Working on the House not the Tractors

Being a homeowner is an interesting thing.  It is awesome to have something to call your own but that also means you have to do the maintenance and upgrades.  This week for me has been upgrades mainly and most of them comfort related.  The first thing that I finished up installing was my mini split heat pump. 

This has been in the process for almost two months now and I finally finished it.  On a log cabin such as this it was a bit difficult finding level places to hang everything but with a little ingenuity I was able to not only make it work but also make it look good. 

I got the heat pump at cost from work and I of course could install it myself but that was not the only reason I wanted it.  I am removing my oil boiler and installing a gas boiler so I want the heat pump in case I dont have the boiler back up and running and it gets cool. 

The heat pump is a Fujitsu brand unit.  They are not a bad unit and for the price it was a really good deal.  Overall the worst part of installing it was leveling the wall on the inside to hang the indoor unit.  It took some creative doing with plywood and some shims. 

The left hand picture is my new Gas boiler.  Now I say new but it is a boiler that I got secondhand from work because a customer wanted to get away from propane because it made him uncomfortable.  The boiler has little use and is only a few years old.  In my opinion this boiler made by Viessmann is the best Gas boiler on the market. 

The last thing I have been working on, also in slight preparation for changing my boiler is installing a new water heater.  I bought this particular water heater a year ago when we were living in our first house and brought it along to here.  When I run out of oil I have this heat pump water heater all set up to switch over and have hot water. 

When I do run out of oil and start changing my boiler I will have to cut my oil tank up and bring it out, bring the old boiler out and haul my wood stove into the house.  I will keep you updated on all of that as the time comes as well as cutting splitting and hauling my wood in.  Until next time stay tuned and check back often!

Finding Just the Right Tool

This weekend (bear in mind I still need to fill you in on last weekend) I spent my day Saturday at The Bowman Field Airport.  It was their annual Fly in and car/engine show.  I naturally wanted to bring one of my Hit and Miss engines but unfortunately was on call and didn't want to load the trailer, haul it all the way there and then get called into work.  I did however come up with this great idea to bring Grampa's Model Headless Witt that I have been working on. 

You all have probably seen it in the background of some of my pictures as I have had it at the house for quite a while.  I merely threw the Witt in my van along with a can of Coleman camp fuel and an oilier and away I went.  I had a lot of fun at the show seeing quite a few of the other Maine Antique Power Association Members and running the Witt. 

Allyssia was also at the fly in as a vendor with LuLaRoe.  She was there quite early and stayed all day as well as went back Sunday for day two of the event.  Towards the end of the day I got the opportunity to drive a Ural, motorcycle with a sidecar and even convinced Allyssia to ride with me.  After the fly in the two of us traveled down to Auburn to do a little shopping.  While Allyssia went into T.J. Maxx I moseyed my way into Harbor Freight.  Now I am not always amazed by Harbor Freight but I went in looking for an engine hoist and left with just what I needed and then some. 

I bought the higher end, two ton lift that reaches further and lifts higher plus, with the coupon I had I paid the same as the one ton lift.  I also picked up a free engine stand, I was going to buy one so this free one saved me some money.  Now down to the real fun,

While I was putting the lift together Cricket wanted nothing more than to play fetch and so she gathered four of her tennis balls to try to entice me.  We did play fetch for a while after the lift was put together and I got to play with it for a few minutes.  Once I was back to work it came to that the bucket would have to be gone to get the lift close enough to remove the engine.  So using the lift I took the tension off the bucket and pulled the pins and rolled the bucket out of the way.  I was only able to roll it as far as the edge of the garage but that got it enough out of the way that it could be reached with the tractor.  After the bucket was gone of course out came the engine!!!

Allyssia and I teamed up with her running the lift cylinder while I pried and twisted on the engine. It slid right out with hardly any problems at all.  This now leaves me with a whole new set of things to do.  The current to do list on the Oliver is to time and install the magneto on the new/used motor then slide it back into the tractor then, bolt it up and start the Oliver to drive it out of the garage.  This may go on hold slightly as I am finishing installing the heat pump air conditioner in the house this week as well as installing the heat pump water heater and starting on the new boiler which you will see pictures of soon.  As always thanks for sticking with me and following the farm and my blog.  Check back often and as always leave a comment and let me know what you think. 

You Win some, and You Lose Some

I still have a lot to tell about last weekend but today there is a layer of more pressing matters, and I have video to upload from the weekend, I just haven't gotten around to it.  On the most recent "adventures" my parts came in for the drive line on the truck.  Since I had already taken a Dremel tool to the drive shaft ends to make sure they were smooth, the U-joint caps went in quite easily.  The new slip yolk was a perfect match.  Once in I poured a fresh 3 quarts of ATF into the transfer case and took it for a test run. 

The transmission shifts so smoothly and the truck is in tip top running shape.  I am so thankful that nothing worse happened and that I am able to do most of my mechanic work on my own.  Now onto the worse news that I have to share.  If you have been following along than you know that I moved Grampa's old Oliver Oc3into the garage, If you haven't been following along you should step back and read some of the older posts about the Oc3.  Anyways, I have been trying to time it and get it running to push the manure pile and maybe snow this winter - but it wouldn't crank over well.  Upon pulling the head I found some rust and carnage. 

For those that don't know, Rust in an engine is not a good thing.  The amount of rust that was on top of each piston was quite considerable and the worst thing was the number 1 piston has a crack across the top.  Finding the crack was quite disheartening but the good news out of this is that Grampa has another engine that is a direct fit.  The engine he has is worn out but was still running when he pulled it so I should be able to pull this engine and at least have a running machine. As I found the crack in the piston I wasted no time and started pulling the engine.  That night the tractor was torn down so that the engine just needs to be lifted out and the new one dropped in. 

The thing I love about these older tractors is that there are very few sensors and extras on them.  The hardest part on this engine was removing the engine mounts because my creeper wouldn't fit under the tractor because it is too wide.  I am now looking for a engine hoist to lift this engine out and drop the new one in with.  I may go down to Harbor Freight and buy one but I haven't decided yet.
  In other news, I am going to a small engine show/fly in this weekend.  More on that tomorrow.  I guess that's enough bad news for tonight.  Hopefully this weekend will fare well and I can have the engine out of the Oc3 and get it moving along back to running shape.  As always I appreciate every one of my readers and hope you keep coming back and please leave your feedback on our Facebook page.
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A Jump Start on the Truck

Last night's blog post was fairly dry and lengthy so tonight I am keeping it short and simple!  While the truck is down with a missing drive shaft it seemed like a great time to do some other odds and ends.  Last night the batteries came out and landed on the charger for the day and this evening the real work started.  I buy most of my parts from Motor Supply but tonight when I got home I realized that I got a fuel filter and not an oil filter so off to O-Reilly's I went.  While there I came across something I don't know how I lived with out. 

Its nothing more than a 24 quart or 6 gallon oil drain pan but it made the oil change so easy.  There was no switching buckets to catch all 3 gallons of oil and no spillage when I removed the filter because it is wide enough.  It also fit all 17 quarts of transmission fluid and seals right up for transport.  I will bring all the oil to my mechanic to burn in his waste oil burner. 

I ran through over a case of ATF and just under 3 gallons of synthetic Rotella T6 oil.  Tomorrow I am getting another few quarts of ATF to change the transfer case fluid. My slip yolk should also be in so I can get the old girl back together and running.  Even though I don't really need the truck right now it feels weird to not have it running.  Stay tuned tomorrow and as always leave me a comment and check back often. 

Another Tiring Late Week

This past week was an interesting week to say the least.  After hauling hay last Sunday I left the trailer hooked on the truck so that Tuesday Allyssia and I could finish cleaning out the old barn in Livermore Falls.  I ran home after work Tuesday and met Allyssia at the barn with the truck and trailer and we loaded the trailer up.  I headed home and Allyssia was following a little ways behind.  I made it half way home and the front universal joint of the rear drive shaft blew apart. 

Where the drive shaft dropped out was far from a good spot for me to be broken down let alone trying to crawl under the truck.  Luckily an extremely kind lady drove around the corner from where I was broken down, put her four way flashers on and slowed traffic down while I worked on removing the driveshaft from the rear end of the truck.  Another thing that really saved me is the fact that I carry a small adjustable wrench in my pocket and I was able to remove the U-bolts from the rear yolk to remove the driveshaft.  Once the rear drive shaft was out a I took off for home once again with the truck in four wheel drive.  I guess that this would be a good place to interject that my headlights were progressively getting dimmer as I went along.  Thinking that I could make it home I took the route with the least uphill's to minimize the hard work on the front end.  I was coasting down one of the hills hoping that I could limp home when I heard a clanging from the rear.  I immediately pulled over and found the slip yolk that comes out of the transfer case to be missing.  More on that later.  As it was dark out and I had fading lights I continued home and was coasting down the last hill with practically no lights and the truck shuts off.  Thinking that I could coast to the dirt road and leave it for the night I popped the transmission in neutral and hoped for the best.  Unfortunately I stopped once again in a less than desirable spot.  After borrowing booster cables from a nearby house and flagging down a good Samaritan and almost a half hour of his truck charging mine I was able to get the truck started and slowly limp the remaining mile home.  It was a very stressful night but I am thankful that the trailer did not have horses in it and that Allyssia was not driving.  I think that Allyssia would have handled it fine but I would prefer that it happen to me. After all that, the next day I called every junk yard around looking for a slip yolk but there were none to be found.  In Motor supply they could order me one but needed the old one for dimensions. 

As this picture shows I did indeed find the slip yolk.  After work I walked up and down Rout 156 in the area I thought I heard the noise.  In all, I probably walked a mile and a half looking for the slip yolk and luckily found it.  Tomorrow I should have a new slip yolk and all the fluids and parts to do an oil change, transmission service, fuel filter, and transfer case service.  Between working on my truck and the many other things that I have not posted about there should be a post every other day this week, if not every day.  As always stay tuned and stay patient, we are always working here at the Rusty Gold Farm. 

And a week flys by

Since My last post I have dropped off the map for a week so to speak.  Today is just a quick fill you in post because I can't fall too far behind.  Last week I ended up taking a sick day mid week and I stayed home and slept most of the day.  My boss and Allyssia think that it was sun sickness as we worked the entire day before in the sun.  I probably would have been fine but when I got home I threw 100 bales of hay into the hay loft and I think that put me over the edge.  Now it is hard to believe but that one day of doing nothing set me back a few days on my to do list.  Luckily today when we were hauling 425 bales of hay we had some amazing help.  Both my parents came and helped haul and throw hay as well as one of Allyssia's friends.  Other than that one of my friends stopped in while in the area after buying a saw rig.  when he got home he set it up and sent me a video of it running and I decided that I would like to do the same. 

Spenser's saw rig hooked up to a 2hp Fairbanks Morse hit and miss

So I would really like to hear EVERYONE'S opinion on setting up a saw rig.  I would use the rig that came with the Super A and probably the air cooled hit and miss engine that I usually bring to shows.  I would build a small shed with opening sides for the engine and have the saw rig outside of it.  Let me know what you all thing on here or go on my Facebook page and leave a comment. I enjoy hearing from my readers. As always check back often because we are always busy here at the farm. 

#100!

I feel like I should celebrate as this is blog post #100!!  Unfortunately it is nothing too special, just the start of yet another project.  While I have my father's tractor here I organized my garage and pushed the Oliver Oc3 in the garage to start getting it running.  It has been a long project in the making but I am finally at the point that I will hopefully have it running.  The Oliver used to be Grampa's crawler tractor but he sold it to me and I hauled it home not running and then moved it to our new home not running.  This week if time allows it is the next project on the docket to be fixed!

All I need s to pick up my creeper from my parents house and I will be ready to work on it.  The bucket is properly secured up with the 2x6's and should be just wide enough to squeeze in between.  Until next time stay tuned and check back often!