How'd it go today?

Great pics Stig. That's a great company trip. Our company trips are when we load up in a couple vehicles and head down to take our drug test:(.

Good score Sean
 
The alps definitely, um, rock!

Hey we have the Rockies and Sierras etc which are world class, but yeah, the alps are definitely worth the visit.
 
Got the oil changed in my old bucket truck this morning. It sort of got away from me because I've been preoccupied with the new truck. Last time I changed it was back in December, almost 500 hours ago. My target interval is 350 hours.

I also used my last oil filter. Time to restock. For you guys with a couple trucks that do your own service work, a good place to stock up on filters is www.fleetfilter.com. If you order over $200 of filters then you get a 20% discount, which will cover the shipping and maybe a little more. They feature Wix/NAPA Gold as their premium line and a couple cheaper lines also.
 
Thanks, for that link Brian.

It would be nice to have a good-source thread for things like filters, bearings, hydraulics, etc.

When I was at Napa, they have some sort of oil program where you can join the group for free, and get discounted oils. The salesman just told me about it, knowing I'm in there frequently.

Brian, did you see Paul PCTree's idea of an oil bypass line that filters small amounts of oil at a much smaller size, while the normal filter does the normal work? For expensive trucks like you have, it seems like its something that would be worth considering. Probably a lot of bang for your buck, and you might be able to do it yourself.
 
You mean the aftermarket filters that use a roll of toilet paper or something? I've thought about it but just keeping up on normal maintenance schedules seems to be working fine so far. The big truck has 17,209 hours and burns about a quart of oil every oil change (holds 20 quarts). The magnetic drain plug is always clean, no metal shavings in the oil.

The new truck is barely broken in with only 56K miles. I'll use the same strategy with it. In fact I already bought and installed an hour meter since it didn't have one. That way I can maintain based on operating hours instead of mileage.

Sean, compare the filter prices at Fleet Filter compared to your local NAPA. You can pull up your local store online for prices. My NAPA was charging me something like $73 for my air filter and it's $30 at Fleet Filter. Just checked and NAPA has come down to $58.99 for that filter. Double my cost.
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/FIL6433
 
IDK the specifics, PC does. What I remember is something like your main filter made for (let's arbitrarily say )100 microns and bigger, the second filter is something like 2 micron particle size.


I just read a guideline for idling machines...25 miles equivalent/ hour. What do you think of that?
 
That's about right. I always used 20 miles per hour as a guideline but 25 equates out to 430K miles. Which is why I bought the second truck because I need this one to last another 10-12 years.
 
Beautiful pictures!
We did a bike ride downhill in Alaska in the early 2000's...indeed the no pedalling is nice.
 
-Thanks!

I got hurt today.
In 40 years of running chainsaws, I've never been cut by one, but today a frigging hedgetrimmer got me.
Danger sure lurks in the weirdest places.
Took a fall while wearing the trimmer in my spring loaded harness. As I was trying not to fall flat on my face, the trimmer rotated on the harness and bit the tip off my little finger, right through the tip of the bone.

Apprentice took me to the hospital and they sewed it back on.
Friday I go back in and get the word on whether that was succesfull. The surgeon was pretty optimistic, though.

So I got to take it easy for the rest of the week and let it heal.
Next weekend I'm going to Sweden to set boar fence for a week, so I hope it heals fast.

What an absolutely stupid way of getting hurt.
 
Hope you heal quickly, Stig. And hopefully your apprentice will be able to razz you about this for a long time to come. :P

Today I cut down a split oak tree behind a shopping center (back parking lot). I worked by myself and stacked it up, wood and brush in separate piles. Then I went home, swapped trucks and took my trailer to pick up 4 tons of #57 gravel for my driveway. Came home and spread that, then had to go back to my tree job to meet the grapple truck.

For $400 they will come fill up their 40 yard truck. I can't hire somebody to chip the brush and then haul the wood to the dump for less than that, so it's a very easy option when you have a big mess to clean up. I went to work with him and get the area raked up while he loaded so he could get all the cleanup. Got rained on and just got home. Went through 3 shirts today and I'm about to jump in the shower and put on #4.
 
Cut down a dead Pine leaning over graves and close to a house, two pullers on it. I don't like wearing rubber boots and seldom needed, so don't usually bring them, but it's helpful to be informed that there is swamp conditions on the property if going there blind. :wack: Odd that people don't let you know.
 
Youch, Stig. I cut off/mulched the end of a finger years ago with a hole saw. That sucker hurt like the dickens for several weeks. Hope you have better luck healing fast than I did.
 
I cut and smashed the end of my finger when a kid, after the surgery had to spend the night in the hospital. I had to buzzer the nurse in the middle of the night because it hurt so bad. I remember that after she came in and then left to get the medicine ready, I fell asleep and she then woke me up to give me the shot.
 
I got a bad sliver once from the stick used to measure log lengths at jobs, ran my hand down it and got poked through my glove. I thought I pulled it out but it must have broke. You couldn't really see it but after a day or two I could definitely tell that it was in there. I went to the hospital but an x-ray doesn't show up wood very well, so got sent home. It started to really swell up and I couldn't bend it, so i went back. Another doctor was on duty, it was late in the day. I told him to take my word for it that it was in there. He said ok then, lets go get it. He gave me some shots to numb then he and a nurse started digging. After about thirty minutes or so he still couldn't find it and the shots were wearing off. He was sweating a lot and it was getting bad for me and he didn't want to give another shot for some reason. He asked if I wanted to continue. I told him again that it was definitely in there. I'm kind of an expert on slivers. He believed me and finally found it poking against the bone way down deep, and after a couple sutures it was definitely time to quit. I will always remember that guy as a good doc, very persistent and believing, and the nurse was on the ball too. I'm lucky that they were on duty. That sliver was a bastard.
 
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