Now for my little escapades of late. Between the new shed and a bunch of repair projects around the house, I haven't been online much lately. Waiting on concrete now, so got a little more seat time in lately, and getting closer to recovering another acre or so of the property. Put the stump bucket on, and dug up a couple more 6" sweetgum stumps, several 4" elm stumps (which are larger than the 6" sweetgums) a couple older water oak stumps. Flattened suitably with the box blade after getting each one out.
Then, ....
Popped the FEL and box blade off and gave the LX it's first bubble bath. I was gonna scrub the tires and put some dressing on them and the plastic, but figured that could wait till next time. Hopefully, I can get it inside after cleaning it again. This picture just reminded me that I haven't put the storage legs on the FEL back up, but they're pretty darn noticeable. The main reason I took the FEL off was to clean off some of the excess grease from my liberal greasing habits. Since November, I've got about 80 hours on it, and have gone through one 14 oz tube of red n tacky. In fact, I'd greased it again before I went on my campaign (stumping). That FEL is a PAIN to clean up. I think I have more grease on me than it has on it now. I've just made it a habit to pop every pin on the FEL with two shots after every 10 hours or so of operation. It's a lot cheaper to clean up messy grease than it is to repair that boom, I'm sure. Anyone got any good recommendations for a good degreaser for removing red n tacky from the paint? Pressure washing turned into a very bad idea. Blew most of the "LA535" you see in this photo off last time I did that, and tore up the "K" and "a" in Kubota. Fortunately, the adhesive was still there and I managed to stick it all back on.
Out of curiosity, how often should I be pulling the pins and checking them for wear? I REALLY wish I had pins with the same grease fittings (in the center of the end of the pin) at the top of the FEL as it has at the bottom. It's a lot easier to grease the bucket end than the top end. The zerks are a PITA to get to on the boom pivot and each end of the boom cylinders.
One of my little projects involved a 15" x 20' culvert because of how muddy I was getting the tractor every time I used it. No more slogging through the mud to get to the back of the property. Well, the first ditch full of mud, anyway. We've already had a pretty good frog strangler, and the culvert worked wonderfully. 2nd ditch hasn't been crossed yet. With the progress I'm making, gonna be needing a finish mower sooner than later. Still a lot of sloped ground back there that the little Husky simply won't climb with it's little turfies. Nearly as much HP as the Kubota, but probably less than 20% of the weight and certainly not geared nearly as low. This little road runs just to the left of the new slab-to-be in the first pic. I added some 'rip-rap' to both ends of the culvert from the rock pile I've collected from the yard as well, just for a little added erosion insurance.
Note the size of the poison ivy vines on the tree closest to the end of the culvert. I cut about a foot out of them close to ground level a couple years ago. They just haven't turned loose and fallen yet. Those were average size of the little vines when I moved in back in 2004. I've been killing poison ivy since I got here. Fortunately, I'm not allergic unless I get it in a scratch or get in the smoke when I burn it. The missus is though, so she can't help me much back there this time of year, and I won't even let her handle my laundry when I've been back there until after it finishes blooming. You can see the 'Leaflets three" on the other tree where that stuff just refuses to die and keeps coming back, It isn't nearly as bad as it once was though. There were vines the size of my leg that went to the tops of 75' tall pines in the back. Beyond the second ditch, it's just a sea of PI on the ground, and briars, and privet, and many things I will enjoy destroying faster than it can come back now.