Between the River Hills & the River Bottom

[jollygreengiant]

Here’s a picture of our 4650. IIRC it has around 9,000 hours, but we’ve only owned it for last couple years.

That's a sharp looking 4650 for 9,000 hours!

I should try and get pics of my buddies 4555 sometime. It only has 1,700 hours IIRC and is spotless.

I

I know it. This isn’t the first time I’ve had this happen either. It’s ****! I haven’t made a call today. But there will be one this week for sure. That’s ridiculous.

Another thing that aggravates me is how much money we spend with them anyway. They’ve made a few service call for us this year. We’re planning on them inspecting the combines again this winter. They inspected the combines the last 12 years. I’ve even taken a few things to them for repairs as well. Damn near all of the parts for anything with a Deere emblem comes from them. I don’t want to even say how much we spent on parts through them this year. It’s crazy. So why do they insist on sticking it to us that much more.

Well we will find out what kind of business they are after your phonecall. I know in larger businesses there are a lot more people involved that don't really see what all the customer does. That dealer probably has people whose entire job is billing and they bill things out by the book. But if they are any type of decent business they should do something to adjust that bill after you talk to them about it, especially considering how much business it sounds like you do there.

 

[west_perf]

I guess I’ll use this as yet another reason why I need to further educate myself so that whole situation can just be avoided. But I also feel like I’m these situations the should have to investigate a little before they get to the customer and it’s on the customer’s dollar. I understand it’s different when you’re right there. But when literally over half of the time was him reading through the manual to read what to do next, that shouldn’t be on us. That should not qualify as labor cost.

After suffering a similar situation, I no longer let tech use anything of mine. If I'm paying them to fix it, they bring tools. End stop.

Yeah it’s getting crazy. Dad watched the whole sale online Saturday morning. We said most everything else went for a deal. But when the tractors were up for sale they went crazy.

Went to a large equipment auction in S. Georgia last weekend. Tractor prices for the compact models (2-4 series) were 80% of new. They had a number of larger units like the 4650 but I didn't note their sale prices.

 

[racer-john]

"Found out my uncle twisted the front of the loader again."
Sounds like he should be banned from using anything in your fleet, IMMEDIATELY.

 

[racer-john]

By the way: All the best for Christmas and the New Year.

 

[cliftonbros89]

That's a sharp looking 4650 for 9,000 hours!

I should try and get pics of my buddies 4555 sometime. It only has 1,700 hours IIRC and is spotless.



Well we will find out what kind of business they are after your phonecall. I know in larger businesses there are a lot more people involved that don't really see what all the customer does. That dealer probably has people whose entire job is billing and they bill things out by the book. But if they are any type of decent business they should do something to adjust that bill after you talk to them about it, especially considering how much business it sounds like you do there.

Since they were bought out by a larger dealership a few years ago they don’t care about anything. They want their money and that’s it. We’ll see what happens.

 

[cliftonbros89]

After suffering a similar situation, I no longer let tech use anything of mine. If I'm paying them to fix it, they bring tools. End stop.


Went to a large equipment auction in S. Georgia last weekend. Tractor prices for the compact models (2-4 series) were 80% of new. They had a number of larger units like the 4650 but I didn't note their sale prices.

Usually I wouldn’t. But at the time my idea was, the clock is ticking, my box is right here, saving a trip to his truck, saving time. But that’s never the way it ends up working.

The price on all that stuff is crazy, parts too.

 

[cliftonbros89]

By the way: All the best for Christmas and the New Year.

"Found out my uncle twisted the front of the loader again."
Sounds like he should be banned from using anything in your fleet, IMMEDIATELY.

Thanks. You too.

Well that’s what I said. I had a rant at the time for dad to hear. But he won’t let that happen. Dad will keep letting him do what ever he wants.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well not a lot going on today. Did the feeding.


Then we ran the weened calves through the barn for their first round of shots.

Things were going relatively smooth with them. Gave them shots, ear tags and cut the bulls. But one bull at the end of the line was a nightmare to deal with. He wouldn’t go in the chute. Once he did he kept trying to pull his head out of it. He lost it. So much so that he wore himself out so much that he wouldn’t stand. So we couldn’t cut him. I pushed him out of the alley way and just made him stand in the barn by himself for a while. I was hoping he’d catch his breath again and calm down. But that didn’t happen. Instead he decided he wanted to go into fight mode. Kept charging at me. He was hot. We tried to get him in the chute one more time. But it was unsuccessful. So dad said we’d just try when we give them their next round of shots. But I have a feeling that won’t work either. If he acts the way he did today again he’s likely to meet my friend Kimber!

Put out a bunch of hay this afternoon too.

The 4650 didn’t make it to the farm yet. But it is in the county. We didn’t have a trailer ready to haul it. So my dad asked his cousin who also farms. He said it would be no problem to get it. We couldn’t just use his trailer because his trailer requires a wet kit and neither one of our semi trucks are equipped with that. So he did pick it up today. But he made a few stops on the way. So he didn’t make it back across the river until later this evening. So he’s dropping it off tomorrow morning.

 

[Sifan]

Some of the same problems in central Illinois:
Son, the farmer had the dealership out to fix some issues with the auto steer. One man job inside tractor cab. Dealer sent two people? While one guy was working, the other guy was complaining to Dad, the landowner that he got up late, didn't eat breakfast and left his lunch at the shop. Dad, being the kindhearted person he is, gets the two guys in his truck and drives 20 minutes to an Amish Buffet (Good Good food!!) They eat a selection of everything on the buffet and top it off with homemade pie and to the tune of 40 minutes. Dad picks up the tab and drives 20 minutes back to the farm where son, the farmer is trying to figure out what is going on. Worker finishes up on auto steer and they take off for a two man job 15 miles down the road.

After Son squawking adjustments were made to the bill. And then he found out Dad paid for lunch with the farm credit card

 

[cliftonbros89]

Some of the same problems in central Illinois:
Son, the farmer had the dealership out to fix some issues with the auto steer. One man job inside tractor cab. Dealer sent two people? While one guy was working, the other guy was complaining to Dad, the landowner that he got up late, didn't eat breakfast and left his lunch at the shop. Dad, being the kindhearted person he is, gets the two guys in his truck and drives 20 minutes to an Amish Buffet (Good Good food!!) They eat a selection of everything on the buffet and top it off with homemade pie and to the tune of 40 minutes. Dad picks up the tab and drives 20 minutes back to the farm where son, the farmer is trying to figure out what is going on. Worker finishes up on auto steer and they take off for a two man job 15 miles down the road.

After Son squawking adjustments were made to the bill. And then he found out Dad paid for lunch with the farm credit card

I can’t say I’d be nice enough to buy lunch. But I would slip over a Wera catalog in attempt to make a sale.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Did the feeding this morning. Little chilly today. Then we swapped around trucks and trailers. We’re trying to finish getting inspections done on the trucks for license before the end of next week. It kind of annoys me they want that at the end of the year. But I’d probably complain about it no matter what the time of the year.

Then it finally showed up! The 4650 is here! Got it unloaded and got it in the shop.

I quit early today too. Had to finish some Christmas shopping this afternoon. Better late than never. But I had to get it done even though there’s plenty of things on the to-do list right now.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So it’s here. Really overall appears that we made a pretty good purchase. But of corse like anything else I had to quickly pick it apart and look for the imperfections. I let it run for awhile to get warmed up good. Not too long though as the fuel tank was almost dry. But it was enough to get things moving good. I drove it around the sheds. Sounds like it runs good. Definitely seems like it’s got some power. I just tried the brakes briefly, they seemed a little iffy. I thought reverse kind of made a noise as well.

So naturally I had to pull it in the shop right away just to look things over on it. It’s definitely not original paint. It’s been redone. The top of the cab is way to clean to not have been redone. I spotted enough runs along the rear and front axles to know it’s definitely been touched up. It’s got 5199 hours. Not to bad of shape but I definitely found some things that could be addressed.

Did I mention it’s powershift? We’ve never had a powershift.

I think dad wants to redo the interior already. Sagging headliner, fender cover is loose, cracked plastic on the header liner by the vents.

Missing the small shield here below the cab.

Classic cosmetic issue with the lights.

Someone seems to have sliced a house in the end of the exhaust. The pipe definitely doesn’t cover it up. Not a huge deal but I feel like it’s right there close enough to the intake that it all just gets sucked up into there.

The clamp or the boot at the injector is leaking.

Seals on the steering cylinders definitely seep some oil.

And…10 picture limit…

 

[cliftonbros89]

And…

Looks like they had the rims swapped for a long time and decided to recently switch them for some reason. As you can see from the rust. They also replaced the outer bolts on this side too. But I was glad to see they used the correct size and grade. They didn’t just stick whatever was handy in there.

The turbo seems to be very pitted and white like it’s got really hot before. But doesn’t appear to be leaking exhaust. The intake manifold has been replaced. As has the return oil line for the turbo. Whoever put it on just left it bare metal and now it’s super rusty.

SCV couplers look like they’ll definitely leak. They had this set up for power beyond or whatever you want to call it. Those parts weren’t painted at all either.

Leaking oil from the front end somewhere and coolant.

I put the pressure tester on and their is definitely a leak somewhere. That will definitely have to be looked at. It seeped off fairly quick.

Looks like someone may have added a pipe in on the hydraulic oil fill. Looks like it’s still in a bad spot. Luckily it’ll be no problem with the use of a Macnaught BOP. I checked too. It’s going to need some oil.

Being it’s the same shape and design it’s going to take me awhile to get used to this 3rd step to get in the cab. The 4440 only has 2. This will be like when we went from 2 steps on the 6420 to 3 steps on the 7230. Going in I banged my shin a lot. Going out, I took a long second step. Getting in and out of this stuff so much you’re just subconsciously doing it. Old habits die hard. Or at least leave a good mark on your shin.

Rear tires are cheaper. But they appear to have a lot of life left. Front tires are even cheaper. Right side looks ok. But the left side is getting worn. Also even wear at that.

There will be plenty of things to look over on it. I’m sure we’ll come across more as it actually gets used. But overall I think we made a pretty good decision. Don’t know anything about the history on it cuz there is nothing. Doesn’t even have an owners manual. But from what it sounded like this auction happened because the guy who owned all the equipment quit farming and decided to sell his farm to some neighbors. But the only way the neighbors could buy the farm was if they bought it all, including all the equipment. So they did. That was apparently last year and the original owner passed away this year. So the neighbors/buyers decided to sell off all the equipment they had to buy to get the farm. That was the story dad was told over the phone anyway.

So we’ll see how it does. Only thing is, and it pains me a bit to say, but this means the 4440 is going to have to go. Not sure what we’ll be able to get out of it. But hopefully someone would be willing to pay for a one owner, original, 9000+ hour machine like that.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Grain markets are finally going up a bit. We have some contracted for January and February. But with prices and bills we’ll probably be hauling some next week. Only problem is between the water lever on the river and coal taking precedence over grain on the river right now the elevators are having a little trouble getting barges to fill right now. A lot of the elevators are pretty full right now too.

 

[jollygreengiant]

Well as long as the job was done right, a paintjob isn't a bad thing. Most people don't like repainted equipment because a lot of people who repaint equipment don't do it right.

You might be surprised what you get for the 4440. People seem to go nuts over that model for some reason.

 

[captain14]

Seem to be a different version of last years escapade with the dealer. You bring your equipment there for service and work so they don’t tie up their road mechanic for a day for one farm.

They can lineup six jobs in a day and tie up six farm operations while you move the machinery back and forth.

Plus after they tear it down and have to order parts you just can’t pick it up and return home the same day. Win, win for the dealer and the customer looses.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well as long as the job was done right, a paintjob isn't a bad thing. Most people don't like repainted equipment because a lot of people who repaint equipment don't do it right.

You might be surprised what you get for the 4440. People seem to go nuts over that model for some reason.

I don’t have a problem with someone repainting. Whoever did this did do a much better job than a lot of repainted tractors I’ve seen out there. Because their definitely are lot of “painters” and “body guys” out there.

The 4440 is a popular tractor for some reason. It’s really been a great tractor for us all these years. But it does seem the 4440 is quite comparable to the likes of the 4020 in it being a very popular model of choice. I know there used to be more of them around here at one time. But I only know of a few other 4440’s around here. The few I do know of are in a lot worse condition than ours.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Seem to be a different version of last years escapade with the dealer. You bring your equipment there for service and work so they don’t tie up their road mechanic for a day for one farm.

They can lineup six jobs in a day and tie up six farm operations while you move the machinery back and forth.

Plus after they tear it down and have to order parts you just can’t pick it up and return home the same day. Win, win for the dealer and the customer looses.

Yeah it kind of is. It seems like there is always some sort of an issue. At least once a year. The bad thing is it just keeps getting worse. Especially, since the one dealership absorbed the other. Not very good management. A lot of mechanics and parts people quit since the merger. Now there’s new mechanics that don’t know what they’re, or younger guys that just don’t have the experience with some of this stuff.

The parts department is ridiculous anymore. Add that to all the rising cost for parts, any type of service, it’s rare that they really want to give you a straight answer on service questions if you call. It’s just really aggravating over time.

 

[Andy8430]

You’ll be able to fix those items and have it to your liking soon. Not sure if you follow the machinery Pete Facebook page, however a picture of your tractor just showed up while I was browsing. Looks like he posted it 5 days ago.

I agree with the comment above, in this market your 4440 should bring a fair price.

 

[cliftonbros89]

You’ll be able to fix those items and have it to your liking soon. Not sure if you follow the machinery Pete Facebook page, however a picture of your tractor just showed up while I was browsing. Looks like he posted it 5 days ago.

I agree with the comment above, in this market your 4440 should bring a fair price.

I do follow that page but I didn’t see it. I must’ve missed it.

we’ll see I guess.

 

[XJSuperman]

I would fully expect good money right now for your or any 4440. You don't have any use for it in auger powering, tillage, or baling? Is it worth it to sell a 4010/20 to upgrade a loader/yard tractor to the 4440 with a cab and better hydraulics?

 

[DennisK]

Being it’s the same shape and design it’s going to take me awhile to get used to this 3rd step to get in the cab. The 4440 only has 2. This will be like when we went from 2 steps on the 6420 to 3 steps on the 7230. Going in I banged my shin a lot. Going out, I took a long second step. Getting in and out of this stuff so much you’re just subconsciously doing it. Old habits die hard. Or at least leave a good mark on your shin.

Add about a 30* wedge to the battery cover and turn the steps to match, also a handrail like the 8400.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I would fully expect good money right now for your or any 4440. You don't have any use for it in auger powering, tillage, or baling? Is it worth it to sell a 4010/20 to upgrade a loader/yard tractor to the 4440 with a cab and better hydraulics?

We’ll see. Believe me I hate to get rid of it. It’s kind of a tough spot. It’s almost overkill for a lot of jobs. It’d have to have the duals off for a lot of things. But it’s really not big enough for the field work anymore.

I think dad is stressed about all these crazy riding input costs lately. So I think his idea is that we could use the money.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Add about a 30* wedge to the battery cover and turn the steps to match, also a handrail like the 8400.

That wouldn’t be a bad idea. I know they’ve got the kits for it. I’m betting dad would actually like that set up. That is like what we did with the 4020.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well. Not a very productive day yesterday.

We put out hay so the cattle would have enough to get through the holiday. Then I had to retrieve some cattle out at the retirement farm. A calf and 2 cows escaped to the neighbors. But luckily, it was an area where they couldn’t get in with the neighbors cattle.

The pasture agreement on the retirement farm is cash rent on the pasture, but they, the landlord(s), take care of the fence. I won’t lie. There are areas around the woods that it’s some pretty rough looking fence. But the cattle out there are always pretty calm and relaxed and they’ve got everything they need. If they do go in the woods there’s not much in there that interest them and they usually come back.

Well this time they got out on some untouched grass. So they were all over it. But luckily I was able to lead them back with a bucket of corn. Had to let them take a lick or two to get them through the woods. But I got them. Landlord fixed the fence right away. Then I noticed the waterer at the barn was leaking. So I helped them address that issue. They got it fixed and back together themselves today.

But that was about it. Besides some small errand stuff.

But I did finally get the crank dampener off the 8400. I finally have to drain the coolant, remove the hose, remove the fan, then I was able to move the fan pulley and tensioner mount out far enough to get the dampener out. That was a good feeling. Pain in the *** though too.

Then I had to quit a bit early. Had the first of several Christmas events last night.

I had plans to do things today. But I had errands to run and last minute Christmas wrapping to do.

I used to try to wrap things really crappy to get out of it. But turns out it’s a big hit. So there’s lots of shrink wrap, duck tape, plastic bags, and empty beer boxes and kitty litter boxes used to wrap gifts. Who would’ve thought? Saves on all the scrap paper that’s left from gifts that are wrapped “normally”. So pretty much a day off today.

Christmas with the family this evening. But nothing really on the agenda tomorrow. There’s a ton of **** to do. But I think aside from checking on cattle it’ll be a day off tomorrow as well. Supposed to be super warm tomorrow for Christmas Day. Today is quite warm too, although rather windy as this warm front is coming in. Looks like it’ll fairly nice for a few days.

 

[captain14]

I like the custom wrapping job! Have you tried the multiple boxes or the many boxes inside of each other to change it up?

I hope you have a good holiday weekend. We are supposed to get the same warmer weather after you I think. We seem to be 1-2 days behind you.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I like the custom wrapping job! Have you tried the multiple boxes or the many boxes inside of each other to change it up?

I hope you have a good holiday weekend. We are supposed to get the same warmer weather after you I think. We seem to be 1-2 days behind you.

My nephew’s I took several small presents and gradually wrapped them in a ball with plastic wrap. Then I added in a few dollar bills and quarters, a few more little presents, and just wrapped it all in a big ball of wrap. Then wrapped those in plastic bags, duck taped those, more bags, more duck tape, a bunch of bags, more tape, and more bags. Then in a box with more duck tape.

 

[cliftonbros89]

The cats got to watch bird and mice videos all day for Christmas while we were gone.

 

[jollygreengiant]

Merry Christmas!

I love your wrapping jobs lol. It reminds me of a story from when I was a kid. My sister was terrible for snooping and finding her presents before Christmas, or playing with the wrapped presents under the tree and guessing what they were. My Dad eventually had enough of this, so he built a wooden box about 1' square out of screws and wood glue. He then put her present inside and put the lid on the box, with sixteen wood screws. When she tore off the wrapping Christmas morning he had a huge smile on his face as he handed her a screwdriver lol. Oh, and did I mention he also put a false floor in the box and filled it with marbles? She never guessed what was in that one.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I love your wrapping jobs lol. It reminds me of a story from when I was a kid. My sister was terrible for snooping and finding her presents before Christmas, or playing with the wrapped presents under the tree and guessing what they were. My Dad eventually had enough of this, so he built a wooden box about 1' square out of screws and wood glue. He then put her present inside and put the lid on the box, with sixteen wood screws. When she tore off the wrapping Christmas morning he had a huge smile on his face as he handed her a screwdriver lol. Oh, and did I mention he also put a false floor in the box and filled it with marbles? She never guessed what was in that one.

Merry Christmas to you too.

It took my nephew 17 minutes to get his whole gift open. Luckily he didn’t get mad about it. But he did say he plans to get me back. I’ll have to remember what you said. I may have to do something like that next year and really get him.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I love your wrapping jobs lol. It reminds me of a story from when I was a kid. My sister was terrible for snooping and finding her presents before Christmas, or playing with the wrapped presents under the tree and guessing what they were. My Dad eventually had enough of this, so he built a wooden box about 1' square out of screws and wood glue. He then put her present inside and put the lid on the box, with sixteen wood screws. When she tore off the wrapping Christmas morning he had a huge smile on his face as he handed her a screwdriver lol. Oh, and did I mention he also put a false floor in the box and filled it with marbles? She never guessed what was in that one.

Merry Christmas to you too.

It took my nephew 17 minutes to get his whole gift open. Luckily he didn’t get mad about it. But he did say he plans to get me back. I’ll have to remember what you said. I may have to do something like that next year and really get him.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well I took Christmas weekend off. Although I didn’t really accomplish anything.

Tried to do a little detecting while the weather was nice. But it was a bust. Nothing but junk.

But Monday things were back to normal. Did the feeding and what not.

I hauled off some beans.

Deere mechanic came and out the new rear main seal in the 8400 for me since he had the special tool to do it.

Monday I hauled off 2 loads of beans and loaded the truck for Tuesday.

Not a super productive day but I got a little bit done.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Tuesday I hauled beans to start.


Cleaned out the bin. Hauled 2 loads for the day. Just enough to pay some end of the year bills and things. I’m sure it won’t be long and we’ll be back to it.

Tuesday’s afternoon and evening hours were a bit more productive though.

I pulled the bad seal out of the transmission and got the new one in.

This special seal driver from Deere was well worth it. It’s been handy for the seals on this transmission I’ve replaced. I have a feeling it’ll be handy for quite a few seals in the future as well.

With that I slide the v-ring seal onto the transmission shaft to go with the new seal. Since that seal and the rear main seal were in place I was able to put things back together. Put the flywheel, the transmission dampener, and coupling all back on. Torqued everything to spec.

I was also able to get the flywheel cover back on. Then I had to put the cables back to the starter. As well as the bolts back in that mount the air filter. I had to take those out to allow some more rooms to get that damn flywheel cover out.

Then I also managed to get the new crankshaft dampener on as well.

Took some time but I also got all of that assembled back together as well.


Bolted the dampener on. Then the fan assembly mount, piece to the dampener to the crank pulley, crank pulley, fan pulley, belt, belt tensioner, fan, radiator hose and clamps, intake pipe and hoses and clamps, torqued what needed to be torqued and it was good to go.

Lots of parts required lots of tools. Everything directly on the engine is SAE. Everything else on the tractor is metric. Another thing that annoys me on this tractor is there is a lot of 16mm headed bolts. This annoys me because almost everything that we have from Deere requires 8, 10, 13, 15, 18, 24, 30, 32mm. There’s very rarely anything else. Those sizes will almost disassemble the entire tractor. Besides Philip’s head screws you may occasionally run across a 4, 6, or 8mm hex cap (allen) head bolt. But for some reason on the 8400 they decided to go from the regular flanged head bolts to a regular hex shaped bolt. So what would typically be 15mm, it’s then 16mm. On the fan assembly one pulley was 15, the other was 16. The bolts on the fan were 16 as well. There’s also some shield bolts and the bolts for the hood are 16. It just throws me out of rhythm. It’s annoying.

But I had things back together. But it still needed engine oil and coolant.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Today I got a little bit done. Not much. I put the engine oil in and put the new filter on. I doubled checked my hoses and the radiator drain plug to make sure I was ok to put the coolant back in.

I got all the coolant it. Before I’d drained it I pressure checked the cooling system. For the upper radiator hose, there are actually 2 hoses. Coolant was leaking at 3 of the 4 hose clamps for the upper hoses. I ended up taking them loose and repositioning them on the hoses. The hoses we just replaced about 2 years ago so I’m not sure what they want to leak. So I put the pressure tester back on.

But out of nowhere another issue. If you noticed the sort of upside down J shaped reservoir, it somehow suddenly developed a pin hole and started leaking. So I used my Macnaught suction gun to pull out coolant in the reservoir so it’d be below the leak. I tried to smear some sealant on the area of the pin hole. I’m letting it sit til tomorrow to see if it’ll hold. Deere wants over $250 for that little reservoir. No you can’t get it anywhere else either. Couldn’t even find one used. One place had it listed but was out of stock, even it was over $120. So I’ll have to check it out. Hopefully, it’ll seal up good and last a good while. Definitely something to keep an eye on.

I wanted to do a few other jobs. But I had to wait on some more parts.
But I finally decided to put that blower in that I haven’t put in even though I’ve had it for well over a month.

Had to twist and turn things just right. It took more than a few attempts. But I finally got it shoved down in where it’s supposed to go. So I at least got something done.

Another repair that happened was not one I did.

My dad and b-i-l took care of this one on the wood splitter. This has been a long time coming. Three or so years ago dad let someone borrow the wood splitter (if you’ve followed along and recall the large 3pt wench that we had, the brothers the broke it did this as well.) and they were dropping blocks on the splitter. One smashed against the oil filter and cracked the tank where the pipe goes in. So that caused a leak. Well a few weeks ago my uncle was splitting wood and did the same thing. So it leaked even more. So they welded the tank back up and also added a brace for the filter housing. Hopefully that problem can be avoided again.

I also picked up a few sets of picks. I’m trying to find a brand besides Snap On for picks. For one the Snap On guy we have anymore just really *****. Secondly, I’d like to find a decent brand that I could trust selling. I’m not sure who makes these for Channellock though. I had some Craftsman picks before, 2 kinds, but didn’t have good luck with them. I bought a NOS set of Ullman awhile back but haven’t got to extensively use them yet. But I know they’re not made the same as what they are now.

Also had to help one of my uncle’s replace his TV antenna today.

Met up with our tire guy to sell him a set of pliers this evening as well.

I feel like I’m sort of getting some stuff done.

 

[cliftonbros89]

got any suggestions???


Not long after I’d moved into my house a few years ago I started replacing the basement ceiling with old barn tin. The old heavy duty stuff.

This stuff ***** to cut. I wears your hands out cutting with hand shears.

Dad had got this for a job. But for this old heavy corrugated stuff it doesn’t work very well. Its hard to get on there and once you really start getting across the sheet it won’t hardly go, especially not straight.

Would a nibbler like this do the trick??I’ve never used one and don’t know anyone who has one. So I don’t know how well they’d work for this.

Also, if they would work I’m going corded. I don’t care. The last things I need is another type of battery and charger. Between my house and the shop I’ve got too many type of cordless tool batteries and chargers. I refuse to get another.

Thoughts? Ideas?

It’s been suggested I use a cut-off wheel on a grinder. But that old stuff will eat up cut-off wheels in now time. Hard telling how much I’d have invested in just cutoff wheels by the time I’d finish the job. That’s a hard no as well for me.

 

[bugnut]

I have not use one, but contractors for me cut diamond plate steel flooring with a metal cutting blade in a circular saw. I recall it as being loud, but it cut /2" plate without issue. Diablo blades if I recall correctly.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I have not use one, but contractors for me cut diamond plate steel flooring with a metal cutting blade in a circular saw. I recall it as being loud, but it cut /2" plate without issue. Diablo blades if I recall correctly.

That was another consideration. I just knew that it would be loud as well. Plus, I know those can really throw metal everywhere.

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Just wanted to echo on the Diablo circular blades. I have been using them since they have come out.
I have cut up to 3/4 aluminum and 1/8 steel.
I set up sawhorses outside with my track saw and go slow.
I would also recommend long sleeves since the chips are hot.

 

[XJSuperman]

I've heard good things in the Diablo blades too.
I'd suggest a plasma cutter or the Milwaukee circular saw that handles metal.

You can get a pneumatic nibbler so you avoid the battery dilemma, but nibblers usually need to by perpendicular to the material, so following the corrugation would ****.

 

[jollygreengiant]

I have not use one, but contractors for me cut diamond plate steel flooring with a metal cutting blade in a circular saw. I recall it as being loud, but it cut /2" plate without issue. Diablo blades if I recall correctly.

This is what I would suggest. They are very loud but they make a nicer cut that torches and much better to handle than shears or a sawzall.

The nibbler would probably work. I've seen them used on thin sheet steel for siding and they work really well. Like XJ superman said you have to keep the nibbler perpendicular to the steel, but you can turn the nibbler head 90 degrees so that you can hold the body of the tool in line with the ribs in the steel. That makes following the pattern easy.