Off Topic Anything 2024

No picture because I was an oily mess, but not a good day when you bust out your cherry picker for a future project. You go to test it out and it does not lift. You mess with it a bit... Manually lift the arm and it holds in the up position but bouncy. You open the pressure release to get it to go down and nothing happens. You bounce it a couple more times then POP! The plug comes out and you have a hydraulic geyser in the garage, soaking everything. Did I mention not a good day?

PS, I do have about 90% of it cleaned.

Guess if you look on the bright side. The 140lb engine I plan on using it with wasn't on the hook when this happened. It appears to be solid working now. We'll see how it works out here in a couple months. I'll test, I'm sure it needs more jack fluid.

Thats an odd one mighty.

Going this weekend to check out this place with a fella I’ve been talking to who has a sears and has been there on mowers before.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Thats an odd one mighty.

You're tellin me.  Makes me a little concerned about using it, but I realized the "bounce" was due to gas build-up in the cylinder.  I fear it got pressurized sitting in the back of my shed this summer.  I think me raising the arm then putting pressure down was just too much.  Possibly the plug was not in all the way too?  Not sure.

Hard to say with those i guess. Maybe you’ll have to bleed it some. I’d probably do it outside haha.

Yee haw...

Well guys,  I was going to set up a set of surprise prizes for the B/O top 3 winners.  Today I was told that my group is no longer safe from rotating furloughs for possibly the next 3 months or more due to a union strike of 30000, the other 150000 will suffer.  Going to be a tight next few months $$.  I'm thinking Merry Christmas.  Hopefully this is over soon so we can get back to our regularly scheduled life.



All scheduled vacation and tractor rides in the next 3 months are out the window.

The fact that my mowers have now made trips through Louisville, Nashville, and Lexington is mildly entertaining to me

Why does this keep happening?!?!?!

Ugh..  It was here friday for Sat delivery.... then..

@RichieRichOverdrive and I are scheming a trip to Blue Holler this coming weekend for some Research and Destruction.

Going to test some 27x12-12 Maxxis Bighorn 2.0's against a pair of 27x8-12 of the same tire. I'd like to see if the larger surface area is better, or the narrower track width.

Hopefully then I'll be able to decide which set I will run next month at LCQ and (hopefully) TTC

Dont let  @CraftsmanQuad19 fool you, he’s only coming down so he can watch me do this:

I mean if I lived closer I'd watch you flip over

@MightyRaze are you talking about the possible Long Shoreman strike?

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Dont let  @CraftsmanQuad19 fool you, he’s only coming down so he can watch me do this:

Well of course that's part of it! Richie is ALWAYS a riot to ride with!

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Well of course that's part of it! Richie is ALWAYS a riot to ride with!

I can attest to that...

Seems like I've just hit 500 posts i got a cool little badge next to my name

ranch king pro 08 wrote:

Seems like I've just hit 500 posts i got a cool little badge next to my name

Spammer!!!!

@RichieRichOverdrive It takes one to know one I guess  

@MightyRaze that's not fair you're running a borderline Sweatshop cranking out information and tractor content... and the occasional sloppy joe recipe

Man I haven't put out a video in weeks now.  1) no motivation 2)Locking down funds so no extras right now.

@MightyRaze that just makes your videos better if you just crank stuff out every day it gets stale, putting time in between videos and having a good time making them is what matters

@CraftsmanQuad19 is down this weekend for some test and tune. Spicing up this vanny some!




Decked .05” off the heads and did a nice port job.


Also welded on bumpstops to limit the articulation of this swept axle in the sears frame.

@RichieRichOverdrive I didn't know you where offering services like that or id been over quicker it's looling like im gonna have time open up soon im leaving my auto parts job because the lazy manager quit and we got someone active so i cant be lazy anymore i was riding it out while it lasted and reaping the benefits but stuff like that only lasts so long. In my case it lasted nearly two years

Budget_gokart wrote:

@RichieRichOverdrive I didn't know you where offering services like that or id been over quicker it's looling like im gonna have time open up soon im leaving my auto parts job because the lazy manager quit and we got someone active so i cant be lazy anymore i was riding it out while it lasted and reaping the benefits but stuff like that only lasts so long. In my case it lasted nearly two years

I’m always open to new victims for my trails dont be afraid to throw me a PM if you wanna come down some weekend

@CraftsmanQuad19 wants to “go to sleep” because “its 1:30 in the morning” like buddy dont you understand this is prime tractor building hours

Aye man that time difference was kickin my butt. I'm a lil princess about my sleep lmao

Had an extremely productive weekend overall though. The more Rich looked at my tractor the more his OCD was wigging out. Bump stops, grille support, steering geometry, cleaned and tuned the carb, fixed the vacuum and oil leaks, fixed the head gaskets and did some head work in the process, re-engineered the throttle linkage and return spring, and drilled a hole through the muffler for a little more flow.

This man never stopped moving! Haha

I went to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL today and found possibly the perfect mower tire. 44.5x18-21….34 ply…228kts max speed


Look at the sidewall on this bugger! I think it’s designed for about 350psi of nitrogen. Load rating: one space shuttle, schoolteacher capacity untested


Best part is, for the low price of $2000 you can have one yourself!
https://militarytires.ca/product/44-5x16-0-21-michelin-air/

The lunar rover there was pretty cool too. Had double wishbone torsion bar suspension I believe, with the funky wire mesh tires, all riveted together.









The Saturn V they had in there was incredible. Words can’t describe the scale of the thing. They had an F1 Rocketdyne on display too, i spent a lot of time up close to it admiring the craftsmanship that went into that engine. I can confidently say if that engine were made again today, it would look completely different due to modern manufacturing methods. There’s not an inch of that engine that i can’t point out a spot that was clearly formed by human hands, or human handles cranking the handles of the machines anyway.