Search results

I’ve done the bucket test. The water level starts going down immediately. Slowly but visibly. This is with nothing else running or draining. I guess I am going to have to pull the toilet.

To address some of the last few posts: Not sure food coloring would help as the bowl is not refilling from the tank unless it is flushed. I think, maybe incorrectly, that if the bowl was leaking and I put blue food coloring in the water all I would see is less blue water but not diluted blue...

Dogs? That's thinking out of the box and a good thought! Yes, we do have a dog but that's not it. You can watch the level go down. Crack? I thought of that but I can't see how that is it. The S pipe on this toilet is visible. No visible cracks. For an internal crack to leak into the drain the...

Whenever I have any sort of technical or mechanical issue I know I can come here and you guys will solve it. I have a toilet mystery. Background: I have repaired toilets many times. I have replaced toilets. I have installed new toilets and even the entire drain-waste-vent system in my cabin...

I have an old home-owner grade Stihl 025 that I inherited from my Dad. It has worked well for years. Last year when I tried to use it it would crank, run for a second and then stop. After that it would not crank unless it sat for day. Repeated same thing many times. Drained all old gas/oil out...

I live in a 90 year old house. It has a walk in basement that is basically just concrete floors but otherwise unfinished. It is damp and occasionally with heavy rains there is water on the floor. There is very little way to solve this problem completely. I could have it dug out all around the...

I'm thinking about getting a saw mill. I do not need one and I do not intend to sell lumber. I've got a cabin on 250 acres that I've had for close to 20 years. There is always a big oak or hickory or cedar blown down. And I just hate to see it go to waste. We use some for firewood but a lot...

I've got several acres of grass around my cabin that I mow with my 6' rotary cutter. Over the years these acres have become closer to a lawn than a pasture. I keep it cut short. And of course the rotary cutter is not ideal for this and in fact I've worn down the shoes on the front from cutting...

I have a 2007 Nissan 350Z that is now used almost exclusively as a track car. It has beautiful Daytona Blue Metallic paint and from 10-15 steps away it still looks pretty good. Any closer and it looks like an 11 year old track car. Many tiny paint dings. Rubber smudges all over from thrown up...

I was just given a like-new Powermatic 14" band saw. Looks like a nice piece of equipment. Weighs about 200 pounds. It is for wood only, unfortunately. I do modest wood working from time to time. I have one of those compound/mitre/chop saw deals that I can do a lot with. I have an ancient drill...

For a long time I have taken pride in doing most things that I can do myself. I do most of my car and tractor repair work. I do pretty much all of the plumbing repairs in my 90 year old house. I built my own log cabin (kit) 16 years ago. Some of this is being a tight wad and not wanting to pay...

This is actually about a car battery.....but just pretend it is on my tractor. We have been having constant trouble with my wife's car battery. Almost every time it can be traced to the negative terminal clamp coming loose. The OEM terminal clamp will not fully and tightly clamp down on the...

I'm tired of paying for DirecTV. Cable is worse. My wife and I don't even watch much TV. Kind of nuts spending almost $100 a month for something we only use an hour or less a day. So I want free TV. I'm not talking about stuff like Hulu or Amazon Prime. I'm talking about digital TV over an...

Here is a little update. I finally got around to brining a 5' section of this log up out of the creek bottom. Then I stood that up and cut a slab out of it with the chainsaw. This is a piece from the upper part of the tree. It is not as resin-y as the bottom part by a long shot but it is still...

Down at my cabin I have been using a Toshiba tuner/amp that I got in 1980 with a set of Bose bookshelf speakers that I got in 1990. It has decent sound for just using at the cabin but the left channel in the Toshiba is cutting out. Well, my cousin recently gave his high end stereo system to my...

Years ago I posted a thread in this forum about how I thought traditional rock and roll was dead. Following the decline of alternative rock in the 1990s there really hasn't been too much new stuff for the rock and roll fan to get into. The classic rock stations play all the old standards but...

I got a tiny locust thorn stuck in one of my brand new all-terrain tires on my pickup. It was causing a very very slow leak. My wife took the truck to Discount Tire where I bought them. I did not buy the road hazard warranty. They would not even look at it and told her that they could not do...

I lost my glasses recently. Freak accident. I need them for near and far vision...so, work, reading, driving, computer, TV, etc. I go to a local optometrist walking distance from my house. They are friends of the family. Not close, but friends nevertheless. I have some cheap, old glasses I got...

My daughter and her husband and going to be building a house in the country soon. They have talked to several builders and they have suggested that they consider what they call a hybrid slab foundation as it costs considerably less than a traditional pier and joist foundation with a crawl space...

He got the dozer. It is a D8H and not a D8K. It is old and looks old. Most of the dials don't work. Seat is all torn up. But, the treads and sprockets look good and he says it cranks and runs great. He has been learning to use it and has already done a fair amount of clearing with it. He says it...

In another thread we discussed my Infiniti G37 that eats batteries. Considerable testing has not found a single clear cause. I think I know why the current one failed and I think I corrected it but the battery is not holding a full charge now probably due to repeated draining. Anyway, whether I...

About ten years ago a fairly large pine that stood beside a creek on my property got blown over. It leaned across the creek and never came down on the ground. It lived for about another six month and then died. I was poking around it a while back with an axe and noticed that even way up that the...

Gravely? That looks like one of those things you fly through the woods and blow up Ewoks on.

Well, just for a reference, I tackled this with my 45 hp tractor and light duty 6' cutter: This is the end result: It took a long time and there was only minimal brush mixed in, but it was not a problem for the tractor or the tiny mower. So as to a 10' mower I think a lot depends on what...

Our 30th anniversary is coming up this summer and my wife wants to go on a trip. We both like to travel but don't get to do it a lot. Once every couple of years. We have been to Italy, New York, a road trip through the deep south for blues festivals. Now she has the idea that she would like to...

Update part two: Went to remove the leaking shower faucet valve only to find that whoever was in there last cemented the escutcheon to the tiles! I had to use a hack saw blade to get it loose. This is what it looks like: Get the valve out and this is what the washer looks like: This is...

My house is 88 years old and has a pretty constant flow of 88 year old house problems. The current one is that the hot water valve is leaking in the downstairs shower. This is essentially the guest bathroom. Our master bathroom is a five year old addition up stairs but the other upstairs...

After having perfect vision all my life I am now in progressive eyeglasses. They present a number of challenges but after trying all the other alternatives they are the best option for now. I like to hunt. I like photography. I wear my glasses most of the time for these activities. I can use...

A friend of mine who has property across the road from my country place is getting a Caterpillar D8 to clear some land for pasture. He has indicated that I could use it (or have him use it) to clear some small areas on my property as well. It is an older one. His uncle, who is my brother-in-law...

I have a 2009 Infiniti G37 coupe with a manual transmission (a dinosaur by today's standards) that I love. Got it used about 4 years ago. It is my wife's car. Low miles when I got it and we still don't put a lot of miles on it but it gets driven almost every day. For the last two years it has...

I've been doing more projects lately requiring drilling in metal. For instance, homemade winch mount for my car/tractor trailer. Drilling through some fairly hard and thick stuff. Some of the cheap multipurpose bits I have won't last long enough to drill one hole. To make things worse, I know...

I work in a doctor's office. Probably 25 people in the building. Computers access is wireless via routers around the building. Our electronic medical record is web based. Internet speeds are visibly slow. Slower than my standard cable modem at home, which uses the same provider. This makes...

I have an old Stihl 025 homeowner chainsaw that was my Dad's. Great little saw. Starts great. Runs great. But the last time I used it I noticed some fuel was leaking out when the saw was sideways. I noticed the fuel was coming out of a small nipple on top of the fuel tank. It still I had never...

My family opened and owned the local hardware store in the small city I live in. I think it was opened in the late 1800's. My Dad worked there when he was young. It was still around when I was a child and I remember it well. There were still plow hardware and tack in there for mules and horses...

Was using my Stihl 18" chainsaw this weekend clearing brush and small trees. Was tired. It was thick with lots of vines and branches. Felt something hit my leg hard. Thought it was a branch. Looked down and there was a hole in my pants and I was bleeding. Never even saw it happen but pretty much...

I need to drill a hole in some sheet metal...not on a tractor...but we'll pretend that it is. I have no way to tell what is behind the sheet metal on this particular machine. Probably nothing but I don't want to go shooting a drill bit through there where I don't know if there is a wire or a...

I went to Tractor Supply this evening to buy some grade 8 bolts and other such hardware. Bins were a mess. Wrong parts in wrong bins. Empty bins, etc. Very frustrating. Lowes was next door. Exact same problem. Left both places without the hardware I needed. Where do you guys buy high grade...

I know what this is and how to clean it up but I don't know why it happens. I've had this car for 5 years and this has never been an issue. I think the battery is a cheap AutoZone or Advanced Auto Parts. I've found them to be short lived and low quality. Anyone know how to prevent this? I know...

I've bought my last pair of Levis jeans. I've worn Levis 505 'regular fit' jeans since I was about 15 (I'm 54 now). Back then it was 33x34s, now it is 34x34s. For decades I could go into the store grab a few pairs of 34x34 505 regular fit jeans and they'd fit just fine. No dressing rooms. No...

We have lots of coyotes around our place. Sometimes you can hear them howling in all 4 directions at once. But, this weekend we had a weird experience. We had just waked up about 7 am (braod daylight by then) when our Labrador started barking like crazy. We could hear another dog barking just...

I have a die cast model of that exact tractor made by Corgi toys out of England. It even has the loader. I've had it since I was a child. Seeing your picture reminded me of it immediately. Mine was well played with and does not look as good as the one in the picture.

I was looking at an article about a warehouse in New York that has props for movies in it. One of the items pictured was this stool that I have linked to below. This exact same stool, without the metal rods, has been in my grandmother's house as long as I can remember. I live in her house now...

Last week I went to do a little yard work and couldn't find my Stihl string trimmer. A little later I could not find my newish Echo chainsaw. I remembered that I had left them underneath my screen porch in the back yard. It is an area you can walk under where we keep gardening tools and a...

I oiled mine periodically. When I opened this one up everything was well lubricated and nothing was sticky. Not to say that I'm perfect about routine maintenance but that doesn't seem to be the problem with this one. The larger one has gotten much more use and still works fine. However, on both...

Got a two different Porter Cable brad guns and a compressor about 10 years ago. Light use only. The smaller brad gun has stopped working. When you pull the trigger there is a slight puff out the exhaust port but it does not drive the brad. There is no hissing or evidence of air leakage. I went...

The two times I remember my tractor overheating the radiator screen had a thick mat of that fluffy stuff on it that you could peel away like thick felt. No air was moving through that stuff so I don't think a bigger radiator would have helped. Clogged is clogged. When mowing through stuff that...

So I pulled my old wood stove out of the woods. I'll try to post a picture below. It worked great for cardboard and paper, of course. No ash and stuff blowing around or sitting on the ground. However, I put a bag of actual kitchen garbage in there along with a little diesel and it did not work...

My 2003 F150 SuperCrew has been retired to the farm. So I have a few questions. It will probably only get used a few times a month. It will be parked in the tractor shed, roof but open on 4 sides. I'll put Stab-Bil in the gas. I have a trickle charger if needed. Anything else I need to do for...

Okay, here is my little bolt-on solution for a removable winch mount. It required two parts from Northern Tool. The first part is a box hitch receiver made to bolt on the underside of a step bumper. It is a fairly beefy part. The second part is a pintle hitch adapter that fits in a box receiver...

I've decided to get a winch for my 19' flatbed trailer. Getting the tractor on it is easy. Getting a low riding track car on it is a little more tricky. A winch would make it safer and capable of getting a non-running car back on the trailer too. I've got an extra battery to run the winch off...

I need crusher run for the driveway to my cabin. I was quoted $425 per load, 18-19 tons, delivered. That sounds high to me but it has been a long time since I bought any. Last time I needed three of those tri-axle dump trucks. Is that price about right? They say it is clean gravel, no metal bits...

Looking to get a tooth bar for my Kubota L4400 w/ 6' bucket. Not interested in a Piranha. The Titan bar is heavier, has 7 teeth but does not look as well made in the photos as the WR Long. It weighs 99 pounds. The WR Long appears significantly better made. The bar is beveled. The welds look...

I have a 10-12 acre pond about 150 yards down below my log cabin. I've had this place for over 15 years. The pond is fed by a creek that is dry about half the year. On the other end is a very large dam built by the Corps of Engineers in the 50's as a watershed project. The valve for raising and...

I have a J.C. Higgins 30-06 bolt action rifle that was sold by Sears in the 1950's. Despite being a "department store" rifle, it has an FN Mauser action and the barrel is chrome lined and made by High Standard. It has a plain walnut stock with raised cheek piece with average cut checkering. So...

I have a basic Colt 45 1911. Made in the early 50's. It has had, at the most, 300 rounds through it, probably closer to 200. My son was shooting it recently when it double fired. In other words, he was working through the magazine bang.....bang...bang and then bangbang......bang. He says we was...

When I got my Kubota L4400 10 or so years ago the hairpin/cotter pins that secured the pins that hold the lower lift arms in place were different from the typical pins: On the OEM ones the straight part of the pin was longer. In other words it stuck out farther than the edge of the top leg...

I need a decent, small, tough, bright flashlight. All of mine are either cheap or lost. I know you can spend a whole lot of money on flashlights these days. A friend has a fairly small one (smaller than a c-cell Mag-Lite) that easily illuminates 300 yards. It cost hundreds of dollars. I don't...

I know this question has been asked a million times but what is the cheapest way to hook a ball hitch to a tractor. I have a new 19' flatbed trailer that takes up a bay in my tractor shed. Sometimes I need to get it out/ put it back (tight fit) and doing it with the truck is a pain, especially...

For years I've been using one of those typical air compressor chucks with the white post that slides in and out to show you the pressure reading. The one I have has always had two problems. It has always been a little leaky and the pressure range that it reads out is like 0-200 psi. This means...

I have a 2003 F150 which I use tow a 19' flatbed trailer. The female 7 pin plug assembly is attached to the bottom of the bumper with a metal bracket that hangs down below the bumper. Recently this assembly has been damaged twice because of its location. I would like to put it in the bumper...

I've got a 19' flatbed trailer that I use to tow my car (3300#) to the track and occasionally tow my tractor (4800#). For the car I have been using tow straps front and back. The straps in the front are a pain to use because of short length and low clearance. I see a number of guys using fixed...

I hesitated to post this here because it seems like a silly problem but it is getting to be a real problem. And while it is a funny subject I'm looking for real advice if there is any. My new dog is horribly gassy. He is an 8 month old Lab. From the day we got him home at 8 weeks he made more...

2009 Infiniti G37 coupe, 35K miles. Battery dead this morning. It is warm here. Battery is a year old. Will turn the starter over once or twice but no start. Battery has water in it. Moderate corrosion around terminals. Notice that terminal clamps are loose on terminals but are as tight as they...

I have a 12 year old Kubota L4400. I'm pretty familiar with every inch of this tractor. Yesterday I had to replace the fuel gauge sending unit in the fuel tank. An easy job. I open the hood as usual. No problem. When I go to close the hood, the hole in the hood that surrounds the fuel tank...

Got to vent here. Yesterday was a work/repair day for me. I changed a torn tie rod dust boot on my Kubota. Replaced the fuel sending unit in the fuel tank. Etc etc. All of that is to say that I can do a few mechanical things. I'm a competent mechanic within my knowledge base. But the next job...

Oh, the real source of the problem? The zerk fitting. It is so small and so short I could never get the grease gun on it. Ridiculous placement if you ask me. I'm going to try to find a longer one or one that is angled.

I've got a 6' John Deere light duty rotary cutter. It is at least 15 years old (I bought it used over 10 years ago). The zerk fitting for the tail wheel axle/bushing is situated where I could never get a grease gun on it. So it never got lubed. Lately, surprise, surprise, it has been squealing a...

I've got a 2003 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4x4. I love it and I hate it. It only has 130k miles on it but the typical things are starting to go wrong. Right now I'm hearing and sort of feeling a clunking noise coming from the front end but only when I'm turning. Still drives and handles normally (like...

We signed a contract with a forester 2 years ago to have about 175 acres of pines thinned. Really nice guy. He came with a recommendation from locals. Our property is hilly with lots of deep ravines, especially on the back half. He told me right off the bat that the loggers would not like...

This is what it looked like a few years ago. Now the upper part just looks like lawn.

I found some pictures of part of the clearing job I did with just my FEL and a box blade. You can see what it looked like on either side of the cleared area. Most 4-6 inch trees at the base. A few 8-10.

I have a Kubota L4400 (45hp). I have a JD light duty 6' rotary mower. I mow woods roads and a number of small pastures with it. I also mow the 'yard' around my cabin. The cabin 'yard' started as woods. I cleared it and graded it (sort of) 10 years ago. For most of that time it was more like a...

Has anyone looked at or used one of these? They come in wagon or trailer form. You can add a hydraulic piston. http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200311039_200311039

Here's an update. We decided to do the shelves ourselves. We used 3/4" "cabinet grade" plywood from one of the big box stores. I used pine trim of decent quality. My wife insisted on adjustable shelves so we used metal rail shelf standards the same color as the paint. Her father had a bunch of...

I posted a while back about building some shelving for my wife's dressing room/closet in regard to what material to use. I have decided to use cabinet grade plywood. I have read some reviews about some cabinet grade plywood that say certain circular saw/table saw blades cause splintering of the...

I've got a 2003 F150 XLT. The brakes have never been what I'd call great. They are adequate. I drove my son-in-law's 2012 F150 the other day and the brakes are far superior. The tires are too big for the truck and that does not help either. They are reaching the end and will be replaced in the...

Recently got my 19', 8000 pound, steel deck trailer from Kaufman primarily to haul my track car and my tractor. But I love getting multiple uses from things so I made a box out of 2x6s to fit in the stake pockets and used some cheap OSB to protect the deck and filled it with sand out of my creek...

Got a new trailer. 8000# 19' flatbed. Tires came from dealer at 80 psi which is the maximum pressure for the tires. I'll be hauling a 3500# car. The little owner's manual for the trailer says keep the pressure at maximum for the tire. Does that sound right? I've never owned my own trailer and do...

I posted a thread a while back about good garden hoses. After going through several other "good" garden hoses, one of which I immediately threw in the trash, I finally buckled down and bought a contractor grade hose from Continental Tire. I'll be ordering another one as well as it is a very good...

I've been wearing ear buds under a simple earphone style hearing protector while mowing for long periods. I find I'm turning the music up so much to over the noise of the tractor that I'm probably damaging my ears as much with the music as I am the tractor noise. Has anyone tried noise...

I just got a new trailer, 19' flatbed from Kaufman Trailer in Lexington, NC. It came with 4,000 pound quick-lube axles. I have the manual for the axles but do not remember the name of the manufacturer. I'd never heard of them. The manual says to inspect and repack bearings every year or 12k...

My wife wants a trellis gate on the side of our house leading into the back yard. A simplified version like the one pictured below (but without the column cap molding). It will have a gate in the middle and will need to be about 6 feet wide. It will be painted white. Posts will be 4x4 held in...

This is an add-on to my recent post about trailer storage. I'll be leaving my trailer in my tractor shed down on my property about an hour from home. In 10 years or so we have never had a theft because we are way off the highway in the middle of nowhere, but there have been major thefts from one...

Well, I got my trailer. Below is a picture. I was not sure I'd be able to get the tractor, FEL and mower on this trailer but it looks like there is room. However, it looks to me like the tractor is a little too far forward, especially if the FEL was attached.

I'm in the market for a miter saw. I have a variety of projects coming up that will make one very very handy but I don't really know what I need. I'll be facing some exterior deck stairs (risers), building a trellis and a small picket fence, probably building some interior, simple book shelves...

I'm planning on getting one of these for tire changes, etc. I might even get two and leave the trailer parked up on them to keep it out of the dirt. Probably a little better than a left over piece of treated lumber.

This weekend I am purchasing a new 19' 8k# gvwr, open, flat bed, car/tractor hauler. It will be used mostly to haul my car to the track, occasional use for other projects and rarely to haul my tractor. I'm guessing it will get used maybe 5 or 6 times a year. The rest of that time it will be...

We have a tiny bedroom adjoining our regular bedroom that my wife wants to convert into a dressing room. She wants a couple of built-in shelf units to do this. We got several estimates from professionals but they were all more than we wanted to spend except for one who did not show up for the...

Finally someone got my Green Acres reference. My wife wants me to build a gazebo out in the yard so we can use the phone. She wants to call it the Verizon Pavilion.

Anyone have experience with a cell phone signal booster? The cell phone reception at my cabin (Verizon) has gotten worse over the last 5 years. Texts arrive hours late. Calls dropped. Internet access almost zero. We can go outside about 20 feet from the cabin and get good enough reception. So...

Need advice on a basement dehumidifier. It is a mostly unfinished basement, 85 year old house, probably 900-1000 sq ft, concrete floors. It leaks. Water oozes in from the foundation walls but only with heavy rains. No sump at this time because there is not a single low spot to accommodate one...

I finally got around to mounting a pair of cheap lights to my roll bar. My Kubota L4400 comes prewired for work lights on the fender so I just tied into those. They work great but with two problems. 1. They come on when the ignition is turned on and are not controlled by the headlight switch. 2...

My old truck is starting to show its age. It has 124k miles on it. 5.4 V8, 4x4 Supercrew. For about a year it has some symptoms which I think are due to the transmission but they are intermittent and hard to pin down. It is almost a surging, shuddering sensation but it does not change gears. No...

I have a heavy gauge, 100 foot outdoor extension cord that spent a year sitting outside while I built my log cabin 10 years ago. It ran from the temp power pole to the work site. During that time rats chewed holes in it in about 20 places. They only chewed through the exterior covering and not...

Pics:

I had my grandmother's house remodeled about 4 years ago. We added a screen porch on the back with stairs leading down to the back yard. The stairs have 4 treated lumber stringers. The treads are made of Trex. The risers are faced with Hardi-plank. I noticed the other day that the outside...

Well, I got the tombstone done. Used a Dremel tool and a couple of drills with some tungsten carbide grinding bits straight out of China. The whole box of them cost less than one Dremel brand bit. They worked perfectly. The rock was actually quite hard in places and this took about 3 hours. I...

This is one of the last pictures I took of him. It was just before my daughter's wedding. He was never handsome but even from the picture you can tell how sweet he was. He was the calmest, sweetest dog I've ever known.

And this is Dash:

I had to let go of my best buddy of 14 years the other day and I'm still grieving like a pagan. He was an ugly Labrador Retriever named Dash, after John James Audubon's retriever. He may not have been the best dog in all of history (he was) but he was definitely the best dog for me. Its only...

Looking for advice on a good quality garden hose. Have paid 'extra' for better looking garden hoses that end up being as bad or worse than the cheap junk. Nothing makes me madder than paying more for something that is no better than the cheap stuff. What am I looking for? First, good fittings...

I have a like new Echo chainsaw that I inherited from my Dad. It probably hasn't been used more than 10 times and never any heavy work. Original chain is still very sharp. It is not a bad little saw and has worked flawlessly every time. To crank it you turn the off/on switch to 'on', open the...

Helping my daughter and future son-in-law remodel the bathroom in his 50's era house before they get married and move in. I have a day or two off. I need to connect 1/2 galvanized pipe to PEX. There is a brass threaded male end with a PEX nipple. Is it okay to use brass in galvanized? If so...

My daughter's fiancé was cleaning out an old barn of his and found this stick. His father said it was for estimating pulp wood or something like that. It has a knob-like handle on one end and a brass 'T' at the other. On the edges there are inch markings. On the flat sides there is a series of 4...

A good while back I posted problems with the toilet in my log cabin that I built ten years ago. I did all the plumbing myself. It took forever to figure out the problem but it ended up that the Studor vent on the vent stack in the attic had stuck closed and there was effectively no vent. Fixed...

I live right down town in a small city. Have too many squirrels. They're driving me crazy. Can't shoot them in the front yard......too many strange looks from passers by. Neighbors don't really care. But I can shoot them in the back yard. I've got an old Benjamin pellet rifle with a peep sight...

I saw the plow pictured below at the local tractor dealership. Plaque on the vertical strut says "Ferguson" I couldn't read the other numbers on the plaque. Price is marked $295. Front coulter is new. One moldboard has "Ford" stamped on the back. The other has a diamond with some initials in it...

Started to do some mowing this weekend and heard a bang under the hood and noticed my fuel and water temp gauges were not functioning and no dash lights came on. The bang was the HUGE rat getting whacked by the fan. I looked under the hood to find a giant rat's nest on top of the engine and my...

My wife and I just completed a little 8' x 18' deck on the back of our log cabin. The decking is 2x6 treated limber. The yellow stuff. It is not covered and will get sun in summer, almost none in winter. Our front porch, which is 11 years old is also made of treated 2x6 limber and it has been...

I know there are lots of grapple threads but I just need a few basic pointers. I'm having about 110 acres thinned for the first time. I'm expecting them to make a huge mess. With the proceeds (and possible tax write-off) I'm thinking about getting a grapple for clean up. I have spent a few...

I know the old tractors with the belt wheel on the side were used to drive saw mills, but why nothing now for modern tractors? (Maybe there is but I did a quick Google search and came up with nothing.) It seems to me that a large part of the price of a small portable saw mill is the engine. I'm...

I bought an angle grinder a number of years ago. It is a good quality Dewalt. I bought it to shape up my rotary cutter blades and it does a fine job. On a couple of occasions I have replaced the grinding disk with a cutting disk to cut metal with. It seems like it was a generic Dewalt...

When I need to work on my mower I lean it against a tree with the front end loader. Very stable and easier to work standing up. I once mowed over the nylon bow rope of my old and very heavy aluminum john boat that was sitting in deep grass. Before I could reach the PTO leaver that boat was...

I live in an 85 year old brick house. It was last painted about 10 years ago (before I bought it) and the painters did a spectacularly bad job (which was evident immediately after it was done). It is mostly trim and window work except for a front portico with 4 square columns and a large front...

My wife and I have been through two expensive conventional mattresses in the last twelve years, both of them high end, and both of them have been uncomfortable for most of their life span. So we are looking at Tempurpedic type foam mattresses. We have a good many friends and relatives who own...

All I know is that the unit sits in the basement and that the furnace part runs on natural gas. There is a fan unit outside. It produces condensate in the winter and in the summer but much more in the summer. I can tell when the condensate pump fails because it overflows onto the basement...

My son (23 years old) has been in Iowa for a couple of years now. Works in a Fleet Farm store. Up until now he has been lucky and his 14 year old Nissan Maxima has started for him. Yesterday it did not and he missed work. As far as I know he has never done anything to winterize the car and even...

I have a Colt 1911 made in the 1950s. The grips on it are cheesy looking plastic. I found some scrap walnut in the basement and I have made a set of grips for it. I've got them fitted. Still have some slimming down to do and final sanding. The wood is very pretty but I have no idea how to finish...

There is some merit to that advice. On the other hand, it rained all weekend. Sometimes if you want to drive, you drive in the wet. It is hard and it is risky but it can be rewarding and fun. I know folks who don't drive at all in the rain. I might be one of them now.:rolleyes: Not whining...

I know there are a lot of variables in this equation, including pulp wood prices (probably low), tree density, tree size, etc. But, I've got about 120 acres of planted pines pushing 15 years old. We had the state forester do a free assessment 4 years ago and according to him, it will be time for...

I've gone down the typical path of hitting forty and losing my near vision. Did readers for years. Now losing distance as well. Went to eye doctor last yer and got progressive glasses. Took me a while to get used to them and then for a while they were so much better than readers hanging around...

I have a couple of guns I'd like to sell and I have no idea how to go about it properly. I have never sold a gun before. I would like to know what I need to do to make it legal if I sell to another individual, which I would prefer to do, but I am also curious about which internet sites are best...

Here is an update to an old thread about my peep sight fetish. Deer season has been in for three weeks and I've only been a few times. Not seeing any decent bucks but this guy walked out Friday afternoon. I let him get to about 30 yards and put a round behind his ear. He want down like a sack of...

Check engine light came on in my daughter's 2003 Ford Ranger. I told her to take it to AutoZone so they could scan it and get the code. My wife went with her. (And yes, before anyone pipes up, all of this is my fault for sending those two and not going myself, and yes, I realize that one cannot...

My son lives in Iowa....1000 miles from me. He has a 2000 Nissan Maxima (only 100k or so miles) that is throwing CEL codes that indicate misfires due to a bad coil. This has happened before and usually the coil gets replaced and the CEL goes off. Six months later the light comes on again, same...

Tomorrow is our 25th wedding anniversary and my wife has wanted a fountain for our back yard so I think I am going to get it for her. This is a pretty large fountain. We have had smaller concrete fountains and bird baths and I have been suprised how quickly they crack, leak and then fall apart...

My wife said one of the companies that makes the boots guarantee that the dog can't get them off. But we have encountered very few toys and such that Dash wouldn't gnaw through, but it might be worth a try. And yes, I have carried him up the stairs before when he was wobbly or slipping. He...

My labrador retriever, Dash, is eleven years old and starting to have problems with arthritis, particularly his hips. He also had a back injury a few years ago and his back legs are weak. He lives indoors with us. He is still happy and active but he is having increasing difficulty getting up...

Some of the rocks came from an old house site and had clearly been the foundation for the old house because most of them are flat and/or rectangular. Those were easy pickings as they were right near our cabin. We used a good many of those for a wall on either side of the cabin but there were a...

Here is an update for an old thread. We've taken a different direction. Decided that first hill is really too much of a challenge at nearly 6'. Also decided we were not willing to spend the money on a professional job. We also decided that we weren't ready to spend the money on man made stone...

Okay, got the back off and found the fuse, no problem. But, I cannot figure out how to get this fuse out! It looks just like the old car fuses used to except this one is ceramic instead of glass. Those were just held in with a metal clip. This one appears to have a cap on either end. Wires come...

We had a lightening strike near our house yesterday. If flipped the breaker in the TV room. We had the TV (40" Sony Bravia), Sony DVD player/entertainment unit (cheap), Apple TV box ($100) and DirecTV box all on the same outlet using a cheap power strip. When I flipped the breaker back on the...

Yesterday I tried to take my tractor into the creek to knock down a beaver dam. Knocked it down by hand last time and it about killed me. The water was relatively shallow (less than hub high) with a firm sandy bottom. Started in very slowly at a slight incline into the water and the "firm sandy"...

I have hunted with rifles all of my life. All in the woods. Rarely have ever taken a shot much over 100 yards. Longest shot ever may have been 175 yards at most. Other than shooting at game I have never been interested in shooting just for fun. But like many people, I have gotten interested in...

I have galvanized pipe running from the city's meter box into my house. When the city was doing some sewage line repairs they hit my supply line. They fixed the part they hit but commented that the galvanized pipe looked bad and probably needed to be replaced. Well, there is no evidence that it...

My HVAC system is in my basement so it has a small sump type pump that sits next to it that pumps condensation out. Well, the little pump unit failed the summer before last and overflowed. So I bought a new one and it worked fine. A few days ago I was down in the basement and the dang thing was...

Well, I got a little bonus on my paycheck from last quarter. Did a little research and bought this: It got better reviews than everything but Matco and Snap-On. I usually like DeWalt and Bosch power tools but this got better reviews than the various DeWalt models. It was very difficult to...

Well, I had to do the job today and since I could not decide which way to go I went the super cheap route: With the currently available power source it will rarely over torque a lug nut. It requires no electricity or battery power. It does run out of air pretty fast but it cycles back again...

I need an impact wrench to remove lug nuts. A good cordless 1/2" one would be ideal but run $250-$300. (I want one for various reasons and plan to get one but it just isn't in the budget right now.) A good corded one would be about $150+. An air tool impact wrench can be got for about $75. I...

I am having a great deal of trouble typing this post because I am wearing my new so-expensive-that-I'm-not-willing-to-tell-how-much-they-cost glasses. This is my first ever pair of prescription glasses. I'm 49. Reading has deteriorated over the years as to be expected. Right eye much worse then...

Here is some follow-up. Below is the target from about two weeks ago. Shots 6 and 7 were made yesterday. Summary: Gun completely pulled apart (stock, rings, bases), cleaned, bore cleaner, etc etc. Put in new stock, bases and rings snugged down with loctite. Adequate cooling time between all...

Scotty, my gun vice is a piece of junk. Good for boresighting, mounting scopes and that's about it. Eddie, I generally consider myself to be a nearly average shot at best. But, with a decent bench rest, good hearing protection and a folded towel as a sissy bag I can shoot groups that are less...

My daughter got this guy early in the season. 185 pounds, which is considerd pretty big around here; 18" spread. We were sitting on the ground against my favorite tree. Five does had been blowing at us and stomping around for 15 minutes just before he came down the hill.

Brief preface for those who don't know me: hunted all my life but never been into guns per se. Killed a good many deer. My Dad always did or helped me with the sighting in. He gave me almost every gun I have. He also bought all my ammo, but I never used much. Well, Dad's got Alzheimers and I've...

This is a 7mm-08, Remington case. Bullet type is unmarked and unknown. I do not think it is a reload so probably something standard from Remington but it is different in appearance from all the other Soft Point Cor-Lokt bullets I have. The main thing I want to know is if it is a big game bullet...

I have a problem, and maybe an interesting story too. Here goes: My 19 year old daughter has been deer hunting with me the last few years and we've had good success...a couple of small bucks and 4 really nice 8 pointers in three years. I've loved every minute of it. She shoots a petite little...

Got the Lyman 57 sight on Thursday. Pulled the action out of the stock to mount the sight. Found that the holes in the sight did not line up perfectly with the ones in the receiver but was finally able to get it on tight. Yesterday went down to my cabin to sight it in along with several other...

We have a lot of coyotes here. And there seems to be a lot of coyote mythology out there. Latest rumor here is a story about a guy leaving his deer stand in the dark being followed by a pack of coyotes that kept coming back even after he shot at them. Plenty of farmers claim that the coyotes...

I've deer hunted all my life. Killed lots of deer. Don't hunt as much as I used too. And when I do I don't shoot unless it is real big. Mostly I go with my daughter. She got this one a few weeks ago with me sitting right next to her at the base of a tree (185 pounds, 19" spread....proud Dad)...

I think I said at the beginning of this thread (I'm the OP) that I had no plans to get obssessed about cars. I was wrong. The red G35 coupe was burning oil so I got rid of it and purchased an untampered with 350z with 55k miles on it. I've had it on the track 6 times in the last year and I just...

Thanks guys. I think I will put the 30-06 and the 308 an inch high at 100 and the 358 dead on at 100. It would be a rare occasion that I shot the 358 past 100. Storm56, I have about 100 rounds of factory Winchester 200gr Sliver Tips and another 100 rounds that my Dad's buddy reloaded for him...

I've hunted deer (and other stuff) since I was 8. And I've killed a lot of deer, most of them with rifles. But I'm not a gun guy. I like them but I'm not into them. I have a few deer rifles. They were sighted in many years ago. I check them each year and they are still dead on. My Dad was a gun...

Thanks guys. Slash pine, the boar I was referring to was not feral. He was clearly from wild stock. Long, thick black hair. Big tusks, etc: The little sow was feral. In other words she looked like a little gray domestic pig. Robert, you may be right. Even the little sow, which was nice and...

I've got wild pigs on my place. A lot of them. I killed a 250# boar a few years ago. He did not look feral (he looked Russian) and was probably released by someone as hunting stock. He was rank and I did not keep him (gave him away to a local fellow). But, a few weeks ago I killed a little 50#...

Going through my Dad's stuff I have come across some gun catalogs from the 1960s and 1970s. Mostly Winchester and Remington. A few Savage. Condition varies from okay to very good. Is there a market for this type of thing? Do people want this stuff? Or is it trash? Any thoughts appreciated. I...

S&W stainless .357 magnum. I'm sure it has muzzle rise too but I don't seem to notice it as much. Not sure why, maybe its that you're having to pull the trigger so hard for the next shot. I mean, it kicks, but I just don't recall the barrel climbing so much. Agreed. I think I will stick with...

I was recently given an almost new Colt 45 automatic 1911 Government model. By its serial number it looks like it was made in the 1950s. I hunt and I have a fair number of guns but I'm not really a gun guy. It looks like it might be worth around $1000. I do not get the impression from reading on...

I've been a hunter as long as I can remember but I'm not all that interested in guns. I have the guns I need and don't really want any more. Which is to say I'm not a gun guy. My Dad was a gun guy. He has severe Alzheimers now though so I can't consult him any more. My mom is ready to have his...

Just got back from a week at the beach and my house is completely infested with fleas. We have a dog, and we use FrontLine. He had a few fleas. He got a flea bath, flea spray, and then gave him Comfortis. Before we left for the beach he was flea free. He went with us to the beach and we saw no...

I recently got a GoPro video camera for my daughter to wear in her equestrian eventing an in my car at the track. This weekend I played around with it while prepping my corn plot. Nothing exiting but maybe entertaining for really bored tractor geeks like me. The second link is a video of my...

I have a cabin in the country and up until recently I was there about every other weekend. Lately I have no been able to get down there very often and we have been over run by mice. We see them when we open the door and we can see where they have been.......which is everywhere and I mean...

I'm 48 and my near vision has tanked. I keep reading glasses all over the house, in my car, in the bathroom, etc. Most folks over 40 know what I'm talking about. And yes, that's frustrating enough. But what is killing me is doing mechanical/shop work. Any time I have to lean over, or look...

Several years ago I had pretty much stopped deer hunting even though I'd been doing it all my life. First with my Dad, then with my son. Well, Dad has Alzheimers now and my son has lost interest and I've killed plenty of deer so I went maybe once or twice a year even though I was on the property...

My mother has a little Ford Ranger that sits in her garage and gets driven maybe once every three or four months. The battery, which is only a year old, is often dead. I can jump it and drive it a bit and get it charged back up but then a few months later and its dead again. So I bought this...

I've driven 4x4 trucks all of my life. In fact, up until recently I have never had anything, in 30 plus years of driving, but a 4x4 as my primary vehicle/ daily driver. Well, a year or so ago I got my wife a used Infiniti G35x sedan (also 4wd :p). Compared to our previous average sedans or...

I recently moved into my grandmother's house in town. The back yard is long and narrow and has three terraces. The top terrace is the largest and is probably 4 feet higher than the top of the one below it, the next one is maybe 2-3 feet high. The bottom one is pretty much just a small slope...

Well, I've moved from a 1 acre lot in the burbs into our old family home downtown. In the back yard there is an enormous magnolia tree. For whatever reason the mosquitoes seem to breed and thrive under this magnolia and the back yard is almost unusable in the summer. Its worse than my wooded lot...

First, despite years of education in other matters, I am a total moron when it comes to electricity and I need some help. I have a 120 x 120 foot plot of sweetcorn. The last two years it has been wiped out by lack of rain and deer. I can't do much about the rain and all the home remedies have...

I'm having my 80 year old home remodeled. Almost complete. Will finish on time and on budget. Very satisfied with my contractor: expensive but worth it. He only does one job at a time. The cost for interior painting blew my mind but every inch, walls, ceilings, windows, molding, stair rails...

I have a number of old cast iron skillets and dutch ovens sitting around my cabin. They were owned by my wifes grandmother but have been in disuse for decades and outdoors most of that time. There is one huge skillet and one dutch oven that would actually be very useful on a grill, campfire or...

I've got a cheap old two bottom plow and yesterday I got it out to turn over my corn plot. I have no idea why, but I love plowing. I could do it all day. The ground was perfect and turned over neatly. And, to make things even better, when I threw it on the three point hitch it was perfectly...

I am currently living full time in my log cabin while my home in town is being rennovated. I'm enjoying country living. I'm handling the commute (40 minutes) okay. I'm handling the long muddy driveway okay. I'm dealing with not having TV or internet. I'm getting by with three of us in one tiny...

I was changeing implements yesterday and got to thinking about how ingenious the three point hitch is and all the things it has to do in terms of strength, geometry, lifting, keeping implements away from rear tires, etc. It seems like a simple thing but it is deceptively complicated. I began...

I need some advice on planting corn. I've planted three times. The first year was perfect. I planted about 6 rows, about 40 ft long. Got well over 300 ears of delicious silver queen. The following two years were disasters. Planted a lot more. Got a lot less. About a couple dozen the second year...

I had 5-6 acres of good sized pines thinned on my property recently. They did a good job, did not mess up my roads or anything. But, one of my woods roads (about 300-400 yards long) that I use a lot was pretty much buried in branches, pines tops, etc. It would have taken forever to clean up...

This is a car question but I'm asking this question here because I know you guys will know the answer. I have a high mileage used car (06 Infiniti coupe, 77k miles) with a tapping sound in the engine. I think it is normal and I'm pretty sure it isn't a valve tapping. However, a good many...

I am moving into my grandmother's house. It is over 80 years old. My dad was born and grew up in it. We are going to have extensive renovations done since it is basically unchanged in 80 years except for AC downstairs. Anyway, we are going to live in the house for the two months of planning...

I live in a 30 year old house on a septic tank and just started having a strange problem when I flush the upstairs toilet. As the flush is almost complete, even after the flapper has closed I get a deep, gurgling, drumming noise that comes from the shower drain. It lasts for several seconds and...

After 5 years of underpowered window units and pain in the rear kerosene heaters I finally had central heat and air installed in my cabin. Of course it has zero insulation underneath or in the attic space and I guess I need to do it. I have no idea what I need or how to do it. I would...

What do you guys think about these aftermarket air intake systems for trucks and cars? K&N advertises them heavily but there are lots of manufacturers. They make widely varying claims about horsepower gains. I'm skeptical and the things are quite expensive. My gut feeling is that they are...

I've noticed that my hydraulic fluid might be a little low on my Kubota L4400. Start Rant The reason I say "might be" is that the only way to check it is through one of those stupid site windows on the back. There is not a level spot on my property so checking it can be hard. If the tractor is...

This weekend I was down at my cabin. I turkey hunted Saturday morning, had no luck and came back to the cabin to relax. It was about 10 am (I should have still been in the woods but there was no gobbling) and I heard a truck pull up which is not unusual. We have lots of friends and relatives...

I have a 2003 Nissan Murano with 130k miles on it. Now the check engine light is on and the dealer says the catalytic converter is 'bad' and needs to be replaced. At $1200. It runs fine. Get a little more smoke than usual when it starts and starts aren't as brisk as when it was new, but...

I've got a 10 year old push mower. Its a 6.5 hp B&S 'Inteck' engine that has 2 valves. (Valves on a lawn mower engine! :mad: ...rant to follow). It has seen light duty at best. Anyway, my daughter was mowing the front yard and noticed grass was building up under the mower deck. (Grass was...

I have a log cabin that needs to be re-stained. Should have been done about 2 years ago. Anyway, the first time we brushed it and rolled it. Took a long time and just about killed us. Subsequent coatings can be sprayed on and I think I'll go that route this time. From what I've heard, the...

The last two times I planted corn, which are the only two times I've ever planted corn, I planted around the third week of April. Its going to be 84 degrees on Friday. Wondering if I should go ahead and plant early this year. I know some other folks around here who plant earlier than I have in...

I see a lot of pickup trucks with dual exhaust, even new ones. I understand the underlying principle behind dual exhaust. Improved exhaust flow, improved intake yada yada yada. And they sound cool too. But, does it really make that much performance difference in modern computer controlled, fuel...

I have a place in the country with a fairly long driveway that is always muddy and messy when wet and bumpy and rough when dry. Constantly having gravel hauled in is cost prohibitive. However, I have a creek bottom on my place that is dry in the summer and loaded with an endless supply of...

Friday night it began snowing here in Rock Hill, SC. We usually get a snow or two every winter but south of here where my cabin is, we rarely get a good snow. We called my sister-in-law who lives on a farm next to our cabin and she said they were getting a good bit of accumulation. that night...

I've never been much of a whiskey drinker. Always liked gin and tonic, beer, wine, etc. Then a few years ago I discovered..... maybe even invented, Jack Daniel's in Blenheim's ginger ale. It's just fantastic. So from there I developed a taste for JD just in water (whenever I would run out of...

I have brick steps in my garage. Several bricks have broken loose and need to be repaired. I've cleaned off the old mortar. What do I use for mortar? .....I know, mortar, dummy. But I don't know anything about mortar. What exactly do I need to get from the home store? Are there different...

I modified my three 5 gallon ventless diesel cans. They have a tire valve that I can open and they flow pretty well. However, my kerosene can (blue) is newer and came with the newer safer (:rolleyes:) spout where you have to pull a little switch AND press down on a lever to get the thing to...

I have a log cabin without central heat or air and with no fireplace. Since we built it we've used one of those can shaped kerosene heaters and several of those electric oil radiator type heaters and this combo has worked well. The kerosene heater puts out a ton of heat. But, last night it went...

My F-150 has a basic 4 wire flat trailer wiring connector. I need to pull a two horse trailer that has electronic brakes. I've pulled larger loads (my tractor on a flatbed trailer with no brakes) and it does just fine but I would like take advantage of the trailer brakes on the horse trailer. I...

This is mostly just a rant but it comes with a question attached. We are going to be selling our house soon. When we bought it, there was a trash compactor in the kitchen. It broke within weeks of moving in and it has just sat there useless for the last 12 years. We figured we better replace...

I respect the advice I get here on TBN on a wide variety of topics. This is way out in left field but let's say this is a hypothetical situation, a friend in need of advice, etc. Here's the set up: Eighteen year old boy goes off to college about 2 hours from his parents. Its a small liberal...

The tires on my F150 are getting worn out and its time to get new ones. You guys know I'm a cheap son-of-a-gun and I don't want to pay a bunch of money and I don't mind buying off-brand tires. I only put about 10k miles a year on this truck. I'm looking for mud type tires but an aggressive...

I did my 200 hour basic maintenance this weekend. Here are a few random thoughts. 1.) Oil and filter change always very easy. No problems. 2.) Manual calls for replacing hydraulic fluid filter but not the hydraulic fluid. Changed it at 50 hours and due again at 400. I'm not complaining since...

My 7 year old Lab started limping with his front left leg Sunday afternoon. He had not had any injury that we could tell. It got worse Sunday night and he was stumbling a little bit and obviously in a lot of pain. Monday morning he was about the same and my wife took him to the vet. At the vet's...