Hi from Queensland, Australia.

[Outinstickssnafu]

I have lurked as a guest from time to time over the last few years when time has permitted, but finally needed to ask for some info (clarify some links.)

I've been involved in agriculture most of my life. Grew up around machinery being fixed, so it wasn't uncommon for me in my younger days to be on hand. I used to have quite a collection of tractor manuals ... and moving to pdfs I'd often help out other people locate a service manual or other data for their machinery. The last 16 years were mostly lost to unfortunate health situations, I won't bore anyone with the details but enough to say had I just sold everything I owned and moved well away from the family farm, I'd have probably recovered within a couple of years.

This year I'm determined to set things so I can have the time and energy to get back to what I used to do. ATM I'm a bit rusty and it's now a distant memory to spend half the year endlessly servicing tractors and machinery. Yes even 25 years ago I knew it was odd how I was so "unlucky" when it came to breakage and other machinery issues. I'm not hard on gear, it's just things like carborundum dust in the bulk grease tin for some weird "prank" really doesn't do much good.

-- OISS.

 

[Thomas]

Welcome to TBN OISS...enjoy.

 

[Wagtail]

G'day Cobber and welcome to TBN from Tassie.

Enjoy the site.

 

[3Ts]

Welcome. Australia is a very nice country or the part of it I've seen anyway. Would love to visit again. We were at the Opera House in Sydney, Alice Springs, and Coober Peedy during the opal show. Not nearly enough time. We're hoping travel restrictions return to "normal" before we can no longer travel. Wife would like to visit New Zealand again.

That "dust" doesn't sound like a prank, more like vandalism.

 

[Torvy]

Welcome. Rugby Union, League or Aussie Rules?

 

[Outinstickssnafu]

Thanks, planning to enjoy time here.

3ts -- Air flights into the country are open, and the bottom end of Queensland has a brand new purpose built facility for those who opted or couldn't partake in certain vaccinations.

The floating hotels that shrugged in 2020, well they're not welcome back yet at the moment, maybe after they shape up a little and start shooting straighter.

Whitsunday and central Queensland region at the moment is enjoying nice weather but it's probably just a late start to the wet season. However there's only so many beaches one can look at before it all starts to look the same or so many bush trails through national parks before it gets a bit old, but maybe that's just me.

Yeah - "prank" would be polite for what's going on, I could fill a book with things tried and no doubt I have missed many that had a human hand and not normal wear and tear. Yeah the grease affair I think I was lucky not to have greased anything but offset bearings over a singular day, one new self aligning ball type which went from new to dead over 10 acres of use. I was thinking rubbish bearing but I happened to refill the grease gun from the bulk filler and noticed some bad grit as I primed the gun. I was just fortunate, it could have been so much more, I don't over grease machinery like some do, so hadn't serviced the tractor or anything else ... just the pure luck of it. It was long ago I think I heated that half a 5 gal tin up in hopes of saving some of it with the grit sinking but in the end I just used it to coat some exposed steel things here and there. I've caught one serious attempt by complete accident, I was ready to dismiss on some strange hydraulic oil filter issue causing sudden cavitation from a few mins after startup in my JD that day, I was already travelling to do a job so a couple of hours later I parked up to investigate. The next day it was only for heating oil to drive water off ... at 80 C (about 180F) it boiled like mad for quite some time and not at all normal ... the penny dropped why there was cavitation. Some of it's gaslighting nonsense, but much of the mischief is puerile meanness. There's more than one individual culprit, though it wouldn't surprise me if many have been spurred on to "have a go" like it's some sort of sport.

It's sad and I found out years ago I'm not the only one suffering such idiocy - bloke the valley over I worked for also had stories of "funny bug-ers" being creative around his machinery.

I'd publish a list of the few things that come to mind off the top of my head, but I DON'T want to give any idiots looking around the web for something to do ideas.

This year should be where I'll set up permanently sadly away from mains power, but at least to a part of the property I can secure, no one allowed unless invited -- no exceptions, no excuses. I have a fencing project shortly, but ultimately working towards a thick hedge as a deterrent -- along with a good camera security system. Whether I get there in the end depends on who my main instigator is ... lippity flapper (Puppet Master younger brother) has found ways to influence / talk the logic and common sense right out of people.

Sport, none really. I used to watch aussie rules in my very young days but tractors are way more interesting.

 

[Mrsig]

and enjoy the forum!

 

[TBN Support]

Welcome to the forum! We're happy to have you here.

 

[RalphVa]

Welcome. Been your way a couple of times.

 

[bullbreaker]

Yes big welcome also from sw Fla USA ,,, are Brumby's a common site in your neck of the woods ? I knowtice some people spell it Brumbie. I always thought it`s spelled Brumby , please correct me if I' am wrong .
Also never forget "the Legend " one tough hombre Troy Dunn ! ......

 

[Outinstickssnafu]

I've only known it as - brumby - and no, there aren't or haven't been any feral horses apart from what breed on a large properties.

I have run into a few of the crazy bulls back in the day though, not far if I've got the right Dunn, from his parents farm. An ex pat American had a few cattle go totally feral in difficult to access terrain, what breed not helped by shifty characters sneaking up from the back end probably though the national state forest to clean out cattle of the more placid temperament. I to date haven't seen anything near as crazy. I recall a horse agent calling in there (as the guy had a large area also had horses that breed) looking for bucking bull material ... all of half a minute till there was a pained pale look on his face, eh no he'd arrived to take a couple but no, no thanks just too wild. The yards out of interest where built using yard sides that were three big blue gum stacked on top of each other with a small gap but not enough for a person to squeeze though. A bit over 3 meters high iirc and some section of his yards were higher.

(quick edit of clarity and a typo and a second for another silly spelling pail ... I can't blame auto correct. )

 

[Anakist]

Welcome mate! Nice to see someone from my neck of the woods! I am just down the road a bit in Rocky.

James

 

[Outinstickssnafu]

Hi there James. Spent a few months down Rocky as a lad and found it to be a nice place to be, friendly people who waved like it was second nature. (As opposed to a couple of other places in those days.) Passed though a few years back closer to 20 years at night and the suburbs seemed to start at the Yeppoon turn off. If you ever heard a too hard to believe story of some idiot towing a Thames Trader cattle truck north with a ford telstar ... it's true, that was me sorting out the Ol'man's second hand old truck he bought ... what could possibly go wrong.

 

[kenmbz]

Welcome to TBN, we always appreciate pictures and hope your health issues are in the past.

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

G'day Mate....
Greetings from far north west Canada...

I have a group in OZ I communicate with.. My Sweetie has a pen pal in Brisbane who both belong to an organization that reshelves discard library books.. This called Book Crossing..

So I am learning bits of a new language.. Candian English, southern red neck from my cousins along the US Gulf Coast, and a bit of Australian... Enjoy... eh...