Fertilized

 This week in Cullman, we got a late start. Sara and Jamie had a birthday dinner at our house on Wednesday, so we drove up Thursday. We hauled out the fertilizer and spread it under the apple trees and pecan trees. I have enough pecan tree fertilizer I can reapply later in March.

Then I tackled the sprayer arm. After trying it with 3 medium sprayer nozzles, I changed them to brown nozzles. I think that will produce an effective spray. I got the hand sprayer cleaned and ready. Now we just have to wait for the privit to green up. I can start spraying then.

I went on to attempt to disassemble the mower. I got the seized spindle out. I thought I'd be able to just purchase a replacement but it appears I will have to order the bearings and rebuild it.

When moving the John Deere tractor, I stepped off onto my left foot and felt something painful. I think I've broken something in there. I'll see Tropeano ASAP.

Getting something done

We came up to Cullman Tuesday night, My plan was to get the carburetor fixed on the 284, fix the carburetor on the roto-tiller, and get the parts for the trellis sprayer assembly. 

The initial work on the 284 turned out well. Preston was able to see that there was a problem with the needle valve and had a replacement that turned out to work just fine. 

I got the tiller disassembled and am headed to Lowes for the bits I need to fix it. I also plan to pick up the parts for the side sprayer assembly from tractor supply. All this after dinner tonight. 

My body is tired and sore. It probably means a much earlier bedtime.

The second day was rainy and cold. worked on the tiller first. I thought I'd pull that fuel nipple with the bolt but a pair of vice grips worked fine. Problem. The nipple on the replacement part was 8mm and the hole was 6mm. I did a little search today and I see where I can buy a 6mm brass nipple. Since I wanted to get the tiller running, I simply worked at it and got everything reassembled and working. If a problem arises later, I'll order the 90 degree 6mm inlet. Now the tiller runs like a top.

I discovered that Tractor Supply failed to include the gauge with my parts last night and charged me for a bag of pine bark. I rode back over and got that taken care of. Now I have almost everything I need to build the trellis sprayer.

The six wheeler front right tire had a slow leak so I pulled it off and took it over to be repaired. I also got a new supply of gasoline. 

When I come back again, it will probably be time for the fertilizer to be spread under the pecan trees. I will also want to break out the tiller implement for the big tractor. The fertilizer spreader is tucked away behind an accumulation of stuff that needs to be moved. More organization in the barn is in order.

Cold start

 We came up to see what we could do for the farm. The cold start would have made it hard for me to work on the machines so we purchased fertilizer and pruned apple trees. The fertilizer weighed almost a half ton. When I got them back, I found 2 bags that had busted open so we distributed those among the apple trees.

 Although the afternoon was warmer, the pruning job was a pretty big one so we worked for most of the afternoon. My arms finally gave out from hoisting the electric saw and horsing the limbs out of the trees. I'm not sure if I'll be able to work on the 284 carb tomorrow. I stopped by Preston's but didn't find him at home.

I also got the oil changed in the truck. It didn't get changed last year. We put so few miles on the old boy, we didn't have to. Now I am sure there is sufficient oil in there..

So this morning it is cloudy and cool. Maybe will wait for a warmer day to do the carbs. So we spent some of the time hauling up the limbs we had pruned. I had the chance to charge the batteries in the tractors and start and run some of them.

Birthday visit

 We all made it up to Cullman to be with Mawmaw on Pawpaw's birthday. David, Max, and Bev and I came. There wasn't anything to do to the big tractor. I did a little more investigation of the 284 carb and have determined it needs to be pulled off and cleaned. The batteries needed replacing so we got a new one for the old tractors and the 284. 

The battery in the Cub was dead so we charged it up and ran the engine. 

Then we tackled the apple trees next. The boys and I cut the remaining trunks up and piled them up for a burn. With some of the waste diesel, we got it going and burned it up till dark. The next day we used the FEL to push up the pile and restack the remaining limbs. The residual heat in the ashes got another blaze going that was better than the first. We delayed leaving until the main material had burned.

The 284 doesn't seem to have a problem starting now but the flooding is a problem. I've downloaded a diagram of the carburetor and plan on disassembling it with Preston Jones' help.

I'll order parts for the Craftsman Roto Tiller and fix the carburetor on it as well. Maybe we can use it to till up the garden. Trees will need pruning and pecan trees will need fertilizer.

Productive work days...

 The parts I ordered prior to Christmas have been installed on the 55-66 and the 284. It took a little more to get it on than I had hoped to get them done quickly but the Fuel Lift Pump was reluctant to go on. The spark plugs on the 284 looked good. I don't see a problem in the distributor. I put on the new plug wires just because I ordered them. Tomorrow I put new battery connectors on and see if we can get it to start and run effectively.

The 284 didn't run smoothly. Now I'm thinking the carburetor is the problem. Preston is the carb man but I don't know if he knows much about this kind. I'll ask him next visit. I'm thinking the float valve is the problem.

The 55-66 is running good and the fuel lift pump shows no leakage. But when we tried to operate the front loader, the bucket wouldn't tilt. I watched some videos about hydraulic problems and went out to attempt to diagnose the problem the next morning. The old Bush Hog loader wasn't anything like the ones I saw in the videos. I pulled the rubber cover off the controller and fiddled with the valves there. I noticed that one of the little control pieces was loose. Further inspection found that all the connectors had worked loose and the one controlling the bucket tilt was undone. At first I thought a bolt had come off the end but it had no threads. All we had to do was to tighten all the connectors and it was working as good as new. From there, I put the bucket on and we went over into the field and scooped a load of dirt. That dirt filled the wash around the drain by the pond.

We found that one of the circuit breakers in the shop didn't trip when you hit the gfi test button. The replacement I got at Lowes was the wrong one. Darn. 

We also got 3 apple trees down and cut into pieces that MawMaw can pile on her fire. We'd like to have got it better stacked but just ran out of energy and time. We still need to trim the limbs above the shop. Then we need to spot paint the rusty spots. Maybe apply some naval jelly to stop the rust. Then at some point, paint that roof.

The little things...

 Our quick trip to Cullman this week let me discover some problems that had developed. The repair to the 55-66 tractor was good but the fuel lift pump had developed a leak. If it isn't one thing it is another. Additionally, 3 tractor batteries had died. The battery in the zero turn appears to have gone kaput as well. In the house, the battery in the Chromebook had died as well. It was a battery death kind of week. I moved the sprayer and got it working properly but the 284 had developed a miss and so I ordered new plug wires and will install the wires, plugs, and the distributor kit when I'm there next time. Always something to do.

Bringing the 6 wheeler home

 We endured a week without power due to Hurricane Zeta. Once the power was restored, we made the run to Cullman to pick up the Big Country from the shop. It turns out we had correctly diagnosed what was wrong but our aftermarket part was defective. Expensive error. We were able to get the big tractor down to the shop to fix the leak in the coolant system. Apart from that, we didn't have much to do. I got some batteries charged up and used the John Deere mower a little bit, but mostly things are at a good place.