At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

My tractor isn't running.

I suspect the problem is water in the fuel...

After posting about the tractor earlier today, I decided to check out the tractor. Yesterday I put a battery charger on the battery so the battery was fully charged. I thought I'd try to start the tractor with a fully charged battery now that the water was hopefully cleaned out of the fuel. At first the tractor didn't attempt to fire. Then it sputtered. Then it sputtered some more. Then it sputtered some more, each time sputtering longer. I kept the key turned and eventually the tractor started running on its own!

Yesterday I was pleased with the outcome of some of our porch work but the whole time I felt the weight of the tractor problem so I couldn't fully enjoy my porch work. The weight is lifted now.

Happy! Happy! Happy!

I let the tractor run a while then parked it. I still need a new fuel filter and will order one.

The whole water issue has been a learning experience. I've learned some maintenance pieces that are good to know. Finding out about how to drain the fuel tank was a valueable piece of info. After we bought the tractor, we ordered an owner's manuel and a tech manuel for it. I've been looking through the manuels and found the suggestion to drain the tank and how to do it. A lot of the stuff on the tractor is hard to see which makes it tough to follow hoses to figure out where they go. The manuels help a lot, especially for someone like me who doesn't know what he's doing.

 

[Obed]

Obed - Problems with water is a god reason to have a shelter for your tractor.

I keep mine in a garage I added to the side of the main garage. It houses my two tractors and snow blower and push mower. My hand tools, ladders, weedwackers and chain saws are all in this garage. Another garage houses extra implements not in use during different seasons.

This garage gives me the opportunity to keep trickle chargers on batteries, storage shelfs for oil and additives for all the equipment.

Here I go again spending your money on suggestions to improve your quality of life.

PAGUY,
Our basement 'garage' is slated to house the tractor. We haven't added the basement garage door yet; it is temporarilly framed in.

Obed -

Sooo....what are you putting in the garage then?? Wife's car, and the JD? Will you're dually fit?

Frank,
We have 2 cars, the dually, and the JD tractor but only 3 garage bays. We'll park my wife's car and my car in the main floor garage. The dually will fit in the main floor garage but we probably won't park it in the garage. One garage door is 10 feet wide, specifically so we could put the dually in the garage if desired. The basement garage door opening is currently filled in with a framed wall. My intention is to park the JD in the basement garage once we put up a garage door in the basement.
Obed

 

[Obed]

Also a full tank is better for messing with the filters as there is more weight on the fuel to let gravity force the air out of the bowl.

clemsonfor, that make's a lot of sense. My fuel tank is not very full; that may have been the reason the bowl did not fill up buy itself. Great suggestion.

Where are you buying you fuel? Or is this drian and water pudding you think your problem, you sure have a lot of problem with water in the fuel? Either park it in your garage or just put a board or something over that fuel cap.

I suspect the problem is the puddling of water around the fuel cap when the drain line was clogged with debris. The drain line has been clogged for a long time. I tried a few months ago to run a wire down the hose to clean it out but was unsuccessful. Yesterday was the first time I thought about blowing the line out with the air compressor. The air compressor is still a relatively new purchase so using it in this way was not in forefront of my mind.

Obed

 

[Obed]

It would be eiser to use a liquid spray like you use in your house for bugs or if you have some for your garden.

clemsonfor,
Yes, spraying liquid wasp killer would be easier. However, we are planning on staining the boards up high below the porch roof line. We didn't want the residue from liquid poison getting on the wood prior to staining them. We don't want to put something on the wood that will hinder the stain from adhering to the wood. Plus, we've had great success with the fire ant poison killing yellow jacket nests so thought we'd try it on the carpenter bees.
Obed

 

[Obed]

Then I cleaned out the gutters, knocked down 20 wasp nests out of our attic.

You might look into a finer mesh to keep the wasps out? I live in blind happiness in a mobile home with no attic access. I could have 40 nest in my attic.

Kyle,
One of my regrets regarding building our house was how the ridge vents at the top of our roof were installed. Wasps can get through/around the ridge vents and get into the attic. If I could do it over I would have the installers put down screen material along the ridge of the roof before installing the ridge vents. It would be very easy to do and would help to keep wasps and hornets out of the attic. But there were so many things going on at that time, that's a detail I missed. Now I'll kick myself every spring and summer while I go around knocking down wasp nests. As long as I don't let the nests get big, it's not that hard to do. I spent about 45 minutes yesterday looking for nests and knocking them down. I assume springtime will be the worst time while the queens are looking for a place to make a home. I hope that new nests will taper off as the summer progresses. I'm also hoping that the queens will give up trying to build in our attic and go somewhere else when their nests keep getting knocked down.
Obed

I went up into the attic to inspect for wasps. I only found two wasp nests and subsequently knocked them down. Two nests this spring versus twenty nests last spring was quite an improvement. I can live with only knocking down two. Maybe the queens gave up and went elsewhere?

 

[Obed]

My wife harvested some oregano out of her herb garden that is beside the house. Often, when she is cooking, she will walk out to the herb garden a break off a twig or two of something to use a seasoning for the dish.

 

[Obed]

The porch handrails will be 2x6s sitting on top of a 2x4 for support.

 

[Obed]

We got the first green beans out of the garden. Green beans and squash are staples in our house. Unfortunately, the squash plants aren't being polinated so the plants haven't started growing any squash. We hope that situation changes.

 

[Obed]

In the picture you are seeing the stinger end of a dead carpenter bee sticking out of the bee hole in the porch below the roof. The fire ant poison must have killed the bee. My wife also picked up a badminton racquet from the thrift store. I haven't been able to kill any bees yet with it. Most of the bees are dead. However, we have at least one bee still living. No poison got put it its hole. I saw it flying around yesterday but didn't get a good chance to swat it with the badminton racquet.

 

[Obed]

My wife put down leaf mulch at a couple places around the house. The spot in the front of the house will eventual get some shrubs planted in it. My wife hasn't figured out what shrubs she wants.

The spot behind the basement is a place we don't want to mow. The area beside the HVAC unit at the end of the retaining wall was hard to get to with the riding mower so my wife hoed away the grass and put down the leaf mulch.

 

[Obed]

We are planning to use horizontal wire railing on our porch and deck. We originally were going to install standard vertical spindles under a wooden handrail for railing. However, we got concerned that the spindle railing would ruin the view of the woods from the porch and from inside the house. That's why we decided to go with the wire railing. Now we have some PT wood we no longer want. We've had it too long so we can't return it to the building supply store. When we are finished with our porch project, we'll be selling some PT wood.

Here's a picture of a deck using cable railing.

However the stuff in the picture uses stainless steel cables and is very expensive. Instead, I'm considering using this black galvanized 12.5 guage cable used for fencing. I could mount the cable ends to the posts using eye bolts and turn buckles. I would drill holes through the middle posts and run the wires through them. If any of you guys have had experience with this stuff, I would appreciate input.

 

[Depmandog]

I think the cable will work fine. You will want the cable taut enough to prevent a child from sliding through; but not so much tension that you end posts begin to bow. If you can hear a tune on the wire, probably too tight for wood posts.

Your wife is sure a worker! If you ever run out of projects for her, send her my way!! Just kidding, but you do need to take her somewhere for a very nice relaxing dinner / outing and show her some appreciation! And I hope she reads this before you have a chance to

Very nice, I have thoroughly enjoyed the ride along on the thread! You have created a place to be very proud of.

 

[ruralruss]

We got the first green beans out of the garden. Green beans and squash are staples in our house. Unfortunately, the squash plants aren't being polinated so the plants haven't started growing any squash. We hope that situation changes.

Take a cotton swab and do it yourself. You need some bees (besides the carpenter kind).

 

[Tororider]

Take a cotton swab and do it yourself. You need some bees (besides the carpenter kind).

I just got a hive last weekend. I had taken a class on beekeeping the week prior. Not much time involved and multiple benefits to the keeper. Honey, beeswax, and in your case pollination. Some beekeepers are looking for places to put hives. I know the guy I bought mine from does pollination services for people. I have also hear other people will put their hive at your location and then at the end of the year they pay their "rent" in a certain amount of honey if enough is produced. Might be something to look into.

 

[Obed]

Your wife is sure a worker!

Dean,
Agreed. She's special.

Very nice, I have thoroughly enjoyed the ride along on the thread! You have created a place to be very proud of.

Thanks for the kind words.
Obed

 

[MotorSeven]

I just got a hive last weekend. I had taken a class on beekeeping the week prior. Not much time involved and multiple benefits to the keeper. Honey, beeswax, and in your case pollination. Some beekeepers are looking for places to put hives. I know the guy I bought mine from does pollination services for people. I have also hear other people will put their hive at your location and then at the end of the year they pay their "rent" in a certain amount of honey if enough is produced. Might be something to look into.

I hope you have better luck than I did. I lost several hives over winters. Then the wax moths moved in and decimated my remaining hives very quickly. I had one good hive that produced 90 lbs of honey off 2 supers and I left 2 more loaded for them for winter..they didn't make it, so I gave up. I figured out my bottom line for a quart was $56.23 each:laughing:

 

[Obed]

Our squash plants are producing squash now. They apparently got pollinated.

Both lawnmowers are not working now. When I tried to start our Kubota riding mower, it clicked twice but did nothing more. After charging the battery, the behavior was still the same. The Kubota store said a starter would cost $420. The mower is probably 15 years old. The problem could be a solenoid or something else.

I guess I need to shop for a mower. I have heard that some of the new mowers will not mow in reverse gear because of safety features. I don't think I could live with that feature.

 

[Wilky]

Our squash plants are producing squash now. They apparently got pollinated.

Both lawnmowers are not working now. When I tried to start our Kubota riding mower, it clicked twice but did nothing more. After charging the battery, the behavior was still the same. The Kubota store said a starter would cost $420. The mower is probably 15 years old. The problem could be a solenoid or something else.

I guess I need to shop for a mower. I have heard that some of the new mowers will not mow in reverse gear because of safety features. I don't think I could live with that feature.

Check both ends of battery cables. Could be loose or as I just had happen with my tractor a thin layer of corrosion on one of the battery post.

 

[Tororider]

Give the starter a sharp rap with your hand or preferably a rubber mallet. Sometimes that will free it if it is slightly stuck. I have had that work a couple times. Admittedly it is a temporary solution.

 

[radioman]

Our squash plants are producing squash now. They apparently got pollinated.

Both lawnmowers are not working now. When I tried to start our Kubota riding mower, it clicked twice but did nothing more. After charging the battery, the behavior was still the same. The Kubota store said a starter would cost $420. The mower is probably 15 years old. The problem could be a solenoid or something else.

I guess I need to shop for a mower. I have heard that some of the new mowers will not mow in reverse gear because of safety features. I don't think I could live with that feature.

Make sure all the pto engagement, HST pedal centered, jiggle all levers to make sure its not sticking or partly open.
The kubota BX's doesnt not have reverse shutoff when mowing. For 400 bucks - I'd take the starter out and check it out if above advice doesnt work.. by putting it on bench and check with a car charger with short bursts.

Give the starter a sharp rap with your hand or preferably a rubber mallet. Sometimes that will free it if it is slightly stuck. I have had that work a couple times. Admittedly it is a temporary solution.