Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

Wehner Homestead

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@Senile_Texas_Aggie I have been around tractors and lawnmowers my entire life and even learned to drive on a stick shift truck in the pasture. I have a brother about 3 years younger and he always got to run machinery of any kind. I got to push mow or fork pens while he rode the riding lawnmower or the tractor with the spreader. DH wants me to be more proficient so I can now mow with a zero turn lawnmower, operate our Honda Foreman ATV, drive a stick shift in traffic, and drive the tractor while baking square bales and they are dropped on the hay wagon with a kid on my lap. Just need to work on backing trailers and other tractor functions! Lol
 

Bruce

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I have a brother about 3 years younger and he always got to run machinery of any kind. I got to push mow or fork pens while he rode the riding lawnmower or the tractor with the spreader.
Screwed by the old gender bias thing eh? Well you learned, just had to wait for a man that figured a woman could do the same work.

Baking square bales while driving a tractor? You GO girl! :gig
 

Senile_Texas_Aggie

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Mr. @greybeard, sir,

While I have your attention, I seem to recall your saying about the need to do something with the PTO shaft for implements like mowers that sit idle for awhile. Seems like it was lengthening the shafts or shortening them or rotating them or something. Do you know what I am talking about? If not, I will go back through your posts and find it. If you do, would you tell me again what it was, and why I need to do that?

Ever in awe of how much you know... :bow

Senile Texas Aggie
 

greybeard

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Yes, occassionally, slide them out of their contracted positions, spray some lube on them if the metal tube is exposed. If the plastic guard is such that you can't even see any of the metal tube, just slide/extend, then compress the drive line a few times to keep them freed up...being carefull NOT to pull the 2 halves apart (tho it isn't a big deal at all to then just squirt/spray some lube on them and slide them back together.)
Make sure you orient the 2 joints correctly to keep the phase correct.
(most 3 sided tubes will only go together one way--some square tubes will go together out of phase, some will only go one way because of a little spline on one of the flats.)

some reading on the subject:
http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14940

If you DON'T do it and the unit sits for several months with no lube between the 2 telescoping pieces, they will rust/stick together and you'll have hell getting your mower hooked up next time you need it.

I believe "tractor Mike' has a video on this as well and show what is inside that plastic shroud.
 
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Senile_Texas_Aggie

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Well, everyone,

I have done a couple of things that each deserve a Mr. @greybeard Zinger(TM). The first one happened yesterday. I decided to hook up the boxblade and have a go at leveling the parking area from the mess I made a few weeks ago. (Only now has it stopped raining long enough for the parking area to dry out.) I got out the white lithium grease spray to spray the balls of the lower links of the 3 pt hitch, as well as the link pins on the box blade. When I backed up to get the lower arms in position, I heard a "pop!" followed by a hissing sound. "Oh, no, I've punctured a tractor tire!" I got down from the tractor, and when I looked at the right rear tire, I saw what the cause of the sound was: I had backed over the white lithium spray can enough to break the lid and the nozzle off, and the tire was depressing the valve enough to spray white lithium grease all over the rear tire. Doh!

But the bigger dumb mistake happened today. We had ordered a part for our fireplace insert, and it finally arrived yesterday. I was attempting to level the parking area with the box blade when the FedEx driver pulled up. I got off the tractor about the same time as my Beautiful Gal came to the door. So I took the box from the FedEx driver and handed it to my BG, wherein she took the part into the house. It was late in the day when I stopped working with the box blade, so I decided to install the part the next day.

After breakfast, I decided to get started. I saw where my BG had already opened the box, which was empty. I looked around for a moment before I saw the part underneath the stove, ready to be installed. "Great!" so I dove right in. As I was installing the part, I was so happy that everything was fitting perfectly, with no problems at all. After about 30 minutes or so of work I was ready to turn the gas on and give it a try. That's when I saw it: the new part was still wrapped in plastic sitting on the coffee table. I had installed the old part! Doh! So, muttering to myself, I took off the old part and opened the package for the new one. The new part had a different size opening for the gas inlet (3/8" vs 1/2" on the old one). So off to the hardware store I went. Then I was able to install the new part. And I am happy to say that the fireplace insert is now working.

Senile Texas Aggie
 

Bruce

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Hey, you are good at replacing that part now!

I get a Zinger™ as well. I had taken the mower off the Garden Tractor, put on the undercarriage pulley 'attachment' and gotten out the pairs of 2 different size wrenches needed to put the weight bracket and weight on the back. But I hadn't installed them because I can't pull the splitter with them in the way. So the blower is in its summer storage location, near the far end of the drive bay, facing away from the door. Ready to attach to the GT. Took the new POS splitter back yesterday, needed the GT to retrieve it from the little barn. Drove the GT frontwards (rear to the door) into the drive bay for the night knowing it was going to snow overnight. I didn't get back from returning the splitter until after dark, wasn't thinking about the blower.

So today after it stopped snowing I went out and put the weight on the back and put the blower on. Now anyone who has moved snow with a blower on a GT or larger machine knows you want to have it facing out so you can blow yourself a path. I got the weight on then :barnie, there is no room in the drive bay to reverse the direction of the GT under power. At least I didn't put the blower on first. But I had to push and pull the GT to the side, drag the hefty blower to the door and reverse its direction, then push and pull the GT, which BARELY fits crossways in the bay with the other stuff in there, to get it turned around to face out. :he
Would have been simple if I had put the blower on yesterday when there was no snow, I could have backed out of the barn, turned around and backed in, ready for the 8" of snow we got.
 

greybeard

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Would have been simple if I had put the blower on yesterday when there was no snow, I could have backed out of the barn, turned around and backed in, ready for the 8" of snow we got.
You couldn't just shovel enough snow out of the way to get out of the barn and oriented into the right direction for the blower to be facing correctly? And, you do have a large tractor with a fel bucket now.........

I had backed over the white lithium spray can enough to break the lid and the nozzle off, and the tire was depressing the valve enough to spray white lithium grease all over the rear tire. Doh!

My 'zinger' is this:
Get your wife's Dawn dish washing detergent bottle out, and a stiff brush and clean or power wash all that grease off the rubber part of that wheel &tire. Leaving sprayed or liquid lubricant on a tire for a long period of time will turn the synthetic rubber soft and it will soon bulge out and split. I will try to get you a picture of a brand new rear tractor tire, which was never installed that the same thing happened to when some hydraulic oil was spilled on the shop floor and ran under the stored tire and we never realized the oil was under it. The sidewall just became soft and spongy and split open the first time we stood the tire up and rolled it.

Oil, Grease, and Gasoline
These items can deteriorate rubber when exposed to a tire for any length of time. Use a clean, damp cloth to remove these chemicals from the tire.
You can add just about any petroleum based lubricant to that list....silicone lubricants are a little less likely to damage tires but they do have their own downsides.

(btw..I once backed over a full can of aerosol starting fluid (mostly ether) and immediately after the loud but short lived HISSSS sound, it ignited in a very loud POOF...that will get your attention quickly.)
 
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