With a Stirator who needs a hobby?

I thought I had it all fixed.  You may recall last fall we discovered the pulley in the middle of Mom's Stirator was showing its age.  Dad bought the machine 30 years ago ... used.  So you expect some wear and tear

  We ordered a new one intending to install it this winter when the bin was full.  There had been some other problems we had to work on all fall but it was going and working beautifully.  We had the bin dried and were going to shut it off when it got out closer to the outside of the bin. It got right in the middle and threw the cable. So it sat in one place and ran until it almost buried itself.  I found it, said "I'm busy" and shut it down.

It kind of got put off due to weather and being busy and not feeling like climbing. I strained, stretched, pulled, did something to my leg and took all the fun out of climbing for a while.  My leg got to feeling better so I was more inclined to climb, the weather cooperated, I started to work on it.  That's when I found there was a bearing the pulley sets on that need replaced.  Naturally it was not in stock.  They got me one ... then it snowed.

So this week I climbed up, put the new pulley on, got it figured out (that's a whole different discussion) and installed.  Put on the new pulley,

in the new bearing, (BTW, see that nice shiny new bearing under the pulley? It's BEAUTIFUL.  For $45 plus shipping it should be gold plated stainless steel)  got the cable reinstalled, turned it on ... and nothing happened.  So I got my tools out of the bin, pulled the ladder out, climbed down the bin, walked around to the far side, and turned on the breaker.  The Stirator started running.  GREAT!  So I climbed up to give it one last glance and close the lid. Just got to the top of the ladder when the belt on one of the augers started smoking.  One screw started, but not both of them.  I reached inside, turned off the power box, looked at the time, closed the lid and went home.

So the next move will be shovels and pipe wrenches.

I love Stirators.  How can something so simple be so complicated to keep working?

Who needs a hobby?

Oh, KW update.  We have it in the shed waiting on the bed to come in.  I'll try and get some photos next week

Baby's here !

We got Baby home today!   Baby is the new to us Case 9230 I mentioned earlier this year. I was in Ashmore picking up Stirator parts (who needs a hobby when you have a Stirator?" when Stan called and said "It's ready to pick up."  So we dropped down to Casey and drove it home.  With all due respect to my green blooded friends,

it sure felt better to drive a red one than the John Deere we traded in.

Truck update: Sorry, no new photos.  The DayCab kit finally showed up.  Wore out 4 drill bits getting all the old rivets out so the new panel could go in place The kit is installed and looks factory. Ralph removed the let side fuel tank and built a brace to fill in the one brackets so the steps and fairing fit back in place.  The hydraulic tank will drop in the  other two mounts the fuel tank was using and look factory.    All we need is a bed and hoist and it's ready.

National Farm Machinery Show and "The trucking company called..."

Ralph said yesterday the trucking company called.  They had a part to be delivered to ROC for me and wanted to make arrangements for it. Ralph told them it might be best if they contacted Daycab first, because our understanding was the shipment had been lost and a replacement was being FedEx'd in.

"Oh ...OK.  Thank You."

Aman and I spent the day wandering around the 1,200,000 square feet of exhibits at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky today.  I hope to put up a photo of the crowd, but I have to ask their permission first.  I took a couple really exciting photos myself. 

I know, you were hoping for the three drop dead gorgeous young ladies autographing photos at some booth. I only noticed them because I had to negotiate the crowd in front of the booth.

Sorry

Maybe I am getting old.

I took a couple photos of a wagon to remind me how it was plumbed.

And a couple of how they had the auger attached to the wagon so it swings freely

We talked to Jim@Dawn a little bit.  He was pretty covered over.  Actually it was kind of fun.  I got to demo a couple things about the equipment while I was waiting to talk to him.  We are considering the Curvetine closing wheels for the planter

If soil conditions are a bit wet it would help with better seed to soil contact. Anyway, I'm about worn out. We got there at 9AM and except for when we stopped for lunch were on our feet until about 5.

We looked at several exhibits with various closing wheel configurations, had an interesting talk with the guy from TBS Electronics about HT batteries, and talked with a dealer who had taken a couple grain beds in stock.  So it may have been profitable.

the ongoing saga of the KW

Quick update.  I ordered a cab back kit from daycab.  I know, Dad would have used a piece of plywood and an old storm window.  Anyway, I ordered this cab kit and told them to ship it directly to ROC. I stop a couple days ago and Ralph says "Hey!  Daycab called and someone messed up and sent your parts to Western Star in Springfield.

Got a call from Daycabs today.  Seems the refused order in Springfield and was put back on a truck ... and the trucking company lost it.  Marty says they are FedEx'ing the parts to us.

It's where ?

I mentioned we were going to get to a stopping point and pause the truck conversion.  In order to get to that point we need a few parts.  Specifically the daycab kit from the Daycab Company ( http://www.daycabs.com/kenworth-aerocab-sleeper-removal-kit.html )  I called and talked with them about what I wanted, they were knowledgeable and helpful.  I called back later and ordered the kit.  They said it would go out tomorrow, maybe today if everything clicked.  I told them to ship it directly to ROC since they were to ones doing the work.  No use handling it twice.  And gave them Ralph's phone number as a shipping contact.

Yesterday I stopped by ROC.  Ralph said "Hey! I got a call from the Daycab folks.  Your parts are in Springfield. Seems someone messed up and sent you parts to a dealership there.  They called to let us know if we got a bunch of the wrong thing to send it back."

He was amused.  I'm glad.  It's kind of frustrating to me.

We've reached a stopping point

No new photos of the truck, it's still setting waiting for the back of the cab to come in.  However, we have reached a decision.  After looking the old bed over very closely we think moving it to the new truck would be false economy.  We'd be spending 20 cents to save a dime.

After pondering on this a while I have decided to get the cab together, put the wet kit on, and then pause for a while.  This project has suddenly went $10,000 over budget and I really need to stop and think about this.

So if you stumble across a good 18 ft bed and hoist cheap, let us know.

Got the sleeper off

ROC got the driveline back together, the PTO installed, and the sleeper off.  Now we have to plug the big hole in the back of the cab and decide what to do about the box.

We were going to take the bed and hoist off the 75, but we are wondering if long term we would be better served putting a new bed and hoist on it and selling the 75 as one unit.

BTW the sleeper is listed in the classified section ( http://agtalkplus.com/?q=node/2192 )