Any one else beat their heads on the wall occasionally with the all those 'small' things that seem to plague productivity & make keeping the fleet in good order a hard task ....
Today was one such day.
In order:
* Had my first Pfizer shot.
* New starter pulled the pin at literally the last minute, after pretty much begging to be given a chance for a job.
Rolled out to a property to do quick clean up of recent storm fall marri over a caravan, property is on market so they wanted it done quick.
* On way, windscreen seal strip on 'new' truck was working it's way loose, one of those small jobs hard to find time to fix.
* 661, on my favourite saws, flat out refused to start, never having previously had any issues. 500 was tagged in for docking the bole, but still annoying.
* Found piano hinge on Vermeer 925 bonnet was bent, quickly fixed on site.
Job done without fuss, manager expected couple of days, took a few hours, so she was happy, she also complemented the Vermeer on it's lift capacity, made the 75hp tractor sitting at the property look very anaemic. Felt a bit lethargic from vaccine, decided to get home early rather than head to next job as partners birthday....
* Loaded gear, jumped in new truck, could smell that distinctive burnt plastic smell. Rear camera screen not working, suspecting fuse & wiring issue, couldn't find anything obvious, parked truck away from other vehicles at yard in case it decided to do anymore melting in the night.
* One of my new guys had borrowed the stump grinder to do a few small stumps at his place, clutch electrical issue flared up again, not starting, stuck in middle of driveway. Leave it for night, will pick it up with HIAB tomorrow.
Tomorrows job finally locked in after being rescheduled three times. Three black wattles at furthest point of property from road. Owners are very fussy, painful even & made particular point of preserving the grass, which is still just emerging from it's winter dormancy. We also have to tram everything out through the veranda, which runs down the entire length of the house, across the pavers. Easy job, but suspect owners may make it challenging.
* Vermeer has an ongoing leaking o-ring issue in one the valves in the hydraulics, have replaced many times, blows out again each time. Warranty issue, but have to get machine the four hours to dealer & have it out of service for a $2 part. Sold the other Vermeer earlier in year, so no spare machine, too much work on to have it out of action. So trailing a steady drip of hydraulic oil from 925, which won't go well for tomorrows paving crossing. Don't have MDS's 5000km worth of ply at disposal....
* Mounting plate of Intermercato grapple has been bending for some time (not built to same robustness as grapple or machine), causing movement in grapple, bent locking pins on mounting plate. Grapple is effectively stuck on machine at present, not terrible, but have some bucket jobs for machine waiting.
* Decide to take machine up to dealer in city (going up for wedding on weekend) & drop off on Monday, of course Monday is a public holiday....
Did manage to get windscreen seal back in, so at least at small victory. Although that's balanced by the fact pulled the handle of the second big shot last week & still have got that fixed.
Sorry for the ramble, just venting.
