Well, the frost is starting to build up. Looks like it's time to "Batten down the Hatches" for winter!
Work on the water intake went smoothly the first few day of work. We got the water system fixed up, and the pipe going down the hill mostly covered. the only reason we are being held back is the homemade blade on our cat.
Now, Caterpillar's crawler tractors of the 1930's were meant mainly for agricultural use, and no premeasures were taken for attachments on the tractor, like blades. This is true even today with front-end loaders on wheel tractors. So at some point in their lives, these cats usually got a blade assembled on it, usually using crude engineering and fabricating skills. "Mad Cat", our cat at the intake job, is no exception.
I was bulldozing a pile of dirt down the pipeline (by "Windrowing" the dirt into the ditch) when I notice one of the hydraulic cylinders flopping around. Down to the house we go, to weld up a broken cylinder mount. While we were looking the cylinder support, we notice that just about every weld on the support was cracking. After throwing on a few welding rods, we fly back up there, only to work ten minutes to find the whole C-frame tilting around! A welded "Hook" on one pivot decided it did not like the c-frame and left. Back down we go. On the way down, the return line on the hydraulics decides to blow, resulting in me having to hold it on while driving home.
GAHH! I'm not having much luck with this guy!
So that's were we are with the cat. I'm busy reworking the c-frame mounts (But would rather scrap the whole thing!) The backhoe's doing fine, probably the best worker of the job, only blowing a hydraulic hose and a front tire (Tire was 20 years old anyway). I'm wondering since we got so many breakdowns if you could call this intake job a durability test for the machinery!
In other news, we finally got windows up in the house! The manlift that we borrowed for working the roof was being reclaimed, so we used it for one last job that it was need for. The house looks a lot better with windows, and we can keep the upstairs open now without the wind sucking out all the heat! Lovely!
Work on the water intake went smoothly the first few day of work. We got the water system fixed up, and the pipe going down the hill mostly covered. the only reason we are being held back is the homemade blade on our cat.
Now, Caterpillar's crawler tractors of the 1930's were meant mainly for agricultural use, and no premeasures were taken for attachments on the tractor, like blades. This is true even today with front-end loaders on wheel tractors. So at some point in their lives, these cats usually got a blade assembled on it, usually using crude engineering and fabricating skills. "Mad Cat", our cat at the intake job, is no exception.
I was bulldozing a pile of dirt down the pipeline (by "Windrowing" the dirt into the ditch) when I notice one of the hydraulic cylinders flopping around. Down to the house we go, to weld up a broken cylinder mount. While we were looking the cylinder support, we notice that just about every weld on the support was cracking. After throwing on a few welding rods, we fly back up there, only to work ten minutes to find the whole C-frame tilting around! A welded "Hook" on one pivot decided it did not like the c-frame and left. Back down we go. On the way down, the return line on the hydraulics decides to blow, resulting in me having to hold it on while driving home.
GAHH! I'm not having much luck with this guy!
So that's were we are with the cat. I'm busy reworking the c-frame mounts (But would rather scrap the whole thing!) The backhoe's doing fine, probably the best worker of the job, only blowing a hydraulic hose and a front tire (Tire was 20 years old anyway). I'm wondering since we got so many breakdowns if you could call this intake job a durability test for the machinery!
In other news, we finally got windows up in the house! The manlift that we borrowed for working the roof was being reclaimed, so we used it for one last job that it was need for. The house looks a lot better with windows, and we can keep the upstairs open now without the wind sucking out all the heat! Lovely!
Labels: acreage, Bulldozer, Farm, frozen, pipes, renovations, tractors, water, winter
posted by Chris at
11:57 PM
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