Hide Site/Bug-out location Construction, Part 4

[Nate]

Re the bent cylinder.....
Don, use the right tool for the job.  You have a 30,000lb track hoe....jus sayin....

55,000 lb track hoe!

[Nate]

Hey Don you might want to have a guy that knows ponds, dams and the like come check what you dug. Hate to see it fill up then give way and wash out some neighbors place. At the same time you might have the EPA or similar fed agency crawling down your neck for water related stuff. I would just be careful....with that size that much water packs a lot of weight.

Plan to!

EPA: this is Kentucky

I believe we tar and feather folks from places like that!

Just kidding, we use heavy oil and mulch!!!!! ;-))

The bulk of the water containment will be held below the original grade. I expect water to fill over the years to a level well below the rim. I have observed the amount of filling that hole has received over the years and it is not sufficient to fill that whole-holy-hole.

And in actuality, as in no kidding, this is a part of kentucky where a government plated vehicle would not be a completely safe place to be. People down there look at it the same way as they do our hole-ridden stop signs.

Having said that, I am a responsible land owner. I wouldn't do anything that endangered my neighbors or upset the balance of nature in the area...

[Nate]

And now for everyone's favorite

My weekly CARREP:

Coming down the lane, when I drove Chief in, I destroyed a slew of pesky trees, because I could, and they needed to be destroyed. I now have some great new neighbors who agree that the road needs to be widened and improved a little.

Well, I took out a clump of Cedars leaving the largest one. My thought was to just trim it up to make it "Pretty"

Then I remembered the neighbor saying he was bringing a camper in. That single tree would scratch the dickens out of his camper so I went down the lane with the tractor to remove debris and pull down that tree.

Turns out that tree was a stubborn cuss, refusing to yield. So, after grubbing the rootball, I started ramming it with my tractor and grapple

Note to self: In the future, do not ram things with your expensive tractor.

Well the tree yielded after awhile and I won, I thought.

When I tried to curl the grapple back, it groaned and refused to move backward

On the post flight inspection I noted this:

The last pic shows what it should look like.

YAY CARREP! I have to laugh.. I have this video in my mind of you slamming that tree. Can you just get a Go Pro to follow you around for our entertainment? 

[Nate]

And now for everyone's favorite

My weekly CARREP:

Coming down the lane, when I drove Chief in, I destroyed a slew of pesky trees, because I could, and they needed to be destroyed. I now have some great new neighbors who agree that the road needs to be widened and improved a little.

Well, I took out a clump of Cedars leaving the largest one. My thought was to just trim it up to make it "Pretty"

Then I remembered the neighbor saying he was bringing a camper in. That single tree would scratch the dickens out of his camper so I went down the lane with the tractor to remove debris and pull down that tree.

Turns out that tree was a stubborn cuss, refusing to yield. So, after grubbing the rootball, I started ramming it with my tractor and grapple

Note to self: In the future, do not ram things with your expensive tractor.

Well the tree yielded after awhile and I won, I thought.

When I tried to curl the grapple back, it groaned and refused to move backward

On the post flight inspection I noted this:

The last pic shows what it should look like.

YAY CARREP! I have to laugh.. I have this video in my mind of you slamming that tree. Can you just get a Go Pro to follow you around for our entertainment? 

Go-Pro...How did you know?

I bought one a couple weeks ago, used it once for several days at the farm, saw the quality of the pics and took it back and got a refund

I am not a fan of those things

[Nate]

Don, from someone who has owned ponds & been involved with building maintaining them. Two things, anything over 2 acres must be engineered by army corp of engineers. Number two, put in a tile over flow at the point you never want to see the water get higher than. This will take into account 100 year floods etc. better be safe than sorry. Or don't listen to me & disregard what I said, including but not limited to deleting this post & banning me for the 678th time.

[Nate]

Go-Pro...How did you know?

I bought one a couple weeks ago, used it once for several days at the farm, saw the quality of the pics and took it back and got a refund

I am not a fan of those things

Glad I'm not the only one! We bought one for races and such, it was more problems than it was worth, back to the store it went!

[Nate]

We are exoecting storms in Kentucky tonight. This will be the first test. The news man said torrential down pours in northern Kentucky.

Sent from my VK810 4G using Tapatalk

[Nate]

don or anybody that I moved a post for, did I miss anything?

[Flyin6]

My tractor has a 400X loader...Not a 400CX

Why is that important you ask?

Well I had priced a bucket cylinder for a 400CX loader, not a 400X that I actually own.

And why is that important?

The $485 price of the 400CX cylinder is not the same as the price of a 400X bucket cylinder

The 400X cylinder is over $650

More J Deere skinnin' you for everything they can. I'm sure there is some union fees, some Obama care, some EPA regulation and a host of other costs rolled into that, but to say that is ridiculous is an understatement!

So I went to a national hydraulic cylinder supply house. I found a matching cylinder that has a 20" stroke instead of my 18" stroke for $128!

It is 1/2" shorter and the pins are on the wrong ends. So I ordered two of them. I'll get them, cut the pins off, and reweld them onto the proper ends, then install a matching set onto the 400X. With shipping and fittings I am under $300 for TWO cylinders vs the $650 obama care single J Deere cylinder!

Oh and I tried to straighten my bent cylinder...Note to me and everyone else: You can't straighten these things. They are brittle iron. As soon as I applied pressure in the press, "Snap!" I had two pieces and some dust where I used to have one!

Is this actually another CARREP or just a continuation of the first?

[Flyin6]

don or anybody that I moved a post for, did I miss anything?

Looks good Nate, Thanks!

[Nate]

No problem

[Wilbur]

Ouch on the JD Cylinder cost. That's a lot for nice green paint.

[TexasRedNeck]

bet you can sell the one good JD one on craigslist or ebay and come out almost even......

[stlaser]

Don, you should find a local company that rebuilds cylinders. Much easier than buying new everytime you wreck one.

[longball]

John Deere is good at raking people over the coals. Glad you found a less expensive option.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Flyin6]

Don, you should find a local company that rebuilds cylinders. Much easier than buying new everytime you wreck one.

Cincinnati driveline...I called them. Something like a minimum $200 ish labor charge + parts. Rebuilt unit approaches the cost of a new one. Called second place. Wanted $90/hr to look into it.

I can solve this myself. To heck with this price gouging. Two new cylinders for under $300 and like Tex said, sell the deer unit for more than the cost of the two new cylinders. Or just save it for a future project

[Nate]

You may want to keep it and start a PLL for the hide.........

Do you even remember PLL or bench stock?

[stlaser]

Don, you should find a local company that rebuilds cylinders. Much easier than buying new everytime you wreck one.

Cincinnati driveline...I called them. Something like a minimum $200 ish labor charge + parts. Rebuilt unit approaches the cost of a new one. Called second place. Wanted $90/hr to look into it.

I can solve this myself. To heck with this price gouging. Two new cylinders for under $300 and like Tex said, sell the deer unit for more than the cost of the two new cylinders. Or just save it for a future project

Yeah but was that including the frequent flyer discount that you would surely receive?

[Flyin6]

You may want to keep it and start a PLL for the hide.........

Do you even remember PLL or bench stock?

I remember Nate!

[Flyin6]

Don, you should find a local company that rebuilds cylinders. Much easier than buying new everytime you wreck one.

Cincinnati driveline...I called them. Something like a minimum $200 ish labor charge + parts. Rebuilt unit approaches the cost of a new one. Called second place. Wanted $90/hr to look into it.

I can solve this myself. To heck with this price gouging. Two new cylinders for under $300 and like Tex said, sell the deer unit for more than the cost of the two new cylinders. Or just save it for a future project

Yeah but was that including the frequent flyer discount that you would surely receive?

:-)

[Flyin6]

I think I mentioned that I was going to try and straighten out my cylinder

Well that didn't work out so well

[Bigdave_185]

What was the method?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Flyin6]

What was the method?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

30 ton press on either end

Arbor pressing against apex of the "Bend"

Loads of arm cranky

Followed by a big bang sound and fearful thoughts

I wasn't applying very much pressure at all when it went. Makes me wonder how it bent in the first place. It is like NOT flexible.

[Dawg25385]

Makes me wonder how it bent in the first place. It is like NOT flexible.

I'm no engineer, but thinking it might be because it bent under compression force and when it was on the press it was a perpendicular force?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bear9350]

Makes me wonder how it bent in the first place. It is like NOT flexible.

I'm no engineer, but thinking it might be because it bent under compression force and when it was on the press it was a perpendicular force?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Probably, sort of.  When you initially bent it you stretched the material on one side by pulling and elongating it.  There was no object in the middle of it which it was bent around.

[Flyin6]

That's too technical for me!

Darned thing just broke

And that's all I need to know!

Good news is the other cylinders just arrived!!!!!!!!!!!

[Flyin6]

So here is one of them:

[Flyin6]

It had an O-Ring fitting which required another fitting to adapt it to the flat face O-Ring style ends on the hoses of the Deere

[Flyin6]

Now, there is only one problem...And that requires some cutting and welding. The ends were reversed on the cylinder from what I needed to fit the tractor. To make these fit, I would have to cut the ends off and swap them, which I did.

Pulling a metal saw through a brand new hydraulic cylinder is not for the faint of heart!

[Flyin6]

Another consideration I had to take in account was that the big end of this new cylinder was 2.5" in diameter, whereas the big end of the Deere part was milled down to 2.25". That end recesses into the boom a tad bit, so to make me and my machine happy, I welded a 1.25" spacer made out of wood inbetween the cylinder and the end fitting.

[Flyin6]

I used a good quality Iron wood with cedar welding rods to get that done. Darned thing looks like steel!

I welded the other end after jigging the thing up and just like that, and with the addition of my fav JDB (John Deere black) I was cookin' in bacon grease.

[Flyin6]

While I was cutting and defiling things I decided to ruin a perfectly good tractor seat. I like it, but the hippies will hate it since it represents black. Hey, wait, maybe this will sell. I'd have a black seats matter thing goin' on here...

Anyway J-Deere warrantied me a brandly new seat for my aging carcass and I decided to make it all mine.

[Flyin6]

I mean they all turn a grungy black anyway, might as well get out ahead of all that and fit in the social order all at the same time!...Smart!

I'll be using the SEM vinyl paint in the Landau Black, because black paint matters as well!

[Flyin6]

Here it is now being socially acceptable:

[Flyin6]

And the old one coming off...

Not wanting to offend American Indians, nor Orientals, I opted to paint this one with the paint that matters as well...It looks good enough to mount onto sarge and plant a grandchild in it for some semi-terrifyin' antics with paw-paw.

[Flyin6]

And here is my machine properly sanctified:

[Flyin6]

I'll blend in perched on that thing, and the enemy shouldn't be able to see me while I improve my fighting position!

That's it for the nacht. Have to cook crabcakes and ban Sam. I'd banish him but he is 40 miles north of nowhere already!

Be good, stay tuned!

[South_GA_redneck]

Somewhere in the world a JD engineer just got a sick feeling that something is terribly wrong.

[Bear9350]

Somewhere in the world a JD engineer just got a sick feeling that something is terribly wrong.

Umm...  Present

[wyorunner]

Maybe it's just me, and because EVERYTHING is hot down here right now, but my first thought was, "ouch, that's gonna burn!" Maybe not up there in the tuck, but down here where it hasn't rained forever in SE AZ, black seats burn!!!!

And apparently kens neck o the woods plastic is melting outside! Well maybe a bit north west of him, but y'all get the point!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KensAuto]

Well, at least you didn't cut the piston off on the first cut!

[Sammconn]

I'm still a little squeamish over this...

Or at least nervous for your sake...

[Flyin6]

Well, at least you didn't cut the piston off on the first cut!

I missed it clean!

Darned thing still moves in and out!

Discovered it had a bunch of fluid inside by mistake!

[Flyin6]

I'm still a little squeamish over this...

Or at least nervous for your sake...

Faith of a mustard seed my polar bear friend, and that cylinder will move a small mountain!

Its almost biblical!

[KensAuto]

I missed it clean!

Darned thing still moves in and out!

Discovered it had a bunch of fluid inside by mistake!

So, you say'in that the seals broke loose from being melted to the inside of the cylinders? lol

[Flyin6]

I missed it clean!

Darned thing still moves in and out!

Discovered it had a bunch of fluid inside by mistake!

So, you say'in that the seals broke loose from being melted to the inside of the cylinders? lol

Guys that do this said to just extend the cyl all the way and the heat can't travel far enough to matter. Works on hydraulic cylinders but apparently not on the southwest!

[KensAuto]

   Still trying to peel my ball cap off as we speak.

[Flyin6]

  Still trying to peel my ball cap off as we speak.

I feel for ya Ken, and all the rest of you brave menses and good women who are on a slow cook cycle at the moment.

[Flyin6]

Been farmside for the past few days...I'm bushed. Nothing like hard work to realign the spirit.

I started off with the repair of the J Deere 4720

I popped on the two new cylinders:

[Flyin6]

And...They worked like a champ.

So John Deere cost was $650 for a single replacement cylinder

I purchased two new ones with a longer stroke and slightly larger diameter and 4 fittings for under $300

Any questions???

Then I plugged the tire where a nail had punched a hole