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Heres a little update on the project. I installed the bits and pieces on the Bobcat today and gave it a brief test run. The mechanical part of the grapple is only half built. Ultimately that other cylinder sitting on the bucket will power another arm. They will open and close semi independently...

Its pretty hard to get info on this but a Mercruiser stern drive service manual I found (using a similar pump) talked about pressures up to 2600psi, but it might have different pressures depending on the direction of travel. Possibly as little as 600 psi in the downward (clamping) direction...

First bench test today. After flushing everything out with soapy water I filled the pump with canola oil then connected up some brake hoses and the cylinders. I was pretty happy with the result. A full extension of both rams took 13 seconds and a full retraction took about 7 seconds. Its slow...

I know this is an old thread but I just came across it and thought there might be some entertainment value in resurrecting it. I'm actually building this setup at the moment using the rams and electric pump from an old Mercury outboard that I scrapped years ago. Its going on an old Bobcat 610...

Yesterday I broke a drill bit inside a broken bolt that I was trying to drill out. No way could I get a grip on the broken drill bit so I used a method I have used in the past with success. I simply smashed the stuck drill bit to pieces with a home made punch. I googled to see if anyone else had...

I've just bought another tractor (a old bobcat) with a standard dirt bucket. I've never had much need to simply move dirt but I use my 4in1 bucket on my Kubota all the time. So, as Bobcat 4in1's cost thousands of dollars over here (even second hand ones), I'm thinking of turning the dirt bucket...

Hello Gentlemen. I'm not sure where to put this question but here it is. I'm thinking of looking for a small skid steer to take on as a project. I don't want to restore it to factory condition. I just want to get it running and suitable for light work around my block. Can anyone suggest a brand...

In the vegetation covered sand dune behind our beach shack we found the remains of an old car. The body is totally rusted away and I can find nothing left that provides a make or model. But the grille, being some kind of heavy cast alloy has survived reasonably well. And the engine has a...

I absolutely hate rattles and squeaks in cars. They drive me crazy. My wife says "'Just don't listen" but thats impossible for me (and most men I think). For the last 2 days (and not for the first time) I've had the back of the wagon stripped out, looking for squeaks and rattles, but **** they...

This is something I made about 12 months ago for the grandkids to play on when they visit. (It was my mother-in-law's 'gopher' originally but it failed and was never used much anyway. She's departed now but would be happy to see the kids having fun on it.) These things have a complicated and...

I Googled this question first but didnt find any useful answers. And I'm asking out of interest, not necessity. (I have 3 'real' battery chargers). The pic below shows the set-up. The jump starter has a built-in 12v battery and its own built-in battery charger. So, why wouldn't the built-in...

I've just ordered one. It will take about 10 days to get here. Amazon reviews are mixed but generally they have persuaded me that its worth a shot. Including spare blades and postage to Australia its about a $50 purchase. I think this is by far the cheapest option for me to do powered detatching...

Has anyone else tried to reset their Ebay password, as requested, recently? I'm trying but its not working. Reset password emails are not coming to my registered ebay email address, although other ebay emails DO. Phone contact takes me around in circles. Text and automated phone responses wont...

It always seems a bit of a waste to throw out an old washing machine. I always feel that there's still a lot of good stuff still 'in there' if only i had some idea what to do with it. (Pumps, motors, drums etc.) This was a perfectly good top loading machine until a 50 cent part in the circuit...

Every second episode of Grand Designs seems to extol the virtues of 'thermal mass' as a means of home temperature control, particularly in winter. But is it all its cracked up to be? My neighbor spent about a million dollars (seriously) building an architect designed home with massive thermal...

Anyone else having problems using the icons at the top of this page? The TBN home page loads as quickly as usual but the clicking through to other pages seems to be taking forever. I've only noticed it the last couple of days. Is it my connection or is it a TBN issue?

(I first posted this on a bike forum, but I thought it may be of interest to members here who are not aware that plastic can often be repaired quite successfully and easily.) When I got this bike both mudguards were snapped in half, one of the side panels was in three pieces, the front plate...

I have been given an old 'Shoprider' mobility scooter similar to the one in the pic. (Over here we call them Gophers). I want to turn it into an electric 'tractor' for the grandkids to play on. I've stripped it back to little more than a chassis, wheels, 24v electric motor, batteries and...

I have a great little 'Ozito' cordless drill that I bought about 4 years ago. It was only a 12v 'cheapie' but it has a 2 speed gearbox so its got a lot of grunt in 'low' plus good speed in 'high'. A nice feature is that the battery packs are small and light and fit inside the handle. Overall...

I've often wondered how to turn an ordinary small trailer into a tipping trailer without a great deal of welding and cutting, and without a lot of expense. I might finally have the answer. Heres an idea for a simple, removable hitch attachment thats basically just a few pieces of square tube...

Perhaps you guys in the US can get glow plugs cheap, but over here in Oz they are very pricey. Our local 'discount' auto shop wanted $30 each for 4 glow plugs. (Total $120). They didn't have them in stock anyway. A bit of a search online and on ebay uncovered this crew in the UK...

The diesel is a 'brand new' 1992 Perkins 3 cylinder 29 hp engine. Even though its 20 years old its never been used and is still on the original packing skid. As you'd expect it has very high compression. The Perkins brochure recommended a 70 aH battery. The Battery catalog at the auto store...

I've suggested this before. Still think its a good idea. How about a B&S forum. Most mower and garden equipment hassles are engine related so why not allow all the B&S questions and answers to go in one spot.

This piece written by our former Prime Minister pretty neatly explains the how and the why. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/opinion/australia-banned-assault-weapons-america-can-too.html?hp&_r=0 or http://tinyurl.com/apmwsxu

A Scoopmobile was the first articulated loader I ever saw and, as a kid, it mesmerized me. Scoopmobile virtually invented articulated loaders over 50 years ago. I never expected to see one again, let alone one in operating condition for sale. So I was amazed to see this one today out the front...

We've had quite a few of these living teddy bears around lately. Pretty cute ay. We had a mum carrying a baby on its back last week but my camera batteries were flat!

The real fun begins at about 6:00. At about 9:00 they have to start going down backwards. At 10:00 its still a long way down. Carrara le cave - YouTube

The little solar light in the pic is about 6" x 4". I have a pair near the front door. They're about 12 months old. A couple of months ago the battery in one of them completely failed so, out of interest, I replaced it with an ordinary AAA alkaline battery. (A few dollars for a pack of 10). Two...

Perhaps I should have posted this in 'Attachments'.

Nothin' I enjoy more than watching the boys play footy on Saturday. Can you do this in the U.S.? Sit in your car and watch the local team? It was sunny today but the comfort of your own car plus a thermos of coffee makes even a cold wet windy day enjoyable.

I wanted to make a hutch for the grandkids bunny but I couldn't get excited about making something out of wooden frames and chicken wire. So I picked up 3 doors dirt cheap from a local screen door maker. (These were old ones they had removed from customers who were getting new doors. They had...

On and off over the last 6 months I've been restoring this 1984 Honda Farm bike that I picked up for about $250. Well perhaps calling it a 'restoration' is a bit grand. Total cost for paint, a few parts, decals and sundries was about $100. I stripped it down to the frame and painted everything...

I got tired of seeing a wheelbarrow full of wood at the back door so I made this to bring wood from the wood shed. The sack trucks are less than $20 when they are on special at Supercheap over here in Oz. I cut the back out of it then welded a couple of extra bars down the sides, and painted it...

Hot glue is becoming my new favorite fixer (rivaling duct tape and cable ties). If you haven't tried the stuff you should. Its fast, dirt cheap, and very strong. The guns and glue sticks can be bought for a few dollars from 'cheap as chips' type discount stores. Today I repaired 3 pairs of...

We are renovating the shack and decided to plumb drinking water from the rainwater tank to a spout on the kitchen sink. Previously we have simply carried rainwater inside and run it through a pottery style filter. The rest of the house (bathroom, toilet, kitchen sink etc) is all serviced by a...

I haven't owned or used an electric shaver for 30 years but I think I'd like to try one again. I like the idea of a cordless. I'm not after a 'military shave'. Just something thats good, reliable, simple, and reasonably priced. Any suggestions? (PS. How can you tell when your son has his first...

Cleaning out my late father-in-law's shed I came across this gadget. I've never seen anything like it before. Its about 6 inches long. The handle screws in and causes the jaws to tighten. Someone suggested it was some kind of metalworkers nut cracker, but the jaws only open to little more than a...

Desiring to flush my empty rainwater tank with some bore water I thought an easy solution would simply be to connect a garden hose from the bore tap to a a tap on the rainwater tank, and then open both taps. No go!... Pump problem? No. Kink in the hose? No. It took me a while to realise that...

Our state has a big coastline, over 2600 miles. The Dept of Environment is trying to steamroll through more than 140 no-take zones. In these zones all commercial and recreational fishing would be banned. Its creating a huge stink of course, made even worse by the fact that they only effect...

My late mother-in-law had a 'gopher' electric rider that she never used so it sat around for a year or two. I'd like to get it going again to give to someone. I plugged in the charger for a couple of days but couldn't get so much as a glow out of the headlight. The batteries are still totally...

I was discussing with a friend about what to look for when hunting for a home. It reminded me that 15 years ago while looking for our present house, one of the things I wanted was a 'back door home'. That is, a home where friends and family always come to the back door and let themselves in. I...

I spent most of the last 30 years running my own business and employing people. I was no tyrant but I used to get annoyed if people spent too much time on private phone calls or emails. A couple of years ago I wound the business down, closed up shop, and retired early. Thank heavens I got out...

A sad story of Americans trying to make a productive life in Australia... Green laws and a dead business | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

I had to buy new wiper blades today. For cryin' out loud, its just a piece of rubber to wipe water off the windscreen, but choosing the right one is really stressful!!! Theres single blade, twin blade, smooth edge, multi edge, 6.5mm or 8.5mm wide, silicon or graphite, blades only, full wiper...

I just discovered these excellent free guides for servicing small carburetors. ZAMA brand... USA Zama : Service Tips (16 pages, 2.5 meg.) WALBRO brand....Service Manuals The Walbro Diaphram Carby guide is 35 pages, 8.5meg, but there are many other smaller guides for specific Trimmer and...

Just a suggestion Muhammad. So many garden tools are powered by Briggs and Stratton engines that maybe a dedicated B&S engine forum in the Garden category might be useful.

I usually just buy cheap cordless drills. (Around $30 - $40). For most of my 'handyman' jobs they do OK, but battery lifespan seems to be a lottery. After a couple of years (or less) they sometimes won't take enough of a charge to give much more than 5 minutes of work. My question is: Even if...

The shack needed a 20' x 23' garage to house the Kubota and boat, but then I decided rather late in the piece to install a shallow pit. Even though I have a backhoe the Kubota dug the hole in about 30 minutes with the bucket alone. (Hole size was exactly 4' x 9' and pretty neat prior to these...

I might be buying another ride-on in the next 6 months so I thought I'd collect your ideas on what are the important (but sometimes less obvious) features to look for or avoid. This might help other buyers too. On my Viking Ride-on... Best features. HYDROstatic transmission. INTEGRATED REAR...

We call them crayfish but most people seem to know them as rock lobster. The big one was about 9lb (4kg).

Hi. Ive got quite a lot of old corrugated, galvanised iron sheets. They are in good condition apart from a few nail holes. This is real old heavy duty stuff that you don't see often these days. It contains a lot of lead I guess. Anyway I want to reuse it for a fence about 30 yards long...

Hello all. I picked up old Ryobi drill press for free. It works fine except that the motor needs a quick spin by hand to get it going. Once its up to speed its got plenty of power. I know the problem is not belt tension because the problem occurs without the belt even attached. I took the...

Today I had to chisel all the tiles off a toilet and bathroom floor. Years ago when I did a similar job I hired a smallish electric jack hammer. This time the hire shop wanted over $100 for a 1 day hire! But tools are much cheaper to buy these days so I looked at our local 'Bunnings'. (A huge...

You know when your teenage boys have got their first jobs. A lot of fancy shaving gear starts appearing in the bathroom. (The Gillette Mach 3 Super Turbo Ultra!.. It cuts through the toughest bumfluff like no other razor!) Of course, to save money to raise these kids, I always shaved with...

Do you get 'em this big? Giant feral pig shot on Pilbara cattle station | PerthNow

This is an interesting new search engine. Wolfram|Alpha Unlike Google, it displays collected facts about the subject. For example type in Kubota, or USA, or Australia or 18 Horsepower or Microsoft.... (Its kinda addictive.) (Hmmm... - Life expectancy USA 78.1 yrs Ranking 50th! Australia 81.6...

Hello Gentlemen. This is the armature from the starter motor of a Stihl Viking ride-on mower with a B&S 18hp Intek single cylinder engine. The starter has always seemed 'weak' but now its unable to rotate the engine past the compression stroke, even when I've connected a fully charged battery...

Eddie's wild boar thread reminded me of this. What do you guys think of the plastic 'silent whistle' scarers that you stick to the front of your car? I usually have 4 on my car (barely visible just below the number plate.) For the last 7 years I've done a lot of driving on a long stretch of road...

I've got a big old Whirlpool frost free fridge down at the shack. (Mainly just used for bait and beer). Its worked fine for a long time but on our last visit it ran for about 10 hours then popped the circuit breaker and wouldn't restart for the remainder of the 3 day visit. I figured it was...

We are finally in the market for a wide screen TV. (2 actually) But I'm quite unsure about what size. I really don't want to make a mistake and go too big. I've been in some homes where I find the TV uncomfortably large but perhaps thats just because I'm not used to them. (Our current TV is just...

Has there ever been a time in history when there has been so much absolute rubbish available to waste money on? What sort of fool would spend their hard earned money to actually BUY a ring tone, or pay $3 every day for a joke or horoscope to be delivered on the phone? Does anyone really believe...

I recently bought this 'Constant pressure' pump for my bore. ($139 at Bunnings). Its just used to water the garden at the shack. It will be replacing an old pump that had a large pressure tank. I understand how the old pump worked: when the air pressure in the tank dropped, it triggered the...

I'm pretty fed up with of my little $90 stick welder and I'm thinking of getting a Gas/Gasless MIG. I've never used MIG but I'm guessing I'll be using the cored gasless wire most of the time. So I'm wondering whats the difference in ease and quality of gasless MIG compared to ordinary stick...

I found these on the net and thought they may be of use to some of you to.

We've been hearing of course about the financial crisis in the US and in particular about all the problems with home loan failures. I never knew that in the US you have a system whereby someone can 'simply' walk away from a home and leave the bank with the home and the debt. Here in Australia...

(I first put this in the kubota forum but I probably should have put it here. My apologies for the dual post) My sketch attached shows an idea for a backhoe dipper/bucket control that uses a rotating handgrip to control the bucket instead of a left/right lever movement. Something like this...

My sketch attached shows an idea for a backhoe dipper/bucket control that uses a rotating handgrip to control the bucket instead of a left/right lever movement. Something like this would seem fairly intuitive to me, as the bucket would mimic the rotation of the hand. Theres no great...

Txkevin's opening post in the 'What can a BX24 do?' prompted me to start a thread on tips for backhoe learner operators. (I'm no expert. I'm definitely still a learner but I think I did make a little breakthrough in the early days. I was digging trenches for the first time and was totally...

I have no gutters on my house. In one corner the rainwater runs off the roof and collects in a large plastic rubbish bin. Normally i just bucket this water onto plants or the lawn but a week ago, feeling lazy, i decided to syphon it off with a 1/2" garden hose. The hose carried the water...

Has anyone bought one of these cheap brushcutter, line trimmer, pole saw, hedge trimmer packages? They are going on ebay in Australia for about $180 to $250. I wouldnt expect a whole lot of quality, but its so much cheaper than a name brand with attachments that I'm tempted to give it a go...

I needed a second walk-behind mower and I picked this up on ebay for $85. (Lucky to find it relatively close to me). I was a little wary of buying a rare brand but this is the best mower I've ever owned. In spite of the peeling paint and rust I don't think its done hardly any work. The blade was...

Keep the kiddies away from this one.

Heres a little repair trick I just discovered. If you have a TV remote control that has dead or hard to operate buttons its probably because the back of the button is not making electrical contact with the printed circuit board. My fix was to open up the remote and smear graphite (crushed...

Isn't it good when you finally make use of some of the old junk you've had lying around for years. When we tore our old shack down 12 months ago I wound up with a 6 foot high pile of old building timber that I didn't know how to deal with. Its old, dry and full of nails. I wanted to cut it into...

It'll be no surprise that petrol prices are on my mind (and everyone else's) so I decided to take another look at the 'gas from water' idea. Believe me, I'm a sceptic, and I don't hoax easy, so I didnt go into this too starry eyed, but I did read enough initially to at least think there may be...

My well worn (3500 hours) B1550 usually has a pretty noisy HST whine that I've learned to live with. I've done the usual maintenance things, like replacing screens and filters, and figure its about as good as it going to be without a major overhaul. But heres something to consider. I've been...

I'm thinking of starting a forum for a health/science topic I'm interested in. I'm a member of a few discussion groups but I think this Tractorbynet platform (or whatever its called) is the best I've seen. Does tractorbynet use some kind of readily available hosting software or is it unique? I...

We'll hopefully be spending a lot more time at our beach place next summer. An ongoing concern is snakes coming out of the coastal vegetation. These are seriously dangerous critters... Browns and Tigers, that I've seen, and Death Adders that I haven't seen but I'm told are around. These can all...

Over the years I've busted so many belts on my ride-on mower that I think I've paid for the machine twice. (Replacement belts are around $30 to $40 a pop, and 300ks away). I've tried expensive fabric coated belts and cheap rubber belts. All seem to have a similar failure rate . It's normally a...

Hello all. I picked up this Robin 2KVA / 240volt Generator for $50. The Robin 4 stroke engine starts and runs quite well but its not providing any electricity. (I was told before purchase that it didn't work). I think it has a 'Waikin' generator but I can't find any info on that brand. How...

Maybe I'm just a misery guts but posts with 'teaser' headlines' are starting to bug me. There seems to be more of them popping up lately. Are they worried no-one will read the question unless its got a teaser headline? Headlines like 'Have you ever....' or 'Anyone done this!' or 'Is this...

I am always so envious when I see your pictures. Everything is sooooo green! Here in Adelaide we've just had our longest ever heat wave. 15 days between about 96 and 104 degrees. Outback towns have had it hotter for longer but this is the longest ever hot stretch for an Australian capital...

Kubotabooks.com

The tractor was 300ks away but on a whim I decided to throw together a ripper attachment to fit the 4in1 bucket. For 'measurements' all i had to go by was a pic of the tractor. It took about 2 hours and 6 ft of rectangular tube that I had lying around. 'Ripper 2' shows how it fitted the claw of...

A very interesting thread here from the Parts and Repairs Forum... http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/parts-repairs/112768-kubota-b21-tlb-complete-driveline.html#post1292060

The deck, posts and handrail were installed by a carpenter but I installed the wire myself. Thank heavens I had the wire pre-swaged. This only cost about an extra $5 per strand, and not only is it much neater because it eliminates a thimble and swage at each end, it saved me about 3 days work...

HP at glance. From the files of the Yahoo Kubota group..

Why don't some people who post a question, and get good advice, provide a followup for the benefit of all TBN members? I've had 2 private messages recently from members who earlier posted threads about specific problems. They emailed me a few days later to say thanks and what a difference my...

Theres now about 60 parts manuals in kubotabooks available for free download. http://www.mediamax.com/kubotabooks See the Aboutkubotabooks.pdf for an explanation, or see Kubotabooks_list.pdf for a list of all the books available as of today. To whom it may concern... the L3710DT and GC54G...

This is what I bought my Kubota for 18 months ago. The site is 100 yards from the beach but about $500 from the nearest hire tractor. So I decided to buy my own tractor and sell it when the job was finished. Trouble is I like it so much (the tractor) that I want to keep it forever. (I paid about...

I've finally taken of a picture of one of my favorite creations. I wanted a wood burner that kept my feet warm too. (Half 44 gallon drums and beer kegs only warm you from the knees up at best). This beauty was thrown together in a day using free stuff scrounged off the footpath on our annual...

OK, I might be stretchin' the boundaries of what constitutes a 'tractor project' here, but I need some advice (and I've only got to this point after a lot of tractor work: demolishing, clearing, backhoeing, carrying, forklifting etc, etc.) I'm about to put a heap of hardwood decking and...

'kubotabooks' is now up and running with over 40 parts manuals available for free download at MediaMax, powered by Streamload - Free Online Storage - Share Videos and Photos - Online MP3 Access MediaMax, powered by Streamload - Free Online Storage - Share Videos and Photos - Online MP3 Access...

The site below used to be a link to download Kubuta parts manuals for free. Dozens of parts manuals were available and it was an excellent resource. (Especially if, like me, you'd have to wait a month to get a printed manual). All you had to do was click the green arrow and pick your model. No...

I notice some pictures such as recadaza's chainsaw pics appear immediately in the message window, whilst mine, and most other pics, appear as links. Can anyone tell me why this happens? Does it have to do with the file type? And another query... when I hit a link to view someone's picture it...

I loved reading about the big iron on the site below. But these pics are especially breathtaking... VanNatta Bulldozers, Crawler Dozers

I have had a small problem with my B1550 LA300 loader and I thought I would share the fix with you. The problem was that whenever I put the bucket into the rollback position it would briefly drop towards a dump position before correcting itself. This is no great problem when moving dirt, but its...

Working around a demolished corrugated iron shack, and ripping out some nasty box thorns, I've been particularly concerned about punctures from nails and thorns in the tyres of the tractor and ride-on mower. So you may be interested in my home-made puncture goo. My first attempt was made using...

Heres a simple toolbox idea for a B1550 or anything with a similar loader. All I've done is bolt a couple of 'L' shaped shelf brackets to a toolbox. The brackets were first bent to form two hooks that wedge between the cross bars of the loader. The box is big enough to hold some gloves, a drink...

Hello again from Australia. I wonder if anyone can identify the backhoe in the picture attached. It came with the second hand Kubota B1550 that I bought a few months ago. I happened to post this pic on the "In praise of the 4-in-1 buckets" thread and another Aussie contacted me and ask me if I...

I mentioned previously that I had recently bought a 'well used' B1550. I gave it another good workout on the weekend - still with a terrible hydrostatic trans whine that I haven't had a chance to remedy. But the purpose of this posting is to say how sensationally useful a 4-in-1 bucket is. I...

Before I can get back to my B1550 HSD (300ks away) and do some servicing, I'm looking through the diagrams in the parts manual to see what goes where. One thing slightly confusing me is the route of the hydraulic oil. Can you guys tell me if I've got this right. Ignoring the FEL, the route of...

Hi from Australia. I bought a B1550 HSD a couple of months ago and I'm just starting to put it to work. The engine is excellent (3000 hrs) but the hydrostatic trans is acting up. Sometimes it whines terribly in forward 'gear'. At times if I'm moving fast it will happily go for 100 yards then...