; I'll know where when I get inside.

The drive shaft is too long for my lathe so I farmed it out, I think they just trusted their three-fav to center it instead of setting it up in a four-jaw with a dial indicator. I found a big enough lathe 30 miles east of here, and the machinist likes things right, let's me look over his shoulder.

No further comment on the tariffs for distributed generation. I can see a point on many sides of the issue. They didn't find those cross-country lines standing in the timber, ready for use!

My electronics do not function as they used to. I regret that I can no longer post photos. what do you use a power unit for? Do you have electric power to play with? Is any AC generator set? Or PTO power for sawmill or what? If you have either AC or 123v DC you could have an auxiliary fuel pump and electric heaters.

I built a dual fuel filter head that allows one to change between WVO and diesel fuel without having to purge the entire filter housing. I can burn it clean in about 8 minutes, have it on diesel for the next start. It is well worth the trouble to machine one of these filter heads and any pump that will provide about a half-gallon/minute at around 12 psi, with its own filter and a pressure relief/bypass (made from one off a junk D2 transfer pump) and you are in business with a two-tank dual fuel setup. I wish I could send a pic.

Queensland is closer to NW Oregon than some places, say Canada. I doubt you will drop in to take a look though.

Jack

i was told about the fenner tyre couplings by a family friend Jeff is a retired master mariner and ships engineer and has had allsorts of "fun" setting up motors on ships and offshore islands to drive gensets and many other things. i actually off-sided to Jeff for a little while on a old ocean going tugboat she was built in the 50s in south australia. the pistons of the main engine are the size of 5 gallon drums its a 6cyl mirrlees-national nearly 2000hp at 400rpm. the main and auxiliaries had the same idea with the fuel filters you could change em without stopping the engines and the oil on the main was centrifuged so was the fuel for the day tank(you ran it at rate of consumption) and the transmission oil and bilge water could be done too. sadly the current owner had a main bearing fail and afaik she isnt repaired yet, it can be done via the side covers they can even grind the crank while in place.

dad worked on borehole and irrigation pumps and the uncle's a retired fitter and turner.
so i learnt a few things. plus i read alot. and i muck around with electronics for fun. were on mains power here. i tend to leave it alone 240 volts hurts too much.

interesting way of doing it sometimes those make do ideas work very well. and beside if it aint broke.

im currently part way through adapting a modern diesel engine as a pilot engine for my D4 as the original went rattle rattle stop. it shattered the magneto gear bent the armature. plus flogged out crank bushes, rusted out exhaust(made from unobtainium) besides i could never start it with the rope had to use a small electric motor & v-belt.

so new engine is recoil or electric start uses the same fuel and wont deafen you while you run it. i will have to submit a article when im finished to the club mag and the forum. I'm also doing a 12 volt conversion using the original generator as a drive adapter i had a longer shaft made. the project has snowballed a bit and is costing more than i thought but live and learn its too late know anyway. i did learn 2 things so far hydraulics fittings and custom made gears are bloody expensive.

I've heard an awful lot of criticism of the flat twin pony engines. The way I sorted it out: When you get a bit or wear in the main bearings, that shaft is going to bounce up and down every time the tractor jumps around, which a dozer in rocks will be pretty often. Those bearings are getting a pounding and they are dry after an hour or so from last running. I've toyed with the idea of a clamp on the flywheel to hold it solid into the block, just release it when you start the engine. I've no idea if it would work. When the magneto drive tries to jump a tooth you get just what you describe. The mains were gone, which in turn took out the camshaft bearings, and then the mag is hammered to junk.

You got a lot of experience on some really heavy iron. Those rubber-tire couplers are sold in this country by Dodge Power Transmission Products, I believe they are called, and they have a bunch of sizes up to pretty heavy. My whole problem is lack of holes and flat surface inside the flywheel on the D2 engine, and lack of a shop nearby that could fix the problem, but I needed an overdrive anyway and V-belts are convenient.

to help with the slogging of the crank a old farmer told us to make a couple of timber wedges to support the fly wheel of the pilot while using the machine. of course damage was allready done. i believe it was neil showed how he had made bronze thrust washers for the crank and bush housings to take up the free play and give a much wider working surface thus reducing the problem of worn bushes and broken or bent dowel pins as in the factory design that is what sets the end float is machining the bushes to length an a simple 1/4inch dowel. these either bend, shear off or walk out or the bushing flogs out around the pin. yes some sort of clamp idea could work too tapered grips the locked into the v-belt groove would grab tightly and could grip no matter where the engine was in its cycle.

yes lack of facilities has been my problem too especially when the machine is 50km so about 40minutes away from home on another property. we have now shifted it closer to town. so its about 20 minutes away instead. when it broke only the mag gear and armature was damaged luckily, I then sold that engine on to another member who could make one out of 2.
yes its good fun getting a generator to run at the right rpm so your voltage and most important frequency is correct and finding a generator with the right pole count is a challenge.(more poles lower driving speed. a 4 pole motor or generator works at half the rpm of a 2pole)

to use a coupler like i described how i would do it is use the clutch pressure plate mounting bolts and dowels bolt a 1/2 inch steel disc to that that has a spigot to go into the pilot bearing bore and a shaft to take the coupler or v-pulley on the out side. the spigot and shaft would be one piece of high grade bright shaft machined to suit recessed and plug welded into the disc. the spigot would be a nice sliding fit into the fly wheel bore so no bearing or bush to vibrate. and all of this nice and close to the flywheel as possible to reduce side loading. i would probably go up a size on the clutch bolts so if 5/16 i would use 3/8 or 7/16. the pressure plate can be the template.

neil, hopefully when i'm done it wont look too out of place. the big visual change is the hydraulic lines are now looped up and over the inside of the canopy and done with hose instead of tubing. just that was the biggest single expense so far.

i hope to mount the air cleaner and dash close to the original spot maybe a new dash and bonnet well its gunna have some extra switches. it will have a 12v manifold heater and i might spring for a cab fan and a radio. and definitely a different seat. and another coat of paint once she's running properly will make it look nice compared to the rough job it currently has. if i had time over i would have done this with a char-lynn motor and mounted the new engine with pump and oil tank above the winch easier packaging and probably the same cost maybe a bit less. hindsight is 20/20.

and yes i'm already prepared for the its a gunna(blow up), ya shoulda did this and why didnt ya do that's from everyone else. well as the saying goes opinions are like arses everybody has one. ive already had a couple of naysayers give their "advice" I know it can work as i'm copying someone else's idea he did it with a dd2 though and used a petrol engine.