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The shaking bit I never mastered either, too many bees started to fly then, possibly including the queen, she must be sitting near the branch (I think). Thats why I use garden secateurs. Cut off the branch outside the swarm first, then put the box around the swarm and cut if off the branch.

I am not familiar with the 2160. Does it also have the pivot in the middle and this U-shaped frame part over it (see picture)? The Delrin blocks would work very well then, even if there is a bit of play in the pivot. Mine is practically play free now. But now the steering box is the main...

Front PTO pulleys and belts Made a new rubber strip for the engine mount limiter. I attached the front pulley onto the PTO shaft, belts over the pulleys and then attach the tensioner / clutch idler wheel assembly. Attached the various belt guides and inserted my refurbished PTO clutch wire...

Front axle assembly First the king pin bushings have to be pressed in. I used SF-2 bushings I bought on the internet (left) that look like the original ones to me (right), possibly coming from the same basement in Shenzen. Dimensions are 25mm inside diameter, 28mm outside diameter and 25mm...

Front PTO assembly My front PTO shaft splines were damaged. I found a guy in Austria that can repair the splines but he wanted 270 quid for that. Yeah, sure. Interesting video though, very skilled the guy, and I may give it a go myself at some stage, nothing to loose with the old PTO shaft...

Painting Sharp edges lead to lower paint thickness and that is where typically the corrosion starts. Therefore I rounded off all sharp corners on all parts before spray painting with epoxy primer and top coat afterwards. Everything was left for a week in the living room in a sunny spot by...

King pin repair The inner wheel bearing seats were worn by 0.6mm on one side and 0.1mm on the other side. I welded material on to fill the 0.6mm. Thanks to the shape of the king pins with three arms sticking out I found it impossible to clamp it on the lathe. So I used a rotary table on the...

Front axle modifications There were a few things in the original design that lead to long term problems, so I took the freedom to do some modifications. The way the pivot holds the axle means quite a bit of leaverage of the pivot bearing. Also the steering forces are coming from behind which...

Wheels painting For painting the wheels I made a little rotating table and mounted the rims in a little holder made from aluminium plate and threaded bar. The table speed can be adjusted from 0.125 to 180 rpm. With the correct speed setting spray painting of circular objects is really easy.

Wheel modifications One rim had notches in the centre pipe for an inner end stop for the ball bearings. The other rim had grooves in the bearings and clip rings in them. I did not like that and I wanted to use standard bearings (6205 2RS 25x52x15mm). I bent a slieve from 2mm sheet metal and...

Wheel repairs The rims were corroded and the left tyre was losing air despite being in better condition than the right wheel. When I took the tyres off I knew why: somebody had put a tube into the right tyre. The edges of the rims were badly dented and the outer edge bent inwards. Looks as...

Front axle repair The grease nipple (20¢) in the middle of the axle had broken off, so somebody thought it was only for decoration and hence the axle pivot bearing was worn out. Center part plus axle middle bit is $1700. So buying new parts is not an option. I carefully bored out the axle...

Front axle (disassembly) continued... Take the four bolts holding the axle centre pivot and pull it out while supporting the axle. The axle can now be taken out. There is a shim washer at the back, take that out too if it is stuck on the frame. Now we have all parts separated.

Front axle (disassembly) Thanks to longer neglect from previous owners the front axle pivot bearing was so worn out that the axle outside could be moved 5mm back and forward. The wheel bearings were pretty wobbly too. Together with a leaking tyre I thought it is time to tackle the front axle...

You have to force them into the new hive box and lock them in initially. When they swarm they normally hang in a big cluster on a tree branch, the queen inside somewhere. Then they send out scout bees to find a new place for a hive. This can take a while. You shake the swarm into the box or I...

I found vaseline very good. It is used a lot on boats, a very demanding environment for any electrical contact.

How did you catch them? I caught one of my own swarms (I know, negligence) by holding a box with a few frames under the swarm and simply cut off the branch they were hanging off. Lid on, box fully closed, and leave them over night (!) in the basement / garage. Then you put out the hive and open...

Well, depends. When you get stung by a single bee (because she felt attacked) miles away from the hive, you pull out the sting as quickly as possible and that's it. But if you inspect a hive and get a sting they all go for you. They smell the venom and try to sting you too. Better to close the...

Electricity will not get cheaper. Go off grid. This is what I will be working on this summer. Solar panels were never as cheap as they are now in Europe.

I am just looking for ash planks for a trailer and it has basically disappeared in Ireland, or is incredibly expensive. A friend of mine has cut down some ash trees in Germany that were dying, so hopefully I can get a few pieces, haul them 1000 miles to Ireland and cut the boards with a friends...