Lights in the loft:
The upstairs of the garage had one outlet and
no lights when I got it. This was really annoying, since you either
needed a flashlight, or could only go up during the daylight hours.
That's just too limiting.
Now the loft has a light
switch at the stair way. The outlet box that was buried behind the wood
pellets and the tread stringer is mounted higher with an non-shattered
outlet (now a usable outlet again). Two 4 foot shop lights are hung and
plugged into the light switch..
Light switch and outlets in the work corner:
Removed broken
outlet in the corner. Installed a switched outlet just below the rafters
for the overhead lights to plug into, and install a new outlet and the
light switch to the left of the existing bench. It's much nicer to have
lights on switches, and not having to constantly swap out what's plugged
in.
In the process of installing the loft lighting, I
replaced a missing stud in the half wall, and ran the electric line
through the half wall studs so that it will be possible to properly put
up actual walls later on.
Lights and leaking hydraulics on the tractor:
The transmission
fill tube was loose and leaking. No wonder why, there is no tool that
can fit in between the welded panels to actually tighten the compression
fitting. After hours of frustration I finally manged to finger tighten
the nut and lucked out that a 1/16 of a turn using channel locks was
enough to get a good solid seal again. While I was working on the
transmission area of the tractor I also tightened the brakes so they
work again, and installed all the missing 1/2 inch bolts that hold the
wheels on the tractor.
Next I worked on the headlights,
the 3 little round bulbs that were used back in 1976 were pretty dismal
when the worked, and would frequently rattle their connections lose. I
started with a pair of Harbor Freight fog lights. Don't drop glass
lights on concrete, the concrete wins. So I replaced the light I broke
with a bigger brighter set of off-road lights from Harbor Freight. These
mounted much quicker, put out 100+ Watts, and a colossal amount more
lumens than the original set up. I also picked up a different pair of
fog lights to mount on the rear fender so I can see while I'm going in
reverse. I might also reinstall the missing rear red fender lights while
I'm at it too. The red light housings are installed, but the wires and
bulbs are missing.
When I'm done playing with my John
Deere, there's not going to be much John Deere left on the outside of
it.Working on the tractor is hard work, but surprisingly enjoyable to
work on. Pictures will be posted soon.
New stable workbench:
The bench that came with the garage is a
little high, and it wobbles a lot. I would guess that is was built to
park a snow blower and lawn mower underneath and was braced in place
with some heavy boxes stacked next to it. This doesn't make for a good
work surface.
The new bench will be 8 foot by 25.5
inches and will be accessible from both garage bays, and have plenty of
tote storage space underneath it. The center beam is a 2x8 and a 2x4
spanning the pillar gap, and 2 -2x4 center legs. To finish off the bench
I need to pick up 3 more 2x6's to finish the top surface.
 |
| Front Center is 1 of the 2 new head lamps on the tractor. |
This bench will be stable and please to work on with no walls to get in the way of my work.
Woodchipping:
On Friday my new electric wood chipper arrived.
After producing between 120 and 150 gallons of wood chips and getting
rid of 2 brush piles I'm quite happy with my purchase. For under $120
dollars it does what it claims and does it well. It works better on
greener wood and old dry wood. I don't understand all the negative
reviews that my wood chipper had on Amazon. It takes up to it's stated
size, it feeds fast, the blades stay sharp, and it doesn't drown out
conversations.
This first 100 gallons of wood chips
nicely filled in an old stump hole that a certain spouse and the dogs
have been know to fall into. Now the will trip over the slightly squishy
mound.
