Tractors, Mowers, Chippers, Trailers, Chainsaws, Generators, Driveway Erosion Control, ETC.

Veered away from the Ferris for a few minutes yesterday since I’m waiting on a rectifier/regulator.

On to repacking the curl cylinder on the mini skid steer. I seem to have misplaced one small o-ring. I’m hoping to get it operational by the weekend. I have a large swing set to grab for my kid and I was planning to ratchet strap a hand truck to one side and lift the other with the skid steer, roll it up onto the trailer.

I’d love to NOT disassemble it.

Having the right tool helps, but this little sucker was a huge PITA to get in.

 

Yes. More convenient than i initially expected. Especially nice when working up on a ladder or climbing in a tree.

A flexvolt 60V battery is a good combo with it.

Also found that a 14" bar and chain off my old Paulan will fit it but no need for that really so far.

 

Just placed an order for the heavier one. Watched some YouTube videos and it looks more robust and I like the manual transmission

 

Reminds me when I rebuilt the B7100 FEL cylinders.

 

Annnd back to the Ferris:

:shrug: new regulator has continuity across the same terminals as the old one did. What the crap am I missing here?

this one is laid out:

AC B+ AC

Old one was:

AC AC B+

Both show continuity from B+ to AC. I’ll give it a go, but hopefully it just works. Anyone have a diagram of how the diodes are set up in these things so I can maybe understand what’s going on inside?

 

This video shows measuring voltage, not continuity...
https://youtu.be/vb3NSE6-oUc

 

yep I posted a video a few posts back showing the same.

My issue is that I run 30v AC into the regulator and it’s supposed to put out DC voltage/amps.

But when I hook up the old reg it was popping the ignition fuse. With this one showing continuity across an AC and tbe +12v DC terminal I’m afraid I’m pushing 15v AC through the system and popping the fuse.

I’ll try it tomorrow with the power probe and see if it trips.

 

This test won't work.

The VR doesn't function unless it's hooked up. It needs a battery to function proper.

2 outside post come from the stator. The middle goes to the battery.

I think you will find it does the job proper once hooked up.

 

https://youtu.be/i3j4hrTOAMI

 

This is what I needed to hear, and now that you mention it, makes sense. Thanks. I’ll give it a go tomorrow.

Neat, thanks!

 

Is it tomorrow yet??

 

It is, and then some! However we had torrential rain, thunder, lightning and high winds the past few days. I want to see if it works, but not THAT badly.

I've got a busy weekend but I'm going to mow again before a business/training trip to Pittsburgh next week. I'll hook up the new reg and test before mowing. I'll try today if the weather cooperates.

I have to get the mini skid back together before Sunday and get it out of my basement onto a trailer. Swing set has to come home before end of day Sunday. I hate artificial deadlines.

 

We went to Act of Sale this morning for a new (to us) house. At age 70 I'm moving from a subdivision and about 0.4 acres, to a place about 10 Mi away but out in the country basically with about 14 acres. About half of that is wooded, the other half has the house, well house, Workshop, and stable. And then after the driveways I probably got about 6 acres to cut. So I have my 36 inch Scag that I got about this time last year, and I had a new 61 in Scag delivered today. I also bought a 2009 Kawasaki Mule that we went picked up in another city earlier this month. We started moving a bunch of boxes today, and have tons more stuff to move. And then the movers come on Monday to move the heavy furniture. We started out looking for a little smaller house from the almost 3,700 sq ft house we have now, but the house we're moving to ends up being a little less than 4,000 sq ft, so we went up a bit in size. Living in the country is all new to me, my wife grew up in the country about 5 mi from where we're moving to. So my internet service is going to be spotty during the transition from the old house to the new house, so might not be on here as much. But I'm sure as we get further into this I'm going to have questions about things including the well, septic tanks, living with propane as opposed to Natural Gas, and property has a 60 KW Cummins diesel generator that I know basically nothing about at all.

 

I've moved in a different direction the last 3 weeks. Decided to take a break from flipping ZT's and build something different.

I've been building Toyota wrecks for 25 years. It was time for my next one.

 

A few more deets if anyone cares.

A vid if you have 5 minutes.

https://youtu.be/iGXLMCHGw0E

 

wanted to come back to this post. Congrats & hope this gives you many peaceful years! wanna jump in this with you & give you nothing but encouragement.

like you, made this same type of move 8 years ago(at age 47). went from a decent size home w/couple of acres to 4,000sqft house on a 14acre farm. i mow 5/6 acres depending on my mood & then maintain 1 mile of trails that the kids & me made. Then we are an actual fruit, nut & berry farm... so there is that work too! i love it. BUT its a lot of work. constant battle with falling aging trees. briars on trails & grass that never stops growing in the spots that its not mud or dirt.

for you to be successful at this? it HAS to be a labor of love & to love to be busy/working on it... or it will get away from you and be unmanageable. If you enjoy working at stuff? & your health stays good? You will love it.

the rest you can learn & there are people here who are experts at everything! now lets help you out with some quick things:

1. the new mower will help A LOT. you are gonna spend several hours on it every week. Try to get the weedeating down to as little as possible & get you a Stihl YardBoss with the weedeater head! That thing has totally changed my back issues when doing lots of weedeating!

2. getting the Mule is a giant plus! good move!

3. are you listed as a working farm ? & do you know how to do the tax forms? each state has different requirements on this & at age 70, you should also qualify for the Senior citizen tax break on farms.

4. do you have a tractor? (if your not gonna plow or bush hog? you can do a lot with your Mule)

5. well water is a little different set up than city, just because of volume. You have to think conservatively. Most people dont realize how much water they waste unless they live out west. you being in La? might be a bit of an adjustment for ya... hard to water the grass & so on on well water. does your house collect rainwater from the gutters for a cistern?

also: water pressure is everything. the type of pump you use & how you draw your water is a lot. old systems had a well head & then a pump & pressure boosting tank somewhere. (ballast tank style) new set ups do away with that & use a direct/variable flow pump. check yours out & see!

6. Generator is a MUST! wouldnt own a house without one! You are describing an older style huge monster! a 60k Cummings Genny will absolutely guzzle the propane when she is under a load. (im assuming your genny is hooked to the propane? tell more!) depending on the house set up this should carry you real easy when the power is out. this is the single most important thing you have said about your purchase so far. Keep this up & running in top shape!

7. about that propane living: its expensive if you need heat. (in LA you proably dont need much heat) whatever size you have, figure out what you actually use a month & then use double that as your base for extreme weather conditions. so if you got a 500gal tank? look for another as a spare! or if you got a 1000gal tank? look for another 500gal as an emergency standby tank! cause once there is an emergency? its too late!
its an investment.... but its an investment in safety & comfort for you which should be important for you & your wife at this stage of life.

gonna dive in deep on this part of the convo with you. "our house" is all electric with whole house genny for back up. we have a 500gal tank. That tank lasted us 5 years before we hit the 30% left mark & refilled. seems like a long time.. ... right? but our electric goes off for a couple hours at a time usually. our unit runs about 2lbs of propane per hour. so if its an actual emergency? & you want to live exactly as you do now? YOURS is probably gonna use 4-5lbs PER HOUR. work that into how many pounds in a gallon of propane (4.2lbs per gallon) just a rough guess you are literally gonna use a gallon an hour with that big genny. so a 500 gallon tank would only run you 500hours (20 days)of continuous usage.
see where im going with this?

now the obvious thing is for short term usage you let the genny run & dont worry about it. if its a serious situation? long term? you wanna cycle your genny. run it for an hour in the morning, get the freezers, fridges cold, well full, hotwater done, house cooled off & so on. then turn it off for as long as your house stays comfy. restart. lather rinse repeat for the cycle of a day! this will give you a great idea of how long your supply should last. you can literally triple the length of time your fuel will last that way.

when our power was off for a week last august? id run it all at 6am for an hour or so, again at noon for an hour, at 6pm again & then at midnight.
thats 4 hours of run time in a 24 hour period. in my set up? that would only be about 2 gallons per day... giving me over 200days of supply. long enough to make it thru an emergency or make other arrangements.

8. septic is pretty easy now days. do you have an old style septic with leach bed? or a newer style with aerator? either way: grease/oil is your enemy! avoid putting grease/oil down it as much as possible. i bottle ours up & use it for other things. a little bid of rid x every now & then & i put some baking soda in thru a toilet every month. (amount depends on the size of your tank, 1 cup is plenty for a 1,000gal tank) The other thing that really hurts a septic tank is harsh detergent/strong soap! If you use something like Tide? its best if you can divert it away from the tank. Or make sure that you dont over soap your laundry. its hard to get a woman to not over soap laundry. then every few years, you get your tank pumped. your soil & leach set up will determine how long that is, along with that grease, oil, soap issue. (we average about every 4 years on ours, 1200gal tank w/aerator.)

we love our rural setting & hope that you do too! have given you a wall of text so will let someone else have a chance!

PS: we are planning on selling ours & downsizing when we hit 70, so kudos to you for jumping in at that age!

 

Got the end nut back on, too. Cylinder is all ready to tighten down and reinstall.

Going to attempt that this evening. One thing after another piled up today. Hate that, but it’s life.

Been pouring rain all day. My basement is a disaster. Needs a full two day clean/reorganize.

 

I'll respond with more answers and maybe some pics and more info later. Right now I gotta crash from two straight days of moving stuff, following two weeks of packing. Still more stuff for us to move tomorrow, plus all the furniture that the movers will move on Monday.
The house is 9 years old, and the generator is a commercial Cummins diesel. There's a 150 gallon internal tank, and a 250 gallon "day tank??" to transfer from when needed. Generator same age as house. Only the stove, fireplace starters, and the gas grille outside use propane. That has a 500 gallon? pound? underground tank.






Well house stuff...

 

I too went from town living and having all the public utilities to now being stuck with well and septic. It takes some adjustment on water usage, for both the well and septic. No more grease/fats in the sink from washing dishes. Cheap paper towels are gonna be your friend wiping out pots and pans. That left over spaghetti sauce or "water" from cooking beans or the such. Yea, that all now gets dumped in the yard somewhere. That luxurious 2 ply toilet paper, yea, no more. You're stuck with the Scott single ply that your finger bust through. Try to limit to one load of laundry a day. You gotta space out your water usage. If someone takes a shower, you're gonna have to wait a little bit before running laundry or that second shower. Here in PA you're required to pump your tank every 3 years, but you'll have to monitor it. There's no way I'm going to make it to 3 looking at the scum layer I got going on. Probably gonna have it done in September. My system is old (1965) so requires a little more maintenance. Sounds gross, but you'll need to occasionally need to pop open the lid to check on things. If you don't have a plastic riser lid, I recommend getting one installed.

 

The last picture, is their a brine tank? If not, pretty sure that softener is no longer doing much of anything. I know there's saltless softeners, but that doesn't look like one. I have the same control on the top of my softener.