Between the River Hills & the River Bottom

[cliftonbros89]

Matco guy gave me a code reader to try out for the semi trucks.

I think it would definitely be handy for some stuff. Might help us avoid some issues. Maybe make some repairs and avoid paying someone else to do it.

My “free” M12 battery, charger, and bag finally showed up too that were supposed to go with the M13 die grinders I bought awhile back.

I got a few things from KC Tool too. Decided to try out some smaller Knipex to keep on my for daily use. Also got a few different German 32mm wrenches. Not necessarily needed. But we run into 32 often and they could be handy.

Also hit up HJE at the beginning of June. Bought several US pairs of tweezers they had, they’re great this time of year for ticks! Also, got a Wright set of service wrenches, a few random Wright and Williams wrenches. I also got the metric SK 1/2” drive swivel impact set. I originally ordered the 10-19mm set. I already had a 24mm and I never need anything between 18-24, except 18 and 24. But the 10-19 set was on back order and HJE upgraded me for now additional charge as they had the larger set it stock. Those guys are awesome!

I’m expecting a few more tools. But it’s all stuff that’s late.

 

[captain14]

Enjoy the day off and chill! You’ve earned it this past Month.

When you chase your cattle/ calves down, can you start the leaders in a direction and the others will follow or do you have to work the entire herd to go in the right direction to the barn or field?

 

[cliftonbros89]

Enjoy the day off and chill! You’ve earned it this past Month.

When you chase your cattle/ calves down, can you start the leaders in a direction and the others will follow or do you have to work the entire herd to go in the right direction to the barn or field?

It always works best to push them all at one time, all together. When we’re moving the cattle around, either from one pasture to the other, or up into a barn lot, they know the route and where the gates are, so usually (I use that term loosely) they know where they’re supposed to go. There’s not necessarily any leaders, unless it comes to pushing their way through to the waterer.

In the situation with these calves. It was difficult. They knew where the lot was and where they needed to go, they just didn’t know how to get there. The group that came up to the house knew where the waterer and the feeder was. It just takes leading them in the right direction to get them there. Also, then the one’s that were in the lot see the ones outside and think they need to see what’s going on out there too.

The group we moved last, that I had locked up in the pasture, was harder to move. They were in an unfamiliar area. They knew where they were supposed to be at. Unfortunately, that was through the woods, through a fence, and across the field. So deterring them from wanting to find an open space in the fence in the woods was tough. We just had to keep pushing. Once we got them to a place where they could see the other barn it seemed they knew that would be a good direction to go.

The bad thing with calves is there is absolutely no leader. It’s just a free for all. The only leader is the one that freaks out first and decides to bolt in one direction or the other. It’s these times that the herd mentality is very evident! The key is to think ahead. You plan your move to move them in the right direction before they decide to make their next move. It’s a chess game of sorts.

It’s is also days like these that the Kubota and mini truck become modern day horses to move things along, at least in the open pasture, not where we were in the woods. But you better believe that I had the pedal to the floor of that mini truck a few times. The light rear end, plus the muddy ground made opportunity for some really great fish tail maneuvers through the pasture! Heat and aggravation can really intensify the driving skills at times.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well I didn’t completely take the day off today. I checked on all the cattle and did a few things at the shop.

The 4020 was running hot when I was gathering straw bales up a few weekends ago. It was low on coolant. I topped it off and pressure checked it. I think the only issue was the radiator was so full of dirt. I cleaned the radiator out and gave the whole thing a rinse.

I also put the new PTO shaft on the CX15, so it’s ready to go for the week. I got it all greased up, checked the oil in the gear boxes once and fueled the 7510 up.

I got the shop cleaned up. We got a lot of the major stuff out of the way. But there’s still plenty to do. Should be a full week. Not much of a chance of rain, hopefully we get some coming. The river is finally going down, not fast, but it’s going down.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Another day today and back to the regular schedule.

Back in about February we decided we were going to redo our 10”x51’ auger. The auger was wearing down, the tube was getting spots wore through it. So we ordered it then. It just came in last week. Dad went to pick it up this morning. A little over $3,000 cheaper to put it on the old rolling frame ourselves over buying a full new one.

Then we decide since it looks to be a clear couple days we’d cut some hay.

I hooked the 7510 to the cutter. Greased it up, checked the knives and a few other things. Then got dad going cutting with it this afternoon.


then I backed the rake in. It was in need of having some more teeth replaced.


I think I posted this thing awhile back that I bought. It really does help changing out those rake teeth. That way the dang things don’t flop around and turn around. While you’re trying to replace one. I replaced the teeth, gauged the tires, greased it all and tractor.

After the rake I hooked up the baler to the 7230. I greased both the baler and the tractor. Gave the baler a quick look over. Just to make sure nothing was loose, broke or missing. Oiled the chains and it was good to go.


Then I made the trip down the road with the 4020 to get the square baler out of the shed. We’re planning on square baling some of the hay we cut today. That way we’ll have it for grinding for feed.

I got the square baler in the shed and stopped to go check on the cattle. It was about time they come in the lots to get a drink for the afternoon and catch some shade. They were all in need of mineral again. I also poured some more stuff on some of the back rubbers for them. Some of the cows have quite a few flies on their faces. I’m trying the keep the back rubbers loaded up and encouraging them to come in the lots so they walk under them a couple times a day and maybe reduce the amount of flies a bit.

After I checked the cattle I greased the square baler, oiled the chains, tightened the chains. I’ll look it over a bit more tomorrow though.

Hay won’t bale tomorrow, more that likely anyway. So it’ll probably be Wednesday when that happens. When it gets nice and hot. But it’ll be nice to have that job out of the way.

Markets took a big hit today. It’s getting crazy again.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well it seems I’ve got some updating to do

 

[RivennHewn]

I thought you farmers just sat around watching crops grow and cash checks

 

[captain14]

No, he has to fix all the broken equipment in the rain and mud on the farm and chase parts down.

BTW, he’s not the one that’s breaking the equipment.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I thought you farmers just sat around watching crops grow and cash checks

I wish! You’d be surprised how many people think that though. I do know some guys that do seem to do it. Especially, some of these guys that have little to no cattle and hire a dealership to do all their handy work. I don’t know how those guys do it.

 

[cliftonbros89]

No, he has to fix all the broken equipment in the rain and mud on the farm and chase parts down.

BTW, he’s not the one that’s breaking the equipment.

Finally! Someone who’s on my side!

 

[captain14]

Ha, fire apparatus is the same way. One breaks down, the other three look around and wanna be fixed too every Monday!

If it’s not everyday.

And parts, don’t go there.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Ok! So we left off with hay. What a good time that was!

We’ll start by noting the Macnaught BOP20 topping off the gearcase on the square baler. Who knows the last time it was checked. But I do love the BOP for gearcases!

Since we weren’t going to be cutting anymore hay we cleaned up the mower conditioner and the tedder, greased them, and put them back in the shed.

The hay wasn’t very heavy so we didn’t bother tedding it. We just let the sun dry it. Since I was waiting on that I was going to get to some shop work. The 4010 had a fuel leak and the 8400 had a few cylinder leaks that I wanted to get fixed before we start using it this fall.

So both tractors got a quick bath and back in the shop.

The 4010 was leaking right where the fuel line goes to the injector. It was shooting fuel out pretty good. It definitely needed to be addressed. There’s some sealing washers on each side of the line where it bolts on to the injector. Naturally, I didn’t have any of those sealing washers, even though I had to replace some on the pump end of a line right after we bought it.

I could do anymore to the 4010 so I decided to take off the leaking steering cylinder on the 8400.

I’m so glad I got that Matco air chisel. Knocking those cylinder pins out with that baby didn’t take no time. That was an awesome investment.

Managed to get the cylinder apart pretty easy, even that damn internal snap ring! I had a seal kit or so I thought. But Deere got me again! My fault, I didn’t pay attention. The serial number break for the seal kit went my the front axle number, not the tractor. This is why I’ve been composing a list of all tractor component serial numbers as well. But to be fair, both number are quite close to one another. Also, the number on the axle is actually 10 number long, but the book only goes by the last six. Whoever thought that up needs a swift kick.

If you guys have watched me do hydraulic stuff you may have noticed I like my plugs. I hate the mess and I like the idea of keeping any dirt from getting in the system and keeping the oil in. This fitting was a damn metric fitting I didn’t have a plug for. Not long ago I bought some of those Yelloc plugs online. Those things work! That line never leaked a drop after I put the plug in. I really like them. I noticed in the lastest Deere sale ad that they have some similar now for sale, but orange. I wish I could find something similar to sell for my tool business.

Aside from that, yeah, the seal kit I had was wrong, it was after 5 on Wednesday so I had to wait til the following day to order it.

 

[RivennHewn]

No, he has to fix all the broken equipment in the rain and mud on the farm and chase parts down.

BTW, he’s not the one that’s breaking the equipment.

A little tongue in cheek.

my way of saying “Dang, that’s a lot of work!”

 

[cliftonbros89]

The following day it was time to rake the hay.



The river had finally gone down some.
But there was still plenty of water and the ground was still too wet to be trying to replant any beans.

I continued raking.

then I started noticing some clouds. The plan was to round bale the hay on the hilly spots and on the levee. Then square bale all the rest. While I was finishing raking dad had starting round baling.

But the clouds got closer (much darker than pictured) and I started hearing thunder. Then a breeze. Then I could feel the temperature change. It felt nice and cool…so I knew we were screwed.

…yep…it rained. Not a lot. But enough to screw things up. Luckily dad was finishing with the round bales on the levee just as it started to rain on him. But I definitely got wet before I made it back to the shop. It wa iffy chances of rain all week. I told dad it was no use to put off cutting hay cuz it needed to be done. I also said it wasn’t going to rain unless we cut hay anyway. Turns out I was right.

 

[cliftonbros89]

It was Friday, our ole buddy Noah was in town from school for the weekend and he said he wanted to work. Perfect timing. He was going to get to have his first time baling square bales.

We spent the morning turning the raked/rained on hay over to get the bottom side dry. We had to let it sit for awhile til it was dry enough to bale.

So by late afternoon I drove, Noah stacked. We had a few times that the baler didn’t finish the tie on the wire. Then there was another one or two times it didn’t tie right either. Luckily, 3 of the 4 times we caught it before the kicker launched it out and scattered the bale everywhere. We also ended up with one of the older tires on one of the wagons blowing out. That put us on pause for a few minutes.

The fescue wasn’t very heavy. It dried out good and baled good. But there was a plot of some alfalfa me uncle has planted for a deer food plot that we’d cut. It was decently heavy. But that rain screwed it up. Then it didn’t bale the best. It didn’t dry very well. Yeah, I baled some of it a little tough. I’m sure some of it’s going to be a little grinding. But we have some hay to grind at least. More than we had last year. Noah didn’t do too bad for his first go round stacking on a wagon. I didn’t bury him but I didn’t cut him much slack either. When we stopped for the flat tire he informed me that it was definitely kicking his **** and he was out of shape since we wasn’t working out for football anymore like he did in high school. He said this was definitely at the top of his list of least favorite jobs on the farm. But I kept him motivated and he did pretty good.

There was a bit of a chance of rain so we baked everything in the shed. We didn’t have any more wagons ready to finish what hay was left so we had to roll up 3 more round bales. We called it a day right at dark.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I’d kind of took that weekend off besides checking on cattle. Plus, I didn’t have all my parts.

Hay was finished to it was time to haul off some corn.


Always fun cleaning out bins when’s it’s sunny and in the 90’s.


In between doing that I’d cleaned up both hay balers and the rake. I had them set to put back in the shed for the year.

Yet again I saw clouds move in. I’d put away the round baler. Saw clouds but headed out to put away the square baler. I thought it was going to miss me. I thought I could beat it.

I could only go so fast.

I didn’t beat it…there wasn’t really anywhere to stop for cover on the way back. So I just rode it out. I was soaked. It was a good fast 1/2” pour down.


The sun popped out. I was dripping and needed to dry anyway. I had just enough to time to get the rake to the shed and make it back before dark. So off I went.

So all the hay equipment was tucked away for the year.

 

[cliftonbros89]

The next day we finished up hauling off the last of the corn. (Not counting what’s left in the bin for grinding for feed).

We had some beans left so we were going to get rid of those too.

We had beans in a bin at a farm we’d just starting farming a few years ago. This past fall was the first time we’d ever used the bin. It’s not hooked to any electric. The unloading auger on it is a PTO driven auger. It’s sort of a vertical auger and it’s nowhere near tall enough to fill the trucks.

So we had to have a tractor for the bin auger to run the beans into out 31’ auger, driven by another tractor to fill the trucks. By the time we had got things moved and set up I had enough time to at least get one truck loaded before dark.

 

[cliftonbros89]

The following day we kept hauling beans.

We were timed out pretty good so neither one of us had to wait on the other loading a truck. So we were both able to keep moving. But then I didn’t meet dad on the road on my way back so I figured something was up.

Side note, I forgot to mention. At this point I had an issue with my service truck. It was like it was missing out, like a fuel issue. I was going to run it til I had a chance to look at it. But with a full shop, putting away hay equipment, hauling off corn, cleaning out bins, moving equipment to move beans, hauling off beans. Checking on the truck just wasn’t quite fitting in on the schedule.

That being said. Usually when we’re somewhere else loading truck I’d insist my truck be there. In case a problem should arise we’d be able to hopefully take care of things a little faster. But my truck wasn’t there.
The PTO bin auger had a chain on it, one of the set screws on one of the sprockets came loose, that holds it in place on a square key on the auger shaft. That caused square key to come out and make things come apart. Dad had gone to the shop for tools as I was on my way back.

That sprocket went to the vertical auger. Since it stopped turning it then choked up the horizontal auger in the bin floor to sheer off the bolts that hold it in place on the shaft. That caused the end of the auger flighting the break as well. So we had to remove the horizontal auger completely. Which required completely moving the vertical auger. We took the horizontal auger to the stop. Cuz off the damaged end and dad welded the end of the flighting back together. Luckily, we didn’t have to cut much off so it was still plenty long enough to work in the bin.


Dad really enjoyed getting to use his craftsman bit socket set. He used two of them to tighten the set screws on the sprockets. Both of them broke. He was real impressed.

Dad had grabbed the drawer out of my truck earlier to get a square key for the auger shaft and I luckily had the exact size key we needed for the job in there. So minus the flighting weld, I would’ve had everything we needed for the repair in my truck and saved at least one trip back to the shop. It also would’ve saved dad two broken sockets.

But, we got it back together and it was ready to roll. Dad left to watch my nephew’s baseball game. I got the truck almost half loaded before beans quit running out and I would’ve had to get in and started scooping. I wasn’t doing that by myself. So that was the end of that for the day.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So the next day we finally finished it up.

We cleaned out the bin at the rented farm and had one bin left to finished cleaning out at the house.

So that was it. All the grain was hauled off. We didn’t get as much for the last of it as we could have had we hauled it off back in May. But it was still quite a bit more than what we would’ve gotten for it last fall. So despite the aggravation of that bin breakdown it was worth it to let it in that bin for awhile.

So before I quit for the evening I wanted to get to the 4010.

I had my sealing washers. I thought while I was at it I’d just replace all the washers at the end of the lines at the injectors. Easy job that didn’t cost much of anything that could definitely save a lot of trouble.

I replaced them all. Started it up…still leaking. Now the reason it appeared to be leaking was because one of the two washers at that point had broke and fell out. So it wasn’t sealing at all. So I thought maybe it could be the bolt. Swapped it. Nope. No the bolt. So the only other thing I could figure out was that the washer missing had caused enough wear on the end of the line that even with a new washer there it still wouldn’t seal properly. I didn’t have any way to test that without a new line so I had to let it sit.

To replace the sealing washers I didn’t want to have to take the hood and everything off so swivel sockets were my friend on this job. But the one injector is directly behind the fuel filter housing. I definitely wasn’t taking the hood off just for that one. I couldn’t quite get my arm up under there to get the bolt as tight as I’d like. So this Wera ratchet wrench and Bondhus 9/16” hex key made some great extra leverage under the hood to tighten things up. The Wera gripped it good too.

Then it started raining.

So the problem still wasn’t fixed. I sure didn’t have anything to make a line like that. I knew my options we slim. So I just had to wait. Next day I just ordered the line new from Deere. Wasn’t cheap. But it was my best and fastest option. Same original part number. No headaches. Just pay for it and go.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So then it was Friday. Shop still didn’t have room for the truck. Then I thought what the heck am I thinking, I was borrowing that code reader from the Matco guy.

Sure enough. Not good. I didn’t really want to have to be the one to do it. I had plenty to do. Not to mention, when it comes down to it I’d rather work on tractors than work on trucks.
So we got it to town to have it looked at.

Then we ended up taking the 8600 semi truck down to a shop to have it looked over too. Had a few issues and a couple codes on it as well. We want it to be good to for fall. Plus, I don’t really enjoy working on those too much either. Although I really should do more on them. I really need to learn more about them too.

We had more rain too.

8400 steering cylinder seals were here too.

I looked everything over well to make sure there wasn’t any damage besides seals. Got things cleaned up. Got the new seals on.

Got everything back together. Put new bushings in and took the rattle can to it.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I took the weekend pretty easy again for once. Mainly just checking on the cattle.

We got some much need rain during part
of that week and the weekend. Spotty at times so rain fall varied. At the shop we had 3.5” all together. But at the retirement farm there was 5.5” over all. Of corse all that had made the river go back up some more. Pretty much ending the chance of replanting any beans outside of the levee.

Monday I got the cylinder back on the 8400. Got the air out of the system. Turned things back and forth several times and it looks like its good to go.

And again, these Yelloc plugs, various sizes are great.


Got my HJE Epstein’s day order in too.

Only thing I ordered was this set of Wright adjustable spanners. Luckily, they arrived just in time.

I’ve wanted a set for quite awhile and I figured Epstein day was a good time to get a good set.

The seal on a life cylinder on the 8400 was leaking pretty good too. Although only used to hook to and unhook from the anhydrous toolbar, the seal was still leaking good enough for the whole cylinder to constantly be covered in dirt and oil, which only spreads all over the rest of the hitch.

But before I started on it I wanted to finish the 4010.

Got a new line. I sprayed some paint on it. I put the line and it fixed the leak issue. No problems at all.

It was good to go again. We’re slowly getting this thing in better shape.
I’m still guessing there was it’s too much wear on the end of the line for it to seal properly. Maybe it could’ve been fixed in a different way than paying for a whole new line. But regardless the problem is fixed and I shouldn’t even have to worry about that particular fuel line again.

 

[cliftonbros89]

4010 was out. So it was time to go after the lift cylinder. Unfortunately, being in tight quarters the pins that hold it won’t just knock out. There held in place with a round plate that slides into a slot on the pin. Then the round plate it bolted to the hitch.

The cylinder pins have a threaded hole in them as well. Now the manual shows using a threaded adapter on a slide hammer to remove the pins. I don’t have slide hammer and honestly I don’t know where you’d find one small enough and heavy enough to fit in and do the job anyway.
The top pin was no issue. I screwed a bolt in. Tapped the head of the bolt with a chisel and a hammer and it slide right now. I thought wow that was easy. But the bottom pin wasn’t that easy. Hammer and chisel wouldn’t budge it. So I thought hey I have an air chisel! Well a few taps on that and I’d course the bolt broke off. As seen above I had to extract that out of there. That cost be some time! So ended up using two more bolts and was able to get the pin part of the way out (before the air chisel broke the bolts). That allowed me to grab the slot in the pin with a few pry bars. Still Didn’t come easy but I got it out.



So I finally got to try that Wright adjustable spanner.

It had a bit of a tough first go round…the pin broke before I could break the cylinder but loose. But I put it back together with a 1/4” bolt and got the job done. I may have had to “cheat” a little to get it broke loose.

Finally, got the cylinder apart only to find another issue.

The bolt on the end of the rod was 45mm. Guess what size I don’t have in a wrench or socket? 45mm! Metric wrenches go to 46 but I don’t have 45. Metric sockets only go to 42. Naturally, no store in town had a 45 anything. All these auto parts stores and “farm” stores still think that anything that big that anyone works on is all SAE yet. Not only do they thing it’s still all SAE. They don’t think SAE goes past 1-1/2”. So I just had to order a 45mm 3/4” drive from CarQuest. Faster than I could get from the Matco guy.

Got the socket. 1/2” impact wouldn’t touch it. The 3/4” impact I was borrowing from the Matco guy it no longer at the shop. Matco guy needed it at his shop awhile back. But my SK 36” 3/4” breaker bar on it with a 4’ pipe. Didn’t touch it.

Today I dug out dads 1” impact and hooked it to my 1/2” air hose. Turned the regulator up. Nothing. Which that impact is pretty beat up and showing some age. I don’t think it works the way it’s supposed to. So I’m stuck at the moment. I can’t get it apart.

I just got the seals for this cylinder too. I had to call and have the dealer figure these out. There’s about 4 different seal options just for this size cylinder. Doesn’t go by any serial number. Just part numbers have also been substituted. It was ridiculous.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I actually spent a good majority of the last few days doing some mowing.

Finished mowing pasture. I mowed the pasture at the retirement farm along with the hay patches.

I also drove around mowing off the other small fescue hay patches. Any field water ways I can get to I mowed off as well.

Mowed the road ditches.

Mowed the field roads along fields in the bottom as well. Another job finished up. At least til fall.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Dad slid the wheels on the 320 out some. He didn’t like it being so narrow. He cleaned it and the 520 up this week. He took them both to town today.

Last year they opened a tractor museum in town. Today they had Max Armstrong there, from the national farm report. They asked members of the tractor club to bring up tractors. I think dad said there were about 30-40 tractors brought to it today.

He did that today. Then in another week him and my uncle will be going on the tractor club ride. They take a tractor ride across a big section of the county. It’s a different route every year.

Also, dad is leaving tomorrow to go camping for several days. So that really ruins my plans of weening calves next week…so I guess it’s back to shop work for the most part.

So there we go. Pretty much caught up. That’s the highlights anyway. Despite the fact that we’re “slowed down” I feel like there’s plenty to do. August isn’t far away and it’ll be time to start making sure everything is good to go for fall. I don’t know where this year has gone. It’s going fast.

In between doing everything else I’m also making plans for the tool business. I’m planning on have sort of an “open house” at the shop for it next month. So I’m trying to stock up on a variety of tools. I plan to have things set up so people can try things out or I can at least demonstrate some things for people. At least give them an idea why purchasing something from me could potentially be better than what they have now. Or maybe make them consider purchasing something they don’t have at all. So there’s lots of work to be done with that as well.

So…we’re caught up. For now.

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Thank you for the great update!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Thank you for the great update!

It seems like it’s easier to fall behind all the time. Then it really takes awhile to do once you get a few weeks at a time.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Didn’t do much besides check on the cattle today and put out mineral for all of them.

My main objective for today was to get the bolt on the 8400 lift cylinder off.

I had some help but finally got the job done. I figured it would’ve been loctite holding it in there. But it doesn’t appear to have had any. It was just super tight I guess.

I called our tire guy. Luckily, he wasn’t busy today so he said he’d stop buy. We used his 3/4” impact on his 3/4” hose for it truck. Wouldn’t break it loose. So we added some heat with the mini-ductor. Impacted it again. Nothing. Tried a little more heat. Shook it with the impact. Still nothing. Got the big SK breaker bar and a pipe again. I was actually going to grab a second pipe and he pulled the breaker bar and the bolt popped loose. He said he barely even pulled on it. I guess the whole combination of things was enough to get the job done.

So it’s at least apart. It was nice and hot and humid today so I didn’t get in a rush to replace seals. Sounds like the week won’t be very busy with dad gone anyway. So I’m going to take my time on it. At least it’s apart now.

 

[racer-john]

Some times it is just the residual stresses you put into something that will pop it loose.

 

[jollygreengiant]

Sounds like you need one of those big 1" impacts that they use for changing truck tires.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Sounds like you need one of those big 1" impacts that they use for changing truck tires.

We do have a 1” impact. I tried it. However, it’s pretty much worn out. Plus it was only on a 1/2” hose. All of our lines from the compressor are only 1/2” as well.

I would imagine for a good 1” impact it would require more that a 1/2” line to deliver the right capacity of air. But I honestly don’t know much about that type of thing.

Tire guy had his 3/4” impact that he has hooked up to a 3/4” hose. It wouldn’t bust it loose.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Didn’t get much done today. My plan was to get the hydraulic cylinder back together…but that didn’t happen.

I started but getting everything cleaned up. Smoothed up all the edges along the edge of the barrel and the end of the piston where the nut screws on. Little bit of rust from moisture over time.

I started taking seals out and sitting them in order, facing the right way, so I wouldn’t screw anything up. Then I grabbed the seal kits that I picked up Friday…and one of them way wrong…I feel like I can blame the parts department on this one cuz Deere made this things nightmare to figure out.

It also gets annoying when they decide to join two seal kits into one. Then there’s always a few seals that look close to being the same but you know one of them isn’t right. Then at the end of the day you’re stuck with 3 or 4 pieces that you don’t need and you’ll likely never use. That irritates me.

So, I figured the best bet to get the situation solved was just to take the old seals and the new seal kits back to the dealership and get it figured out. After a good half hour of staring at the computer screen we at least got a kit ordered. Should be there in the morning. Let’s hope it’s right.

But I did at least get part of it together. Got the new bushings in to. At least those were right. So that’s really all I have to show for my day.

Took it pretty easy. Had a little rain yesterday evening. But not much at the shop. Had to make a few stops in town and checked on all the cattle this evening. I’m trying to get them all in the routine of coming in the lots in the evening again to hopefully make weening calves easier next week. That’s the plan anyway.

If you’ve been following along you may remember I’d started selling Macnaught stuff. I believe I’ve mentioned that I’d also added Wera last summer. Then Wilde and Trusty-Cook over the winter. But I’ve also managed a to get in with a few wholesale warehouse companies so I have access to quite a bit of place, similar to what some of the auto stores like Napa and CarQuest do. They always have quarterly sales magazines on the counter. I know my Matco guy uses one too for things he can’t get from Matco. But through those places I can get Wright, Martin, SK, Bondhus, Irwin, Lang, and a bunch of other brands.

I have a Facebook page I post tool stuff on several times a week. But that doesn’t always work the best. Obviously, my schedule doesn’t always allow for much extra time to try and meet up with anyone to push things either. So I decided I’m going to do a sort of open house next month. Provide some food and beverages. A Friday evening. Just have a decent variety of tools sitting out for people to check out, try out. I’m hoping it works out.

So it between everything else I’m trying to get things lined out for that. I’m trying to come up with some displays, some set ups for demos of some products. I’ve been getting my inventory of what I have available all in my iPad with all the prices on everything. I’m trying to get all that figured out. I’m waiting on some tools to arrive yet. I’m also coming up with a list of things I’m going to try to order to have before the day gets here as well. I’m trying to think of those things that people don’t really think about. Things people don’t think they need until they have it and realize it was a great idea. Like crowfoot wrench. You may not use them often. But when you do you’re glad you’ve got them.

So we’ll see how it goes. Since dad isn’t going to be around most of the week I’m planning on getting most of that lined out. Got some more pocket screwdrivers on the way to hand out. Wera actually send me some small screwdrivers and stickers to give out too.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Didn’t get much done again today. Went to pick up the other seal kit at the dealership. But…I found out that apparently, even though it was supposed to be overnight, Deere didn’t send the seal kit. Which is apparently happening quite often lately.

So…I did a few other things instead.

Put out some hay to most the groups of cattle. They aren’t hurting for it. But I think they may eat on it some. I plan on switching some of them on pasture as soon as we ween calves.

I had to put the bucket on for my uncle. He complained about some jobs that need to be done. But the bucket needed to be on the tractor. He can’t even put the bucket on himself. I bet it’s a week before he decides to use the tractor anyway.


Ground a batch of feed for the calves.


Then I finished mowing a few places in the pasture I hadn’t got to yet. Few hours of that and I was done with that. But then on the way back to the shop I had an issue.

I didn’t notice it going out of the gravel road but once I got on the pavement I noticed there wasn’t dust anymore. There was smoke. The pin for the brush hog that holds the wheel spindle on the frame had slid out. Good thing was the tire kept it from falling out! Bad thing was the tire kept it from falling out! Pin dug into the tire real good. Made the pin nice and out too! So that’s added to the to do list tomorrow.

Checked cattle and loaded up the back rubbers once again. Seems like flies are coming back again. Several calves are afraid to walk under the damn things. But this old bull loves this thing. He rubs on it like crazy. A few cows started to try and push him so they could get through. They were tired of him going back and forth under it.

So let’s hope my seal kit shows up tomorrow morning. I’ll definitely be calling ahead this time.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Also forgot to mention, I got a call on my truck yesterday, it’s not good. I was hoping it was just going to be an injector issue. The code reader showed cylinder 6 wasn’t firing. The checked the compression and it’s dead. Cylinder 6 has zero compression, wouldn’t even move the needle on the gauge. Given the history, the age, the cost, the value, the mileage, sounds like I’m going to be looking for a different truck…not really what I wanted to do. Especially, since the used market is so crazy right now.

 

[XJSuperman]

Damn. New truck or new engine? I'd be looking for an engine to swap in. Would be a Saturday or a weekend task and probably less than $1000 in total. Depends on connections and where you find a motor. I wouldn't worry about low miles or anything, just get one you know runs and get it in quick before harvest.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Damn. New truck or new engine? I'd be looking for an engine to swap in. Would be a Saturday or a weekend task and probably less than $1000 in total. Depends on connections and where you find a motor. I wouldn't worry about low miles or anything, just get one you know runs and get it in quick before harvest.

It’s getting harder to find those engine. Especially a decent used one. That’s what we did 2 years ago. There was supposed to only be 70,000 on that engine. Now it’s junk. It was well over $1,000 if I remember correctly. Pretty sure it was over $2,000. I don’t really want to spend another $2,000 on another used one just to possibly end up with the same situation in a year or two. If nothing else goes wrong. That truck has well over 200,000 on it. Sure besides the engine it’s not in too bad of shape. But how long til something else goes out. Plus, the heat doesn’t work. That another issue that needs to be addressed. The a/c doesn’t work. But I’m not worried about it. But I would at least like to have a working defrost for winter. Got to find some options somewhere.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well the day started out ok. Seal kit came in today. So I drove to make sure it was the correct kit. Luckily, it was.

Part of the issue is Deere likes to combine kits. That way they have one kit to work for multiple cylinders. What aggravates me about that is that now I have all these seals that I’m never going to use that I had to get just to get the ones I needed.


These are the pieces I needed, paired up with the old pieces.


All of this is left over **** that doesn’t go to my cylinder. It goes to some other cylinder. It’s stupid. I’m sure it saves Deere money to do it like that. But it really screws things up for the consumer. Not to mention it was a nightmare to even find what freaking kit I needed.


Had to heat a few up so they were a little easier to put on.

Then compressed them to help them seat properly as they cooled.

Everything was going pretty smooth. Then I screwed up. If someone would’ve been there to punch me I would’ve made them do it!

Tried to make sure the nut was tight. But just as I was about to let up. BAM! Blew in two. So not only does that mean taking the whole damn thing apart again. It also means paying $70 for a new nut. On top of that I’ll be luckily if I have it in my hand by Friday afternoon. Needless to say a wrench was thrown…

So back apart it went.

Bolt was a lot easier to get out this time. I torqued it to spec, 600ft/lbs. it should’ve been right, I’d just had that torque recalibrated back in the fall and I’ve only used it 2 or 3 times, briefly since then.

but did I mention…

I bought myself one of these guys! Just came in yesterday. If that bolt was actually torqued to 600 then this thing is awesome cuz it didn’t take much to break that bolt loose.

In other news, my uncle actually did use the 7230 today for those tree limbs he was talking about yesterday. He left with it and it wasn’t long and I’d got a call.

I guess the cattle had been rubbing against the gate and lifted it up off the hinges. It’s the gate that goes to one of his precious food plots. He was sure to point out that it wouldn’t have been able to happen had the top hinge been turned and that could’ve been avoided. You know, implying that I’d hung that gate and I yet again did something wrong. But, the funny thing is he helped dad hang that gate. I had no part of it. I was off doing something else that day. If anything it’s his fault. He claimed he was going to do something about it. But we’ll see. I may be asked in a week or so if I ever fixed that hinge. To which I’ll reply, “No…”

So lots of fun. A great week of getting nothing accomplished.

 

[Sifan]

Speaking of gates, Built main feed lot gate for wife's brother in law in 1972. Built it to last so he wouldn't tear it up and because I was tired of having to unwire it, drag it through the cow manure all of the time. 35 years later, he calls me up and informs me that I owe him $400 for a new glass door for his kubota tractor. Seems he didn't latch the gate open and as he was driving through the wind blew the gate closed and it managed to perfectly miss the front tire on the wide frontend and nailed the glass cab door. My fault because his manure dragging crappy gate would never done that. LOL

 

[jollygreengiant]

Ah yes, the joys of working with family who do no wrong...

Good luck on the truck search. Any thought of buying a cheap beat up pickup and swapping the engine? I know you'd still have other issues to fix but might be cheaper than trying to buy a decent used one right now.

I can't believe how expensive it has become to swap engines. Last I heard some engine replacements in new semi trucks are up around the $30-50k mark. Guys who have had to replace an engine in the Deere S series combines/9R tractors are dropping over $100k

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Sorry about the nut, I hate it when that happens.
Just as a note, you may know this already.
Torque wrenches need to be backed off when not in use to prevent them going out of calibration.
Depending on the brand of TQ wrench you might be able to get the calibration checked.
My Snap on guy sends them in and has them checked for free.
Back in the day "aircraft manufacturing" if you found a TQ wrench not backed off it went to be checked and not used until it's verified to be within cert.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Speaking of gates, Built main feed lot gate for wife's brother in law in 1972. Built it to last so he wouldn't tear it up and because I was tired of having to unwire it, drag it through the cow manure all of the time. 35 years later, he calls me up and informs me that I owe him $400 for a new glass door for his kubota tractor. Seems he didn't latch the gate open and as he was driving through the wind blew the gate closed and it managed to perfectly miss the front tire on the wide frontend and nailed the glass cab door. My fault because his manure dragging crappy gate would never done that. LOL

We definitely have our share of dragging gates around here. I know the feeling. They are annoying. Especially with in winter. I like a good swinging gate when we’re working cattle. But some of the spots where we’ve got some lighter gates the wind does like to try and blow them shut as you’re going through them. Sometimes that’s worse. That glass is never cheap.