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I haven't had to take wheels off my BX2230 very often, but when I did, I always cursed the damn wheel bolts. They are a real PIA to get back on, even after I made a couple of alignment studs. A while back, I replaced the front wheel bolts with 7/16"-20 studs and nuts, and the one time I have had...

Seems GM's 6.2 liter engines built between 2021 and 2024 have been throwing rods. Well, that's not good! https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64611938/chevy-silverado-tahoe-cadillac-escalade-defective-v8-recall/

When working on various auto accessories, I needed an easy to use 12 volt power source for testing purposes. So, I bought an adapter off Amazon that attached to Dewalt 12 volt battery packs, and 3D printed a small box that attached to it, with 4mm banana plug sockets installed. Now, I can attach...

Ever since I bought my20 ton shop press back in the 80s, I wished it had a winch to raise and lower the bed, but never got around to doing it. So a month or so ago I was at the local Runnings store (Think Tractor Supply, only bigger) and saw a boat winch that I thought would do the job. I also...

Recently I bought a 2019 Suburban Premier, and one of the options it hasit the Max Towing package. From the beginning I thought the ride was on the rough side, but I figured it was the the air suspension/ shocks. One day I stopped at the local Chevy dealer and asked about it and they looked up...

I have an '06 F150 and an '04 Town Car, and am seriously replacing them with a '15-'19 Tahoe. I rarely drive the Town Car, and don't have to haul truck parts and tires around since the trucks are gone. The Tahoe would allow me to take up to five passengers, would be comfortable on trips, get...

I hate using 5 or 6 gallon diesle fuel containers to fuel my JD and Kubota tractors, so I've been looking for a 15 or 20 gallons barrel to make a portable fuel caddy. I mentioned it to a friend, and he gave me a plastic 15 gallon barrel that he had no use for. I rinsed it put with water, then...

For quite a while, when working on something while sitting on a roll around mechanics seat, I have wanted a small caddy or cart that is only two feet high to hold tools and/or parts. I have never been able to find any commercially made cart like this, so I decided to make my own. A couple of...

I bought a Dewalt 12 volt 3/8" impact a few months ago, and Saturday while I was working on my Nova it fell to the floor and broke the latch on the 5AH battery pack. I tried to fix it with epoxy, but it wouldn't adhere to the latch plastic. So this afternoon I tried to find a replacement latch...

Every time I have to remove and remount a tire/sheel on the front of my BX I curse them for using bolts instead of studs. So, I bought a 12" piece of 9/16" X18 threaded rod and lug nuts to replace them. I cut the rod into eight 1 1/2" long pieces and cleaned up the threads on the ends and made...

I saw a couple of items on Amazon that were knobs/extensions to attach to the valve on a hydraulic jack that obviate the need to use a slotted handle or such to tighten and loosen the valve, and Saturday I made my own with a knob I had in my collection, a piece of 3/4" bar stock and a little...

Since I am setting here with a thunder storm in progress, that though came to mind. Here's the answer, really logical now that it's explained. Weather Facts: Why Thunder Rumbles | weatheronline.co.uk

I noticed soon after I bought my BX that there was an 1/8" male threaded fitting on the air filter housing, and I wondered about connecting a restriction gauge to monitor the health of the air filter. I have a restriction filter on my Yanmar powered genset, but finding a place to mount one on...

Soon after I bought my BX about 4 years ago, the ignition switch started acting up and wouldn't send power to the started solenoid. I bought a replacement off Amazon, and it worked fine until last year when the key could be removed in the run position. I didn't think too much about it, but last...

A guy has a Youtube channel called Wrenching With Kenny. He recently told a story about when he ran a full service gas station and repair shop about a man that came in, asked for a fill-up. As was his routine, Kenny asked if he should check the oil, man said sure. He popped the hood, pulls out...

I've been enduring lower back pain, shooting pains in my legs and increasing numbness in my legs for a few years, and in a week I'm going in for a two level spinal fusion of L3, L4 and L5. I'm not looking forward to the surgery and recovery, but was told by the neurosurgeon that if I didn't get...

Southwest Airlines came up with a novel idea so all the lost luggage could be used for a piece of terminal art.

I spent a while this afternoon measuring the 54" JD blade attachment and the front of the BX frame to see how I could fabricate a mount. Drew up a cardboard template to check for fitment, and made a sketch, then this evening I used TinkerCad to draw the mount as it should look. With this mount...

Today was warm but VERY windy, so I decided to do the annual end of mowing season service on my BX. Drained the oil, changed the oil filter, air filter and the fuel filter on the engine. After the oil had drained, I installed a quick drain valve, which should eliminate a lot of the oil mess when...

For me, it would be Carl Sagan.

So, do you think the next try will see the Artemis finally get launched? I hope so, NASA needs to catch a break.

My neighbor has a Poulan 2055 chainsaw that he can't get to run. So, I told him to bring it over and I'd have a look at it. The fuel lines were bad, so I replaced all the lines and the filter and put in fresh 2 cycle mixed gas. It ran for maybe 10 seconds and died like it ran out of gas and...

Installed a set of Oregon Gator blades on my BX. I also leveled the deck, it was 1/2" high on the right side, greased all the spindles, idler pulley, center pivot, gauge wheels, and checked the oil in the gearbox. It's good to go for the rest of the season, if we get enough rain to make the...

WARNING!! This is a man’s workshop. Be forewarned that females or those with delicate sensibilities may be offended or shocked by behaviors exhibited by male occupants within, and hereby forfeit any legal remedy for physical, emotional or mental injuries received within this structure...

Saw this video of a shop in Pakistan I believe, that repairs a broken differential pinion. I can't imagine that the weld repair is any where as strong as the original metal. In addition, the heat from the welding has to have weakened the original metal. I would have liked to see how much runout...

My niece called a couple of weeks ago and said the mower on her 125 quit working. I picked it up and brought it back to my shop and had a look. The idler pulley bracket area of the deck had rusted enough to let the bracket rip out of the metal. I pulled the deck off and attempted to weld a...

I guess if you're you're going to dig a grave, you might want to use a backhoe. South Carolina man dies of heart attack while burying body of woman he killed

A friend asked if I could repair his mower deck, it had rusted and one of the idler pulley mounts tore loose. I said I'd give it a try. Didn't look too bad, someone had attempted to fix it a couple of years ago, and that repair had failed because of more of the area had rusted out. I cut out...

Since the UFO thread got closed, I'm interested in what others think intelligent aliens might look like. Personally, I'm inclined to to think that if they evolved on a planet similar to Earth, they would look somewhat like us, bi-laterally symmetrical, Heads with two eyes for binocular vision...

The door out onto the deck is original, 47 years old, the seal is getting bad, the thermopane window has lost it's seal, and the wood trim is getting pretty rotten, so I went to Lowes and looked at a new 32" X 80" steel exterior door. They only had one with the built-in shade, which I really...

I watched a video of a guy doing some fabricating with steel pieces, and he had a tool like this to chamfer the edges of sheared or sawn steel. I found this one here on Amazon and purchased it. I received it last week, and after I adjusted it to the depth of cut I wanted (~2mm) I tried it on...

Was fabricating some stands for the subframe on my Nova project, and after the MIG gun fell on the floor for the third time, I decided to make a holder. A 4" piece of 1" iron pipe, a 7" length of 1" X 1/4" bar stock, a HF magnet, a 1/4" bolt and nut, and a few squirts of Kubota dark gray paint...

This is an interesting video of the repair of a differential housing on a two axle truck. Check out the stack of spring leaves on that thing! Apparently, they haven't invented ratchets there, as all they use is an L shaped handle to turn sockets, and wrenches. Some really hard working dudes and...

Used the BX to lift the subframe onto my '70 Nova body this afternoon. Have to get the subframe on so I can get the fenders, hood, doors and radiator support fitted before it goes off to the paint shop. It hasn't been as long of a project as the genset I built, but I disassembled it in 2014 and...

Here in northern Indiana a line of pretty violent storms went through the area around 1:00-1:30PM. Had lots of wind for 20-30 minutes and about an inch of rain over an hours. And the power went out. Seems like a big tree next to SR15 blew over onto the power lines on the other side of the road...

I was watching a video of logging operations in other countries, and I ran across a VW heavy truck. I never knew they made them. Link to video. VW Truck is at 15:50.

After breaking another one of the Kubota stabilizer links this spring, I decided to build a set of telescoping stabilizers that would be stronger. I had a little over two feet of material left from a telescoping drive shaft I bought to make a shaft for the snow blower on my 430 John Deere. The...

I made an oil/antifreeze/fuel/whatever drain pan out of an old 20lb propane tank a month or so ago. I cut the bottom 6" or so off with a grinder and cutoff wheel, cleaned up the sharp edge, welded on a couple of handles, sanded it down, painted it Kubota Orange on the outside and white on the...

A good friend showed up at my shop on Sunday afternoon with his 1996 Dodge 2500, which was leaking coolant in a good little stream. He wanted to know if he could leave it here until he could get it to a shop to get the water pump replaced. I asked if I could look at it, and he popped the hood...

One of my favorite YouTube guys, South Main Auto car guru rebuilds the steering cylinder on his BX22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?vOE3LyjZ_EqQ

This container, for lack of a better description, was found in my fathers effects after he passed a few years ago. I remember it setting on his desk a long time ago, but never knew what it was. I still don't know what it is. I've shown it to many of my friends, some my father's age, and no one...

After I finished up building the Yanmat 3TNA72 powered generator I have been working on for 20 years, I took it all back apart and took the frame work to the local fab shop and got it powder coated Kubota ROPS gray. I picked it up yesterday and it looks great. Today I started putting it back...

I have a bench/table for welding and project assembly that I built almost 35 years ago, that I put casters with hard rubber wheels on. Over the years it has been getting increasingly difficult to move it if it has any significant amount of weight on it. So I finally remembered to pick up four...

For years I have had several bags of cable ties of varying sizes hanging on the back of my toolbox. It was always a pain to dig a few out of the bags without the hook that they hung from ending up on the floor. Sooo, I drew up a six tubed holder in Tinkercad and 3D printed it and a hook that...

Just curious, but a while back I checked the "stay logged in" checkbox, and thereafter I didn't need to log in when I came to TBN. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I had to start manually start logging in again. Now, it's back to keeping me logged in automatically. Even more curiously the exact...

So now that Prairie Home's follow on show "Live From Here" is gone too, I don't know of any other radio variety programs that are still being broadcast. I always made time to spend a couple of hours from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM to listen to Prairie Home on Saturday night on the local NPR Station...

The GF mentioned that it would look nice if I put an illuminated star on the top of the flagpole in front of the house. Soooo, I picked up some 1/4" rod, cut it into 2 foot pieces, MIG welded the pieces together at the proper 36ｰ angle at the points and where they cross. Took a piece of 1/2"...

Sunday I made a trip to the nearest Rural King store, and as I pulled into the lot, I saw this little beauty calling my name. Looks pretty well made, has a manual hydraulic pump, but has a quick coupler in the line to the lift cylinder, so it would be easy to install an electric pump, like the...

I have been wanting to put some flashing LEDs on the rear of my BX for visibility when I'm picking up trash or just working near the road. I bought a set of four amber LEDs from Amazon that have twenty some flashing modes for $26.99. Link: Amazon.com: ASPL 4pcs Sync Feature 12-LED Surface Mount...

My 430 of 1991 vintage was getting a lot of rust on the seat pan, especially where the cab is mounted, so as I am also refurbishing the snow blower, I decided to pull it off and get it sand blasted and powder coated. I'm also going to have the grille and side panels done while I'm at it. Since...