Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Used the fine china .
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we grilled last nite, too!

sides:

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

No, I completely get your POV. But, although I'm mostly retired, I do still have a snow removal business that in the Winter uses trucks, skids and sometimes wheel loaders. . The 74HP machine would actually be a little small for the commercial work that I do, but it could work.

i see your point!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Roger that. Yes thats why we went with a svl75 over the 90 when our 85hp NH skid went the way of the dodo bird. Just to stay away from the def system, sad part was it did not have the grunt for road milling the old NH had. Give and take.
Now plowing with a tractor I can tell you a few things. Yes those expensive nokian tires are so worth it if your on the road/pavement a lot. And a rear blower is worth its weight in gold sometimes. If blower isn't needed deffinatly add extra weight. I got to run quite the compilation of equipment plowing roads and really the tractor was quite nice if set up correctly.
I totally agree with hydro vs pto equipment. Another reason I decided for a tractor vs a skid steer. I could have picked up a little gehl for $4k but between tearing up the yard, poor rear visibility, no ground clearance and owning a good bit of 3pt equipment the tractor was the natural choice.

i snow pix, snow scenes... (snow ski- Expert) but not sure i would like to have to dig out of a driveway... snow storm after snow storm! the QB is from just E of the Great Lakes... and i have heard some stories... of course, mountain passes are in a class by themselves....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Guess I never hit "post reply".
Been working on the mower deck today, first batch of parts in the shopping cart, maybe more bearings for the other spindle, should know in a bit. The bearings are pretty cheap.
This is the top on on the right side spindle, the bottom was still very tight, looks like condensation or water coming in got it. You can see the cage is gone at 9:30.
Dust cover was missing on this one, and the center dust cover was worn thru a little so I dropped those in the cart too.
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now i don't feel so bad.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Are there grease fittings on the spindle body? If so you may want to leave the seals off the bearings on the fitting side so you can actually grease them. I've personally seen, and read about, spindles with grease fittings that also had seals on the bearings so no grease could make it's way into the bearings...

my dealer told me some time back... the zerk was to keep moisture out of inside of spindle. rust. i would rather see an easier way to take pulleys off and spindles out and apart....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Morning all, and bearing replacers.

they say the world runs on oil... heck, i say it runs on bearings... lol

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Morning Sir.When I looked at the post above last night with the parts on it, I realized I forgot to order the part I needed the most, the bearings

. Sure glad I posted that picture, or I would have been upset with myself for sure when "everything" came. I was able to call it in earlier this morning and they added it to the order, it's already in the shipping system now

.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Think about it like this... once it's full of grease it only takes a few pumps to keep after it. The amount of grease the cavity holds shouldn't bother you too much, just means it's getting slung around in there and the bearings shouldn't run dry.

Why would it cause excessive heat and rob power? If your rebuilding it you should be using bearings that are sealed on one side only, and as grease heats up it becomes thinner. The "sealed" bearing in greasable spindles are typically actually shielded bearing. They will accept grease, there are also "sealed" bearings that have small holes in the race so grease can be pumped into them. You can't go nuts with the grease, but they are made to be greased.
This was a big argument years ago when cub cadet went to "sealed" bearing" hubs for the C series of mower decks, they still had grease zerks. They were shielded bearings, a pump of grease or two every other mowing kept them in good repair, anymore and you would blow out one of the "seals" if you didn't grease them at all they didn't last more then a few years. I've been greasing the "sealed" units in my 44C since I got it 14 years ago, and just developed a noisy bearing in it recently. Sad part is they are not serviceable and I'll most likely have to buy a new hub, but the new hubs have tapered roller bearings. So it will be all good after that.

well greased off the zerk... the spindle shaft in grease column ought to run like a, pardon the pun... greased pig!!!!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Sure, but that's a lot of grease, and it's a poor design. If not, why did the top bearing go out, and not the bottom, it was full of grease. I may just fill it up as much as possible with grease out of a tub, then before I replace the top grease seal and install the pulley, to top it off with a grease gun. It's just such a waste of grease, less than a 100th of this amount of grease would be enough to make the bearings last a very long time.
It's funny how little grease on a sealed Timken bearing will give a couple hundred thousand miles of use, but many others won't last half that, and many of the Chinesium ones you may be lucky to get 200 miles out of.
When you pull a bearing apart there I such a minute amount of grease actually on them, even on one that is still in good condition.
I actually like the sealed hubs on a semi, always have oil on them(unless they are sitting, which can be a problem if sitting too long).

that's the crux of it! grease it, but none goes to bearing! i just quit and said it one day... so much for that. just greased all the other zerks, like those floating belt tensioners...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

What does one do when it's 13°C (that's 55°F for those who don't habla metric) with a stiff breeze? Why one fills another "wheelbarrow" load of firewood. Son number one helped me stack the last facecord and a half after work. Felt so good after a coffee and some meatloaf that I went and filled the trailer again.
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that's what H-R does....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I thought about something like that, but then how would I grease them both. Got a bit done today on the trailer project.

looking good chipper. seems it is going together like greased lightning...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

It's been a week or so since I've seen temps in the 50's...and that was the low at night lol. It's been in the upper 80s/lower 90s at my place and that's up in the mountains...so I've been saying "screw this" and have spent my free time further up in the mountains. Today's mtb ride barely just hit 80...although I had to go to 9k' elevation to get there...and I even got a little swim in ice melt runoff after the ride.ATM, I'm not running a saw or doing anything tree/wood related unless someone's paying me.
God's country, only a short drive away:
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nice!

i am just here for the pix!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Man, you guys are all more motivated than I am! I didn't cut today (again), instead I worked on moving some stuff from my shop to my barn, organizing my shop, drank a few beers, and flew the drone for a bit. I really need to get busy with the firewood though, or else it will be November and I won't have enough! It's just so hard for me to cut when it's 62ish degrees and beautiful out, but the misquotes are still so damn bad! I'd selfishly love for it to hit 30 degrees twice a week in the evenings to kill all of those little bastards, but that would also kill the wife's garden, so that doesn't work. Anyway, a few still shots that I took when flying the drone today and having a few beers in the shop.


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no close neighbors!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Nice place! I've found 2 stroke exhaust is a pretty good mosquito repellent!

wondering... did u buy it as such, or was that wilderness-like land unimproved. i like the lake in the background... is that shoreline property yours, too?

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Thank you. It's far from perfect, but it IS perfect for me. My little 40 acres of paradise.

lot of greenery! pine trees? i got pine trees here in the big city. dealing with them currently...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

got in a lil on-site scrounge yesterday. been down a week...


finally got off my

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Another storage increase. With the current winters here I only burn 1~2 full cords, unlike most of youse guys in colder climates. The most was 5 cords one winter back in the 80's.
With only a small electric splitter, I decided to keep 1 row open for extra room because it was handy to split on the slab with a close 20 amp outlet and easy cleanup. Now that I have a gas splitter I filled that open row which is about 1/2 cord. The other 3 rows are arborist cuts which range from 12 to 16". Anything over 16" I cut into cookies.

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nice pix! nice stack! nice job considering small elec splitter!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

It's a never ending battle lol.
I still have the load of red oak sitting on my trailer, sure I'll get it off there soon, I want to sell that trailer lol.

tell me about it....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

It doesn't get cold in MD? You're purdy fir North. Too clean of a storage. Must be photo shopped.
Seriously, I like your setup. I wish all mine could be on concrete.

I still have a load of Walnut down by the stacks from last year and a load of W. Oak there too waiting to be split.

has to be! too perfect....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Bought and put together some bar stools for my shop.View attachment 999469

man!!! a shop with a bar! wonder if chipper's new barn's saw shop will have a bar in it, too!?? other than ones that fit the saws....