What did you do with your Power Trac today?

[MossRoad]

...Then they'd get serious and figure out their business was actually doing.

That reminded me of a project team I got put on called the Waste Watchers.

We'd pick a random task or process, diagram every step of the task, then question why every step was done. In a long established company, you'd be shocked (or you'd expect) the amount of overlapping, redundant, outdated, non-functional, etc., steps that are put into processes in the name of quality control. In a nutshell and boiled down to the lowest possible reason, it was amazing the steps put in place in a process just to:

make sure someone did their job in the first place



Instead of holding that person accountable, they'd have someone else check their work.


The other big thing was "Because we've always done it that way."



Anyhow, we'd analyze the process, diagram it, conduct interviews, go visit the process in person many times, and find all the steps that could be eliminated as wasted time, effort, materials, and such. Heck, some of the steps involved machinery or computer systems that were no longer in the building!

It was a fairly rewarding experience and I was in on it for 4-5 years. Saved the company a bunch of money, and freed people up to do other things rather than wasting time. Made people own the process and be responsible.

 

[ponytug]

Today I tried to move some clay soil around and then discovered even at full height and curl, it stuck to the bucket. No amount of rattling the hydraulics would dislodge it. I ended up having to shovel it out by hand... Did I mention that the soil is absolutely saturated?

On the bright side, with soil being so...cohesive..., I ended up doing some trenching by hand to start a bigger trenching project and found a galvanized pipe line that I didn't know existed that I was very glad that hadn't found with the trencher.

 

[AVIVIII]

Broke it.

I was pushing snow with the bucket on soft ground. She was revved up pushing a big pile when the cutting edge dug in and the tractor rode up over the bucket. When I went to lift it back up, a large stream of oil was spraying from the wiper area of the right cylinder. It pumped a lot of oil out before I got back to the shop.

Beginning disassembly as soon as I find someone to plow for the storm coming tomorrow....

 

[MossRoad]

Bummer.

Hope you get a quick repair.

 

[ponytug]

Bummer x2. I'm surprised that the relief valve didn't bypass first.

All the best, Peter

 

[AVIVIII]

It was rather violent and I wasn't in FLOAT...

Just called Tazewell and got rebuild kits for all 3 cylinders, just in case I damaged the other ones as well. Keith said he'd ship them today. The piston I know is bad is already removed, I will disassemble when I have replacement parts in-hand.

Having it apart in the shop will give me a little motivation to take care of a few maintenance items and break in my new Milwaukee grease gun!

 

[ponytug]

@AVIVIII Probably unrelated, but I am a little curious; what do you use the valves on your cylinders for? Is there a chance that they could have restricted the flow, making the pressure spike worse that blew the cylinder?

All the best,

Peter

 

[MossRoad]

I didn't notice they were valves. Thought they were quick connect on Ts. Good eye.

 

[AVIVIII]

Probably unrelated, but I am a little curious; what do you use the valves on your cylinders for?

Those are installed from the factory on any machine that was ordered with a knuckle boom mower (and possibly other attachments). They are needle valves to lock the main hydraulics while that mower is attached. At least that is my understanding; Everything I "know" about the system is from @SpringHollow. I have the knuckle boom mower and aux hydraulic controls, but I am the third owner and it has yet to be fully assembled!

The valves are currently wide open and I don't believe that they would have any effect on it.

 

[ponytug]

Those are installed from the factory on any machine that was ordered with a knuckle boom mower (and possibly other attachments). They are needle valves to lock the main hydraulics while that mower is attached. At least that is my understanding; Everything I "know" about the system is from @SpringHollow. I have the knuckle boom mower and aux hydraulic controls, but I am the third owner and it has yet to be fully assembled!

The valves are currently wide open and I don't believe that they would have any effect on it.

Thanks! That makes sense all around.

Good luck on the rebuild. YouTube video or photos would be wonderful, as I am sure it is in my future as well.

All the best,

Peter