What was I thinking?

[Jeff]

What was I thinking?

I have not been able to get the tractor to start and run for two weeks. The last two times it snowed, I went out and shoveled. The time before last I slipped on the ice cleaning off the truck and ended up half under it. When I fell, I landed on my middle back on the ice with a thud followed by a shadow thud of the back of my head hitting as well. The last couple days I've been walking around like I'm auditioning for a part in the walking dead. Last night it started snowing again. I hobbled out in the dark and shoveled out the front of the house. The cold got to my back and I zombie walked back in with the job unfinished.

Luckily last night I had a very rare good night's sleep. I woke up at 5:30 AM to see Tammy long gone. She had gotten up and left for work and I never even knew it. That happens maybe twice a year. Maybe. I saw the road was even plowed, so I let the dogs out the back door to investigate the new snow as I went out the front to finish the shoveling before Tammy got back home. By the time I was done, it was daylight. I came back in the house, let the dogs in from the back and went and sat down gingerly to rest my un-dead bones. That's when I saw on the local weather that we are expecting a series of snow storms starting tomorrow. I thought, I need to figure that tractor out and quick.

I waited until Tammy got home and then went out to the barn. The tractor's problem was it would fire but not stay running, the more I tried to start it, the less it would fire. I thought it was a really cold out problem or a weak battery problem or a fuel problem. I had pulled the plugs the week before and they looked fine but wet. hmm.. Spark. This morning as I sat thinking about the tractor, I decided I would pull the distributor and check the points. You can't check the points on a 49 ford without pulling the distributor because of its pain in the ass front of the engine location. So, I pulled the coil off, which on a 49, sits on the top of the distributor, then I pulled the cap off, which is on the front of a 49 distributor, then I went at trying to get the two bolts out that hold it in. After a bit of fumbling and finger freezing I got the bolts out, noted the direction of the rotor for reassembly, pulled the distributor out and put it on the bench.

AHA! First thing, I saw the probable issue! The mounting screw that holds the condenser in had come loose. I tried to tighten it, but the loose screw had stripped threads. I found another screw that would work. I tightened down the condenser, then while I had the distributor on the bench, I dressed the points and re-gapped them to 15 thousandths. I reinstalled the distributor, pulled my trouble light out of the way and tried ti start the tractor. It fired and ran immediately.


All told, from the time I walked into the pole barn to work on the tractor to the time I walked out with the tractor fixed was less than 30 minutes.
What was I thinking the last several days? I know how to fix stuff. I like to fix stuff. I hate to shovel.

[lxskllr]

Could have been worse. Could have simply been out of gas, and you only /thought/ you checked it. An easier problem for sure, but worse on the self esteem  :^D

[sawguy21]

  You really need to go easier on yourself, we don't heal like we used to and the ground is a lot harder. Glad the tractor was easy to fix, that is no fun in the cold.

[Old Greenhorn]

You know Jeff, if it all works out I will be 64 in a couple of months, and like you I do like to fix stuff (well, I like how it feels when I get stuff fixed, sometimes the 'fixing part' can be less fun) and also like you,, I am pretty good at it. Having said that, it seems like I have to re-learn, every once in a while, that the short cuts to just 'get it done' works out to cost me more in the long run. I don't know why this is, but you would think we get smarter as we get older, and in fact I believe we do, BUT we also seem to need to re-learn these things from time to time.
Getting hurt doing it can be a problem though, because we don't bounce like we used to. You may recall my post about a pinched nerve a couple of months ago. That was caused by me, nobody else. The good part of that story was that I hurt SO bad that I had no choice but to finally find and go to a Chiropractor. I got a great reference from a good friend that knows 'how I can be' and she said "You are going to hit it off with this guy, I know it". Turns out, she was right and this fella is fixing damage from injuries I had 40 or more years ago. We just found and fixed a new one last Friday.
So maybe there is a lesson buried in there for you somewhere, only you will know for sure. You are too smart to do something for no reason with painful results. Just set and think on it.
Tom

[WDH]

Glaciation is dangerous . 

[Jeff]

I walked out to the barn a bit ago and the wind was out of the west. When I came out just minutes later, it was out of the northeast. Its coming.

[Cub]

Been there. Done that. Probly 10 years ago I went to start my 39 9n ford. Wouldn't start. So I automatically figured the point got a little rust on them from sitting for a couple months. So I proceeded to remove distributor and clean up the points. Regapped them and put it on. Still wouldn't fire. Wore the battery down playing with it. Next step on fouled plug. Replace plugs while battery was charging. Ok try it now. Still nothing. I was very irritated to say the least. Last hope I checked the gas tank. Bone dry. Put gas in and away it went!! I'm 37. This happened when I was 27. So it happens to us young guys too!!  :D

[Jeff]

In this case i knew i was good on gas because I
Put 5 gallons in it when it first started running a bit funky.

[Old Greenhorn]

I walked out to the barn a bit ago and the wind was out of the west. When I came out just minutes later, it was out of the northeast. Its coming.

And you are going to send it our way like you always do, aren't you?  ;D It is due to hit here around late morning. I just came back in from the shop and I didn't take time to check the 'environment'. It was a chilly low twenties something and not too much air movement, but the high humidity makes it feel darn chilly. It gets into my back and then I can't shake it. 72 here at my desk and I am still cold. But I got the plow hooked up ( again )and ready for when I get home from work tomorrow.
 I hope your back/sides/hips etc. are feeling better. Time for another round, load 'er up in the shoot!

[Ed_K]

 When you get cold like that it's good to get in the shower an get warmed back up.

[low_48]

I've always been told that if you hit the back of your head from a fall, you never hesitate and go directly to the emergency room. A small bleed can start, and you still feel okay. Pretty soon you get a head ache because your brain is swelling. If the pressure is not relieved, the brain expands and puts pressure on the base where basic body functions are controlled. You usually die. Please be careful!!!

[Ianab]

I've always been told that if you hit the back of your head from a fall, you never hesitate and go directly to the emergency room. A small bleed can start, and you still feel okay. Pretty soon you get a head ache because your brain is swelling. If the pressure is not relieved, the brain expands and puts pressure on the base where basic body functions are controlled. You usually die. Please be careful!!!

Correct. Friend of mine slipped on some wet concrete and whacked her head like that, and ended up in ICU. In spite of getting prompt medical care, it was 18 months before she was well enough to get her drivers licence back!!!
Traumatic brain injury - Wikipedia
If someone around you takes a knock like that, keep a close watch on them, and if they don't seem "right", get help, The person with the head injury wont realise there is anything wrong, but they can lay down for a rest, and not wake up. 

[mike_belben]

Lost one my best friends to it right after i pedalled home in 9th grade.  Died in the driveway.

[lxskllr]

A short story...

I was working on a property with an abandoned house, barn, and outbuildings. Naturally I had to check everything out. The barn was full of nifty stuff, and had a concrete floor. The niftiest thing of all was a pulley with a rope through it. Had a loop on one end, and went to the hayloft. I thought it would be super fun to stand in the loop and haul myself up with the free end. Those of you familiar with physics can probably guess what happened. For the rest of you... I got myself about 3' in the air and my feet went horizontal. I hit the ground with my head following soon after, and it sounded like a coconut hitting the concrete floor. Aside from having the wind knocked out of me, and a sore head, I was mostly ok.



That's one of the dumbest things I've ever done. Know what's dumber? To this day I think about that stupid rope, and still want to haul myself up in it. I could cheat, and use a saddle or something, but I ponder what it would take using just the stuff in that barn, and I can't guarantee I wouldn't try it again if I were back there...  :^S

[Jeff]

I guess I must be okay, That was about 4 days ago now. Tammy was gone when it happened and I was out there awhile. It was all ice and I had a hard time finding a way to pull myself out from under the truck. Our yard slopes down suddenly to the driveway, so half of me was under the truck, and the big half of me was pointing up hill on a solid glaze of ice and snow. I know I struggled for awhile, and honestly, I can't remember how I eventually maneuvered out of there.

[low_48]

One more head injury story. My cousin hit his head really badly on a swing as a little kid. Hospitalized and the whole deal, almost didn't make it. He got his military induction papers. He went to Chicago for his physical with that severe concussion on his medical record. Military doctor looks at him and asks if he has a headache. Dave says no, down comes the stamp. He was in basic training in no time at all.

[mike_belben]

I got in with a fused c2/c3