What did you do to or on your Kubota today?
- Thread starter gurn
- Start date
Thinking about replacing my B2150HST battery again, I last replaced it 4 years ago. The battery voltage right now when cold is measuring 11.4 volts, and when operating the tractor it gets up to just about 12.5 volts. I average only about 10 hours a year on this baby and am happy to have gotten 4 years out of this battery.
It's also pretty rough starting lately and I'm wondering if the current battery state could be contributing to that? Any thoughts appreciated.
It's also pretty rough starting lately and I'm wondering if the current battery state could be contributing to that? Any thoughts appreciated.
Easiest way for me to prime a grease gun is to only screw the grease tube holder in halfway. Pump/pull the trigger until you start pushing grease, then tighten the tube holder.
My experience is grease guns do not prime themselves, grease has to first be pushed up from the bottom to force out all the air and force the grease into the pump mechanism. Once there is no air and only solid grease between the tube and pump all goes well.
I think of it like this, though it's not "exactly" exact: When the pump mechanism pulls on the grease the grease itself cannot expand or contract much, so it's pulled into the pump. However air being a gas can and will expand and not be drawn in. Water is a liquid and can also expand, though less so (cavitation, for instance), but grease is a solid and it gets pulled right in IF it's first packed up tight with no air gaps.
Hope this helps, if not I offer a full refund.
I think of it like this, though it's not "exactly" exact: When the pump mechanism pulls on the grease the grease itself cannot expand or contract much, so it's pulled into the pump. However air being a gas can and will expand and not be drawn in. Water is a liquid and can also expand, though less so (cavitation, for instance), but grease is a solid and it gets pulled right in IF it's first packed up tight with no air gaps.
Hope this helps, if not I offer a full refund.
Anyone who maintains woods roads knows that it is an on-going job to keep them open. I thought that I was in pretty good shape until we had an ice storm followed by several days of snow squalls and continuous snow showers last week. I started opening things back up this afternoon. Mostly dead branches, dead trees, and bent over smallish trees. I used the grapple and winch, which ever was easiest, to get them off the trail and out of the way. I took a couple pics in two spots.
gg
gg
NCL4701
Well-known member
Equipment
L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572, Farmi W50R, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
One of the brush piles was getting a bit out of hand. Also, I need some chips to freshen up one of the walking trails between the houses and a seating area by the pond. Did a couple hours chipping this morning. Hope to get another hour or two tomorrow. That should produce enough chips plus some. Should also get the brush pile down to the mostly rotten stuff at the bottom. Not chipping that.
Early in the morning, before chipping, pulled the cowling off the T2290 to prepare for routine annual maintenance. I’ll have to run by the dealer to pick up the stuff for it before the grass starts growing.
Cat helped with the T2290. Couldn’t get him to help with chipping.
Early in the morning, before chipping, pulled the cowling off the T2290 to prepare for routine annual maintenance. I’ll have to run by the dealer to pick up the stuff for it before the grass starts growing.
Got it figured out yesterday. Got it purged. Squirts out grease continuous. This will come in handy now that I won't have to fire up the tractor to move it to get it lubed up.
Didn't take a photo...but after five weeks of not hitting 32*
Yesterday was 42* about 1pm. Put on the bucket and scraped the driveway. Even with it paved the sun hasn't melted the ice. I cold winter here in December for sure.
Yesterday was 42* about 1pm. Put on the bucket and scraped the driveway. Even with it paved the sun hasn't melted the ice. I cold winter here in December for sure.
Used the L3901DT to move logs to my splitting area, sorry no pictures. Was kind of warm today here, got up to 63F. Blocked up and split what I moved.
Before I did that, I had to put a new 24" bar on my Husqvarna 372XP. This is the third bar I have had one the chainsaw since I bought it in Aug of 2014. Turns out it wasn't only the bar that got bent, but the chain got messed up too. Didn't really see anything wrong with it, put it wouldn't rotate all the way around the new bar, it would get stuck. So not only am I out of $80 for a bar, I'm down one chain.
Before I did that, I had to put a new 24" bar on my Husqvarna 372XP. This is the third bar I have had one the chainsaw since I bought it in Aug of 2014. Turns out it wasn't only the bar that got bent, but the chain got messed up too. Didn't really see anything wrong with it, put it wouldn't rotate all the way around the new bar, it would get stuck. So not only am I out of $80 for a bar, I'm down one chain.
If you have a chain break and punches, chains are usually salvageable. It's rare a link is so bent the straps need to be replaced, generally I can spin a chain around a vice-mounted bar (spin backwards so the chain comes off the smooth rounded bar nose) and find tight links that require filing the high spots and that's the worst of it (they ride out of the bar groove, usually). If a rivet is too tight (the chain stays linked) I wiggle it relatively loose by hand (pry it, really), sometimes I put it on the press and give it a little with a breaker, but really bending it loose is the way to go if possible. More often rivets are loose and need a bit in a spinner to tighten them up.
In my experience, pretty much any chain is salvageable if the cutters have stock on them.
Thanks for the information. I have had chain that got tight after a pinch and was able to loosen the link up, but I don't have chain making equipment. You would think after cutting wood for 35 years and logging for 2 1/2 of those year I would have started making my own chains. I really don't go thru that many chains, so I never looked into buying anything.
I was admiring the double-bit axe on the table. I got one when I was 14 years old. I broke the handle in my stepdad's axe (splitting red oak), so he made me go learn how to make axe handles, make two, and replace his handle and fit an old 4 pounder that was broken by a previous misuser. The 4-pounder became MY axe, and his was off-limits for the duration of my life on that farm. After I bought my first home, I retrieved my axe from the farm after several years of neglect and misuse. Took a while to get it back in shape after my mother had used it for years in the flower beds and cutting sod with it. I finally replaced the handle in the axe last year, simply because it was 53 years old and I couldn't keep it tight in the head any longer. A loose head from a double bit axe is a dangerous thing to behold, obviously. It never came off, but it did slip about a half inch. So I bought a new handle from TSC and put my axe head on it last year. Good as 'new' again. I still have the handle I replaced and am considering using it for a 4 pound hammer someone gave me. That hickory is probably as hard as the hammer by now. There's just something sentimental about my first ever DIY axe handle.
I put a bit keener edge on mine. Your grind looks pretty aggressive. I use a file (NEVER a grinder) to sharpen mine because I was taught that the heating affected the steel on the edge and would harden it enough to make it brittle, which would make it dull quicker. Made sense, so I've always used a file, and I keep my axe pretty much razor sharp. About the only thing I'll use the angle grinder on my axe for is with a fine grit flapper wheel to polish it up when I see some rust on it. It still has some pitting where it was left on top of a bag of fertilizer before I got it, but that's way back from the edge and no threat to the integrity of the axe. Otherwise I let the natural bluing from cutting hardwood keep it coated for the most part. The bluing keeps it from rusting as well. I NEVER leave it out in the rain and always try to clean any mud or dirt off it before I stow it to prevent casual rust. Sometimes, it gets a coat of used oil if I know I'm not using it again for a while. That's pretty rare, and I make sure I don't let any oil get on the handle so that it can't wick into the head/handle joint. My axe probably runs second only to a shovel for my most used hand tools.
Continued running wire for sander on a day it was finally above freezing. Did a slow backwards 360 on the ice coated driveway. Told dog we were going to go over the bank. Luckily a snow bank left over from plowing stopped us. The new HF inverter gen powered the lights. Amazing how much proper lighting makes tasks easier. Wife and I talked. This year, we will put up a building so I can work inside without having to pull the tractor halfway out of the shed to have room to work. Heat and power would be a plus. Fingers crossed.
Attachments
I bought a UMHW blank from GWT for my RB1684 to replace the steel cutting edge for use on my asphalt driveway. I have to say it worked great on the slushy snow we got overnight. My driveway is fairly new and I did not want to take a chance digging into it or catching an edge.
NCL4701
Well-known member
Equipment
L4701, T2290, WC68, grapple, BB1572, Farmi W50R, Howes 500, 16kW IMD gen, WG24
Rained a misty rain all day yesterday. Got a total of a 1/2” of rain. Today was clear with wind over 5mph so of course a tree somewhere got mixed up with a power line. About 3:30 this afternoon our power blinked off and on about a dozen times in less than 2 seconds and then it stayed out.
While jumping through all the authentication hoops to sign on to the power company app to report the outage, they sent me a text saying they knew our power was out, they hadn’t identified the problem yet, but they would have the power back on by 6:15. Our power company is excellent at keeping power on IMO, and they’re good at communication, but if they haven’t identified the issue, I don’t have much confidence in their estimated time to fix. It gets dark here about 5:30 and I preferred not to hook up the generator, or anything else, in the pitch black, so I went ahead and swapped the chipper for the generator.
When I walked outside to go to the shop, it was snowing these weird little snowballs. Looked like shredded styrofoam falling from the sky. I know it looks like hail in the pics. I’ve seen a LOT of hail, sleet, freezing rain, and a decent amount of snow. This was not sleet, hail, or freezing rain. This stuff fell slowly, made no sound, was soft, and immediately melted when touched. Clearly snow, but several flakes clumped together. Lasted about 5 minutes and melted away as fast as it came. Never seen anything quite like it.
Since getting power back on, looked it up and apparently it’s called graupel or hominy snow or a few other colloquial names. Snow clumps that form similar to hail stones but it’s snow so it’s a soft clump of snow rather than a hard ball of ice.
While I was putting the chipper away and getting the generator on the tractor, the power company sent another text saying trees fell on their lines and it would be about 11:30 before power was restored. Glad we have a generator that hooks into the service panel.
Had the house running on generator power a little before 4:00. 5:30 I got another text from the power company saying they think our power was back on and text them if it isn’t. Not disappointed. Underpromise and over deliver…
While jumping through all the authentication hoops to sign on to the power company app to report the outage, they sent me a text saying they knew our power was out, they hadn’t identified the problem yet, but they would have the power back on by 6:15. Our power company is excellent at keeping power on IMO, and they’re good at communication, but if they haven’t identified the issue, I don’t have much confidence in their estimated time to fix. It gets dark here about 5:30 and I preferred not to hook up the generator, or anything else, in the pitch black, so I went ahead and swapped the chipper for the generator.
When I walked outside to go to the shop, it was snowing these weird little snowballs. Looked like shredded styrofoam falling from the sky. I know it looks like hail in the pics. I’ve seen a LOT of hail, sleet, freezing rain, and a decent amount of snow. This was not sleet, hail, or freezing rain. This stuff fell slowly, made no sound, was soft, and immediately melted when touched. Clearly snow, but several flakes clumped together. Lasted about 5 minutes and melted away as fast as it came. Never seen anything quite like it.
Since getting power back on, looked it up and apparently it’s called graupel or hominy snow or a few other colloquial names. Snow clumps that form similar to hail stones but it’s snow so it’s a soft clump of snow rather than a hard ball of ice.
While I was putting the chipper away and getting the generator on the tractor, the power company sent another text saying trees fell on their lines and it would be about 11:30 before power was restored. Glad we have a generator that hooks into the service panel.
Had the house running on generator power a little before 4:00. 5:30 I got another text from the power company saying they think our power was back on and text them if it isn’t. Not disappointed. Underpromise and over deliver…
Attachments
After a full weekend working inside removing some insulation we finally got out to blow some snow.
I adjusted the snow blower to what I thought was an aggressive position following some rain which had frozen before fresh snow. The better half took control while I did the manual snow removal.
Once she got done, I felt there was too much snow left on the ground. I tilted the snow blower forward again by a few top link turns. That did it. I think I can leave it like this until it starts melting in March.
I adjusted the snow blower to what I thought was an aggressive position following some rain which had frozen before fresh snow. The better half took control while I did the manual snow removal.
Once she got done, I felt there was too much snow left on the ground. I tilted the snow blower forward again by a few top link turns. That did it. I think I can leave it like this until it starts melting in March.