What have you done to your Branson today?

[LindenBruce]

Hardly been using mine at all so far this winter. We've had almost no snow at all. I did start it up and use it to bring some firewood into the garage for Mrs. Slim's wood burning stove.

View attachment 684976

View attachment 684977

Nice to have a garage door tall enough I can drive the cabbed tractor all the way inside and close the door to stack off the wood.

So it's basically just a glorified wheel barrow, but it beats bringing in armloads at a time by hand. My tractor sure has had a lazy 6 months so far, that and a new indoor parking space.

I worry it's going to end up getting spoiled and lazy (like me).

:laughing:

It looks like it clears the garage door by an inch (LOL). Having any luck finding reloading components? B.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

It looks like it clears the garage door by an inch (LOL). Having any luck finding reloading components? B.

I haven't measured it, but it's pretty close.

There are no reloading components. I'm well stocked on powder, but primers are getting lower than I like, especially small rifle primers. I'm still "ok", but down to my last thousand or so.

 

[LindenBruce]

I hear you. It's only going to get worse too. B.

 

[FastEddieR]

It's been 20F here in central Oklahoma for the last week, and expected to get colder next week, aaaahhhh winter!
Anyway, the throttle cable on my 4720H froze on me. Moisture apparently got in over the last couple of years and hung around. I didn't want to force the throttle and break it free just in case the cable was rusty and would snap. so I heated it up with my heat gun, yay that worked! However, it was so cold that it froze back up before the engine even had time to warm up. I ended up having to remove it.
First was to disconnect at the carburetor end and then remove the top and side dash panels to disconnect it from the handle. Had to take out the firewall grommet so I could actually remove the cable from the tractor. Then I warmed it up again, worked the cable back and forth, blew through it with compressed air to dry it. Then lubed it up with some silicon based cable lube and reinstalled.
Piece of cake.
I'm glad that I had parked inside the shop on sunday after I moved a bale of hay down for the horses. It was at least out of the wind, it was still 20F inside the shop though! Would have been miserable taking the cable out in the wind and blowing snow, would have done it - some things can't wait, like hungry horses wanting another bale of hay.

 

[Aquamoose]

Funny, I just got a replacement parking brake cable that froze in the cold. Rather than messing with it, I’ll just swap them after injecting some “anti-freeze” lubricant in the cable to prevent a repeat problem. The old cable? I’ll keep as backup. Didn’t affect my day, just disconnected the cable when it froze. Now I gotta figure out which lubricant works best in cold weather.

 

[Cougsfan]

Actually, regular ole' WD40 is ideal for this application. It gets badmouthed a lot by people who miss-use it as a lubricant or penetrating fluid. It was made originally to displace moisture to prevent rust and is good at that. It has marginal lubrication qualities but enough for cable applications. It is thin enough to not gum up at low temps.

 

[fried1765]

Actually, regular ole' WD40 is ideal for this application. It gets badmouthed a lot by people who miss-use it as a lubricant or penetrating fluid. It was made originally to displace moisture to prevent rust and is good at that. It has marginal lubrication qualities but enough for cable applications. It is thin enough to not gum up at low temps.

I would suggest a silicone spray.
WD-40 evaporates very quickly.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I would just use the WD-40 to drive the moisture out (once you bring it in to warm it up and thaw the ice) and then follow it up with either silicone or lithium grease.

 

[Cougsfan]

Having worn out a dozen or two dirt bikes over the years, so I have dealt with and abused a lot of cables and have formed some opinions through much experience. I have tried lubing them, running them dry, I've broke them, and have also had them last for years of serious abuse. My experience is that they really don't need much lube, if any, but they do need to stay dry to prevent rust and they need to stay clean. In my experience, one of the worst things you can do is put grease or a heavy oil on them. Grease just attracts and holds dirt.
Grease wont hurt if you tear the cable apart and clean it regularly, but who wants to add a needless task to their list of things to do. Silicone spray lube is OK if you must lube them, but it really isn't necessary. Graphite isn't a bad lube either, but isn't necessary either. Keeping the rubber boots on each cable end in good shape is far more valuable than lubing.

 

[ericm979]

That's true of modern plastic lined cables like the ones used on motorcycles and bicycles since the '80s. Lubing them will get you a small decrease in friction with a big increase in required maintenance and wear if you don't do keep them clean. Older non lined cables need lube (and don't work nearly as smoothly even with lube). I expect that tractor cables would be lined just because it's so common in other applications but without cutting them or removing ferrules I couldn't say for sure.