Breaking in my new toys... from Yeehaw! to Uh oh!

[Spiveyman]

As I mentioned, I've been gone most of the week, so I spent the day at the farm today. Had to put out some hay for the cattle before they form a union and sue me for neglect. I was also anxious to get my tractor running again.

I did some reading in my manual. First, that return line in the hydraulic fill tube is factory, not a home-made deal. It's right there in the manual. Also found out one of its uses. I'm going to get a post driver to do some fencing after the first of the year. Implements like that dump the return fluid back through that fitting rather that through the valves. Has something to do with the speed of the ram and such. So, I replaced the old boot with a new one, and clamped it in place since I'll be needing that line in Jan.

Second, sure enough the power steering and the hydrualic fluid for the lifts are two seperate systems. The manual directed me to the PS pump. It was dry, NOT low, dry! Of course the dealer told me they checked out all my fluids when they put the FEL on. They must have done it since the charged me for that, right? Anyway, I filled up the pump to the bottom of the inlet hole, then cranked her up, rolled the wheel back and forth a couple of times, then shut her off. Figured that fluid would have to fill the lines and such and I would need to add more. It actually hissed when I shut off the engine and when I opened it the fluid was really foamy. I guess it did that trying to pump that oil around and displace all the air.


You can see the foam in that picture. I repeated this a couple of times, took more than a quart to get rid of the foam and maintain the fluid level. Steers very smooth again now. Guess I'll have to check around for leaks. I could watch the dirt under the tractor for oil.... but.....

...I've seen the "stupid stuff I've done with my tractor" thread, so I know I'm not alone out there. But this is pretty bad. I had gotten 2.5 gal of fluid to "top off" the hydraulics after fixing that leak. I unscrewed the cap, put the funnel in the tube, poured about half the fluid in, put the cap back on, checked the dipstick, looked good. I started her up, extended all the cyliders on the FEL and lifted the 3ph. Shut her off, and checked the dipstick, need to add more. So I unscrewed the cap, got the funnel, poured more in, checked the dipstick, looked good. Started her up, lowered then raised the FEL, then turned around to lower the 3ph. There was a fountain of hydraulic fluid spewing out of the fill tube. I FORGOT TO PUT THE CAP BACK ON!!! I shut her off and just sat there. There went about $30 worth of fluid and it was in a puddle on the floor of the barn.

That was all the fluid I had and now I had a big mess. So by the way, anyone know how to clean that up. It pretty much soaked into the dirt, but now I have oil all in the dirt there. After lamb blasting myself for being such an idiot, I decided I might as well go get more fluid. I don't get much time on the farm and I didn't want to spend another day with no seat time.

I ran in got more fluid (5 gal this time) came back, filled it back up. I repeated the steps above to fill it, work the lifts, check and add more. So here's the really stupid part. I repeated ALL of the steps above. Yep, that's right, on the second round I lowered and raised the FEL, turned around to lower the 3ph, saw the fountain... AGAIN. So basically I'm a moron. I was so mad. I put the cap on, dumped the rest of the 5 gal bucket into the tube put the cap on and didn't even care what the fluid level was. (I did check it a bit later and it was in the middle of the "safe' zone.)

I'd like to say that I will NEVER EVER do that again, but I thought that after the first time.

Very humbling day. Very oily messy costly time consuming humbling day.

I'll close this and start another post with what I actually to do with my tractor today.

 

[Spiveyman]

OK, so forgetting the ignoramous things of the first part of the day I was off to try a new little deal that I bought in Gatlinberg. Last time I was out on the farm, when I had the problem steering, I decided to get back to work cleaning up around the pond. Earlier this summer I started on that thing. There as cane and briars so thick you literally could not see the pond from outside the fence. I kind of knew there was supposed to be one in there, but had not even seen it. I spend many hours with a brush cutter taking out the brush, but there were many trees in there as well, locust and sycamore mostly. The NRCS guy told me to get the trees off the dam, so I went crazy with a chain saw. I cut down about 6 today, the rest before vacation. Here's what it looked like today, the view of the dam from the gate:


This was an NRCS pond, so it's built to spec. Here you can see the spillway on the left side of the dam, the low spot with the big stump in it:


Here I'm standing in the spill way, a good view of the trees I'd dropped.


Not sure if the scale comes across in the pictures, I should have put my saw on the stump there. I have an 18" bar and had to work around that first one there to get the wedge cut out and the back cut, so it was wider than 18" and very tall. There had to have been 20 or more good size trees, and another 30 smaller ones I cut. Also, when I cut them last week the water was about 5 or 6 FEET lower. There would not have been any water in those shots had I taken them when I cut the trees. So much for the drought, huh? I never would have dreamed that pond would fill up that fast or I wouldn't have left so many trees in the path of the water. I'll get 'em out though, just gonna get muddy doing it now.

On to the real fun, getting the trees off the dam. Here's the new toy I bought for $25 in G-berg. Skidding tongs.

I used a log chain to attach it to my boom pole. By the way, that's a TSC boom pole, but not the one they advertise. It's a CAT 2 heavy duty one, 2,000 loading. Of course I had to alter one part of it, it wasn't blue.

That thing worked like a charm. Most of the time I could lower it from the seat and get it to bite into the logs. I usually had to get off the tractor to release the logs, but it was still way faster than wrapping a chain every time. Here's some shots with the only log that I had to cut the limbs off of:


That was a locust that was leaning about 45° across the fence, so on my first trip out I had the carryall on the 3ph, I raised it up so I could stand on it and cut the limbs off that were hanging across the fence. They dropped harmlessly to the ground, not destroying my fence. I then trimmed off as many as I could and finally cut the tree down in two sections. I was glad to get that sucker off the fence line.

I pulled trees out of the water:


I was also able to pile the smaller stuff together and drag it as a pile:


I'd drop them by the burn pile (an old torn up pond), then scoop it up and push it in with the FEL:


It'd be better if I had brush forks or one of those grapple thumb deals, but as David from Jax waits for an FEL to appear, I wait for Rob to hook me up with a hydraulic thumb. You saw what happened when all I simply tried to top off the fluid. Can you imagine me trying to fabricate and install and hydraulic grapple?!?!? That would be a fun thread.

As usual, the sun set on my day before the work was done. I have many more trees to retrieve. Lots of fun to be had. I'll get an "after" shot when I get it all cleaned up. It's actually a pretty pond once I get all the trees and brush cleared out.

 

[RollTideRam]

You better be careful moving all those trees and branches, You will be looking for a grapple next. JC

 

[sandman2234]

Maybe I can talk to 3RRL about the hydraulic thumb, especially if it would speed things up!
Can't you use my FEL to clean up the oil spill? Just grab a load of dirt and take it to your burn pit. Grab a clean bucket full of dirt on the way back to fill the hole.
David from jax

 

[Spiveyman]

You better be careful moving all those trees and branches, You will be looking for a grapple next. JC

Ha, trust me, already been looking. I saw some threads here where people use them to pick up huge piles of trees and brush. I think about those pictures every time I have to climb down out of the seat to situate a load or the skidding tongs, or wrap a chain around something... At least I do have a means by which to get it done, even if it's not the most efficient means, it is paid for already.

Maybe I can talk to 3RRL about the hydraulic thumb, especially if it would speed things up!
Can't you use my FEL to clean up the oil spill? Just grab a load of dirt and take it to your burn pit. Grab a clean bucket full of dirt on the way back to fill the hole.

Wow, I appreciate you putting in the good word for me with Rob. So, you aren't worried about me getting your FEL all dirty and oily? I appreciate that! What a guy.

Actually, that's a great idea! I hadn't even thought about that. I'm heading back out Tuesday, that'll probably be my first order of business. Scoop out the nasty oily soil in the barn, and take it out to be burned. Of course the oil will have spread a bit, probably take a few buckets to get it??? Thanks for the suggestion. I've got another "how in the world do I clean this up" question, but I'll wait for a picture Tuesday. It's amazing the stuff I'm finding in the barn as I clean it out.

 

[3RRL]

Hey Tim, hahaha!!

I ran in got more fluid (5 gal this time) came back, filled it back up. I repeated the steps above to fill it, work the lifts, check and add more. So here's the really stupid part. I repeated ALL of the steps above. Yep, that's right, on the second round I lowered and raised the FEL, turned around to lower the 3ph, saw the fountain... AGAIN. So basically I'm a moron. I was so mad. I put the cap on, dumped the rest of the 5 gal bucket into the tube put the cap on and didn't even care what the fluid level was. (I did check it a bit later and it was in the middle of the "safe' zone.)

Man, you just kill me with your honest humor.
I'm still cleaning coffee where I spit it out when reading that.
So you need a grapple or bucket grapple now eh? If you want to build your own, I could probably help you out there? You need a welder anyway and need to learn a little more about hydraulics too, right?

 

[sandman2234]

I just realized what he was wanting wasn't a thumb, but a grapple. Duhhh!!
I am not sure I want to be party to building a grapple for someone else to put on my FEL, because that means I am going to have that much more work to do in order to take it off. Heck, I already offered to come up there and take the FEL off at no charge, and haul it off. Now your going to want me to help build a grapple, and later haul it off for free... Geeze, what did I get myself into. Well, I gueeesss I could help build it.
3RRL, you got any plans for a grapple to fit my Bush Hog FEL???
David from jax

 

[Spiveyman]

I just realized what he was wanting wasn't a thumb, but a grapple. Duhhh!!

Technically I said, "...one of those grapple thumb deals..." I thought that would be better than saying "one of those what-cha-ma-call-its." I guess there's a difference between a grapple and a thumb. I saw Rob's thumb on his backhoe bucket for the trench he just dug. Is a thumb something that goes underneath the bucket, rather than a grapple that goes on top or something like that? So much to learn, so much more hydraulic fluid to spill...

I am not sure I want to be party to building a grapple for someone else to put on my FEL, because that means I am going to have that much more work to do in order to take it off. Heck, I already offered to come up there and take the FEL off at no charge, and haul it off. Now your going to want me to help build a grapple, and later haul it off for free... Geeze, what did I get myself into. Well, I gueeesss I could help build it.

So you need a grapple or bucket grapple now eh? If you want to build your own, I could probably help you out there? You need a welder anyway and need to learn a little more about hydraulics too, right?

I do need to say this, the kind of help I'd need in building one of those what-cha-ma-call-its ain't the kind of help y'all can give me from your keyboard. There has a be a foundation in order to build a house, and I'm pretty much just standing in the mud (figuratively speaking that is). So I wouldn't get too nervous about me messing up your FEL any time soon David. Baby steps!

Take the cap off, pour the hydraulic fluid in, PUT THE CAP BACK ON. I at least want to master that before I go fabricating a hydraulic grapple! HA!

 

[3RRL]

3RRL, you got any plans for a grapple to fit my Bush Hog FEL???
David from jax

No, but I could...

 

[sandman2234]

We need to figure out a plan on this, and hopefully make it quick connect, cause i don't want to have to work too hard removing it from the FEL when he decides to let me come dismount and haul it off for him! Maybe I will get lucky and he will be so mad at his FEL, he will tell me to haul it and the grapple off just to get them out of his sight!
After the discussion about the toothbar installation, I am almost scared to think of the bandwidth that could be consumed by Spiveyman building a grapple from scratch!
David from jax