What non automotive projects and repairs are you doing?

[BlackBart]

My son rented a little 10' UHaul van and we drove it across the country to Colorado last year. It had their regional graphics all over the side - this one was for aerospace and tech at NOAA in Boulder CO. That's what he wanted to do but was discouraged at the Covid job market. Not long after he arrived there in our Colorado van, a local aerospace company hired him! So we have fond memories of our little truck.

[volvolugnut]

My two recent outdoor projects:
I have reported on the bamboo removal project before. This winter and spring I have continued to cut down and pile bamboo, small brush, and some type of nasty thorny vine on my 16 foot trailer. The trailer is modified with 5 foot wire cattle panel sides to hold larger loads. It is currently nearly full. I have decided this second load of the year will be the last until next fall. The ticks have emerged in the last week and I want to avoid them if possible. Also, I have cleared an area about 40 x 100 feet this year. Judging by last years effort, this is about large enough to try to keep the new bamboo shoots cut down all summer. If the are not kept cut down, they will grow back large and I will have to cut each stalk down again.
The second project is related to the first. I have an old John Deere 14 HP riding mower stored at another build away from the house. This building has many things stored and the mower was not accessible. Having lots of time and a need for this mower to cut bamboo shoots, I decided to disassemble the mower into small parts I could carry out of the building. The mower is now reduced to small parts, the engine, the transmission and the frame. After everything is moved to my home, I will reassemble the mower.
In the next couple weeks I want to get the trailer and truck unloaded and finish the mower move. Then get the mower back together, running and ready to mow down the new bamboo sprouts.
Some days I wonder how I had time to go to a job.

volvolugnut

[BlackBart]

That's some serious work!

Is that bamboo in open land, where you could scrape it up with a rental front end loader or drag claws? It doesn't grow very deep but it spreads horizontally and just keeps coming up, as you said. It's hard to hand dig, and it's maybe too large an area.

[volvolugnut]

There are many large trees in the area and I want to save the trees.
The area is large and hand digging would be very hard. My plan is to starve the plant by keeping all new growth mowed for several years. This has worked on the other side of my driveway.
volvolugnut

[matthew1]

JD makes good equipment. I made a good pile of money in the early/mid 80s as a kid mowing lawns. My dad worked for JD so we had new JD riding mowers, weed whackers, etc.

[abscate]

Well, a new move is official , when you have moved the cat…

[xHeart]

My son rented a little 10' UHaul van and we drove it across the country to Colorado last year. It had their regional graphics all over the side - this one was for aerospace and tech at NOAA in Boulder CO. That's what he wanted to do but was discouraged at the Covid job market. Not long after he arrived there in our Colorado van, a local aerospace company hired him! So we have fond memories of our little truck.

^ Love myth making of UHAUL in our culture; the goddess that moves explorers.

Brx (bricks) is helping me bring in 40 bags -- 3 trips. We're refreshing the entire length of the property along the western perimeter.

MVS_NonAuto_4337.jpg (142.02 KiB) Viewed 319 times

[BlackBart]

I like your helper!

[xHeart]

Our Ginko tree stands out lean and tall in the cul-de-sac; collecting and disposing the pile of dropped fruits each fall is a challenge. The village arbor says their gender is not known at the time of planting; it is over 50. The pile's odor is not pleasant, and fruits stick to shoes and tires, hence the walkers, driveway and garages are affected; removing is our best option for now. The street cleaning is limited to once a week during fall,, and the Ginko tree wouldn't listen.

[volvolugnut]

Part of the great bamboo war is to cut down the largest bamboo stalks (as large as 2 inch diameter) and many dead trees. This made a running chain saw necessary. I have had an old Homelite XL chain saw for many years. In recent years it has run poorly. Over time I have gathered a couple similar Homelite saws for parts. Last summer (fall?) I started to repair the best saw of the group. One had very good compression and became the basis for other parts. Another had a good bar and chain. One had a carburetor I thought was good. These were actually three different model saws, but all of similar design with most parts interchangeable.

The problem turned out to be the carburetor. Disassemble and cleaning did not help. The saw would start with a little fuel poured on the air filter, but would not continue to run. This proved the saw had compression and good spark.

Disassemble of the carb again showed some distortion of the diaphragm for pumping fuel. That might be a problem getting continuous fuel for running. After much searching on the internet, found a carb repair kit for a similar model carb but not an exact match. The parts all had the same shape, so I ordered it to try. The kit was cheap.

I got the kit in a few weeks. It must have come all the way from China. However, it did not have the intake gasket. More searching and more compromising on parts selection.

The gaskets came and I tried again. Still no joy in Mudville. I could get it to start and rev up for about 5 seconds but not longer. It seemed I was not getting fuel after the initial shot. I tried checking the fuel flow through the fuel tube to the carb and that seemed fine. I removed the fuel filter in the tank and it seemed to do better. I went back to the internet and looked for new carburetors. That seemed a dead end unless I paid $40 to $80 for a new US built carb.

However, I did find a carb assembly exploded drawing for a similar carb to the one I had. It showed a removable part under the diaphragm that I might remove and do more cleaning. So I disassembled the carb again to look. No removable part on my carb. BUT, I did see the fuel pump spring under the diaphragm was not seated in the mounting hole properly. This could increase spring force and make the diaphragm unable to push the pump needle off the seat and no fuel available after the initial shot.

I corrected the spring and assembled the carb and the rest of the saw again (without the bar and chain). Fortunately, these saws are very simply and only take a few minutes to assemble.

Success! The saw will now run as long as I keep it revved up. I am still working on proper carb adjustment.

volvolugnut