Another Restoration Project

[aircommuter]

Did you sell the backhoe when you where done with rebuilding it?

I enjoy installing manufactured stone. When I first did it, I used mortar to attach it, but I never cared for how easy it is to remove them once the mortar has set. Now I use Tile Thinset and I install them the same as I do tile with a half inch notched trowel. You have to destroy the stone to get it off!!! I also like to use half inch Hardie Backer boards over the OSB and House Wrap. I'm thinking about putting Redgard on the Hardie when I do it again. I cut the stone with my 4 1/2 inch grinder most of the time, but my tile wet saw does a much nicer job for those more visible areas.

I used the backhoe on my jobs for a while, being that those were farm tractors with loader kit and backhoe kits they were clumsy and not well balanced. I saved up and bought a new one with a 4 in 1 plus a hydraulic jack hammer. That kept going and I added another. Things just grew from there.

 

[aircommuter]

I use plastic cement three to one with washed sand. If I am doing fireplace boxes or chimneys I use fire clay, it makes a fat mortar. Plastic cement provides air entrainment and contains lime for adhesion. I use a double stucco paper wrap and stucco wire with a full scratch coat. When adding the stone I saturate the scratch coat and the back of the stone, then while wet I parge the back of the stone with the mortar. If the stone is less than 3” wide I add additional mortar with a peak in the middle, wider stones I build up the middle then using the trowel point I make a v-groove in the middle forming a peak along the edges. I give the wall a quick spray and attach the stone.
I also use the 4.5” grinder alot because I don’t have to climb up and down the scaffold so often and the type of stone I am using right now most of the cuts are irregular. I have a small Stanley fan going when cutting.
I think thinset is helping you because of the polymers it contains to hold the moisture. You can get polymer additives also but with good wet mortar and pre-wetting the surfaces I don’t have adhesion issues.
I like that Redgard for showers and bathroom floors, also exterior walls that get a lot of water from splash or blowing rain.

 

[jeepcj7]

I haven’t actually found a dedicated site. Various parts show up at some sites like Steiners, Complete Tractor, Jenn Sales, Broken Tractor and many more.
They made loader backhoes, loader scraper box units that were very popular. Several sizes of the crawler loaders and dozers which were built by Landini of Italy which they owned and the parent company of MF today still owns.

you might try MinnPar - they handle a lot of new parts for obsolete construction and fork truck equipment

 

[aircommuter]

Well like I mentioned earlier I was switching to stone work on my house. But I neglected to leave my newly installed hood open. This is what I found. I also took a few minutes to layout and install the hood strut. It was the longest one I had room for and holds it high enough to do most things. I can always disconnect the ball end and prop it higher if needed.

 

[kenmbz]

They certainly left a mess. No wire or other damage I hope?

 

[EddieWalker]

Was that from an animal?

 

[aircommuter]

The rat seemed to be focused on just making a nest. Wires and hoses were not touched. I did notice a couple nips on the corner of a seat cushion. Amazing they can drag those long sticks up from the ground between the engine and the frame and place them on the top so straight.
I battled with a rat building a nest inside my standby generator last year, cleaning it out three times and closing off what I thought were entry points until I finally got them all. I noticed he had chewed off the plastic oil drain hose from the pan which I just left coiled up until I wanted to change the oil. So I ran a pipe tap in the hole and put in a threaded plug. That was his last point of entry. He would built a nest in the bottom then he stored acorns in the V on the manifold. The pusher fan would suck them out of there and sound like fireworks.
I leave the hoods up on parked vehicles and they don’t like the lack of security. Now I leave this crawler hood up too. My loader scraper tractor has had the mice chew wires three times under the dash. I always know when I turn on the key and the gauges don’t respond.
This all started after I had the place masticated and that cleared much of their hiding areas.

 

[EddieWalker]

I used to have a horrible mouse problem. We have chickens. Chickens toss their food everywhere, then sleep all night when the mice are eating their food. First couple of cats where not enough. Now I have close to 20 cats and zero sign of mice anywhere!!!! I don't care for cats, but I'll never get rid of them!!!

 

[MossRoad]

I used to have a horrible mouse problem. We have chickens. Chickens toss their food everywhere, then sleep all night when the mice are eating their food. First couple of cats where not enough. Now I have close to 20 cats and zero sign of mice anywhere!!!! I don't care for cats, but I'll never get rid of them!!!

Hahaha. Reminds me of when I was a kid. Our street was under perpetual construction for a couple years. We loved to watch the equipment. My dad made us a huge (to us) sand box, and we'd take our Tonka trucks, backhoes, etc. out there, dig trenches, and bury sticks for our "sewer lines".

Nothing more terrifying to dig up what you think is a ball of clay only to find it's a cat turd!

 

[aircommuter]

My sisters painted rocks gold and put them in my sand box. That’s what happens when you are the baby of the family.
I wish I could keep cats here, the coyotes, bobcats, foxes and mountain lions make it impossible. I had a good mouser cat that I put in at night and she made 17 years then just died one day. My wife inherited a little 10 lb. Dog that sniffs out mice and kills them but she lacks that paw agility of course. I have had some luck with buckets and stainless water bowls and a few inches of water, sometimes get three in a night. I have one of the suicidal diving boards too.