How'd it go today?

[sawinredneck]

I guess I am getting bitter my middle age!! Somebody wants me to do something, I set the precedent and do it! I expect nothing less of anyone else, and if they cannot fulfill that, I will either take care of it, or take actions to see that it will be taken care of, and taken care of NOW!!!
The last few years I have had too many people try and screw me, you get one shot, either do what you say, or deal with me when you don't!!!
That and I am a cold blooded freak!!! (It was 18 Sat when I cleaned up my buddies mess, another reason I was less than cordial about it!) And my wife is a cold blooded freak, and I remember how she was when the power was out during the ice storm, when she was pregnant, and we were told no power for 7-10 days!!
Yeah, if my wife had come home to the mess you had, being pregnant, those guys meeting me with a shotgun, would have given me a hug!!!!

 

[sotc]

pretty good day, helped a friend with a house shes trying to finance this am and got fresh cinnamon rolls outa the deal then picked up about a weeks worth (small week but still a week) of work from last weeks bidding! guys will get a decent check finally!

 

[stehansen]

I took down some more trees at the low income apartments. Since my truck is clutchless I used the dump trailer and the chipper and climbed everything we couldn't fall. I had to make two trips there one with the chipper and one with the trailer is the only inefficiency. Here is a picture of where we got lunch today.
Paul, that sounds really cold inside your house, and even colder pruning.

I called my wife, let her know the deal, told her I was going to pour myself a drink to mellow out, go in to the washroom and light some candles and read till the doors are in.

Please tell me you weren't listening to Kenny G.

 

[SkwerI]

Euge Groove is waaaay better than Kenny G.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I would love to have one of those.

 

[stehansen]

I had 3 Carne Asada Tacos and a Coke. Awesome!

 

[Old Monkey]

It was snowing all day so I postponed a silver maple trim to Saturday and worked on my taxes instead. Tomorrow I get to disassemble a silver maple and not clean up. I think I will try one of those new fangled hitches for a bit. Either a Klezmer hitch or a Vermacht hitch.

 

[sotc]

I had 3 Carne Asada Tacos and a Coke. Awesome!

i usually get asada tacos and jarritos, good stuff

 

[Paul B]

no kenny G, I didnt make it to the smallest room in the house, I made some calls and they got it done. We are back from preggo class now, 21:35, the place is warmed back up to about normal, the doors are sweet, progress has been made.
And it got done without me making any enemies

 

[stehansen]

That's the way I like to do it.
I found out when I got home that my stump grinder motor needs to be replaced. It's a 25 hp Kohler.

 

[Paul B]

you have been buying a lot of engines lately Steve... thats what2 or 3 truck motors and now you need a grinder motor ? you are changing oil and such regularly right

 

[Al Smith]

It sounds like a lot of people are having mechanical problems.

I went to my shop early and cut down some grade 8 socket headed bolts on the lathe for a guy on another forum for use in a Mac 101 engine.Those take a special rod bolt which are rare as a hens tooth.I improvised as usual. Nearly froze my A$$ off,no heat in the shop,5 above zero,brr. I think the high was 17 today.

 

[Paul B]

no heat in the shop Al? I woulda figured you to have a good old iron stove in there, thats half the beauty of the good shops I have seen from the experienced fellas, couple roll up doors, man door with a nice little office, tools strewn about, big ole woodstove kicking out the heat and war stories on an uncomfortable pair of improvised chairs. and if you are really planning, a nice little beer fridge off in the corner.

 

[Old Monkey]

That's the way I like to do it.
I found out when I got home that my stump grinder motor needs to be replaced. It's a 25 hp Kohler.

We replaced the lower belt on mine today. Bit by bit I am fixing and replacing everything. Sounds like you are too. I wish I didn't need to own a stump grinder.

 

[Al Smith]

no heat in the shop Al? I woulda figured you to have a good old iron stove in there,

Actually I do have around 270 thousand btu's of hanging radiant natural gas.I didn't think it would take too long so I just shivered and did the little job.

I can't imagine trying to heat that shop with wood.The danged thing is 4200 square feet and 26 feet high at the peak.

 

[vharrison]

Nice shop Al!

 

[stehansen]

Paul, here is the skinny on the motors. The first truck motor (8.2L Detroit) I had trouble with cracked the block allowing oil to enter the cooling system. I didn't know there was a problem until it got hot because the cooling system had so much oil in it that it wasn't cooling properly. It may have gotten hot before this I remember about a month before this coming home and it was 112 degrees F and I had a full load of chips and the chipper of course and it was running 240 or so. This may have been when it happened. Replaced with another 8.2L Detroit that was older than my original motor and did not have the update to the larger head bolts that my first motor had. This was the only motor I could find of this kind. This one started leaking coolant out of in between the block and the head at 120 days after I installed it. I was up in the bucket and didn't notice the leak and on the way home I noticed that it was hot and I stopped, got in the pickup with my guys and headed home to let it cool off while I got some water and what not. When I told my guys what happened they said "oh yeah, it was leaking while you were up in the bucket". Thanks guys. After that the motor leaked exhaust gases into the cooling system. Theoretically it may be just a head gasket but the Detroit mechanic said that with these motors he has yet to see one with this trouble that was just a head gasket. So I figured I was screwed. My mistake was not researching this motor more before I bought the truck.

Now onto the stumpgrinder. What I think I did to mess up the stumpgrinder motor was to have the working end in a big hole and had the head deep into the ground and this combination caused so much tilt on the engine that the oil pickup was out of the oil. It has no oil pressure guage so it's kind of hard to tell when you have done this. I'm one that, many times, pushes things to the limit, and this time it bit me in the ass.

 

[lumberjack]

Did it lock up Steve? It shouldn't be difficult to rig up a sentry system or an idoit light on the new engine.

I'll call the guy I PM'ed you about and give him the heads up.

 

[stehansen]

I just stopped in to see the mechanic where the stump grinder is. The guy said that there is no compression in one cylinder and the other cylinder has better than new compression. So maybe the oil deal wasn't it after because that would have starved both cylinders and the guy also said that it has an oil alert and should have shut off should the oil pressure fall too low.

 

[stehansen]

No it didn't lock up it was running weak and missing.

 

[sawinredneck]

Jeez..................... I know how much fun it is to have a driveway full of blown up cars!!!! Sorry guys!!!!!!

I have just had one logistics nightmare after Another!!
We moved the second saw today. 15,000 pounds, it was 9 degrees when I went in, and a 1/4" of ice on the ground!!
Didn't even get done and the new chip collector shows up, had to get it unloaded next.
"Hey, the table on the other saw isn't level!"
"When are the going o drop the air lines?"
"Why aren't the electricians here yet?"
"Can you hook up this printer to the network fo me?"
"When are you going to have that saw running?" X1000
All of this while trying to put the saw together, keep everybody happy, and not let my Austrian buddy fell neglected!!!!
It wears on you after 11 hours a day!!!

 

[Paul B]

Ste, wow, thats a lot of 411! hope it all gets fixed up good.

I had an easy day, 8 minute walk to the bus station (about -3 or -4C) at 0730, 30 minute ride in the rapid transit, 10 minute walk and then in to a free coffee and a tradeshow. Watched three seminars, took some info from each, hand shaked a lot of my friends and colleauges, got to spend a half hour chatting with TGW, treeguy and Roman (very, very cute!). did some netweorking and got a lift home from a friend who was leaving at the same time. wife is off working this eve so I am home alone till about 9, picked up a steak and I am currently making dinner.

After that I get to return phone calls, hang the blinds back up, recaulk the kitchen counter, vacuum the areas around our NEW sliding doors and get a snack ready for when the wife gets home.

Back to the show tomorrow but with a later start.

 

[Chisel Tooth]

Damn Andy you the only somebitch there or the only one that can make it work? Sounds like your dream job is turning into a surrealistic nightmare.

 

[sawinredneck]

Well Mike, my boss can't stand the Austrian either, and spent most of the day on the phone trying to find mouth guards for his wrestling team, they had a dual today. Pretty important shit you know!!!
He has had as little to do with this move as he can seem to get away with!!! I can't count the times I have had to call him to remind him to call so and so, and that I need this part etc.........................
I'm not very Happy with him right now, does it show?
But, I can relish in the fact that I make quite a bit more money than he does, yes, I know this for a fact. And I also have the guilty pleasure of knowing that the higher ups are VERY aware of how little he has applied himself, and how dominant my presence has been.

 

[Old Monkey]

I killed a tree today and tried several versions of a Vt hitch. It was OK but I need to have it farther away from my body so I can pull more line through it. I need to play with it more and search old threads for more picts.