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The happy Nada Farmer, finding new ways to make the same mistakes for 56 years.
Keep coming back , There is more than one way to screw up the Bobcat.
The major problem I foresee in this area of the website, is going to be the lack of pictures. Unfortunately, unlike my dear wife, the first thing I think of isn't get the camera and take a picture of this! I'm generally grabbing a big rock or board to whack the offending machine or creature with. Not always the final solution but oft times the most satisfying part of the on going repair process. Regretably, I generally end up repairing the damage done by this self satifying act, as well as actually solving the problem. But a big hammer just has a certain happy feel to it, as it crushes a stupid nonfunctioning machine. Okay, I guess I sometimes enhance my own problems, but I'm trying to work my way through a few issues here.
I don't know whether to go chronologically from the beginning or just hit them as they come to mind. But let's start with a few helpful tips.
1: Don't throw it!
( Almost nothing has been fixed by throwing it, swinging it around maybe, but the sudden stop at the end of a throw is usually going to necessitate additional work.)
2: Put down the rock!
(Hammer, sledge, pry bar, crowbar, lever, log. Again, a gentle tap or nudge may help, but most other actions require additional work, to remove the dents, realign, or pry the object back into shape to begin repairing it.)
3: Take a deep breath and give it a good looking over.
(Inspect it for critters or objects that might have entered or fallen into it. If it moves things, have they become lodged, or gone a different direction than you'd have preferred?)
4: Is there a way to back up and start over, or simply restart?
(Most problems with electronic "smart devices" like computers, printers, scanners, cameras, even wireless networks, just need to be "cold booted". Though the desire at the moment might be to "boot it out into the street" and watch it ground to dust by the passing traffic. Sometimes it just gets confused, and needs to start over. Turn it off, count to thirty, and start it up again. And in most cases, the computer should be started last, so it can check what is connected to it.)
5: If you don't have the expertise, call a friend, a couple calls could save you a lot of trouble and definitely some money.
(Unless there is a functioning warrantee, or a really hot need to have it working immediately, think before you pay a "professional" to fix it, really they are usually just reading the help files you already have.)
6: Expect the Unexpected. Now I know that's as dumb a statement as "Military Intelligence" or "to a degree of medical certainty" but, surprises are not usually good when working on something that moves, or can trap, or crush you.
LIke a fluid filled tire on a tractor, an extra 50 gallons of salt water at 8 1/2 pounds per gallon, added to a near 200 # tire and wheel. Well, it gets interesting very quickly. 600# is a little out of my weight class. Or removing the hydraulic arms from the bobcat while the bucket is resting on an old kitchen counter section. (Which quickly became kindling. Fortunately, after I moved out of the area where I would surely have been crushed.) Sometimes it pays to listen to the little voices, "this might not be a good place to be right now" I swear I heard it said. Garage Gnomes..
7: Okay, well that's it for easy, in order, rules. The rest will just have to come as I think of them regarding my little experiences here on NADA FARM. Though, I may have to change that name. Now that I have tractors it seems it might be a farm, but, MITE-BE-A FARM doesn't seem to roll off the tongue "so to speak". Anyway, on with the list of silly things I've "learned the hard way" and survived.
On to the long version of the Earwig and the carburetor. I was planning to upgrade the Bobcat a little at a time. New wiring harness, rebuild the engine, rebuild the carb, new battery, new tires, new paint etc. etc. etc. Well the best laid plans. I had just rebuilt the carb, replaced the fuel filter and replaced the fuel line which is a piece of 3/8" steel brake line.
A friend ask me to come over and move some gravel around his yard. He was building a French Drain to deal with a neighbors new concrete driveway which flooded his property.
I said sure, and loaded the newly upgraded bobcat on the flip up trailer that I'd built for it a couple years before, and ran it over to Ellet, to do the job. When I arrived the machine fired right up and worked for about an hour, and then just quit. So I added some fuel, thinking it might be the restriction of the new fuel filter. I was pretty sure the old fuel filter didn't have any insides left and provided zero constriction.
That didn't fix it, and actually the engine started to smell a lot like fuel. In fact, the engine was filling with gasoline, it was simply running through the carb, as quick as it could. There are no rubber areas of this line, to pinch off, and the shut off valve has never worked, it turns, it just doesn't work. So after beating the fuel bowl with an available hammer, rock, wrench , I really don't remember now. (See RULE #2) The flow slowed enough that I could remove the carburetor and plug the line with a wooden plug I whittled out of a local tree branch. I checked the carburetor, it seemed to be working fine, now. I took it apart, checked the bowl, found a little sediment , dumped it out. Checked the jets, no problem, everything seemed ok. So I beat the dents out of the bowl, reinstalled it, drained the engine, hoping there wasn't too much fuel in the oil, and tried it again. This time it ran about ten minutes, same thing. Starved for fuel while running, and flooded as soon as the engine died. I removed the carb, and did it all again.
Now a "clinically crazy person" keeps doing the same thing over and over, and expects a different result. So the third time. I took it apart, I went a little further, and when I removed the float needle, and its jet, the one the float in the bowl operates, I found, you're not going to believe this.
The back half of an Earwig. Now here's what I finally figured out was happening. When the fuel was flowing, the bullet shape of the Earwig butt, would get pushed into the end of the jet, about a .030 hole, and cut off the flow of the fuel to the engine. Starving it and making it quit running, as the engine stalled and the pressure of the flowing fuel abated the float valve would finally push up and try to dislodge the bug butt. However as an Earwig has two pointy little protrusions off it's tail section, those would get caught in between the jet and the float valve holding it open and allowing the engine to then flood. It took me a couple minutes to figure out this scenario.
All because I wanted a new fuel line. I had no idea an Earwig would take up residence in a metal pipe. Well that's what happened. And now you know why I use an air hose and blow out everything before I install it. Even if it just came from the parts store. Imagine such an issue in a brake line on your car..
Another interesting development concerns the Ford truck. You may remember the problem with the oil pan rusting out. I was going to fix that this winter when I had the garage organized, little behind schedule on that caper. Anyway, as we pulled into the Wal Mart parking lot, buying cheap oil to fix things, I tried to get it out of 4 WD so the front end would quit making it's awful screeching cranking noise, that it makes when in 4 WD on dry pavement. And as luck would have it, "the luck of the Irish" after all, the damn shifter broke, the same stupid aluminum part that broke on Russell's Bronco, you know the one with the rusted out oil pan. I have to say Fords are real crap anymore. With the toughness and longevity of the stupid little tractor to compare to, it is at least 60 years old and still functional, The trucks are trash. I seem to remember the part being nearly a hundred dollars when it broke on Russ's truck. That's two trucks from the mid 90's with the same failed parts, both, in my opinion obvious design flaws, and I keep getting recall notices about the stupid switch that burned my brothers garage down, that, they are finally accepting responsibility for. The rest of the things that make the vehicle usable, or not, they couldn't care less about. I'll never buy another Ford new, and will avoid, unless there is no cost, anything used. Now watch them build the only viable electric car and make me a liar.... because I want an electric car and truck. I can't believe the morons in the auto industry haven't converted yet, they must realize the sales and demand situation that exists for electric cars after the last summer of "Gas Price Rape" we endured.
Well on to the next page where I discover, a screwdriver can really hurt when jammed into an unprotected eyeball.
Man, are we happy out here!
