I get stuff done!

Yesterday was a great day!

I completed tasks! (well almost)

I have three ongoing projects. Actually it is more live five or six but for the sake of avoiding tedium I will stick to four.

A month ago my wife and I helped her friend clean out the shop of an elderly gentleman who was moving into the rest home. I ended up hauling home a Ford 9N. I put it in the barn and then it refused to start. It took me a week or so to figure out that the reason it was turning over slow was that the ring gear was spinning on the flywheel. I fixed that by applying wicking Loctite 390 to the ring gear and turning the flywheel until the Loctite grabbed and it stopped turning. (The ring gear had been tack welded to the flywheel) 

But... I had left the key on and I burnt the coil. So I thought I would do a tuneup. This was a pain in the arse as the distributor is affixed to the front of the engine and the coil is mounted on the side of the distributor cap. You have to remove the distributor (two bolts) to change and set the points. I could not get the new coil and cap to reliably pass electricity between them so I ended up just buying a whole new distributor and cap. ($50 pos Chinese clone) I hooked it all up yesterday. It runs!

I also changed the exhaust pipe and muffler as there was a really bad exhaust leak and it was very noisy. ($65) It of course did not fit. I had to cut and weld the pipe and adapt the exhaust hanger. I am no longer a very good gas welder. Plus I couldn't find any baling wire or a small enough tip for the torch so I had to do a little grinding and painting.

Turns out the exhaust leak is from the manifold. This is not my tractor, I am trying to sell it to a friend. I am getting a little too much money into it. Not sure I want to tackle the exhaust manifold. Things can go wrong with rusty and ancient exhaust manifolds.

I also got the top of the transmission covered on the White 2-155. This was a rather tedious job. The worst part was getting the drain plug out of the bottom of the transmission. I had to put a pipe on the end of a long breaker bar and hold the bar into the plug whilst my brother pulled on the bar. Nearly stripped out the square threads.

I was able to then flush most of the dirt and crap out of the transmission before putting the cover on. There is no way to keep crap out of the open transmission. 

The next problem was getting the three speed cleaned and drained. Of course the pressure washer would not start. Took me an hour but I did it.

My retired helper has been cleaning my shop. He tends to stuff things into odd places. When I get home from work he has a pile of stuff for me to sort through, I have been giving things away and making use of the trash can. He has made his way back to the freezer which hasn't worked reliably in five years. I hauled it outside and put it on a pallet for the guy who repairs old appliances. Of course the tractor wouldn't start and that took a half hour.

But, I got the three speed cleaned and drained and I got it sitting on the bench, the 9N running, the freezer moved. and the top of the transmission cover on. Not a bad Saturday.

I fall behind on my blogging. I suspect the number of readers who wait anxiously for a new post has diminished slightly over the years. I know I have not been keeping up with my the blogs of my gentle readers.

I keep thinking I will become more optimistic and that my blog will become funny and informative, but alas I seem to be in a continual downhill slide that can only end in... well, just me being a grumpy old farmer.

There are interesting things I am doing. I am working on another White 2-155 charge pump. This is the third time I have removed the cover of a 2-135/155 transmission. I have become fairly adept at it. Aside from introducing a lot of dirt into the transmission/hydraulic system.

I was given another Pioneer receiver and am trying to figure out how to fix the hum in the output stage. 

I am into process of doing a tuneup on a 9N Ford which has the coil affixed to the distributor which is in turn attached to the FRONT of the engine and virtually inaccessable. (I figured it out)

I am in the process of building a Colt M1911 Commander and am trying to decide if I should do it in .45 or .22 and if I should buy the jig or just go by measurements in my new book, "The US M1911A1 Pistols, A Shop Manual," By Jerry Kuhnhausen, and use a milling machine.

Currently I am setting on the couch with heat on my knee and ice on my head.

I have had a headache for a week. I feels like my brain is trying to crawl out my left eye. I wish it success as this might end the headache. Strangely enough this started the day I went back to work. Probably only a coincidence.

Last night I was working on my White 2-155, (actually I was listening to George Jones and fixing up a hydraulic jack my wife bought at a garage sale) and I got a call from my wife. The oven was on fire and sparks were shooting out. She couldn't find the breaker and so I told her to hit the main power. I then ran to the house and tripped going up the steps. I didn't notice anything amiss (I fall down all the time) until I tried to kneel down to figure out the small writing on the breaker box. Pain shot through my knee and I almost feel over again.

The stove was not serious. The element decided to die in a rather spectacular fashion. However, my wife is now quite concerned with my health. My brain hurts and my knee hurts. This means heating pads, ice, bed rest and use of my sleep machine.

What I find rather amusing is what I do when I am half asleep. I was having dreams about my daughter and my knee hurt. I got up and found an ice pad. I then pulled the covers over my head as I had the sleep machine hooked to my nose and I can breath under the covers without fear of dying from an accidental toot and I imagined building a sprayer for my Gator. I woke up to my wife shaking my (good) knee and exclaiming that we would be late for Church. It was 10 a.m.

The short of it all was she got me coffee, gave me specific instructions on taking care of myself, but also she expected the fire going and the chickens fed, and she went to Church.

I did most of what was expected of me. (Although I did take a break to go help my neighbor start his car and I painted her garage sale jack) and now my head hurts like thunder. Whatever.... Getting old is a bummer.

I hope you all have a nice day...