Security & Theft Securing tractor from theft

[dmccarty]

There are a lot of hams on here that are not necessarily ham radio operators. Luckily they have day jobs and dont have to live off of their comedy routines.

Could you provide the names of the non HAM hams?



Later,
Dan

 

[greenbeanman in Kansas]

Punch cards, hm? But can he get the hanging chad Florida voting machines to work?

Not enough thread drift yet, but we're working on it.

 

[denmansoft]

I saw an interview where your election agency is still trying to figure what standards need to go into a specification to design a voting machine that will meet their needs. I'll be watching for more hanging chads in florida in 2012!
We could all sharpen up the cutting edge of our FEL's and trim those chads!

 

[Soundguy]

Our county used scantron type.. not punch type.

soundguy

 

[gemini5362]

We used an electronic voting machine that had a paper tape roll kind of like at the checkout stand in the supermarket. To me that is the best of both worlds the ease of electronic voting but a paper record just to make sure.

 

[patrick_g]

Could you provide the names of the non HAM hams?



Later,
Dan

Both of them?

 

[patrick_g]

N6AYR, (Always Yacking Radio)Tech call sign, general ticket. First lisc as KN5DBP (decibel Pat, which was funny as I was QRP and QRPP much of the time and never so much as 100W unless on someone else's rig.) Got KN5DBP while in Edmond, OK in 1962

First learned Morse code from my sisters girl scout handbook when in 1st or 2nd grade. Made a key from a board and some sheet metal (tin can) and nails and drove my mom crazy having her check the book to see if I got the letters right.

I have a new integrated tractor theft methodology under test. I shut the tractor off a few days ago and it will not attempt to start. It is parked near my garage, well within accurate pistol shot range but too close for a clear view in a rifle scope. Apparently one of the safety switches, it has three, may have malfunctioned.

I suspected the clutch switch that ensures the clutch is depressed or it will not crank but turned out I was wrong. That leaves the PTO switch and hydrostat pedal switch. The PTO lever is in the disengaged position but what about the switch it also activates? The hydrostat pedal is in center of travel (disengaged) but what about the switch on that which prevents starting the tractor with the pedal depressed?

As fate would have it the precise location of the tractor is a soupy mud puddle (isolated rain of over an inch just at the WRONG time) so I haven't crawled under it to check out the remaining two switches. (HINT: another tractor theft prevention strategy is to park it in soupy mud.)

I talked with my Kubota mech and he said there is a ground from the fuse box to the frame and although he doesn't understand why, if that connection is not good then intermittent safety switch action is likely.

Is there another anti-theft ploy in there somewhere? A secret switch to open the ground wire from the fuse box? An inline fuse holder in a wire required to pass current to let the engine crank (not the big wire to the starter from the battery) can have a known bad fuse in place or remove the good fuse to compound the thief's problem, assuming of course he isn't using a tilt back or a winch and ramps in which case the tractor is going bye bye irrespective of all the cute tricks in the world short of force of arms.

Pat

 

[gemini5362]

Pat is the battery on your tractor charged something tells me that you did not turn the key on and then manually engage the starter solenoid to see if it would start and if so then you could move it out of the mud hole to your garage and have a nicer place to work on it.

 

[patrick_g]

Pat is the battery on your tractor charged something tells me that you did not turn the key on and then manually engage the starter solenoid to see if it would start and if so then you could move it out of the mud hole to your garage and have a nicer place to work on it.

Right. I have more than enough other things to do so I haven't really concentrated on the tractor. I could start it by exceptional means. The battery is fairly new and well charged. Right now I don't have floor space to put it inside. the 10 ft wide opening ( I have the rollup door just need to assemble/install) into the new metal shop is blocked by over 30 4x8 sheets of fiber cement on a pair of 200 lb steel horses. The otherwise available center bay of the 3 car garage is the site of the welding trailer build which is stalled awaiting the air compressor (2 more days till delivery as it is in OKC now at Yellow Freight.)

Today is a lazy morning, lunch with my wife, and then this PM a trip to Ada Or Shawnee to buy vinyl siding for the wall I added to enclose the new metal/welding shop. I will get to the tractor in the next few days, most likely will "force" it to start, ignoring the safety switches as you suggest.

So many projects, so little time.

Pat

 

[gemini5362]

Right. I have more than enough other things to do so I haven't really concentrated on the tractor. I could start it by exceptional means. The battery is fairly new and well charged. Right now I don't have floor space to put it inside. the 10 ft wide opening ( I have the rollup door just need to assemble/install) into the new metal shop is blocked by over 30 4x8 sheets of fiber cement on a pair of 200 lb steel horses. The otherwise available center bay of the 3 car garage is the site of the welding trailer build which is stalled awaiting the air compressor (2 more days till delivery as it is in OKC now at Yellow Freight.)

Today is a lazy morning, lunch with my wife, and then this PM a trip to Ada Or Shawnee to buy vinyl siding for the wall I added to enclose the new metal/welding shop. I will get to the tractor in the next few days, most likely will "force" it to start, ignoring the safety switches as you suggest.

So many projects, so little time.

Pat

Um pat what about that 1 million square feet metal workshop with the overhead crane etc. dont you think that would be a better place to work on it than a mudhole ?

 

[Danno1]

.

Naw, the mudhole is the proper place to work on a tractor. The million sf shop is for waxing it!!!

.

 

[Danno1]

.

Just kidding!

.

 

[patrick_g]

Um pat what about that 1 million square feet metal workshop with the overhead crane etc. dont you think that would be a better place to work on it than a mudhole ?

My bucket has a hole in it...

Thomas, I haven't connected up the down spouts to PVC pipes to direct dew (CONSIDERABLE) and rain (over an inch) away from the bld. It took a week to dry out for the most part and is still wet around the edges due to dew. The backhoe guy will be here this morning to trench for the drain pipes and electrical from the pole to the well house which is inop since it got its power from the big red barn which has been moved.

I did the math. Wire is so expensive it will be cheaper in my lifetime to pay a separate monthly minimum rather than run wires to the well house and hay barn from my house. The backhoe guy will also trench from my new metal working shop to the moved red barn to power it up. I think I will bury a water line and maybe an air line too. Would only need a small flexible plastic air line with an accumulator tank in the red barn and I could air tires and blow off stuff.

I already have new wires buried from the well house to the hay barn in the trench I used for running a water line.

I tried out the welding trailer yesterday. It was pretty nice. I have lots of work left to do on it but the genny and AC/DC arc are mounted and functional. I have the compressor mounted as well so the plasma is ready to mount/use. I found a gate with a failed hinge while driving through a pasture so just pulled up and welded a repair... very sweet. I decided that plasma does not completely replace oxy-acetalene so I have bottles on board too in custom holders with big bolts to secure them.

Eventually I hope top have a cover for the trailer that will fold out of the way for equipment access but that will wait till I do a few more things like pigeon holes for a selection of welding rods.

Thanks for your suggestions. If I were triplets or maybe better, quints...I could do all these things in parallel instead of ad seriatim.

Pat

 

[Soundguy]

If you are only airing tires.. i think I'd drop a 80$ pancake compressor in there from the chinese store.. vs burrying an air line, if the place will have power.. etc.

soundguy

 

[Egon]

My bucket has a hole in it...

"And I might Drown" or something like that?

 

[patrick_g]

If you are only airing tires.. i think I'd drop a 80$ pancake compressor in there from the chinese store.. vs burying an air line, if the place will have power.. etc.

soundguy

I have a failed portable compressor with a good 30 gal tank. I thought I might bury a small airline (inexpensive flex plastic) from my metal/welding shop to the barn. Cheaper than a HF pancake and hopefully more reliable. I don't know what all the air might be used for but a 30 gal buffer that is automatically filled when shop air is switched on would meet most needs. If I need more serious air volume of delivery for extended periods I can get it from the compressor mounted on my welding trailer which will probably be housed in the barn. That compressor supplies over 10 CFM @90 PSI.

I was just thinking of a way to use the 30 gal tank and a cheap run of plastic seemed like one. I have to trench anyway to run electricity.

I'll keep your suggestion in mind... who knows? Right now I'm thinking another compressor is something else mechanical to fail. Maybe my thinking is distorted as one of my DeWalt chop saws just died and 2 out of 3 of my 4 1/2 inch angle grinders. DeWalt says they are throw away, too expensive to repair compared to buying new. I wish I had bought Rigid instead of DeWalt's Chinese junk. At least you can get a decent warranty.

Oh, by the way. Two of my 4 1/2 inch angle grinders are identical in every respect except the color of the plastic housing and the brand sticker. Reminds me of Johnson and Evenrude.

Pat

 

[woodlandfarms]

I'll keep your suggestion in mind... who knows? Right now I'm thinking another compressor is something else mechanical to fail. Maybe my thinking is distorted as one of my DeWalt chop saws just died and 2 out of 3 of my 4 1/2 inch angle grinders. DeWalt says they are throw away, too expensive to repair compared to buying new. I wish I had bought Rigid instead of DeWalt's Chinese junk. At least you can get a decent warranty.

Oh, by the way. Two of my 4 1/2 inch angle grinders are identical in every respect except the color of the plastic housing and the brand sticker. Reminds me of Johnson and Evenrude.

Pat

Dewalt got bought up a couple of years ago by Black and Decker. So sad to see a good tool go bad. I just hate all my Dewalt tools now. Overpriced and they break constantly.

 

[slaveToHorses]

Dewalt got bought up a couple of years ago by Black and Decker. So sad to see a good tool go bad. I just hate all my Dewalt tools now. Overpriced and they break constantly.

I thought they were the same. We have a B&D service center here and they have serviced DeWalt stuff for a long time and nothing else (except Elu which was bought by B&D).

I have a Makita power miter that I purchased new in college in the late 70's. It is still running amazingly strong and it sits out in a dirt floor equipment shed. I think it will out last me! So when I decided to step up to a 12" sliding compound saw, I got another Makita. I kept the old one and use it to cut branches for kindling. Brutal work but it just loves to cut things

 

[gemini5362]

My bucket has a hole in it...

Thomas, I haven't connected up the down spouts to PVC pipes to direct dew (CONSIDERABLE) and rain (over an inch) away from the bld. It took a week to dry out for the most part and is still wet around the edges due to dew. The backhoe guy will be here this morning to trench for the drain pipes and electrical from the pole to the well house which is inop since it got its power from the big red barn which has been moved.

I did the math. Wire is so expensive it will be cheaper in my lifetime to pay a separate monthly minimum rather than run wires to the well house and hay barn from my house. The backhoe guy will also trench from my new metal working shop to the moved red barn to power it up. I think I will bury a water line and maybe an air line too. Would only need a small flexible plastic air line with an accumulator tank in the red barn and I could air tires and blow off stuff.

I already have new wires buried from the well house to the hay barn in the trench I used for running a water line.

I tried out the welding trailer yesterday. It was pretty nice. I have lots of work left to do on it but the genny and AC/DC arc are mounted and functional. I have the compressor mounted as well so the plasma is ready to mount/use. I found a gate with a failed hinge while driving through a pasture so just pulled up and welded a repair... very sweet. I decided that plasma does not completely replace oxy-acetalene so I have bottles on board too in custom holders with big bolts to secure them.

Eventually I hope top have a cover for the trailer that will fold out of the way for equipment access but that will wait till I do a few more things like pigeon holes for a selection of welding rods.

Thanks for your suggestions. If I were triplets or maybe better, quints...I could do all these things in parallel instead of ad seriatim.

Pat[/QUOTE

Red barn got moved. Is that the big metal building you have been talking about having moved did you finally get that done. We all want the complete story of how you did it. Last I heard you were waiting for some help to prepare it for the big move ?

 

[jake98]

Dewalt got bought up a couple of years ago by Black and Decker. So sad to see a good tool go bad. I just hate all my Dewalt tools now. Overpriced and they break constantly.

Used to string cables thru the trees to the DeWalt. Cut (2) 2x10' for headers and it didn't know it was working.. 1 nail in the end of 20'er's.
I think I weighed in at about 150 then... "Need some short studs?"
Framing w/2 16's instead of 4/8's... still have the chip in my tooth from a wayward 16.

Jake