Comments Off on sundays and some days

By Dave, July 25, 2004 12:46 pm

This has been a week. One to live over another way. But so far we have made it through. The greenhouse is about 2 inches deep in water right now. Water coming in the front room in 3 or 4 places. I am sure that there is water running through the barn too. Still coming down but not quite as hard. Worst is over I think. Or in this wave anyway.

Bought a Case 310 dozer last Friday. And within minutes of getting it off the trailer took the radiator out as the cab and front end were not firmly affixed to the frame and motor so when I backed up and went over a hump and came down the cab and front hood shifted back and down as the frame and motor moved up and forward. The fan won.

Fast forward to Sat morning at an equipment auction in Oxford. There is this old freshly painted dozer sitting there. John Deere 440 with blade and ripper. It runs and has fair hydrolics. Control is a bit hinky but that can be fixed or compensated for. Clutches feel good. Bidding comes up and I get it. Paid more than I wanted to but not much. Get it home.

Unload it and drive it down in the field. Push a bit of dirt around. Its a lot stronger than the Case was before the mishap. Stop and check radiator and its low. Go to check the oil and the dipstick isn't there. Bad feeling coming on… Pour water in the radiator. None runs out anywhere that we can see anyway. Pour more water in. and more… about 4 gallons later I notice it running out the dipstick hole. Real BAD feeling is here…

Get the hood off the John Deere this morning. Took a few pictures of things as they sat. Then started taking it apart. Got the valve cover off and there is water everywhere. Oil is white. Seems REAL clean now… But it still runs good! I am going to have to get the big tools out. Head is coming off next. After the rain quits. Probably tomorrow. Or the next day.

Got the hood off the Case as it was in some shade. Had gotten too hot working on the JD. Gonna have to get the torch on a couple of the bolts to get the front cowling off. I think that a few nuts welded at the frame and some reshaping of the cowling I can put a toyota radiator in place of the one in there now. The thing is a frankinstein already so I have no qualms about going further. I am going to burn holes in the cab and frame and add several bolts to the 2 on each side that are currently there. It may not ever win any beauty contests but it will NOT be loose when I get through!

Went back to looking at the JD and the final drive gear on the left side (sitting on it) is totally worn out. The bearings are gone and the shaft has bad wear groves all around it. Guess the only thing to do is to take it out and see how bad it actually is. If its not too bad I may try to rig a welder up on the lathe and build it back up and then turn it back down. Or just try it by hand. Should be able to get the weld smooth enough with a high current and slow rotation on the lathe.

And the cable is out. Or the modem. Either way we are unconnected. Trees are coming down as soon as I can get one or the other of the dozers running. Trailer is coming in and we are moving in!

Still raining. Talked to mom a few minutes ago and she said that another storm is on the way. Or another wave of this one. Hope its not a electrically active as the last one.

Tis the next morn and still no cable…

But at least the iBook is still kicking ass!

davesMac:~ dave$ uptime
7:46 up 23 days, 9:02, 2 users, load averages: 0.38 1.00 1.20

And the rain is still coming down.

9:30 and still waiting for the cable guy… Still raining a bit. Overcast and cool. After this cuppa I am going to go out and see what other damage we have. Bill noticed that lightning had hit the big pine at the end of Brock's and our common fence down by the creek. That's most likely when the cable went out. It blew a spiral our of the bark all the way from top to bottom. So that's another one that is going to have to come down.