The Great Underground Power Massacree 3
"The Big Coverup" continued:
So...the next morning the Rental Yard Mechanic showed up bright and early...
I am glad I didn't try to wrestle the chain back on to the guide bar myself...between the two of use it took all we had and three crow bars to manhandle it.
Mechanic Dude got things patched up and pumped up the system, but before I could wave goodbye to him, the chain started slacking up again....
Foo...
Mechanic Dude pumped it up again thinking there might have been a little air in the system, but sure enough, slack began to show again.
So this put me in a bit of a pickle....this was just about the only unit with a 5 foot boom in the county....like I said before....construction has picked up recently...
So...I called the Rental Yard and spoke to the Bull Goose Rental Dude....we decided that I would keep the machine and Mechanic Dude would leave me his grease gun....and I would muddle thru....
So...with grease gun in one hand I waved "Goodbye" to Mechanic Dude and got on with it....
Cutting the trench thru the "Big Curve" from my driveway to the house site was next on the agenda....this is about a 25 foot radius curve, which could put the chain on the trencher into quite a bind if I didn't tippy-toe thru it....
I fired the trencher up and started in on the Big Curve....slowly, this time.
It took several passes to cut the curve....there was no way to cut that tight of a radius in one shot...BUT...this gave me an opportunity to lift the boom and re-tension the chain several times as well...
I cleared the curve in good order and started down the last straight run...about a 100 foot stretch to the transformer pad and finishing up at the meter / disconnect pole.
Things were running pretty smooth....so I should have seen it coming....
But NOOOOOOOO....
It was in the last 20 feet that it all went to **** in a bucket....
Just past the transformer pad where I was able to reduce the depth of the trench from 5 feet to 3 feet, I slung the chain off as I was lifting the boom...
Foo....
This time I DID try wrestling the chain solo, and managed to get it back on the bar and pumped the system up with grease....BUT....I barely touched the dirt with it and it left the bar again...
Apparently, whatever seal had been hanging on thus far had decided to give up for good....
Double FOO...
Well....I took a moment to collect my thoughts and drink a little water....after a quite interlude during which I got to watch the local deer feasting on the acorns that my banging into the trees with machinery had been dislodging, I called the Bull Goose Rental Dude and explained my predicament.
Now, when Precious Bride and I had visited the yard a few days earlier, PB had remarked about the "...cute little yellow digging machine..." on display at the front of the parking lot....a wee little Yanmar track-hoe...and suggested that I would look real good in the saddle of that doing some of the digging work scheduled for our near-future...
She is darned clever like that...all about working smart instead of just hard...
So...I asked Bull Goose Rental Dude if he had one that he could send over ASAP...and of course, asked for a discount on the rental fee in view of my problems with the trencher.
Well...not only was BGRD going to send me that very yellow machine, he was going to waive the fee and let me have it till the next day so I could finish up the project.
Seems he wants to keep my business, even tho I am just a small account.
I was shocked into near-silence....but not shocked enough to not thank him profusely and accept his deal.
Anyway - BGRD said he would have the excavator on the way as soon as his truck came back in from another delivery...so...I said }Goodbye" to BGRD and worked at getting the trencher out of my way....
I tied the thrown chain up with a come-a-long, drove the machine to the front of the property and figured with a couple of hours to waste waiting I could catch up on some rat-killin...
This was NOT A GOOD IDEA....
I thought that with such a nice cool day to work in, I could make some progress on another project....digging the post holes for the barn roof.
...I should have gone and watched the deer...
I had already marked out the pole locations, so I hooked up the PHD to the Little Green Giant and started to dig....
...I should have gone and watched the deer...
That auger decided to go to China and take my tractor and me with it...
Fortunately, I had my foot on the clutch when the rig went airborne, so, tho the trip was Dramatic, it was not Traumatic.
Now...I have stuck augers before....but this one was definitely one of my better efforts....
Naturally, the front of the tractor was not firmly back on the ground, nor would the tires reach it when the lift was run out full length...thus requiring me to jack up the front end to get some slack in the boom and disconnect the auger....and my high-lift jack was about 150 miles south in my garage....so I started stacking up cribbing blocks to set my floor jack on.
...I should have gone and watched the deer...
Right about then, Neighbor Joe showed up, one of those "...just passing by and saw the gate open...." kind of thing, and he was a world of help getting the tractor jacked up and off that auger....
Of course, being a Marine, Joe is all about completing the mission....so he offered to loan me a big pipe wrench to unscrew the auger with, tho unfortunately he would not be able to help with the rest of the recovery due to a previous engagement...
I accepted his kind offer, of course....
...I should have gone and watched the deer...
I followed Joe back to his house and he handed me a monster of a wrench...4 foot long and about 100 years old....REAL STEEL in this one...looks like old oil-field pipe tongs...
So... I thanked Neighbor Joe, loaded the wrench in the back of the truck and headed back to TOGR.
I passed the deer on my way down the driveway...
Shoulda stopped....
I got the tractor hooked back up to the auger with a short chain and put the wrench on the end of the auger....and couldn't budge it.
So I did what any other "The Most Dangerous Man In The World" would do in these circumstances....I put a cheater bar on it...
But not just any cheater bar....I had a 10 foot piece of 2" schedule 40 pipe gate post laying in the junque pile....
I got the whole mess hooked up and leaned into the end of the pipe...and felt absolutely NOTHING move....
...I should have gone and watched the deer...
I decided to give it one more try before I called it quits....
...I should have gone and watched the deer...
One "Mighty Heave" later and this time, I FELT SOMETHING MOVE!!!
Of course, it was me turning the Monster Wrench into a pretzel.
Put a nice kink in the handle of the thing....
Thankfully, I heard Delivery Dude roll up with my excavator before I got any MORE bright ideas.
