At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

I'm fine with burning pine. I have more than enough pine in my firewood stack. I'm at the point where I already have more downed oak than I can seem to cut and split. So if have to choose, I'd rather spend the same amount of time cutting and splitting oak.

Obed

 

[Obed]

For a while, I've been having trouble putting my tractor in reverse. The JD has hydrostatic transmission. When I would push down the reverse pedal, the tractor would move in reverse just fine. However, the pedal would "stick" in the down position. I would have to actually pull the pedal up with the back of my heel to stop the tractor. I thought a spring might be bad.



When I looked under the tractor, there was a plastic cover over the pedal mechanism which prevented me from seeing underside of the HST pedals. Removing the plastic cover would ruin some plastic push pins holding the plastic in place so I procrastinated doing anything.



Finally, one day I pushed the reverse pedal down and nothing happened. I couldn't get the tractor to move in reverse at all. It became apparrent that I couldn't procrastinate any longer and had to look at it.

The pin from the link that attached to the pedal arm had rusted to the pedal where the pin went through a hole in the pedal arm. After rusting completely, the pin broke off the link and stayed frozen inside the hole in the pedal arm.



Here's the pin sticking through the pedal arm.



I had to figure out how to get the rusted pin out of the hole through the pedal. I attached a pair of vice grips to the pin to see if I could twist it out of the hole. The pin was made out of really cheap soft metal. The protruding end of the pin just twisted off when I tried to rotate it with my vice grips.



So I now needed to attempt to drill out the pin. Unfortunately, the pedal arm was in a tight spot so I couldn't get my drill into position to drill out the pin. Completely removing the whole pedal mechanism in order to get to the frozen pin looked like a very big job and was something I wanted to avoid.

Meanwhile, my wife ordered a link to replace the broken one.

I headed to the big box store to find a right angle drill. They had a cordless right angle drill for $180. Ouch. I couldn't justify spending that much. Finally, another customer showed me a right angle drill attachment that I could use with my existing drill.



The right angle drill attachment worked like a charm.



I finally could replace the broken link.



It's kind of nice having a tractor that can go in reverse.

 

[Beltman60]

yep reverse is good

 

[MoKelly]

Nice work shoes! Just kidding - I have ones just like them.

MoKelly

 

[Dishpointer]

Good Job! Yep, definitely need reverse.

 

[Coyote machine]

Glad to hear the saw chain stops as it should within a couple of seconds. Another trick is to put the saw chain against a log to stop the spin sooner- especially useful when limbing and bucking long lengths.

I have the same angle drill attachment. The earlier version, same company broke, housing cracked, IIRC, and they sent me a new one when I called and plead my case.

Next time, assuming there is room in a similar situation, you can/could use a propane hand held torch, or Mapp gas, and heat up the arm near the pin and drive it out out with a suitable drift, (pin punch). I would grease the C out of that pedal area before sealing it back up, and you should be good for a long time.

AND, try http://www.kanolabs.com/, a 'super-penetrating' fluid that works great!
(I originally found out about it on TBN).

 

[dstig1]

Obed, Sorry for the jab - I should have figured you had enough pine, but I don't recall that much from back in the thread, I guess. I can fully understand if you have enough low value wood, you should focus on the high value wood. Fer sure.

As for your link problem, you may want to think about some air tools. The first thing I would have done would be to get the air hammer and some penetrating oil. Might have pushed it out in no time that way. A decent compressor is very helpful for this. If you can swing a 60 or 80 gal compressor - even a single stage, it id an enormous help around the house for stuff like this. Most things that size have enough reserve to do harder tasks like air hammers and impact wrenches, but smaller ones can work OK as long as you rest to give them recovery time. Not sure what you might already have though...

Glad to see you fixed it yourself. As you found, most problems really aren't that complicated once you look into it. I wish more people would try.

 

[PAGUY]

Good job Obed. I bet you felt a real feel of accomplishment by fixing it DIY.

It just goes to show you another weak engineering concept that was bound to fail sooner or later and usually at the most inopportunely time.

 

[dave1949]

Yes, good fix. I wonder if the plastic cover is actually trapping moisture in that area?

 

[Larro Darro]

I wonder if the plastic cover is actually trapping moisture in that area?

I was thinking the same thing. A couple of small holes drilled in the bottom might be a good idea.

 

[Obed]

We bought a rental house. That's been keeping me busy. The house is less than 2 miles from our property.

 

[Larro Darro]

That is a nice looking place. I used to rent a couple of our houses. It can turn into a major PITA. We have sold one, and may end up selling the other. My advice is to charge enough rent to weed out any trouble makers. Good luck.

 

[Obed]

This shower has been quite a job. The shower is a cheap plastic insert that was placed inside an existing concrete block walled shower in the basement.



The shower pan was cracked so I had to remove the entire shower. When I removed the shower faucet handles and parts, I didn't realize I was actually removing the under water pressure valves. One of the valves popped out and water started spraying everywhere. I had to race to the street to turn off the water.

 

[Obed]

The original framing for this shower insert was a real hack job. Many of the 2x4s were just screwed to the plywood on one end but there was nothing attaching the other end of the 2x4s to the contrete wall. The farthest ends of the plywood were just hanging in mid-air without anything attaching them to the concrete walls. I debated over and over whether or not to improve the framing. I finally decided to fix the framing which increased the size of the job.



The plastic shower pan was sitting on a 2x6 frame sitting inside the old shower. The plastic pan had very little support which probably caused the cracks in the shower pan.

 

[Obed]

That is a nice looking place. I used to rent a couple of our houses. It can turn into a major PITA. We have sold one, and may end up selling the other. My advice is to charge enough rent to weed out any trouble makers. Good luck.

Larro,
I like this house; I would be plenty happy living in it. It's almost too nice for a rental. We bought it at an estate auction. The previous owners lived in it for 45 years. They were apparently non-smokers and there are no pet odors in the house.

This rental house will help us decided whether or not we want to do more rental houses. I have no faith in the stock market and really need some way to invest for retirement. We'll find out whether or not we are willing to put up with the headache.

Obed

 

[Tororider]

Obed,

No pictures of the water spray?

We have a rental out of necessity not choice. We bought high and rented when we moved. Luckily we have great renters. I like you have no faith in the economy short to medium term. Good luck.

 

[clemsonfor]

I didn't have my finger in the chainsaw trigger. I was cutting sapplings and briars. After making a swipe with the saw, I took a couple steps while the chain was slowing down but hadn't yet come to a stop. The chainsaw was in my left hand. Next time I'll probably make sure the chain is not moving before taking any steps.

Yes, chaps would definitely be safer.

With regards to safety equipment, sometimes I find certain safety devices "less safe" than not having them. For example, I was using a circular saw, I think, the other day and put on safety goggles. The goggles quickly fogged up making visibility with the saw almost impossible. I ended up chunking the goggles and relied on my regular glasses for eye protection. Safety goggles don't help much if you can't see while using a dangerous tool.

Obed

The correct technique is to put the chain brake on when your stopped or when you move. Its a pain, but u form a habit. I use to have it but have stopped over the Yeats myself and need to redevelop it.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

good luck on the rental, nice looking house.

 

[Obed]

Obed,

No pictures of the water spray? ?de04

We have a rental out of necessity not choice. We bought high and rented when we moved. Luckily we have great renters. I like you have no faith in the economy short to medium term. Good luck.

Yes, a lot of people got caught in that situation. I feel for you.

It's not the economy I mistrust; it's the stock market that I don't trust.

 

[Coyote machine]

So what about the stock market don't you trust?
Are you or have you been invested in it in the past/present?
The housing 'market' isn't a very trustworthy place to invest, just in case you missed what's gone on since say 2007- now:confused2::confused3:

BTW, a plastic shower base, or a better fiberglass base, ought to be placed over a bed of mortar mix/quickcrete, (something along those lines- I can't remember the correct mix at this moment) to keep it solid and quiet, and from cracking/breaking.
You get what you pay for in a shower surround and base. Cheap crap is NOT the way to go. Shutoffs, easily accessible in the house, close to the shower too. And if you do any toilet replacements use 1/4 turn shutoffs NOT faucet type knobs; they, 1/4 turns are the cat's wiskers- all my plumbers switched to them, and have never looked back.
At one time I owned 12 toilets in 5 different houses, phew! What a nightmare! Now down to 7 in two houses, one barn. Better!