Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Lionsfan]

Tractor rides are great fun. How long was this one? I was on the 15th and 20th Great Iowa Tractor rides, and a few others. There are 2 days of about 200 miles and Sunday is 120 to 150 miles. The Titan/Big Show Tractor Ride rear tires are great. If you have to buy rears, I highly recommend them. I'd like to organize a tractor ride in N WI/ MI U.P.

Have you considered coming to the Mackinaw Bridge antique tractor crossing? I believe there will be over 1,400 of them this year. The starting point for the crossing is right in front of our shop, so we're usually blocked in for a while waiting for them to come through.

 

[benz66]

This one was about 40 miles. Started at 10 and we were back around 4 with an hour lunch stop. A lot of the route was gravel which is nicer to the rubber, but the tires on our stuff are so old and hard the pavement does not mess with them as bad. I have seen those rears and thought they looked interesting, we use ours for farm work too so not sure how those ride tires would do out in the field, probably have to have them on a separate set of rims

I've been pulling leaners and skidding logs with mine. (Farmall H). I see no difference between tractor ride tires and a regular 23º lug tire in the dirt. With only 25 HP, the will sometimes hold until the engine stalls or the clutch slips. With the new clutch, that will not slip anymore. In some conditions, they will spin. Certainly for normal plowing or other field work you would not notice any difference.

Titan tire surely has data on this. Scott is the

Have you considered coming to the Mackinaw Bridge antique tractor crossing? I believe there will be over 1,400 of them this year. The starting point for the crossing is right in front of our shop, so we're usually blocked in for a while waiting for them to come through.

Yes! But you have to be a member of a club and I think that club has to be there with more than one tractor. I have no way to haul the tractor. To hire a trucking co is cost prohibitive. I have looked into driving the tractor up and back. That would take probably 3 days before and 2 days after unless I stayed around to enjoy the area.. A week without rain is unlikely, so I'd probably need to plan in a motel stop each night. If I had a little camping trailer I could pull that might be helpful. With the weak clutch and leaky radiator, I was reluctant to start out in prior years. That was the reason to change the clutch this year. I was planning to try for 2025, but now the rest of the family is planning a major trip, so 2025 is out. 2026, I hope!

I misplaced the card for Scott at Titan Tire. I want to see if Titan might help sponsor such a trip. I've never tried to have any sponsor for anything. Even driving up and back is a pretty serious cost and would take 3-4 months of my "disposable income." I would absolutely love to drive up, across the bridge, and hang out for a while, then drive the tractor home. The most direct route (Hwy2) is 265 miles. I'd prefer back roads, but i'm not sure how many are practical. At least Hwy 2 has wide shoulders. So I am figuring on 300 miles each way. There is a club in Iron River who did the ride once. I was hoping to get them to be the sponsoring club for me. I've driven the tractor up to about 100 miles to the start/end of the Great Iowa Tractor Rides, But I have not attempted to do a 300 mile cross country trip.

Total miles is about the same as when I drove an extra 200 miles to and from the Great Iowa Tractor Ride, but most of that is with the support of a group and a truck and trailer for any breakdown. This trip is almost entirely unsupported. But I am confident Yoopers would stop to help if there was a problem.

But If I ever get there, I will stop in to say HI! We almost came there for a Switchback concert a few days ago, but that trip lost out to one we need to make to Iowa.

 

[sean donato]

I've been pulling leaners and skidding logs with mine. (Farmall H). I see no difference between tractor ride tires and a regular 23º lug tire in the dirt. With only 25 HP, the will sometimes hold until the engine stalls or the clutch slips. With the new clutch, that will not slip anymore. In some conditions, they will spin. Certainly for normal plowing or other field work you would not notice any difference.

Titan tire surely has data on this. Scott is the


Yes! But you have to be a member of a club and I think that club has to be there with more than one tractor. I have no way to haul the tractor. To hire a trucking co is cost prohibitive. I have looked into driving the tractor up and back. That would take probably 3 days before and 2 days after unless I stayed around to enjoy the area.. A week without rain is unlikely, so I'd probably need to plan in a motel stop each night. If I had a little camping trailer I could pull that might be helpful. With the weak clutch and leaky radiator, I was reluctant to start out in prior years. That was the reason to change the clutch this year. I was planning to try for 2025, but now the rest of the family is planning a major trip, so 2025 is out. 2026, I hope!

I misplaced the card for Scott at Titan Tire. I want to see if Titan might help sponsor such a trip. I've never tried to have any sponsor for anything. Even driving up and back is a pretty serious cost and would take 3-4 months of my "disposable income." I would absolutely love to drive up, across the bridge, and hang out for a while, then drive the tractor home. The most direct route (Hwy2) is 265 miles. I'd prefer back roads, but i'm not sure how many are practical. At least Hwy 2 has wide shoulders. So I am figuring on 300 miles each way. There is a club in Iron River who did the ride once. I was hoping to get them to be the sponsoring club for me. I've driven the tractor up to about 100 miles to the start/end of the Great Iowa Tractor Rides, But I have not attempted to do a 300 mile cross country trip.

Total miles is about the same as when I drove an extra 200 miles to and from the Great Iowa Tractor Ride, but most of that is with the support of a group and a truck and trailer for any breakdown. This trip is almost entirely unsupported. But I am confident Yoopers would stop to help if there was a problem.

But If I ever get there, I will stop in to say HI! We almost came there for a Switchback concert a few days ago, but that trip lost out to one we need to make to Iowa.

Years ago now, when my wife was in college she was in a wreak and it was cheaper to run her dad's spare car out and rent a u haul truck and trailer to haul it back home. (Even though I usually drove my truck out anyway.) I'd seriously look into that before driving a tractor that far.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Work? That looks like fun!!
Your toys/tools make it look like an easy job
Good tools make it go smoothly

Trust me, it's a lot of work and after a while it's just a job. lol

Today, I cut and moved a lot of brush and logs. The pallet forks really work great for moving it all.

SR

 

[Lionsfan]

I've been pulling leaners and skidding logs with mine. (Farmall H). I see no difference between tractor ride tires and a regular 23º lug tire in the dirt. With only 25 HP, the will sometimes hold until the engine stalls or the clutch slips. With the new clutch, that will not slip anymore. In some conditions, they will spin. Certainly for normal plowing or other field work you would not notice any difference.

Titan tire surely has data on this. Scott is the


Yes! But you have to be a member of a club and I think that club has to be there with more than one tractor. I have no way to haul the tractor. To hire a trucking co is cost prohibitive. I have looked into driving the tractor up and back. That would take probably 3 days before and 2 days after unless I stayed around to enjoy the area.. A week without rain is unlikely, so I'd probably need to plan in a motel stop each night. If I had a little camping trailer I could pull that might be helpful. With the weak clutch and leaky radiator, I was reluctant to start out in prior years. That was the reason to change the clutch this year. I was planning to try for 2025, but now the rest of the family is planning a major trip, so 2025 is out. 2026, I hope!

I misplaced the card for Scott at Titan Tire. I want to see if Titan might help sponsor such a trip. I've never tried to have any sponsor for anything. Even driving up and back is a pretty serious cost and would take 3-4 months of my "disposable income." I would absolutely love to drive up, across the bridge, and hang out for a while, then drive the tractor home. The most direct route (Hwy2) is 265 miles. I'd prefer back roads, but i'm not sure how many are practical. At least Hwy 2 has wide shoulders. So I am figuring on 300 miles each way. There is a club in Iron River who did the ride once. I was hoping to get them to be the sponsoring club for me. I've driven the tractor up to about 100 miles to the start/end of the Great Iowa Tractor Rides, But I have not attempted to do a 300 mile cross country trip.

Total miles is about the same as when I drove an extra 200 miles to and from the Great Iowa Tractor Ride, but most of that is with the support of a group and a truck and trailer for any breakdown. This trip is almost entirely unsupported. But I am confident Yoopers would stop to help if there was a problem.

But If I ever get there, I will stop in to say HI! We almost came there for a Switchback concert a few days ago, but that trip lost out to one we need to make to Iowa.

I've driven every reasonable route through the U.P and across the northern half of Wisconsin that would be feasible. Every one of them would be an awful long trip on an old farm tractor to say the least, and a breakdown could turn into a real mofo in short order.

 

[Philbert]

Minnesota State Fair today!

No STIHL booth! They normally have a big display trailer, regional reps, a chainsaw carver, etc.

Greenworks has a large line of commercial, battery-powered equipment!




Philbert

 

[SS396driver]

Pulled the heads today was going to do the valve guid seals with the heads on but decided to do them and a valve job intakes are really gummed up .

No scoring or even the hint of a ridge on the walls
The carbon came off easily with a mixture of acetone and trans fluid and a plastic brush

.040 over so it’s a 355 ci

Grandson is getting good at tig welding he’s apprenticing for the summer at a welding shop

 

[H-Ranch]

Walked over to Lowe's from the tire shop while they were replacing TPM sensors on the truck. Picked up a few things for $36, but with a savings of $76. These insulated rubberized gloves were marked on clearance for $6.XX from $13.XX, but rang up at $3.52. So... I went back and scrounged all 5 pair of XL's. I use a similar glove for filling the OWB when there is rain or wet snow, but one thumb has a hole in it that I've patched twice. I should be good for awhile now.

 

[MechanicMatt]

Pulled the heads today was going to do the valve guid seals with the heads on but decided to do them and a valve job intakes are really gummed up .
View attachment 1199521
No scoring or even the hint of a ridge on the walls View attachment 1199522
The carbon came off easily with a mixture of acetone and trans fluid and a plastic brush
View attachment 1199523View attachment 1199524
.040 over so it’s a 355 ci View attachment 1199525

Grandson is getting good at tig welding he’s apprenticing for the summer at a welding shop
View attachment 1199526View attachment 1199527

Love that he’s learning a valuable trade. Too few young guys seem to care or have the aptitude

Head are gonna roll on the younger crowd that works for me, had to deal with three upset customers today from “the kids” screw ups. Two of them didn’t bother to rotate tires that customers paid for. Easy enough to refund the whole maintenance (oil change and rotate) and the third did a state inspection and missed something VERY significant.

Going to have to explain the facts of life and a term called “theft of service” the them, if someone pays for a service and you don’t provide it, it’s STEALING

My General Manager has a saying, “hardest thing to do is make money through other people”

Gonna fire at least two of them tomorrow….

We’ll see what the third’s excuse is!!!

But Mark, keep encouraging him and praising his good work

The world DESPERATELY needs more young men getting into the trades

 

[svk]

Minnesota State Fair today!

No STIHL booth! They normally have a big display trailer, regional reps, a chainsaw carver, etc.

Greenworks has a large line of commercial, battery-powered equipment!

View attachment 1199519
View attachment 1199520

Philbert

Times they are a-changing. Obviously I’m a husky guy, but I respected Stihl for their strong dealer network back in the day. Unfortunately, they abandoned that to try to push things through big dealerships.

Love that he’s learning a valuable trade. Too few young guys seem to care or have the aptitude

Head are gonna roll on the younger crowd that works for me, had to deal with three upset customers today from “the kids” screw ups. Two of them didn’t bother to rotate tires that customers paid for. Easy enough to refund the whole maintenance (oil change and rotate) and the third did a state inspection and missed something VERY significant.

Going to have to explain the facts of life and a term called “theft of service” the them, if someone pays for a service and you don’t provide it, it’s STEALING

My General Manager has a saying, “hardest thing to do is make money through other people”

Gonna fire at least two of them tomorrow….

We’ll see what the third’s excuse is!!!

But Mark, keep encouraging him and praising his good work

The world DESPERATELY needs more young men getting into the trades

If you’re firing them, I’m guessing this is not the first come to “hay-Zeus” that you’ve had with them.

I don’t know how people can do that… Do they not know, do they not care, or are they doing it on purpose? Regardless, glad to hear that you’re taking the right route.

 

[sean donato]

See those issues everyday here at work. Just lazy and don't care. Shouldn't have been coddled so much as a kid and some more responsibilities thrown on them. Heck it's not just the kids, even the 30 something guys my age are a bunch of lazy loosers just here for a pay check. Management isn't any better, if you're one of the "buddies" then you can do whatever. Can't manage their way out of a wet paper sack. Were truly screwed if things don't change.

 

[EchovsStihl63]

I've been pulling leaners and skidding logs with mine. (Farmall H). I see no difference between tractor ride tires and a regular 23º lug tire in the dirt. With only 25 HP, the will sometimes hold until the engine stalls or the clutch slips. With the new clutch, that will not slip anymore. In some conditions, they will spin. Certainly for normal plowing or other field work you would not notice any difference.

Titan tire surely has data on this. Scott is the

If I ever buy new I will definitely look into them, good to know that they still function as I figured they would not. Those DCs will spin regular R1s if there is no added weight either with hang ons or fluid, I think they are around 45hp. I pulled some logs with the 50 last year and was constantly on the brake on the one tire that was not fluid filled to keep it from spinning, even with a 150lb hang on weight.

 

[SS396driver]

Love that he’s learning a valuable trade. Too few young guys seem to care or have the aptitude

Head are gonna roll on the younger crowd that works for me, had to deal with three upset customers today from “the kids” screw ups. Two of them didn’t bother to rotate tires that customers paid for. Easy enough to refund the whole maintenance (oil change and rotate) and the third did a state inspection and missed something VERY significant.

Going to have to explain the facts of life and a term called “theft of service” the them, if someone pays for a service and you don’t provide it, it’s STEALING

My General Manager has a saying, “hardest thing to do is make money through other people”

Gonna fire at least two of them tomorrow….

We’ll see what the third’s excuse is!!!

But Mark, keep encouraging him and praising his good work

The world DESPERATELY needs more young men getting into the trades

He’s going to go to a welding school in Wyoming after he graduates. He’s does go to BOCES after school during the school year . He is an honor student and is eligible to graduate a year early but he wants to graduate with the kids he grew up with so his last year will be collage courses .

Side note my machinist closed up you know anyone that does quality head work . I’ve heard Ericks in Carmel is good .

 

[JimR]

Pulled the heads today was going to do the valve guid seals with the heads on but decided to do them and a valve job intakes are really gummed up .
View attachment 1199521
No scoring or even the hint of a ridge on the walls View attachment 1199522
The carbon came off easily with a mixture of acetone and trans fluid and a plastic brush
View attachment 1199523View attachment 1199524
.040 over so it’s a 355 ci View attachment 1199525

Grandson is getting good at tig welding he’s apprenticing for the summer at a welding shop
View attachment 1199526View attachment 1199527

Are your valve guides worn? If so there is a tool for knurlng them. It comes with a reamer for resizing. Or you could drill and replace the guides.

Great welding by the kid.

 

[JimR]

See those issues everyday here at work. Just lazy and don't care. Shouldn't have been coddled so much as a kid and some more responsibilities thrown on them. Heck it's not just the kids, even the 30 something guys my age are a bunch of lazy loosers just here for a pay check. Management isn't any better, if you're one of the "buddies" then you can do whatever. Can't manage their way out of a wet paper sack. Were truly screwed if things don't change.

Yup, I have seen this happening for a long time in manufacturing. The ass kissers hardly work and the rest have to make up for these people. I was happy when I left a major valve manufacturer back in 2000 after 20 years of BS.

 

[sean donato]

Drill them out and install bronze guides. Used to do that fairly often at the machine shop. Kinda went the way of the dodo though.

 

[sean donato]

Yup, I have seen this happening for a long time in manufacturing. The ass kissers hardly work and the rest have to make up for these people. I was happy when I left a major valve manufacturer back in 2000 after 20 years of BS.

it's a sad state. I'd leave, but the pay is good for our area and I can leave if something happens at home and they will call another guy in to cover the rest of my shift. Other then that it sucks to work here.

 

[benz66]

Minnesota State Fair today!

No STIHL booth! They normally have a big display trailer, regional reps, a chainsaw carver, etc.

Greenworks has a large line of commercial, battery-powered equipment!




Philbert

I still respect Stihl as mostly good equipment, particularly anything that starts with 0. But Stihl screwed over the best long time servicing dealer in a 200 mile region in 1995 or so. All the loggers in the area bought from him, and took their equipment to him for service, and bought chains, bars,, and parts there. Ditto for the farmers. He sold lots of Stihl, and kept a good stock. He also was a logger in his spare time, and raised Christmas trees.

The machine shop across the highway convinced ($$,$$$) Stihl to yank his franchise and give it to them. Result: A fancy stihl dliplay, poor service, and an opportunity for other brands. The former dealer was forced to sell out, but kept the building, and went to logging. He came back a few years later, because all his customers wanted him to fix their saws. He picked up Echo, but most of his work is fixing creamsickles. He still does not have a fancy wall display with white slat-rack, but the Echoes are displayed on the same shelves that used to display stihl. I lost a lot of respect for stihl as a company after that.

Same thing happened 10 yrs earlier to the best BMW M/C dealer. No fancy displays, just a great stock of parts, great service and enough new machines to set up anyone. Just a walk in door and a garage door that was open whenever the weather was decent. The family made their money trucking, so didn't depend on gouging the BMW customer to keep the lights on. The new stores in Iowa City had lots of windows and expensive displays, but they went out of business every 3-5 years. I have no respect for BMW. I still have respect for BMW M/C made before the 90s.

 

[svk]

I still respect Stihl as mostly good equipment, particularly anything that starts with 0. But Stihl screwed over the best long time servicing dealer in a 200 mile region in 1995 or so. All the loggers in the area bought from him, and took their equipment to him for service, and bought chains, bars,, and parts there. Ditto for the farmers. He sold lots of Stihl, and kept a good stock. He also was a logger in his spare time, and raised Christmas trees.

The machine shop across the highway convinced ($$,$$$) Stihl to yank his franchise and give it to them. Result: A fancy stihl dliplay, poor service, and an opportunity for other brands. The former dealer was forced to sell out, but kept the building, and went to logging. He came back a few years later, because all his customers wanted him to fix their saws. He picked up Echo, but most of his work is fixing creamsickles. He still does not have a fancy wall display with white slat-rack, but the Echoes are displayed on the same shelves that used to display stihl. I lost a lot of respect for stihl as a company after that.

Same thing happened 10 yrs earlier to the best BMW M/C dealer. No fancy displays, just a great stock of parts, great service and enough new machines to set up anyone. Just a walk in door and a garage door that was open whenever the weather was decent. The family made their money trucking, so didn't depend on gouging the BMW customer to keep the lights on. The new stores in Iowa City had lots of windows and expensive displays, but they went out of business every 3-5 years. I have no respect for BMW. I still have respect for BMW M/C made before the 90s.

Sad deal.

OMC killed themselves slowly in the same manor by pushing out all of their loyal ma and pa dealers (often multigenerational) for the big time fancy dealers. Then with issues from one poor product line, they went bankrupt. Stupid.

 

[svk]

Worked on transoms again last night. I’m in the process of rebuilding or repairing them for three of my project boats. I’ve got 4 pieces in the process of bring painted and a couple more that I’m laminating tonight. Rustoleum marine enamel. I put them in the warm sauna overnight to help with drying.

And a couple beer-tini’s with the dogs.