Constantly Working on Equipment

[bcp]

I keep eying them thinking of getting rid of the ford myself. But 90% of what I do is fixing field tile all within a mile of home. Would take FOREVER driving an ex there. And even if I trailered. Sometimes we get in a ~30 acre field that has 4-5 problem areas. Driving betweet each one would take forever as well. Thats the only thing I dont like about the excavators.

You need a faster excavator.



Bruce

 

[dickfoster]

It's almost like owning your own jet fighter where you typically put 10 hours or more of maintenance into each hour of actual flight.

 

[LD1]

Those are pretty rare around here. And it defeats the purpose of getting a tracked machine IMO.

Tracked makes sense because its faster trenching because you dont have to raise the outriggers to pull forward, less ground pressure, lots more drawbar pull, better in mud, and NO CHANCE of flats.

I wouldnt want a wheeled ex for what I do. (fixing tile). I'd have the thing burried for sure. And I wonder how effective the backfill blade is is muddy situations?

 

[DrRod]

I have thought about this about once a week. And its not just the big stuff like the tractor but includes the chain saw, earth auger, pole saw, DR mower, and so on. I'm sure that on balance it pays off when compared to using a shovel or a sickle but it seems there is always something.

And new equipment isn't much better. Sure, it doesn't break when you need it but you should be out there servicing it on a regular basis.

But as noted above, stuff always breaks when you need it or are using it. But think about it, when else would it break or would you notice it? Its not going to break [except for rust or rodent intervention] unless you take it out and start using it.

 

[TractorGuy]

Here are two threads I started on converting it to a quick attach. It's been almost 8 years since doing this and it's easily the best thing ever!!! I gave up on the different types of hose connection fittings. They where all too much work to get apart and back together again. Now I just unscrew the hoses like any other hose, put a plug in the end, tighten it and I'm off with the bucket or hay spear. Then it just takes a minute to connect the hoses again when I put the grapple back on. I take off the grapple at least twice a month to carry hay out to the horses. Total time for that job is an hour. That's taking off the grapple, putting on the hay spear, turning off the electric fence, going through the gate, closing it, setting the bale, picking up the round ring and putting it around the bale, going back through the gate, turning on the fence, removing the hay spear and installing the grapple again. I've spent close to that long just messing with those stupid detachable hose fittings.



http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...ing-my-bucket-ss-quick.html?highlight=grapple

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/128708-rake-grapple-my-555e.html?highlight=grapple

Nice job but I'm not feeling near that ambitious right now. I was hoping you found a supplier with a pin on grapple to fit the NH.

I bought some steel yesterday to build a set of debris forks. I'm just going to make them bolt into the sides of the bucket and see if that gets me by. Tried a clamp on version but it wouldn't go all the way on my bucket and fell off twice and got bent within an hour of trying so it went back. It was bent from the factory is why it wouldn't go all the way on the bucket to begin with.

 

[Spindifferent]

As a very wise, and now deceased, friend would say, "these are high quality problems to have". In the grand scheme of life on this planet, we are fortunate to have such high quality problems.

 

[TnAndy]

Here is a typical morning here:

Fed pigs, helped wife pick strawberries.

Then sanded and put another coat of sheetrock mud on the stairwell I'm remodeling.

Then moved some logs at the mill that I needed in another location.

Then pulled the tractor in the shop, drained the front end to replace the oil I picked up in town yesterday. While it was drain, got under the riding mower and replaced the clutch with the new one that came in the mail yesterday from the online parts place. That started because I replaced the blade belt the other day, and noticed the clutch/drive wheel thing was wore out.

Then came to the house, slid the window AC out of the case (fought like heck to get it out really) in my walk in cooler because when we processed chickens week ago, the AC compressor wouldn't run, and replaced the compressor motor condenser (that also came in the mail yesterday). Room is now cooling down in the mid-30's like it should. 15 year old Samsung 12k BTU window AC, still running !

Now it's lunch time...............

 

[crankshaft21]

I see that you did not mention going to church. If you had, maybe all that would not happen.

 

[EddieWalker]

This happened during the week. My plan was to fix it Saturday, but the storms where pretty bad on Friday, so I let it sit a day before starting on it Sunday morning. I blocked under the axle so it wouldn't settle any more. Usually with a rear flat tire, the outriggers hold it up long enough to get the tire fixed and back on. But since a big hydraulic hose burst at the same time, I couldn't start the engine to raise the backhoe to get the tire on until the hose was installed.

To get to the hose, I had to remove another larger hose. This one was bigger then my largest wrench, so I used a pipe wrench to get it off. That hose went directly to the massive hydraulic filter and the hydraulic tank. It's been a few years, so I replaced the filter and drained the tank while I was at it. There was also another smaller hydraulic filter above those hoses that is very hard to get to with the hoses in the way, but easy with them out of the way.

The new hose was a little thicker then the original, so it was harder to get into place. The clamps didn't fit either, so I rebent them and was able to get them on without the washer. Just a nut.

Once it was all back together, I decided to change the oil too. Might as well.

15 gallons of hydraulic flied and 6 gallons of oil later, it was up ready to start up and install the tire.

Once that was all done, I drove it over to where my round bales are and I took off the grapple and installed the hay spear. Then it wouldn't start. Totally dead. No clicking, no power to the starter. I guess leaving the battery out during the storm caused the terminals to corrode enough to not get a good contact. I sanded them all clean and re did how the ground cable was hooked up.

It fired right up. I then drive about ten feet and it went out of gear. It starts great, but it wont go forward or backwards. One of the things I did when it died on me and wouldn't start was check the fuses. They where all fine, but since that's the only thing I touched other then the cables, I guessed that one of them blew on me. I checked them again, and then made sure to give every one of them an extra push to make sure it was set properly. That must have been it because it went into gear and ran great.

After feeding the horses their bale of hay, I took off the hay spear and installed the grapple again. Total time was six hours Sunday morning to get it running and feed the horses. I was so happy to park it and not have to fix anything else that day!!!!

 

[TnAndy]

I see that you did not mention going to church. If you had, maybe all that would not happen.

You're right....it would just be waiting on me when I got back.

 

[Rustyiron]

Look on the bright side Eddie, you didn't have to jack it up to fix the tire

 

[EddieWalker]

True. Good thing I always save every 6x6 and 4x6 treated post scrap. They add up to some great blocking to support what I'm working on. I've been saving them for well over a decade and the pile hasn't gotten any bigger. I had six blocks under it in two spots. Over a couple of days, it settled onto them and sunk them down into the ground a little. If I didn't out them under there, it would have been a much bigger project!!!!

 

[TractorGuy]

I actually had a pretty good long weekend.

Friday I did some ground work with the little 855. Disc harrowed some ground then raked with the landscape rake to level and get some more roots out.

Spent all day Saturday fabricating a debris fork for the backhoe. Installed it Sunday morning and broke one leg off on the test run. (hung it on a stump that wasn't dug up while lifting one that was) Went in the house and worshiped the sport of racing the rest of the day.

Monday I charged up the AC in the backhoe and added some florescent dye because it has a leak that wasn't showing with the sniffer. Charge lasted most of the day while I got a dozen or so stumps out. Went over all the areas with the landscape rake to smooth out and get some roots to the piles. Last night I went over the backhoe with a black light and found the hose from the compressor to the condenser was glowing green. That's one of the shorter easy hoses so hopefully that will fix the AC leak.

 

[Industrial Toys]

The malfunctioning or intermittent door locks on my 08 Duramax are driving me nuts!

My Dad always said, keep it simple. He (special) ordered his Dodge Sprinter without A/C. The man has never owned an A/C unit of any kind. That didn't work out too well eithr, when on a long road trip he needed a new blower motor and no one had the unique one for a non AC equiped vehicle.

 

[BHD]

It is called entropy. The whole universe is "running downhill". Everything is going from a higher state to a lower state. That includes us. We will all be wormfood some day.. We do what we can to "push the ball uphill", but it always rolls back down. Sometimes it rolls right over us.

How can that be if were all evolving?