Messing around in the shop

[Harry]

Jeff take credit where credit is due. I believe it looks terrific. Harry

[JSinMO]

Well here we are again, time to get sunflowers in the ground!
My plan was to just disc the ground and plant the seeds, actually, the plan was to bring home a field cultivator from that auction I went to. Disc then cultivate but that didn’t work out.

Anyway there’s a lot of weeds coming up already so I decided to go ahead and hook the plow up and turn them under. To get the plows ready I gave them a quick shot of brake cleaner then used a scraper to clean off the grease and paint I used to protect them. It works well. They have set outside all winter and no rust.

Next I need to set the plow up. I think I showed this before but I can’t remember. I pulled the tractor up in an 8” block then lowered the plow to the ground and leveled it front to back and side to side.

This will get you in the ballpark no matter if it’s a garden tractor or a much bigger tractor. You still have to fiddle around adjusting things once your in the field but at least it gets you close. A real plow man could do a much better job but it’s good enough for my little garden patches.

If you remember the sunflower patch was woods that I cleared last season. I set the plows to run deeper than I did before. It’s hard to tell in the picture but I found a lot of roots that hadn’t been cut before too!

Speaking of roots, here’s what happens when you hook a big one!

You can see the back bottom has tripped and rotated out of the way. Most plows have a provision like this for safety and to protect the plow and tractor from damage. Some snap back into place when you back up but this Ford plow is set up with shear pins. So back to the shop to pound in a new one. You can see the small hole in the side plate here.

I went back at it and got really aggravated shortly after. I usually wouldn’t run a stabilizer bar on the 3 point when plowing but on this tractor I have an over running clutch on the PTO. It add just enough length that the front coulter will bump it when I raise the plow. I attached one bar to keep this from happening. Unfortunately I didn’t see that one end had come unhooked and the tire grabbed it and bent it like a pretzel! The one on the left is what it’s supposed to look like the one on the right is after my dumb handy work

It’s quarter inch steel that might be tough for me to get straight enough to use again. After several words were said that I can’t repeat here including questioning the parentage of the plow, tractor, and stabilizer bar I finally got back to work!

Cutting through those roots was kind of tough going but thankfully uneventful the rest of the way and I think it turned out ok. Since I was having so much fun I decided to go down to the garden patch and work it up too. I’ve worked the ground for several years now so it turned over much easier. The tractor could use some weight on it to help traction but all in all it performed well.

I’m slowly but surely getting my self back into shape. But my stamina and strength still have a ways to go! That’s enough for me today. The ground is a little bit wet so i should let it dry off anyway. Maybe tomorrow I’ll go disc it and sow some seeds!

[DavidBarkey]

"questioning the parentage of the plow, tractor, and stabilizer bar"
I love that line .
As for the stamina part . It will come , but you may find that like me and others that you may not reach 100% of what you had before . As we age each year we have a new 100% that is a little less than the year before . So by the time you are fully recovered your bodys new 100% is less than it was before you were hurt . Thats ok as we need to slow done some as we get older and let the youngins take up the slack .

[JSinMO]

My oh my, it certainly appears that mine old junk….( I mean my valuable antique equipment!), is conspiring against me this spring.
I went to disc the sunflower patch, made a couple passes and when I lifted the disc the left rear gang was drooping down. I had a look and this is what I saw.

It broke off! Then I looked at the rest of it

The whole front frame is broke and the support for the top link and pitch handles is separated.

This is the reality of wanting to play with old stuff on a shoestring budget! I knew this thing was pretty well junk when I brought it home and to be fair I have nothing in it so I can’t really complain. As you can see these places were “repaired” by someone long ago utilizing chicken poop welds! Unfortunately today was the day the chicken poop slid off the cracker

So into the shop we go. I started on the back and cleaned it up the best I could with a torch and a grinder. Then since I’m not anywhere close to being a good welder I applied the age old wisdom of, if you can’t tie a knot, tie a lot. I made pass after pass until I was confident I got it stuck back together, then welded a strap over the whole thing. It’s just as ugly as it was before I started but I think it’s solid now maybe
I hesitate to show my work out of embarrassment especially when @Harry has a look, but I guess nothing ventured nothing lost.

Hopefully thats far enough away and fuzzy enough you can’t see how ugly it is

I was getting sore and about out of energy at this point but dang it I want to get some seeds in the ground! So I took my heavy come-a-long and winched the rest of it together and disced the field.

Turned out fine.

So now come hell or high water TOMORROW I’m planting sunflowers

I knew I needed to start getting back in shape and get stronger, and this old stuff is sure helping me out!
Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I’ll start fixing the front of the old disc.

@DavidBarkey You may very well be right about not being at 100% of what I was before. But if this old crap keeps breaking I might be close…… or completely exhausted!

[DavidBarkey]

Be patient with yourself and what you can do . Just be prepared to take more time than before .

[Harry]

I agree with David. With a little patience and persistence it will all work out. Harry

[JSinMO]

Thanks fellas I appreciate what you saying very much I hope I haven’t sounded like I was complaining or whining about my situation. If it came across that way it was not my intention. The truth is I’m making a lot of progress. I can tell a marked difference even in the last 2 weeks. Thank you for the support.

I found it funny that a couple of simple springtime activities turned into a sort of comedy of errors. Not that that’s uncommon around here!

I looked at the front end of the disc today. It’s ugly

I winched every thing into place as close as I could and then used some quarter inch rebar to fill the gap and welded the crap out of it!

It’s still ugly but it’s back together at least as good as it was before. So for an old disc that was all broke down now at least it’s back to usable condition.

[Harry]

Jeff just a suggestion for the future. Rebar is usually not suggested to be welded, but it can. When the mills run rebar they usually just throw in scrap metal or what ever that have around. It could be an old car, maybe a few old Case GT’s or better yet maybe some old dies that they need to be melted down. So the molten composition is not monitored that closely. So the end product could have inconsistencies in it and possibly if dies steel was melted into the mix, it could be hard. Meaning more carbon than just mild or low carbon steel. Now for welding this rebar, which is usually wire tied and buried in concrete. Preheat to about 500 degrees if it’s being used in a area where the strength of the metal is important. Another good idea is to use E7018 for the welding. That’s enough rambling for tonight. Harry

[DavidBarkey]

A working man who's life has been spent doing not sitting is allowed to Vent his frustration about limitation from injury . With what has happened to me in the last few years and the fact that a large number of the kids I went to school with did not make it this far in life . I remind myself that a dead man does not complain .

[JSinMO]

@Harry Excellent information. A lot of facts you pointed out are things that didn’t dawn on me to consider. Thanks for the tips too!
I actually did second guess using that rebar as I’d thought it might not be the best option, but I didn’t know all the facts for sure. It fit perfectly so I decided to go with it. I’ll try to avoid that in the future. I did use the disc this afternoon to prep the garden for planting. And it worked fine. So the plan will be to keep an eye on it. If it opens up again I think a more extensive repair will be in order.
Thank you Harry

@DavidBarkey You make good points. I suppose we do have the right to vent. Although I do attempt to limit it ,albeit unsuccessfully at times. I try to remember there is always someone out there that has it worse than we do. I’d rather give them the room to vent if possible. I’ve lost a few from the group I grew up with as well. I know what you mean.