Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[jblnut]

Pops and I have been splitting wood for a neighbor for a few years now after he had a stroke that left him a bit soggy on one side. I had a day of seed sales calls planned and Pops called and said “Hey you know how it’s supposed to snow a foot tomorrow ? Yeah we still haven’t split wood yet!” Oh jeez that’s right !!


I’ve been eyeing this rock picker for a few years and asked about it. He says “yup it’s all yours for $500!” Well you can’t go wrong with that.


I took it home, removed the tree that was growing through it, greased it, checked tires and gear boxes and was using it an hour after I shook hands on the deal. It works pretty good for being 50yrs old.


I ran around and picked the rocks in a few fields before parking it for the winter. It worked quite well to pick up the random ones in the fields that don’t have many rocks to start with. Definitely quicker than bouncing around in the skiddy.


This was the view the next morning. Good thing we split wood when we did !!


It’s always impressed me that there is fire and 180f water in that little shed and it’s insulated well enough that it doesn’t melt off.


Breakfast is so much better when it’s cooked outside in the winter !

 

[Prospecter]

Your splitter looks like a perfect setup. High enough to not bend over and dumps the pieces off the end so you can pull forward as a pile builds up. Do you have a table to catch the split pieces? Will your splitter push the pieces on to a trailer for you?

Love the rock picker. They sure are nice. I'm all clay on the coast, but we could use one of those up in the county. We grow more rocks than anything else.

I agree. There is something about grilling in winter that makes everything especially good.

 

[jblnut]

Your splitter looks like a perfect setup. High enough to not bend over and dumps the pieces off the end so you can pull forward as a pile builds up. Do you have a table to catch the split pieces? Will your splitter push the pieces on to a trailer for you?

Same splitter different view. Pops and his brother built it decades ago and it’s split hundreds of cords of wood over the years. I added the wings and grated table on the end last winter and it became a whole different machine. They push onto the table once split and we’ll toss them in a basket, trailer or on a pile.


I have another splitter I use on the mini to break the real big chunks down.

Love the rock picker. They sure are nice. I'm all clay on the coast, but we could use one of those up in the county. We grow more rocks than anything else.

I am searching for a rock rake now so I can take a swath wider than 3’ lol. These things can move tons of rocks in a hurry but you gotta have three people to really do some damage. One running the rock rake, one running the picker and one running a dump trailer to keep the rocks away from the picker.

I agree. There is something about grilling in winter that makes everything especially good.

I love me some winter grilling !!

 

[Prospecter]

Same splitter different view. Pops and his brother built it decades ago and it’s split hundreds of cords of wood over the years. I added the wings and grated table on the end last winter and it became a whole different machine. They push onto the table once split and we’ll toss them in a basket, trailer or on a pile.


I have another splitter I use on the mini to break the real big chunks down.





I am searching for a rock rake now so I can take a swath wider than 3’ lol. These things can move tons of rocks in a hurry but you gotta have three people to really do some damage. One running the rock rake, one running the picker and one running a dump trailer to keep the rocks away from the picker.


I love me some winter grilling !!

That splitter looks truly perfect! Great arrangement. Have you tried a 4-way on it? Always wondered how well those work? Forgot you also had the mini. Much better arrangement than the ones on a skinny!

 

[82355]

The only place we have rocks in a field is where there use to be a driveway. We find chunks of concrete and scrap iron from old farm places.

Martin

 

[jblnut]

That splitter looks truly perfect! Great arrangement. Have you tried a 4-way on it? Always wondered how well those work? Forgot you also had the mini. Much better arrangement than the ones on a skinny!

Never tried a 4-way on it. Yet …..

I was looking for a skiddy splitter and found this one. It’s a long way from perfect and isn’t built all that well but it does the job. I’d get a Splitfire for the mini next time I’m a heartbeat vs this one.

The only place we have rocks in a field is where there use to be a driveway. We find chunks of concrete and scrap iron from old farm places.

Martin

You can just quiet down with that kind of negativity. We don’t need that in here lol

 

[Birddog76]

Great to see your totes will hold enough firewood to make it a bit easier to move around. When are you going to build either a carport or building to keep you and the wood dry?

 

[jollygreengiant]

The only place we have rocks in a field is where there use to be a driveway. We find chunks of concrete and scrap iron from old farm places.

Martin

Up around this area we have the same rock problem that @jblnut has. Most guys have at a minimum rock buckets for a skidsteer, many have rock pickers and rakes too. But where I grew up was pretty light ground and didn't have any rocks. The reactions I get when I tell guys here that I've never picked rocks a day in my life are pretty amusing lol.

 

[jblnut]

Up around this area we have the same rock problem that @jblnut has. Most guys have at a minimum rock buckets for a skidsteer, many have rock pickers and rakes too. But where I grew up was pretty light ground and didn't have any rocks. The reactions I get when I tell guys here that I've never picked rocks a day in my life are pretty amusing lol.

If it’s on your bucket list I can help with that. Come over and you can take your pick of three different rock buckets for the skiddy, one robo rock bucket for the skiddy, this trailing picker now and a whole bunch of metal pails to pick by hand if you really want the full experience!!

 

[jblnut]

Hey look a pallet of hydraulics stuffs !!


The little dude got all the bins on the drawers while I bolted the cabinets together and worked in getting the pump setup.


Bam ! Labels on, fittings put away and we’re ready to make hose assemblies. I decided to get a setup because I was sick of things going wrong when all the guys in town are closed and I’d be left high and dry. So now I can make my own stuff !!


As long as we were in organize mode we decided to start on another project I’ve been wanting to get after for a while. A proper bolt bin setup. I was at the local scrap yard hanging a few more cameras and noticed these poking up on top of the scrap pile. I asked their crane guy to snag them for me and here they are !!


As most people that have moved shops and setups a few times I have a collection of hardware in 18 different storage bins and types of bins. Well no more !! It’s all going to go in here. From 1/4” to 1” stuff it’ll live in the bins now.


I didn’t think I had any 7/16” stuff so I didn’t leave space for them lol. No idea why I have 7/16” stuff either as it’s kind of oddball stuff.


The 3/8x2-1/2” bin is almost full. 12” deep bin. Apparently younger me must have thought I was getting low on this size and purchased some many many times lol


The next space to clean up is this disaster of a lean. Good grief I’m not proud about what’s going on in here. Other than the torch ….. see anything you need ? Stop over and let’s make it yours !!


It’s just as messy looking the other way

 

[Finallygotit]

Now that you have the capability to make hydraulic hoses, you could also help out others that are/were in your exact situation before.

Just a thought.......

 

[82355]

Jealous of those bolt bins!

Martin

 

[Mr.zippy]

Now that you have the capability to make hydraulic hoses, you could also help out others that are/were in your exact situation before.

Just a thought.......

Lol, I suspect the entire County knows this by now!

 

[jblnut]

Jealous of those bolt bins!

Martin

They were quite the find for sure !! I have another small one to put on top yet to hold the Grade 5 and Grade 8 stuff. I wouldn't mind yet another to hold the lag bolts and oddball stuff. I may buy another this year yet. We'll see.

Now that you have the capability to make hydraulic hoses, you could also help out others that are/were in your exact situation before.
Just a thought.......

Lol, I suspect the entire County knows this by now!

Yeah that word spread pretty quick. The AutoValue guys are pretty quick to rattle off who has hose machines when guys ask and a few neighbors asked if I bought one before I almost knew I was going to

I have no problem making hoses for people but if I have to come home and stop what I'm doing to do it it's gonna cost ya. Of if I have my pants off in the house already and have to come back to the shop. I gotta make up a price sheet lol.

 

[jblnut]

Friends of ours dropped a cat off at the farm “so it could live in the barn and not have to be outside and in the cold.” Uh okay


The rims on my 884 are getting quite nasty from the fluid leaking out. Time to remedy that.


These are gonna need to be blasted, repaired and repainted. I cannot find used replacements without switching to a double bevel style.


Pops and I took round things off the tractor. @Metallitubby what parts of the rim/tire/wheel would you say came off? I’d say the rim and tires


One of the bolts wouldn’t come out and got a bit boogered up when we slid the rim/tire off.


I rummaged around in my tap/die drawer and who’d’a’thunk’it. I have a 5/8-18 to fix it right up !!


We brought the wheels to our tire guys and they dissembled them. Also brought a 445 gravity wagon wheel to get a new tire. It’s our spare and doesn’t do much good if it’s always flat !!

 

[Metallitubby]

Pops and I took round things off the tractor. @Metallitubby what parts of the rim/tire/wheel would you say came off? I’d say the rim and tires

Rimz and tirez.

 

[jblnut]

Merry Christmas !! Mixing some steer feed on a really nice day. It’s a balmy 21f right now.


It was getting time to clean the steer barn out again so I got after that while Pops was golfing in AZ.


Some curious sumbitch licked a gate chain open and I got to play ranch hand. It wasn’t as enjoyable as the make it look like on Yellowstone. I did have fewer neighbors shooting at me and trying to cause a ruckus than they do as well so it all worked out


Snow really blows


I am really liking the Odyssey life but the tires on it were as useful on snow and ice as trying to use a 2x4 to cut butter. So I found the ugliest set of rims I could and had some Winterforce 2 tires put on them. Turnt it into a damn snowcat !!

 

[Lou's Garage]

Merry Christmas!

Lou

 

[Finallygotit]

Merry Christmas, Mike!

 

[jblnut]

In keeping with Christmas tradition the littles and I assembled a Lego Botanical set for Mama Bear to unwrap.


Monday I fell over three times on the ice so I called my dirt guy Chris

Me - “Merry Christmas ****head !! Bring me some gravel !!”
Chris - “Okay mother****** !! Is tomorrow soon enough or are you going to be like every other customer and want it right ******* now?”
Me - “A good dirt guy would have known there was going to be a couple acres of NHL grade ice out here and would have had it here yesterday”
Chris - “Come get it yourself you smartass”
Me - “You just wait I’ll get my own dump truck and stop calling you for dirt”
Chris - “Better yet, do you want a job ? Work for me and I’ll get you more dirt than you’ll know what to do with”
Me - “Fine. I’ll just pay you to bring it out. That’s a lot easier than getting another job”
Chris - “John is loading the truck with Class 5 already. He’ll be there in 30 minutes”
Me - “That’s more like it. Send the bill. I probably won’t pay it but you can sure send it”
Chris - “You can always just work it off!!”
Me - *hangs up*. Texts him “we must have gotten disconnected”

Seriously though these guys are great. Good dudes with my kind of sense of humor. I’d love to work for him and run some actual big toys vs the little guy stuff we have here on the farm.

 

[jollygreengiant]

Those relationships are hard to come by, but sure are great lol.

 

[zanyad]

Merry Christmas!

I enjoyed the transcription of your conversation with your dirt guy.

 

[jblnut]

Those relationships are hard to come by, but sure are great lol.

I agree. They are hands down my favorite guys to hire to do dirt stuff that I can’t or don’t want to do. Or more accurately, can’t because I don’t yet own the proper equipment to do it myself.

Merry Christmas!

I enjoyed the transcription of your conversation with your dirt guy.

It wasn’t word for word but damn close lol. These guys are great. Anything I can’t or don’t want to do I hire them for. I don’t even know what they charge and happily pay the bill when it gets here. I call and say “Hey I need some larger iron and an operator if you can spare one”. A couple times I’ve gotten to be the operator. That’s fun.

 

[bugnut]

Those relationships are hard to come by, but sure are great lol.

AMEN!!

 

[jblnut]

We dropped the rims off at a local sandblaster guy and he called and said they were done while I was out on a minivan adventure. So I swung in and figured I may as well see if a pair of 38” rims fit in it !!


The worst part from the outside doesn’t look too bad.


From the inside it’s not quite as nice looking. I think I’m gonna drill out the hole and put a piece of pipe through it with the correct inner hole diameter to fix the valve stem area. Likely will either grind flat and plate the pitted area or just lay a layer of weld over it. These rims will be getting tubes anyway so as long as it’s not rough inside it’ll obviously hold air. If they held up structurally before they should also hold up how they are now so anything I do should be an improvement.

 

[Bob Heine]

Mike, I'm not really a day late. I'm just wishing you a satisfying Boxing Day. It's mostly a British Empire day when the nobility fills boxes with food and stuff leftover from their Christmas feast to hand out to the peasants. My box hasn't shown up yet.

 

[Sifan]

Only you would have a mini on 38s

what's out the back window of the van?

 

[jollygreengiant]

Did you price out a new rim? When I had the same issue on my 484, a new rim wasn't much more than what it would have cost to get the old one sand blasted. And the new one came painted in the right colour.

Of course that was a couple years ago, likely more expensive now.

 

[jblnut]

Mike, I'm not really a day late. I'm just wishing you a satisfying Boxing Day. It's mostly a British Empire day when the nobility fills boxes with food and stuff leftover from their Christmas feast to hand out to the peasants. My box hasn't shown up yet.

I haven’t gotten mine either. Does that mean we’re not peasants ?

Only you would have a mini on 38s

what's out the back window of the van?

38’s IN the mini for now. Not ON it just yet

I think the frame is from a Fordson of sorts and there happens to be a catwalk/steps behind it that looks like it’s attached. It’s at the blasting guys place.

Did you price out a new rim? When I had the same issue on my 484, a new rim wasn't much more than what it would have cost to get the old one sand blasted. And the new one came painted in the right colour.

Of course that was a couple years ago, likely more expensive now.

I’ve been looking for new/different rims like these for 3yrs with no luck. Only ones I’ve found have a tractor attached to them that still does tractor things lol.

I explored going to a double bevel style but guys around here want a mint for old junk for some reason and the clamps are $38/ea and I need 16 of them. Plus all the rims I found had the wrong sizes tires or were junk.

I don’t intend to get rid of the tractor anytime soon and I don’t have enough to do already so I figured I’d fix them lol.

 

[jblnut]

Rim #1 !!!
First up was to fix the valve stem hole. Wouldn’t you know it a 1/2” pipe has the correct inner diameter. Perfect.


Glue it in there and dribble a little all over the other areas it looks thin.


Cut it off with a Super Slicer that’s been hand tightened onto the grinder.


Gotta break out beast mode to wipe some of those boogers off !!


Smoothed out with a flap disc and ready for paint.


A grinder and paint make a welder what he ain’t

 

[jblnut]

Rim #2 was in a lot better shape !!



Boogered it up again like I know what I’m doing and smoothened it back out. Ready for blasting and paint !!


I finally made a hose with my new hose machine !! Stuck a Gates end on a Vevor hose. Planning on using this for the supply line from the air compressor to a buffer tank under the loft.


Looks pretty decent !!

 

[82355]

I have no problem making hoses for people but if I have to come home and stop what I'm doing to do it it's gonna cost ya. Of if I have my pants off in the house already and have to come back to the shop. I gotta make up a price sheet lol.

Is there a discount if you don't put your pants back on?

Martin

 

[Mr.zippy]

Is there a discount if you don't put your pants back on?

Martin

Not sure if I'd want to go with that option

 

[jblnut]

Is there a discount if you don't put your pants back on?

Martin

I’m already at at least half off so maybe but I don’t want to get myself stuck in anything so maybe not …..

Not sure if I'd want to go with that option

It’s okay. We’re pretty shameless around here. Plus the ‘ol Busch Light overhang provides quite a bit of shade so not there really isn’t much to see if you get my drift

 

[jblnut]

what's out the back window of the van?

I dropped the rims off for paint and he had the tractor in the blast bay. Looks like an 8n era Ford if I had to guess.

 

[Sifan]

when I first saw it, I knew you had cattle and thought you had welded up a tractor chute

 

[jblnut]

when I first saw it, I knew you had cattle and thought you had welded up a tractor chute

Looking at the picture again I can completely see it now

 

[jblnut]

More air system progress !! The compressor is finally in the loft and wired into the fancy new circuit my sparky buddy thought I needed. “You can’t plug an air compressor in if it’s going to be stationary. I’ll fix it for you sometime”. Sounds good dude. Thanks. The guy ran an entirely new circuit lol. I hooked the hydraulic hose up to the compressor tank with a 1/20 quick connect so it can be easily taken apart. I also ran that little blue line from the drain down to the shop sink.


The hose goes from the compressor to this tank that is acting as additional storage as well as a distribution point. There are 4 ports on top that I’ve used to hook up other stuff. I put a valve with a handle deal on it to isolate it all from the compressor when needed. Don’t worry, I tested the tank and so far it hasn’t blown up. We'll call it a long term permanent mounted in place test.


One CoxReel directly over the tire changer. One CoxReel to service the far side of the weld/fab area and an ugly orange Vevor reel to service into the shop itself.


I built a snazzy little pipe manifold deal with an outlet outside, outlet inside, drain in the bottom and a reel connection spot. I’m very excited to have this reel here !! No more dragging hoses from the far side of the shop.


The compressor circuit is tied into a contractor run with a fart fan timer. Seemed like a good idea.

 

[82355]

Now you need an elevator cup under the reel by the door for the different attachments.

Are those road sign posts mounting the reel?

Martin

 

[jblnut]

Now you need an elevator cup under the reel by the door for the different attachments.

I definitely need something. I think I have a leg belt with cups on it somewhere in the weeds. I’ll have to grab one off of it !!

Are those road sign posts mounting the reel?

Martin

Yeah kind of. They are seed sign posts. I had a nice 2x6 painted up in the same white to match the shop steel and when I went to put the reel on it the damn thing was wider than the 2x6 so I had to pivot and find another solution. I have a big stack of these posts and figured I may as well store one of them between the reel and the wall until I get around to making a wider board. It’ll be one of those temporary things that I have no actual intention of changing out lol

Here is the nice 2x6 painted and everything. I may screw it to the wall somewhere just because it’s painted. Make people wonder what it’s for