Cricket and The Quadractor

So I have been working late the last few nights and haven't had any time to do anything but what I have for tonight is some pictures of cricket and a video.  So Cricket has grown since we got her and I last posted pictures. 

She has become quite the dog.  She is still small enough for me to pick her up but she can also get into the truck just fine.  Parker has even decided that he likes her, or at least tolerates her.

They try their best to get along but sometimes Cricket just cant act old and lazy like Parker.  They will play for a while but Parker gets over it and hisses and Cricket just doesn't get the hint and gets smacked.  In other news I got my Quadractor out in the snow.  I was able to throw a battery into it and crank it for just a second and it started right up.  I have been curious on how it would do in the snow and it did better than I had expected and is awful fun in the snow.  Without further obstruction here is the link to my newest YouTube video of the Quadractor.
                                                        Quadractor in the snow part one
In the end I started to get a little bit stuck and stopped the video but it ended up crawling out of the snowbank with ease.   I really enjoy the Quadractor and cant wait to play more with it and get some Go Pro videos of it in action logging this summer.  I hope to have more to post this weekend but for now that's it so stay tuned until next time. 

Just the Caterpillar hauling some of the under the porch wood.  I can fit about two days worth of wood the bucket. 

The Caterpiller finds new life.

I finally have some good news for the caterpillar.  After receiving the new Lovejoy coupling from Motion Industries I brought the coupling over to Grampa's.  I dropped the coupling off Saturday and Grampa was able to set it up in his lathe and cut around 3/8th of an inch off from the back of the coupling.

The coupling on the left is the original size and it is the engine side and the one on the right is the side that we cut down and customized.  Again I have to thank Grampa for making this project and many others possible.  He has always helped me on any project and has kept a many project going.

Our next task was lining the pulley up to the lovejoy and drilling some holes.  We lined up the old lovejoy with a shaft and key and prick punched all four holes and drilled them out.  Once drilled out we taped all four holes to 1/4-20 thread.

I am still struggling a bit with posting pictures and having them fit right on the page and have the text fit in right but the picture on the immediate left of this text is
the coupling with three of the four holes. 

























Now down to what you have all been waiting for a video of the Caterpillar running so here it is!!!!
                                                                Caterpillar drive #1
 I got a little carried away with the spinning in circles but the tractor runs decent.  Allyssia even got onto it and played around a little bit and decided that it was a good purchase.  

You can see that she was having way to much fun and like the Quadractor I don't think that this one will be allowed to leave the farm.  Overall it was a good day for the farm and as I do more you will get updates on it.  Until next time stay tuned.

The tractor that keeps on giving.... problems...

Okay everyone, I just want to prepare you all for a bit of a long winded post here as I try to catch up on the last few weeks.  Now just to warn you there hasn't been much going on around here at the farm because I haven't been around.  With the cold snap I have been working overtime like crazy.  I ended up on call for one of the negative windy weekends and logged over twenty-seven hours in the two days. The weekend before was not my weekend and I still had fifteen hours.  This cold has put us so far behind schedule at work and put me behind schedule at home working on my equipment. 
       Enough of my rambling about work and on to the fun part.  I finally received the correct one inch lovejoy coupling and was able to mount it onto the motor and mount the motor onto the tractor.  I don't have much for pictures of the process as I was already freezing myself half to death that I did not take any pictures while drilling holes and bolting.  Cutting to the chase here is a video of the Caterpillar running.
                                                         Caterpillar first test drive 
The engine still needs a little tuning up and it will be going to Adam Pike's to be tuned properly.  Now that we have all seen it run, its time for the carnage. After playing around for a bit in the dark I decided to park the tractor for the night and finish some small things up in the morning.  Once I shut the tractor off I did a quick inspection and noticed this nice little pile of metal shavings in front of the motor.

That is also when I noticed that the spider in the lovejoy was missing.  At first I figured no big deal I will have to get a new center and put it back together. The old one must have been dry rotted and should have been replaced, but ohh boy was I wrong. 






















 Just as I thought I was gong to get out of this project with my shirt the new lovejoy ate the teeth off from the old coupling

I was Absolutely amazed that the coupling would just shred like that but the new coupling that was on the motor wasn't damaged at all. In good news the new coupling fit on the engine perfectly and everything lined right up. 













My next problem is the nature of the shredded coupling is very custom.  Somebody took this coupling and cut it down almost half of an inch and then proceeded to drill and tap four holes to hold a pulley onto the back.

This left picture is the lovejoy coupling where you can see that when they cut it down they got into the set screw and had to drill and tap another hole for the set screw.  Then we have the pulley that is another project in itself. the problem I have is trying to make enough room between the motor and the pump to put the full coupling and the pulley and still have it fit.  Hopefully over the weekend I will be able to brainstorm how they are going to fit together with the limited room that I have. 


Other than the tractors trying to destroy themselves around here I also have a van that tries to kill me at work.

This was during the big snowstorm we had about a week and a half ago.  The grade here is steeper than it looks and I was heading to a customers house on his private, very long driveway and as usual with the Transit I lost traction and slid backwards and sunk the rear into the ditch.  Luckily the customer had a skid steer and came to pull me out and get me pointed down the hill headed home.

This last picture I snapped at about one forty-five AM when I was getting home from a call.  You can see Parker was just as impressed as I was to be up at that hour.  Well until next time stay tuned because like the Quadractor, I will eventually have this running correctly and be able to have fun with it. 

Finally Back to Working on the Rust!!

So I know that I have dropped my "pen and paper" so to speak and the blog has been silent for better than a week but we are still alive here at the Rusty Gold Farm and most definitely making progress. The cold weather has really put a damper on a lot of extra getting done.  I have been working overtime and working late every day to try to stay ahead of the frozen pipes, gelled and frozen fuel systems.  On top of work, snow removal, and helping at the barn I have made some slight progress on a current project and opened a can of worms for another project. 

After what seems like forever I have all of the parts for the engine itself and have it all together and ready to mount onto the tractor.  all the parts were supplied by Adams Small Engine in Livermore.

https://www.facebook.com/adamsmallengine/

Adam is a very knowledgeable and extremely helpful small engine guy.  I just recently started going to Adam's and will be a long term customer.  On that engine I put a starter, air cleaner, exhaust, oil filter housing, and lastly the stub shaft that can be seen coming off the flywheel.  I am not using the screen to cover the flywheel because I need to put the LoveJoy coupling so close it would interfere.  The LoveJoy coupling was supposed to be here today but the shipping was delayed due to the storm so it should be here Monday to complete the installation process.  

From the Caterpillar to the next project there is a considerable horsepower difference.  What I am holding in my hand just happens to be a parts engine for one of my tractors.  Yes that's right that little tiny 3/4 hp two cycle engine powers one of my tractors.  It doesn't power just any tractor, it powers my very first tractor that Grampa bought for me. 

 Here is a throwback picture of me back in 2010.  The tractor is my Hiller Yard Hand.  This tractor along with an article was featured in the Gas Engine Magazine.  There is a link to the article under the picture. This tractor is mostly original and the engine needs new rings and hopefully the rings from the parts engine will get the engine working so the Yard Hand can go back into the parades.   https://www.gasenginemagazine.com/Owen-yard-hand  
                                                                      Today's Tool Time!
Today is another special version of tool time here at the Rusty Gold Farm.  I am constantly trying to make life easier with new tools and like to share my experiences.

With the amount of times since I have started doing this little segment I would have to say that the majority of it has been in the Milwaukee tool group. I should be a salesman for them!

Allyssia bought me this Milwaukee M12 battery powered ratchet.  I then had to have some 3/8 sockets so off to Sears I went! Anyways back to the review here.  This week I tried something different and did a video review so everyone can see this tool in action.  Now forgive the video as it's my first real video with my GoPro and I haven't quite figured it out.

https://www.youtube.com/Milwaukeecordlessratchetreview

 I am trying my hand at a YouTube channel to go along with my blog.  I think it will be a good addition and will make it easier for everyone to view the videos that I post.  That is going to be it for me today, but stay tuned for tomorrow as long as I am not out on service calls all day, I am going to take a few more videos and do some puttering around the house.