How'd it go today?

Boss called last night and said he needed to work in the office today. Works for me. I'll have more energy for chipping. Truck may go in the shop to get a couple new tires on the back. Dunno yet if that's happening.

I was in bed by 9pm. Wokeup at 1:30, and couldn't get back to sleep. "Fuckin' great...". Got up, ate a breakfast sandwich, and that was enough to knock me out(eventually) til 6. Not sure if I got more sleep or not, but I'm feelin' alright. Waiting for time to pass to move the chipper and smallify some wood. No point in disturbing the neighbors for a time insensitive project.
 
Hauled some mesquites from where I cut them to my yard, loaded some firewood to deliver to guy I'm whacking a euc for today. hacked that volunteer mesquite in front of the shop so the tweakers don't camp under it and use it for cover to cut my fence. I'm gonna have a lot of pictures to catch up on...
 
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Got some chipping done. There's still a ton more to do, but I got tired of hauling branches. I also did some cleanup of the front yard, with pruning and sapling removal.

Got to spend some quality time with my new Milwaukee, and I'm digging it. A little cut here, a little cut there is what it's ideally suited to(duh) as opposed to steady heavy cutting, though it gets the big stuff fine as long as that isn't all you're doing. It's a good introduction to electric saws for me, and seems ideal for my purposes when factoring in cost, and not wanting a whole fleet of electric saws.

A question regarding the chipper(Bandit 65XP to refresh memory)

With the super crusty pine, the feedwheel was getting choked a lot, especially on smaller branches(2"-3"). I had to babysit it the whole time to work the feedbar back and forth to keep things moving. The feedwheel would lockup both fore and aft, and I had to "rock" it to get things going. Crusty pine nuggets were jamming up the works. No problems with the green stuff I chipped.

Is this expected behavior for a chipper this size, or does it indicate a problem I need to look into?
 
On dead dry stuff, you embrace the suck.
Also, cripple limbs being fed at the little branch unions helps. Just a curf cut so it folds in the feed wheels. Or cut stuff off so it feeds more like straight. Find a feed speed that works for what you are making it eat.
And count your blessings you have feed wheels ;)
 
Stephen, insulating the whole starter doesn't seem good to me because that keeps the heat stored inside, both the radiant heat from the exhaust sneaking through and the internally generated heat from its own running. I'd go more toward a heat shield like an aluminum foil, maybe doubled under it with a little of insulation. But keep a gap between the underside and the starter's top for venting.
 
Well I went home and fell asleep on the couch right after removing my boots. Woke up at five am. Guess I needed to sleep.
Work today has been ok. Job was goi g well this morning when I got called to go look at a job a hour south for the crane to do. No crane needed. Then looked at a few more crane jobs on the way back. I finally got fed up with my truck shaking on the high way so now I’m waiting on the tire place to change them out. Been here for over an hour and starting to get grumpy. I shouldn’t be since they are fitting me in last minute. Hopefully I’ll make it to watch my son test for his orange belt tonight.
 
Stephen, insulating the whole starter doesn't seem good to me because that keeps the heat stored inside, both the radiant heat from the exhaust sneaking through and the internally generated heat from its own running. I'd go more toward a heat shield like an aluminum foil, maybe doubled under it with a little of insulation. But keep a gap between the underside and the starter's top for venting.
It is a reflective type cloth heat sheild made for the purpose.
Starter was defective. After removing it, got it down to the parts house, as we were playing with it, the bearings has extreme play. So the windings were actually and probably, rubbing the magnets. As things expanded with heat, probably would just bind it up at both the comm and winding laminates.
New one in. All done.
Basically brand new starter replaced. You could still scan the bar code on it. Hardly any dust on it. Labels all intact. Of course I can only buy rebuilt in China locally. It's to be expected. Why when the diesel goes down, there is wait time. I either get to drive 2 hours for a part with another vehicle or have it shipped (usually that).
Also why it is very necessary to have an alternate vehicle. And why it is very important to get the one ton running consistant.
 
We have a shop about an hour away that rebuilds in house, i love them. I've considered learning myself tho for the convenience, would be super handy to be able to fix that stuff correctly and then not have to bother anymore.
 
Back on the trail staking hard paving. It was almost 80°, and it's gonna be hotter tomorrow. This weather's pissing me off. I don't get much good weather anyway, and now I'm getting screwed out of it. Boss was being terrible on the gun. I asked him if he trying to get fired, and if that's what he wanted, all he had to do was ask :^D My cobbled together gun seems to be working well, so that's great. Back to the trail tomorrow. Seems like everyone wants everything at the same time. Surveying is picking up, and I still have to drop trees for the boss' daughter, and the one at the crane guy's place, not to mention my own stuff I want to do.
 
@lxskllr what happened to your pull tree?
Nothing yet. I might see if he wants to do it this weekend. Looks like the weather's gonna be decent, and we're still in drought, so traction will be about as good as it gets for pulling. I got my heavy ropes to knock together a couple slings if necessary. I still haven't seen it, so I have no idea what I'm in for. You'd think a crane operator would have a good idea of what it takes to move weight, but people constantly surprise me in all kinds of non good ways :^D
 
Things I do despise 😒
Setting up a truck for working under it. In this case, auto trans fluid and filter change. Pan has been leaking, so birds stones thing. Had parts on the shelf for it.
Low and behold, the filter gasket is missing. 3 piece kit, one piece missing. Sooooooo. Order another kit in tomorrow and then extra gaskets will show up in a week.
No worries, I have 3 of these transmissions. But damn it all.
 
I had the OEM rubber, that is missing. So I order a kit again, OEM will be in tomorrow.
The gaskets I am ordering to shelf, paper.
No, you best not use gasket sealer and I suck at making gasket out of a sheet material.
One loose piece of something in an Auto, much grief. Best to get the OEM
 
If they make a paper one my broke hillbilly self would be cutting up a cereal box :lol: i hear you tho, that's a ton of work for a failed gasket, so i might be tempted to wait too. I'm decent at cutting them, for me a gasket hole punch set is key, and i use dykem to lay them out. I want to figure out how to cut them on the wife's cricut, that would be awesome if you could figure out an easy way to scan them.
 
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