Good morning!!!!

[PJSprog]

32°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 54° today. Rain ended yesterday around noon-ish, and the sun was out for about an hour before sunset. Bright blue skies overhead today.

Thanks for all of the encouragement with the new guitar project. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it. I'll probably be painting the body some shade of gray, Ted. It's just plain basswood, so no super fantastic grain to show off on it with a stain or natural finish. The neck I'll probably stain and clear coat on the back. I might be able to finish it in three or four days, Wngsprd, but it's more likely a two or three weekend project. The body sanding/sanding/painting/sanding/painting/sanding/clearcoating/sanding/etc./etc. will take a bit of time, and I need to add some body contours to it before that starts. The neck and fret dressing/leveling will be a bit time consuming as well. I'm in no great hurry, though. It's not like I don't already have a wall full of guitars.

Drew, have you considered growing rice in the bottom of that greenhouse?

I have tried on several occasions to wear a watch on a regular basis. I'm just not a watch guy. In fact, not a jewelry guy either. Though, admittedly, I feel somewhat naked on the odd occasions that I leave my wedding ring on the bathroom shelf. I have a bunch of pocket watches I've inherited from my Father's side of the family; I have his, my Grandfather's, and Great-grandfather's pocket watches that are kept in my Father's cuff link case and in our safe. My Great-grandfather died in an automobile accident, and the watch broke at the time of his death. The rest all function fine. I have one I wear when we dress for an outing, which is engraved with my initials and was given to me by my Wife while we were still dating. It's the only watch I ever use.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

RNG, I had noticed an oil 'stain' on my tractor's front hub /wheel about 2 weeks ago. I pulled the wheel, cleaned up the hub, put it all back together, and used the tractor / loader for a little bit. No obvious leaking, no more signs of oil....?? I'll keep an eye on it, but can't figure out why it initially leaked. I may have parked it on a slight angle a few days before noticing the leak. Hopefully yours will be just as simple.

Thanks for the positive thoughts, Ted, but it's gonna take a $650 Christmas present from the Kubota dealer to get the tractor goin' again. At least according to the parts page at Messick's. The outer axle bearing split in half at the thinnest part of the outer race (it's a ball bearing). For a while the hub cover casting was acting as the outer race, so that wiped out the shoulder that supports the bearing. The inner axle bearing is rough, probably from working off axis after the outer bearing failed. The oil seal failed, and it looks like the surface on the axle it rides on is cut up, so it might be time for a new axle. That part alone is almost half the cost, but if the surface is part of the seal instead I'd be very lucky. All the shards fell into the lower gear case, and when I pulled that apart I found that the bevel gear bearing was shot, and that the bevel gear teeth were badly pitted. I've never seen wear that bad before. I was actually a bit surprised that the total cost of the parts was so low, considering the number of bearings and machined parts involved. I'm just glad that the rain held off long enough for me to get the parts off the tractor.

While cleaning them up in the parts washer, the solvent wasn't having much of an effect. I pulled the parts washer out from under the patio cover to get it away from the house just before I evacuated, and we had a couple pretty good rain storms while I was away, so the tank is probably full of water as well as solvent. The pickup is on the bottom of the tank, so that would explain the lack of cleaning I was seeing. Ended up cleaning up everything in the kitchen sink, using an old bath towel in the bottom to keep from scratching the stainless steel. Time for another 5 gallons of Stoddard solvent next time I'm in town...

 

[LouNY]

View attachment 583237 View attachment 583238

Thanks for the positive thoughts, Ted, but it's gonna take a $650 Christmas present from the Kubota dealer to get the tractor goin' again. At least according to the parts page at Messick's. The outer axle bearing split in half at the thinnest part of the outer race (it's a ball bearing). For a while the hub cover casting was acting as the outer race, so that wiped out the shoulder that supports the bearing. The inner axle bearing is rough, probably from working off axis after the outer bearing failed. The oil seal failed, and it looks like the surface on the axle it rides on is cut up, so it might be time for a new axle. That part alone is almost half the cost, but if the surface is part of the seal instead I'd be very lucky. All the shards fell into the lower gear case, and when I pulled that apart I found that the bevel gear bearing was shot, and that the bevel gear teeth were badly pitted. I've never seen wear that bad before. I was actually a bit surprised that the total cost of the parts was so low, considering the number of bearings and machined parts involved. I'm just glad that the rain held off long enough for me to get the parts off the tractor. Time for another 5 gallons of Stoddard solvent next time I'm in town...

Any decent machine shop could turn that stub axle down and heat and press fit a sleeve on it, then machine to the proper finish size.

 

[daugen]

RNG, maybe I asked this before but how many hours on your Kubota?

good thing the California legislators just decided not to tax your texts recently.
Will they tax you for each breath of air asked one wag...
Wouldn't be hard to imagine a nickle tax on each email and 25 cents if you include a picture or two.
We'd have to lobby for exemptions for tractor pictures...

 

[Buppies]

RNG sorry that happened but glad you are talented enough to perform your own repairs

 

[Buppies]

PJ can not wait to see the finished product

 

[Looking4new]

The only thing I like about apple is pies, crisp, crumble, tarts and BC Delicious. I don't like Macintosh and spies are only good in baking. I forgot sauce and butter.

 

[toppop52]

34ï½° this morning with forecast high of 68ï½° this afternoon.

More trimming trees .... if wind stays down today. Need a few more drying days before I can get either tractor / grapple to pick up piles of limbs. No rain in our forecast for a few days.

Randy ... on your iPhone, hold down the 0 key and you'll see a degree symbol. Slide your finger to the degree symbol and viola! You have a degree symbol. Works on iPad and iPhone.

Everyone one .... have an excellent day!

Prayers to all.

Rick, I know about the ï½° symbol, but if I put it next to the number I get all kinds of weird symbols, others here do too. Itç—´ only 9n this forum.
(See what I mean?)

 

[toppop52]

I still have the problem with the ｰ symbol. It shows it as correct, but when it shows up in the real post, it reads 23}1/2ｰ . I have to go back to the post and 'edit' out the weird symbols, then it works.

Same problem I致e had for years, just on this forum, I致e used the degree symbol for years on other forums with no issues. It works similarly on the ipad, but you only have one option vs two on the phone. Windows keyboard is alt+248 or 0176.

 

[txdon]

Testing degree sign on iPhone.
Currently 55°.