Old Brush Hogs never die

We spent a few days in Cullman this week. I created a work list which we attacked once we got there on Thursday. I had some appointments this week that kept us from leaving as soon as usual. Two of the biggest jobs I wanted to accomplish were to cut the access hole in the brush hog so we could remove the blades and to reconnect one of the brake cylinders so the 284 would have at least 1 brake. It turned out that the bolt was much bigger than I expected so the 2 inch hole wasn't big enough to allow the socket to reach the nut. Since we had already opened a hole, I had to come up with a plan to enlarge the hole without the help of the pilot hole that you normally drill with the hole saw. It occurred to me that I could use a piece of plywood to cut a 3 inch hole and let that hole control the hole saw. It worked. With a little patience, we cut the 3 inch hole and gained access the the nut. Then we encountered the next problem which wasn't unexpected. The nut had not been removed in a long time if ever. It resisted out best efforts to loosen it. I bought an air hammer ratchet and it didn't have enough power to remove it. After working with it for 2 days, I finally got 1 nut off. We tried to pop the bolt back through but it wasn't moving. I finally ran out of time and left the whole thing soaking in WD-40. Better luck next week.

We did get the weeds sprayed around the buildings at the Galin place. We also trimmed the overhanging limbs there. When we next brush hog, it should be a lot safer.

For safety sake, I had wanted to get at least 1 brake working on the 284. After looking at the owner's manual I bought and watching some general information videos, I went to work. The brake I removed wasn't rebuildable. It was the disposable unit that comes on these tractors. I pulled the tape free that Paw Paw used to keep dirt out of the system. Once clean, I took some rubber glove tips to create a cover for each of the hoses. Once those were taken care of, I added hy-tran to the reservoir, opened the air purge and got David pumping the brake. After a couple of minutes, no bubbles seemed to be coming out and I locked it down. I climbed into the seat, put her in gear, started off, and bingo, we had brakes. It got me thinking we could get one of those that the guy makes that is rebuildable and get both sides working. Maw Maw agrees. By next week we will have the replacement. With some heat and elbow grease I should be able to get those blades off and finally get them sharpened.

The garden is getting past its season. Less work for Maw Maw for the rest of the summer. She says no garden next year. I thought having a garden this year would be therapeutic. It is a lot of work. Perhaps even stressful when she sees so much going to waste.

Hip gets a shot

So Tuesday Dr. Tropeano gave my hip a shot of steroids. They had to put me to sleep to do it. I thought I'd pop up feeling great and ready to over do it. Wrong. That thing hurt like heck. And my throat was irritated and sore. Didn't expect that. It was a very uncomfortable afternoon and evening. With the aid of some Tylenol and some liquid Benadryl to sooth the throat, I got a decent night's rest. That next day the pain was much better. Today is the third day and I'm feeling very mobile. We are about to go up to Cullman to do some work. I'm ready. The hip is feeling good. If only it could be this good from now on.

-------------------

Here it is Tuesday. One week later. Hip began to hurt yesterday. 

-------------------

Tuesday 8/4: The hip is working better but I am not stressing it a lot.

Getting the 284 into the game...

We arrived Wednesday. I had to replace an ABS sensor on the truck so we got a late start. After lunch I got the extension set and we blew the leaves out of the gutters. We took a ride around the farm and sized up our jobs for this week. The shed had some groundhog holes in it so we released another smoke bomb in there.

Thursday started early with spraying all the weeds around the lake and buildings. Diquat really works fast. The grass in the road that I sprayed with Glyphosate was only slightly yellowing by the time we left, but the Diquat sprayed grass was already dead. The suggested Diquat dilution is 7.5 oz per 10 gallon. The suggested dilution rate for Ranger Pro is 2 oz per gallon or 20 oz per 10 gallon. I got started on the big tractor and David relieved me after an hour due to the heat. I rested a bit then fired up the zero turn to get some cutting done that would be hard for the tractor. We tried to take the blades off but couldn't without a pneumatic air wrench. 

I had an idea that if I could get the mower working on the 284, I could help David by getting the close work under the trees with the shorter tractor. I asked Preston if someone would possible have a used brush hog small enough to use on the small tractor. In his opinion, finding a small brush hog that wasn't used up was unlikely. Bev remembered Sonya had a small one and she agreed to let us borrow it. I drove the 284 up to her house to pick it up. Once there, we could see that it had rested in one place for a very long time. The tail wheel had been taken off to use on another brush hog. David and I hooked it up and carried it back down to the house. Immediately we saw that the drive shaft was completely seized. I had to put Gibbs on it and drift it off with a hammer. Once we had it off, some scrubbing with Gibbs and WD-40 removed the layer rust. A coat of grease and it was slipping easily. It took another minute to grease all the zerks. Then we connected it to the PTO. David found the PTO lever and it was running. Knowing it was working, we took a trip up to Tractor Supply to get another tail wheel. It became clear that taking off the blades to sharpen was going to be trouble. After some research on You Tube, I saw that we could cut a hole to allow a socket wrench access to the bolts. That will be a project for another day.

With David on the 55-66, I got on the 284 and started on the field above the lake. He soon had the back field finished and he took over the field I was in and I headed down to the old house. We got all those fields mowed before supper time. If I can keep that little brush hog going, I can help him a lot.

As usual we refilled the gas cans and filled the small cans and tanks for Maw Maw. She can't lift the 5 gallon cans.