Did something dumb today.

[Bert]

Snowblowers and dog chains are also a lot of fun.

[JD Guy]

And.....Flail mowers, bush hogs......  are very good wire finders.

[rusticretreater]

Tractor tires are 100% accurate in finding old barbed wire.

[Nebraska]

For a split second I thought I'd spooked a little rabbit as I had backed up into the spot I was tilling.  I saw dead vegetation move kind of in a straight line then a part of a second later I may have used a bad work and shut the PTO of as fast as I could reach it.  Could've been worse, it could have been behind me, probably wouldn't have seen it as quick. 

[Don P]

We were building for a safety officer for a large waste hauling company outside of chicago. We did the usual "How was your day?" when he got out to their new house one evening. "Well I got a call about daylight that one of our garbage trucks left the industrial park with the arms up and he had taken down the phone lines."

 John jumped into his clothes and headed out. He got to the scene and noticed no cones or triangles were out yet. The driver is in the cab afraid to step out cause he hit a wire. As John got out of the car a pickup truck drives by. The tire picks up the phone cable, wraps it and heads down the road reeling it in. Till it got to the end and the pickup rear goes in the air. The wire parts and snaps back arcing over the 3 phase p[ower line supplying the rather large industrial park, shorts it out in a spectacular light show. "So that's how my day started, anything happen here today?"

Back to mine for today. We've been running 2 jobs. One client is being high maintenance and decides to drop into the middle of things every time we get going. Start and stop. No excuses. I went by yesterday and poured a few bags around a stair bottom post to lock it into place. I arrived this morning and remembered that post was a mistake, too short, and I needed to install the longer one that was on the bench before pouring. So I jackhammered ,ran for concrete, started to pour and the bottom fell out and it hailed after 1 bag, 2 hr siesta, go back, and I just finished. Well, after ibu, elbow cream and a bit of the Irish to help it take. Some weeks start off ominously  .

[Southside]

While reading about your clients day I suddenly heard Joe Diffie singing about a Big Boy in the Shoneys parking lot...

[Resonator]

Cause and effect, chain of events
All of this chaos makes perfect sense...
(Third Rock From the Sun- Joe Diffie)

[Nebraska]

Yippee now that's gonna be stuck in my head. 

[Don P]

The other job is right across the street from the bank clock  .

[Don P]

There was mine for today. I heard a bad clunk from the front of the ranger on the driveway. The front driveshaft has one of those sealed ball U joints with 6 bolts securing it to the flange coming out of the transfer case. I had found one of these bolts in the driveway a month or two ago. Now I know where it goes  . 5 fell out and the 6th broke off. Happily it was so loose I removed the stub with my fingers. 

[Magicman]

Yikes, it sounds like the bolts worked loose and nothing actually broke?  If so, it was your lucky day, not dumb day. 

[doc henderson]

In medicine we call it maturation of the diagnosis.  you may know something is wrong, but cannot find it till things get worse or give you more clues.  

[Old Greenhorn]

If you want to carry that comparison into Don's situation, I guess you could say he figured out the problem during the autopsy.

[Southside]

I took it as more of the line from The Six Million Dollar Man "We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was..."

[Resonator]

I've heard on newer vehicles the drive line parts are considered "one time only use" parts. If you unbolt it, they want you to throw it in the scrap bin and get a new one. 

[Resonator]

I've also heard if you leave the gas tank valve off on your mill, there will be just enough gas in the carb to start it and get about a foot into a cut before the engine dies.

[doc henderson]

I hate the clearish fuel filters.  I stare at it only appearing 1/3rd full and wonder why all the air does not get out.  It runs fine.  I recently had to replace rotten fuel line.  about 6 feet with the power chain.  It had a yellow color imparted to the gas, so I flushed it out.  I spent about 5 minutes with a little cup and fuel line on each end to get the air out.  I put it in line and remembered the long line to the tank was not primed and full of air.  Not worth getting the smell of gas on my hands, but I may try again.  I may clamp the bottom of the line to the tank and try again.  Why?  I do not know.  It just seems it should be full of fuel.

[Old Greenhorn]

Doc, I have the same issue, makes me nuts. This is particularly true on my craftsman riding mower. That filter never fills. Also a long line and if the line is empty, cranking the engine does not cause enough vacuum to fill that line. So when it sits for 6 weeks if I try to start it, I just run the battery down. But at full engine RPM it draws up fine. So I just take an irrigation syringe and blast a shot of gas in the carb, it starts and runs and draws fuel and usually once will do it, sometimes 2 times is needed. 
 But that dang filter never ever fills. It's a mystery.

[doc henderson]

my line stays primed.  but hard to get the air out of the filter and then reattach the line.  I may waste a little more time on it.  everyone says it works fine.  It does, but just seems to be not right.

[Crusarius]

I usually end up pressurizing the tank on my Zero turn when it loses its prime. Usually only after sitting for a couple weeks. 

I have my CO2 tank in the shed next to the mower so when I need to I just cover the filler with a rag and pressurize the tank while cranking.

Works well and starts pretty quick.

[Don P]

A trip to town and $10 of bolts, repacked with grease on the bolts and loctite on the bearings and the driveshaft seems to be fine. Took it for a drive on the driveway and it threw a code. It took out the wires to the flex fuel sensor, right alongside the flopping shaft. I'll need to trace that and wire in new or find a new pigtail. All in all, not too bad though.

[rusticretreater]

@doc henderson @Old Greenhorn

You fellas have the wrong idea on the fuel systems. These are not pressurized systems so air is a necessary component of making the systems function.  The fuel pumps(pulse type or otherwise) are at the engine and not the tank.  These pumps are pressure to the engine side only.

I sure you have experienced the glug-glug needed to keep the fuel coming out of a full gas can.  The fuel leaving the can expands the air space in the can.  However, there is not enough actual air in the can to fill the space to ambient pressure.  The result is a vacuum and fuel flow slows requiring the air to glug into the can to relieve the vacuum. The same thing happens on a non-pressurized gas system.

The air in the filter actually circulates while the engine is running.  Bubbles of it will go up the gas line relieving pressure so that gas will flow.  At the other end the pump pulses and creates a bit of a vacuum on the tank side of the pump.  The air in the gas line allows the "glug" to happen and provides a kind of metering to the gas flow.

As long as the filter looks clean and there is fuel on the pump side of the filter your engine should run.  So the clear filter allows you to see everything is A-OK!

[rusticretreater]

repacked with grease on the bolts and loctite on the bearings and the driveshaft seems to be fine.

WhoaKayyyyyyy

[rusticretreater]

Whoops sorry for the double post.

[doc henderson]

The line from the tank is 6 feet, then the aux. pump that comes on with the key.  then the filter, then the engine fuel pump.  the tank is pressure equalized with a port at the cap.  I am not sure why over time the air does not eventually get out of the filter.  you cannot just fill from one end.  it is more like the element separates the air liquid interface when not under pressure/vacuum.  I know it works, but I do not like it.      It looks wrong.  seems it should be a solid column of liquid.  I may fix it yet, even though it is not broken.  This convo just makes we want to fix it even more.