Just a Little Update

Last few days I have been working on a few small odds and ends on the farm equipment.  There have been some small nagging things that I have been avoiding this past week that I was able to cross off and get started on one of the larger more pressing ones.  To start I had to get my Groundskeeper Bolens back in working order.  It had broken a sheer pin last time I used it in this video here.                                    Groundskeeper broken sheer pin
I of course forgot to take pictures of the sheer pin replacement but what I did get pictures of was the cutting edge that was broken on the snowblower.

This is whats left of the cutting edge that I removed from the blower.  I had been running it broken and missing about a foot in the center until I happened upon a new used one.  This old one wore extremely hard in the center probably from our rocky, dirt driveway. 




To mount the cutting edge takes twelve 3/8x2" carriage bolts and two larger 5/8"bolts.  All of the bolts had a flat washer a lock washer and nut.  I bought all the bolts from Tractor Supply because I have found that they sell hardware by the pound and it is a lot cheaper than buying it by the bolt.

You can see the heads of all the carriage bolts and just a tiny bit of the cutting edge sticking out.  It can be adjusted in or out to make up for the edge wearing. 

This edge had already been used and is reversible so I put the new edge down.  I did have to bend the frame of the snowblower back into shape and straighten it out to get the new edge on.  The next slightly larger project was removing the engine from the caterpillar again to take a little bit off from the motor mounts.

I have to take a whooping 85 thousandths of an inch off from the mounts to make the coupling line up correctly otherwise this happens.  

I was just a little bit off on my original calculations and the motor was higher than it should have been and ruined the spider.  While the engine was out it was a perfect time to bring the engine alone to Adam Pike to have it properly tuned up.  He is going to clean the carburetor and fix a few other small problems.  For today that is all for exciting things that has happened so until next time stay tuned and check back often. 

Another Year Fixing the Old Ford

So another year has passed and that means another inspection sticker on my old Ford.  This truck has served me very well so I am more than willing to give it the help it needs to keep it on the road.  This year will make year number two that I have had to get the frame patched.  This years patching was very minor compared to last years but it had to be done none the less.  Even though the inspection came up in the winter I was able to do all of the work in comfort and warmth.  In saying that, I would like to recommend anyone that needs large to light duty truck work done to check out Merrill's Garage
                                                             Merrills-Garage-Inc
The owner, Justin and his crew do great professional work and in a timely manner.  The other person I would like to thank is Wayne Adams of Mid State Welding who of course did the welding and patching on the frame.

Wayne does not have a website so this is as close as I could come.  Wayne is an excellent welder and I wouldn't want anyone else to work on my truck.  Back to the real action, my father (who was so generous to help) and I removed the bed Friday night and dropped the rear tank down.  This is the third time that we have removed the bed and are now getting pretty good at it.  Saturday morning Wayne Adams showed up and we started right away on the frame.

At his young age Wayne has decided that he only likes to work on truck frames in the winter if there is a lift and heat. I of course obliged with both to get him to work on the truck.  There were only two small cracks to be fixed that were right next to the overload bumpers. 

The ditch side one he patched on the inner side as well as a large patch on the outside of the frame.  We also beefed up a few other spots as a bit of preventative maintenance. 

This is the other major patch that was done on the drivers side.  At times I wonder if the rear frame is more patch than frame but if Wayne welded it then I believe it will hold.  After Ten O'clock, when Wayne, left I changed a universal joint on the rear of the driveshaft and replaced the fuel tank until my father showed up and helped me replace the bed.  Once the bed was back on and the lights back together and working one of Merrill's employees inspected the truck for another year. 

This has been a great truck and I hope that I can keep it running for years to come. It has served me well and I enjoy this truck immensely.  I want to thank everyone that has helped me keep it running over the last few years through everything that has gone wrong. 
Remember stay tuned and check back often. 

The Sad End of the Peru Era.

It is with great sadness that we are closing a chapter in our lives we have loved, what we know as the homestead in Peru.  I purchased the land with a 40'x50' pole barn on it back in 2014.  When I first went to look at it I instantly fell in love and decided that I had to have it.  After much hassle with the bank it finally became mine.

This view is what prompted the name The Funny Window farm.  All around the barn are windows everywhere.  The joke was that the builders ran out of wood and started placing windows to make up for the space.  We had planned on building a house out behind the barn with a daylight basement as we have grown and gotten married and have found a new direction in life we have decided that at this point in our lives it was to much for us to do all at once. 

I still think the property is just amazing.  I love it up on the mountain in Peru even though it is always a bit windy and cool it still holds a place in my heart.  This little shed was one of the many projects I undertook on the homestead shoring it up and fixing the side of it.  I have taken very careful measurements of the shed so that someday I can replicate the shed on a new chunk of property.

It did take some time for Allyssia to warm up to the property but I think that she loved it almost as much as I did.  We had a lot of memories up in Peru and we even took our engagement photos up there. 

This picture was one of our engagement photos and one of my favorite photos from the property.  There is a trapdoor to get large items upstairs and that is where we are sitting.  The soon to be new owners are extremely nice people and I hope to be able to go visit the property periodically and check up on it. 

We are on the lookout for another property but aren't in to much of a rush.  When we do came across something that fits our needs we will put out all into that just like we did on the homestead in Peru.  It will be missed but someday we will have something just as good or better.

                                            Until next time stay tuned and check by often. 

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.