The last few days the weather has been beautiful in East Texas so I thought that I better get it in gear and start doing the things I've been putting off for the last couple of months.
Last fall and during the winter, as I stopped using various pieces of equipment, I cleaned them, lubed them, drained them and generally got them ready for storage so that when spring came, I'd be ready to go ... WRONG.
I thought that I'd start by clearing up a pile of limbs that were laying around and toss them into the burning pit. Nothing too big there so I thought I'd use the little arborist saw, no need to break out the Stihl. Fill it full of fresh gas/oil mix, prime it and choke it and pull and pull but the darned thing won't start. This little saw has started second or third pull for the six years that I've had it. Took to the shop, stripped it down, cleaned it, sprayed it, kissed it and fondled it, put it back together, took it out side, yanked on it and it fired right up. The third blip on the trigger and the, what I thought was perfectly adjusted chain, flew right off the bar. You get the idea. To cut and toss that small pile of limbs into the burning pit took all day.
Next day the weather was still beautiful so I thought that I'd start by spot spraying the early weeds that were starting to grow in the yard before the St. Augustine started to grow. I filled the backpack sprayer and was ready to go. Threw it on my back and after about 6 pumps ... it broke. I had to dump the the 4 gallons of herbicide into the 25 gallon pull behind sprayer so I could work on it. I had to run to town to get the parts to fix the sprayer and eventually mixed another 4 gallons of herbicide and got it done. There were still a few hours of daylight left so I though that I'd go and turn the water well that is used for watering the yard and veggie garden back on. I flipped the breaker, the pump kicked right on, I looked around and water was shooting everywhere from the tap that is used for water the big veggie garden. Now, I'd drained the whole system so there is absolutely no possibility of freezing but that schedule 40 was cracked and firing water all over the place. I decided that I wasn't going to repair it one more time so I went to town (again) and got galvanized pipe and repaired it once and for all. End of day.
Today. Since yesterday I had poured 4 gallons of herbicide into the 25 gallon pull behind sprayer, I decided that I'd just make it up to 25 gallons and go spray the "back 40". I hook it up to the little tractor, put 20 gallons in it, add the herbicide and the 12 volt pump dies. I check the in line fuse, all the splices all the way back to the pump and everything is good. I take the pump off, check it out, clean the brushes and can't find anything wrong. I put it back together, remount it, plug it in and it fires right up. Of course, by this time it's too late to actually do any spraying so that's on the agenda for first thing tomorrow.
So, is anyone else having the start up woes that I'm having. I hate spring ... only because I always seem to spend more time working on what I thought was well maintained equipment than actually using it.
Well, tomorrow after I finally get the spraying done I have to spread 20 sacks of lawn fertilizer on the yard. Now you wouldn't think that there couldn't be anything go wrong with a PTO spreader, would you? You want to take bets on that!!! I'm almost dreading it.
I'm sorry for the long post but it's been a frustrating few days.
Last fall and during the winter, as I stopped using various pieces of equipment, I cleaned them, lubed them, drained them and generally got them ready for storage so that when spring came, I'd be ready to go ... WRONG.
I thought that I'd start by clearing up a pile of limbs that were laying around and toss them into the burning pit. Nothing too big there so I thought I'd use the little arborist saw, no need to break out the Stihl. Fill it full of fresh gas/oil mix, prime it and choke it and pull and pull but the darned thing won't start. This little saw has started second or third pull for the six years that I've had it. Took to the shop, stripped it down, cleaned it, sprayed it, kissed it and fondled it, put it back together, took it out side, yanked on it and it fired right up. The third blip on the trigger and the, what I thought was perfectly adjusted chain, flew right off the bar. You get the idea. To cut and toss that small pile of limbs into the burning pit took all day.
Next day the weather was still beautiful so I thought that I'd start by spot spraying the early weeds that were starting to grow in the yard before the St. Augustine started to grow. I filled the backpack sprayer and was ready to go. Threw it on my back and after about 6 pumps ... it broke. I had to dump the the 4 gallons of herbicide into the 25 gallon pull behind sprayer so I could work on it. I had to run to town to get the parts to fix the sprayer and eventually mixed another 4 gallons of herbicide and got it done. There were still a few hours of daylight left so I though that I'd go and turn the water well that is used for watering the yard and veggie garden back on. I flipped the breaker, the pump kicked right on, I looked around and water was shooting everywhere from the tap that is used for water the big veggie garden. Now, I'd drained the whole system so there is absolutely no possibility of freezing but that schedule 40 was cracked and firing water all over the place. I decided that I wasn't going to repair it one more time so I went to town (again) and got galvanized pipe and repaired it once and for all. End of day.
Today. Since yesterday I had poured 4 gallons of herbicide into the 25 gallon pull behind sprayer, I decided that I'd just make it up to 25 gallons and go spray the "back 40". I hook it up to the little tractor, put 20 gallons in it, add the herbicide and the 12 volt pump dies. I check the in line fuse, all the splices all the way back to the pump and everything is good. I take the pump off, check it out, clean the brushes and can't find anything wrong. I put it back together, remount it, plug it in and it fires right up. Of course, by this time it's too late to actually do any spraying so that's on the agenda for first thing tomorrow.
So, is anyone else having the start up woes that I'm having. I hate spring ... only because I always seem to spend more time working on what I thought was well maintained equipment than actually using it.
Well, tomorrow after I finally get the spraying done I have to spread 20 sacks of lawn fertilizer on the yard. Now you wouldn't think that there couldn't be anything go wrong with a PTO spreader, would you? You want to take bets on that!!! I'm almost dreading it.
I'm sorry for the long post but it's been a frustrating few days.
Best of luck .
