What are you doing today?

[Gary Fowler]

Put the boat away ( ran a tube of grease through each hub with Milwaukee 18v gun. Drained and filled lower unit, Backed in in and hooked up battery tender. We have snow on the ground here. Next it was an attempt to replace the starter in my F250 V10 plow truck. I'm nearly convinced that it can't be done. I'll need to get more creative tomorrow or pay someone with a hoist. Bow hunted the evening. Deer are on the move !!

I am not a deer hunter but have noticed that the first good snow really gets them moving. NOW around here, you could die of starvation before the first snow comes but similarly the first good cold front does the same thing. We got two cold fronts just days apart this week and folks are getting their guns tuned up (I hope all the shooting going on is tuning and not killing deer already). We have a huge deer population here in Arkansas. If I recall correctly, about 400,000 legal deer were taken last year and it hardly made a dent in the amount of deer I see crossing the road or wandering thru my yard.

 

[Oliver 1555]

Harvest time - lots of miles in a truck.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Yesterday, I fixed the idler wheel on the Craftsman ZTS 6000 and put on a new belt. I have been getting 1/2" x 132" belts for the life of that lawnmower per the spec sheet but the belts always road deep in the pulleys and tended to slip easily regardless of the tension on the belt. I ordered a 5/8" wide belt this time and it fit the outside flush fit so I think I have always been getting the wrong belt for this mower. They guy I gave it to, mowed his new yard with it and it working fine, we even slacked off the tension on the belt adjustment a bit. I may do the same thing with my Ferris mower for the next belt replacement since the belt on that one rides deep in the pulley also. The flush fit to the belt makes it pull much better but maybe a tad bit slower on the blade tip speed.

The only welding that got done was to cut the threads off a stripped bolt and add a new threaded portion on to one so it was a bit longer. I didnt have any 4" bolts to remount the vise I repainted so I just made one.
Oh, I did check out the plasma cutter on my returned from repair Everlast SuperUltra 206 SI and it worked great AND they returned my original consumables this time in working order.

 

[Yomax4]

In preparation for winter I was stabilizing my engines. Thinking about it I had to laugh at how many engines I have to maintain. 3 vehicles, 1 tractor, 3 chainsaws, 2 weed eaters, 1 pole saw, 3 ZT mowers, 1 push mower, 1 power washer, 1 outboard motor, 2 ATV's, 3 generators and a Log splitter. No wonder I have no time. I'd still rather do this than live in town.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I just finished running the mower over my leaf covered areas mulching them up. I do it about every couple weeks and it keeps them from getting so thick that I have to rack and burn although I did have to rake and burn the ones that fell between my welding shop and fence where the mower couldnt go. The wind was blowing just enough to give if a good burn and about 5 minutes they were all burned up but man did they create a lot of smoke for that short period. The smoke is why I hate to burn leaves.

 

[Bearskinner]

Spent a few hours splitting wood yesterday. Got almost two extra cords split and stacked. Now I know I’m set for the winter

 

[Gary Fowler]

Went to my buddy's place early this morning with my B26 TLB. Used the FEL to raise up my buddy so he could saw off a BUNCH of tree limbs. We cut limbs till 2 pm the took a lunch break. We cut all his trees in his yard then worked about 200 yards of fence line cutting everything he could reach from the bucket. Fence line and yard trees look much better now and no problem getting tractor underneath the trees now.
After lunch we worked on a bunch of cedar trees along my front yard fence line. Trimmed them up high also . I have lots of limbs to cut up and haul off tomorrow.
Lastly got the oil changed in my buddy's truck. Tomorrow is brake job day for his truck in addition to loading up all those limbs. We pretty much cleaned and piled all his limbs as we cut them, most I could get with the FEL and push into a pile. I cant do that with my limbs because they are all laying right beside the road way about 10 feet from my fence so it is load and haul only.

 

[California]

In preparation for winter I was stabilizing my engines. Thinking about it I had to laugh at how many engines I have to maintain. 3 vehicles, 1 tractor, 3 chainsaws, 2 weed eaters, 1 pole saw, 3 ZT mowers, 1 push mower, 1 power washer, 1 outboard motor, 2 ATV's, 3 generators and a Log splitter. No wonder I have no time. I'd still rather do this than live in town.

Much smaller fleet here but going to cordless tools where possible has made my life a lot simpler. Things like a pole saw etc used infrequently, are better cordless even if they are slower.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Much smaller fleet here but going to cordless tools where possible has made my life a lot simpler. Things like a pole saw etc used infrequently, are better cordless even if they are slower.

I am seriously thinking that when my gas powered pole saw goes down, a battery type will replace it. Most of the time it is only a few limbs at a time that I cut so I think a couple batteries with a battery powered saw would be great. Maybe HF will have one that my Earthquake batteries will fit! (doubt it)

 

[Gary Fowler]

Much smaller fleet here but going to cordless tools where possible has made my life a lot simpler. Things like a pole saw etc used infrequently, are better cordless even if they are slower.

Which battery powered saw do you use / recommend. I see lots of bad reviews on the LYNX with leaking oil, bad chain, bad bearings, bad clutch etc. so I dont think I would be getting one of those. I see from the local HF ad that they are now on clearance (does that mean no more Lynx products in the future?) for $169. I may just have to stay with my Poulan gas saw.

 

[Bearskinner]

I will stick with my Stihl pole saw. It’s hard working over you head removing branches. The Stihl has enough power to complete the job quickly and efficently

 

[Gary Fowler]

I looked at Stihl power heads one time but that was just too much money for just a motor for my existing pole saw. I havent shopped in a few years since my elcheapo Poulan is working fine *was working fine on last use about a year ago.

 

[Bearskinner]

I just have too many trees to trim, clear, and cut down every year. I’ll take the SxS out with a couple saws and do one more trimming job to keep the trails as clear as possible, before the snow sticks to stay. It’s nice to be able to do a half or a mile even in the dead of winter.

 

[California]

I've used a manual pole saw for years. Only 50 or so cuts per year so that seemed sufficient.

Then I found a never-used Remington polesaw for $10 at Goodwill. Its battery is NLA so I made a cable to run it from a Ryobi battery. This got me through a critical project: The 240 volt powerline in from the pole was weighed down and chafed by a heavy branch. One cut beyond the conflict point to lighten the branch, then one nearer the trunk, and the interfering piece came down. It had grooves and was scorched for several inches. This could have become one of the California fires caused by electric lines.

That Frankenstein saw was badly nose-heavy and using it up above an 11 ft ladder was spooky when it swung downward. But the powerline project made it worthwhile.

I then bought the 18 volt Ryobi polesaw. I already had batteries for it. This is homeowner-grade gear but it sure beats a manual polesaw! The chain from the Remington fits it so I'm set for a while. If you need to get work done fast, get something more powerful than this Ryobi. It works fine but the chain moves at a quarter the speed of a gas chainsaw.

 

[Bearskinner]

I have days where I have been sawing all day till I can work any more, I don’t think there’s near enough batteries to cover that.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Same here, the last two days I spent sawing and brush cutting on 15 +year old overgrown fence line/yard trees on my buddy's new property. We still have at least another 1/4 mile of fenceline to do. We are going to start with just getting the trees trimmed inside the fenceline so a tractor can go under them to mow. Later we will tackle the saw briars and saplings etc on the roadway side.

 

[bplayer405]

Looking at trail cam pics and wishing I wasn't tagged out on bucks...

 

[Gary Fowler]

Maybe he will survive till next year and you can try for him then.

 

[Old Irish]

Mostly I am praying for a cold front, I have had just about enough of the heat and it it still in the 80's. I checked game cameras this morning and moved one, I don't hunt anymore just trying to pattern some hogs so my grandsons can hopefully get em gone but doing that has given me a little desire to hunt again. we have 2 grown hogs moved in about 200 LBS each, 2 more that are probably around 75 to 80 LBS and if I remember right 13 pigs that stand about 8 or 10 inches at the shoulders. other than that I am getting ready for Christmas getting out lights to finish hanging this weekend I hope but I have some pressure washing to do before I hang lights. I am hoping the grand boys come to hang out and help just to have their company.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I just got back from doctor visit with tendinitis in my elbows. 2 rounds of prednisone didnt do anything so my general prac. is to send me to an orthopedic surgeon for evaluation. The "tennis elbow" type pain has really limited me in work situations and even typing hurts a bit.