Off season projects

[sea2summit]

Rebuilds or major projects you say?

He said “you want it? It’s yours”. Figured I couldn’t go wrong…

5x4 bales so not gonna be real marketable but should be okay.

After much consternation I finally got her cracked open and pulled about 400# of pack rat nest out to confirm just about all the belts are bad and none of the bearings would move.

Needed a sign so hot wired this thingy and it goes in and out so the baler must be worth it right

My kingdom for a press.

One down that was a test to see if it was the right one…six more RO go just for the bottom rollers

This one is kicking my butt. It looks all beat up now. Using a 8# sledge and a chicken pin doesn’t seem to be moving it so it’s soaking, probably end up finding a torch to borrow.

Kind of making it work out of principle now. Gonna be a money put but if I can get it together and bale this summer maybe I can sell it as a “field ready” baler next year.

 

[Hay Dude]

If nothing, you will get quite a mechanical education on round balers

 

[LHF2019]

With snow pack gone. Getting back out into pastures doing weed control.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Still six inches of snow on the ground here and when thigs have melted a bit it just turns everything to mud in a hurry. Pretty much house bound until the frost comes out of the ground and things firm up. Then it's road grading, fence building, gravel covering season until it gets too hot to work past noon.

 

[jyoutz]

Another 6” of snow last night and single digits to teens temperatures; (not complaining - we need the moisture). But I’m getting cabin fever. Don’t feel like spending time in an unheated shop. I’m going to look into one of those propane heaters. Any recommendations? I can’t heat the entire barn, but maybe seeking to warm up a small work area.

 

[Hay Dude]

With snow pack gone. Getting back out into pastures doing weed control.

Pull that multi flora rose out by the roots.
When I cut them with WW and saw blade, they just come right back!

 

[jyoutz]

Pull that multi flora rose out by the roots.
When I cut them with WW and saw blade, they just come right back!

Or cut them and paint the stubs with 2-4-D.

 

[Root Cause]

Making a list of things I have to buy this year. Trying to figure out what will go up the most in price vs. how much room I can store stuff until house is built. No doubt I will guess wrong.

 

[BnRidge]

acres of rotten onions that have been disked up and left

Brings back memories of getting the tractor and plow "stuck in onions". Time to get out they're tracked tractor. There was a 3k acre muck farm near us that grew carrots, onions, tatoes, sweetcorn, mint. We would farm the perimeter of the marsh, which made for great corn and beans, but some parts were also their overflow ground for defects/rejects.

 

[LHF2019]

Pull that multi flora rose out by the roots.
When I cut them with WW and saw blade, they just come right back!

Cattle for the most part keep it controlled now. They eat the young growth and strip the leaves off. Just need to get it to ground level.

 

[Hay Dude]

Just cut another 50-60 acres. Really sad job. So much perfectly beautiful mulch hay could be made here, but customer will not allow. Weather was perfect. All of the standing material was bone dry and could be baled the next day. Probably 50 tons in this field alone.

 

[EddieWalker]

Do they just want it to lay there and rot?

 

[sea2summit]

Do they just want it to lay there and rot?

Bet it's a utility contract not a private owner.

 

[Hay Dude]

It’s a piece of conservancy land. It was cut for hay 20 years ago. Now it’s only allowed to be mowed, and must be mowed between Feb-15 and April-1.
All spring, summer and fall it grows as thick as lead, but I am not allowed to hay it.
They have walking trails cut through it with a zero turn mower.

 

[LHF2019]

Getting field edge cleaned up. Now time for the next level

 

[sea2summit]

Not much I hate more than wrestling tires onto rims…but got two done.

Never seen a stub axle retaining bolt broken, not sure how you do that. Ohh well, decided to replace both and upgrade to nyloc nuts.

Got the hubs all repacked and baby got new shoes! What a difference that makes in feeling like it might actually make hay.

My plan was to only replace about half the top belts but after a closer look…well it was a bad day.

Enough to make a grown man cry.

But I uncovered some of that patina people keep wanting for yard art.

Pretty scabby but a 40 grit wheel cleaned it up enough for some rattle can to protect it until it gets used and all the paint cleaned off again.

More bad news is that seems to be the only roller on the upper half with good bearings. So pulled most of the rest of the rollers out. Can I start a “go fund me”?

 

[Hay Dude]

Not much I hate more than wrestling tires onto rims…but got two done.
View attachment 736352
Never seen a stub axle retaining bolt broken, not sure how you do that. Ohh well, decided to replace both and upgrade to nyloc nuts.
View attachment 736353
Got the hubs all repacked and baby got new shoes! What a difference that makes in feeling like it might actually make hay.
View attachment 736354
My plan was to only replace about half the top belts but after a closer look…well it was a bad day.
View attachment 736355
Enough to make a grown man cry.
View attachment 736356
But I uncovered some of that patina people keep wanting for yard art.
View attachment 736357Pretty scabby but a 40 grit wheel cleaned it up enough for some rattle can to protect it until it gets used and all the paint cleaned off again.View attachment 736358
More bad news is that seems to be the only roller on the upper half with good bearings. So pulled most of the rest of the rollers out. Can I start a “go fund me”?
View attachment 736364

You can start a ”go fund me”, just be careful they don’t take your “funds” and give them to someone else

 

[sea2summit]

So opinions needed. Looks like this thing was manufactured before '85, gear box feels tight but next thing I can afford to do is change that oil. Should I crack it open and inspect or leave it as is and just flush with some seafoam or something and fill it back up?

 

[Hay Dude]

How longs it been settin

 

[sea2summit]

No clue. Guy died at 100 "several years ago", not sure when he last baled. Son in law gave it to me because they were cleaning up the land to sell to a developer and needed stuff gone.