Recent content by Erik M

Most important way to prevent the rust is to get the grass out after every mow. I have a farm jack and lift the mower up afterwards and pressure wash the underside, so no rust at all. When I prepare the mower for winter storage in an unheated storage barn I spray the underside with fluid film.

I have a tractor that weighs about 5K lbs with the blower on it and I plow a 500’ driveway that slopes down hill. While I have done it for 8 yrs without chains I splurged last year and got chains just for the days when the lane is a sheet of ice. It was well worth the $3K for the chains and I...

Depends upon how long you want to keep your truck I guess. In Canada in the warmer eastern provinces if you spray a rust inhibiting oil like Krown, Fluid Film or Rust Check under your vehicles and inside door panels every fall before the salt appears on the road you can keep your vehicles rust...

Duct tape, with your track record it is certain to get walloped again and again. 😉

3 in 1 20 weight machine oil is all I use. Cheap and effective.

If anyone without a gas fitters ticket does anything to that assembly your insurance may be null and void. Call the gas company

Easiest is a grinding disc on a 5” or 6” grinding tool and you sharpen them in place. Try to keep them evenly ground to reduce vibration. The more laborious way is to remove the blades and take them to the grinder, I don’t do it that way.

I have a dealer not 10 km away so I delivered the tractor to them as they were going to likely have to split the tractor to repair the leaking line and replace the burnt PTO clutch pack. They did the pressure test before splitting the tractor which confirmed the leak and the replacement line has...

I had an internal leak in a hydraulic line in my 1840, it resulted in low pressure on PTO clutch and slipping. Had to split the tractor, replace the line with a hole worn in it and the clutch pack. You can test the pressure externally to verify if this is the likely cause. New line is slightly...

The bald faced wasps will only live above ground, in a tree or an old building or under the eaves of a building. Much more aggressive than yellow jackets and a much more painful sting, just took a nest out in a cherry tree I mow under while it was only grapefruit sized, wasn’t going to wait...

The biggest aggravation with new trucks is that you cannot buy a simple farm truck anywhere today, they are all loaded with comfort features and options to out-compete the neighbour’s new truck and as a result are $50K +. One should be able to buy a bare bones F150 4WD with manual everything and...

I have the YJ building nests under the deck and I use a spray foaming wasp blaster with the pipette that I can poke thru the cracks between the deck boards and into the nest at midnight and give the nest a fill of insecticidal foam. Works every time and no risk.

Why don‘t you just put tubes in the tires if they are not holding air? I picked up this one five years ago and it had sat outside since 1979 and needed new tires, rims and tines. Since the wheels were off I replaced the oil seals and added a new fuel filter and air filter. The rest was just...

Polish it up a bunch and the cut will get filled with polish, adds character. The first ding is the one that hurts that most.

I plant trees to improve the diversity within my patch and try and get a leg up on nature.