Pellet heads!! What's up today?

That too....

 

Now I'm curious what transmission my old JD has in it. I'll have to look. According to online it switched manufacturers for my year. My 2 choices are a Eaton or sundstrand.

 

Yeah the K42 is in the Husky locally. The TS348 has the K66.

Ive read quite a bit on the K42 over the last few days and really wondering how Husqvarna considers the TS242XD a garden tractor with it.

42" deck is really all I need, maybe 48". Ive been looking for something with that size and at least a K66 tranny.

 

I set the valve lash Saturday afternoon. Ive has the mower 4-5 years (got it used and older-manufactured in 2011 or 2013 cant remember)and never checked the valves prior but it ran really well yesterday. Guy I took the head to said the Courage engines run well, when they run. It's that dang hole in the bock that makes em run not so good

Ive also read about using Right Stuff on the cover side of the gasket so its still easy to remove from the head and it holds up pretty well.

 

The TS248XD is a nice machine. The Kawi engine for starters.

If I wasnt thinking I might use it for sn*w or potentially hauling pellets (maybe 10 bags at a time?) from garage to basement (down a short but steep hill) it would be great as a lawn mower. Downhill is more of an engine brake thing..... that is of you can engine brake that well with a hydro tranny?

 

Soooo, TSC has the current version of my Troy Bilt lawn tractor on sale for 1599. This one has Briggs and Straton 19HP Intek. Still a single cylinder but pricing is way less $$ than anything else Ive been considering.

If the current engine was not running this would be a no brainer for the price and likely would do for 90-95% of the tasks here.

 

Yeah, never been sure how they came up with the term w/o a real HD rear in it. Still a real nice mower, if that's all you'll be doing with it. As for the 42" vs 48" debate, if you have the room for it, always go bigger. I made that mistake back when I live in the "big house" in NY....regretted not going to the 48" for many years.

 

IMO, I wouldn't be pushing much in the way of sn*w, but they DO have regular brakes, so hauling the pellets shouldn't be much of a problem.

 

Yes....Dirty crusty discs do not work well...

 

The small "Sub compact" lawn tools are just not suited well to hard use.
We had purchased a 12HP Kubota back in the early 80's (1973 B6100)
It finally died in April of 2013
Tranny ate itself....
We replaced it with a 22HP Mahindra Hydrostatic 4x4 (Max 22)
Small enough to get around the yard and close to the house....
Drags a 42"-48" mower on the 3 point (We had a 42" left from the Kubota)
Has a nice front hydraulic bucket....
Will accept a center mount mower.... For doing work in tighter spaces....

3 cylinder diesel power
Dual range gear box ....Foot rocker pedal for the Forward/Reverse and speed control
Rear diffy lock pedal

Perfect little rig....
We use it around the house as well as for much bigger jobs mowing fence lines and other places..

Far better than the lawn tractors......

 

Fall is getting under way for sure.
Rain is definitely stacking up for October...Over 3-1/2" so far
Running only the little stove so far...
The past couple days it's been night time runs only...
That will likely become a 24/7 thing soon enough
Still using up shells from several years ago.....
Before the plants switched to running only 1/2 shells to the trash....They used to run everything through a trash fan.....

This broke the stuff up really nice....Buttttttttttt...sticks and other debris went to the hopper too.

We had to screen this crap out before putting the stuff in the stove...
The old stock is a big ?????????????? I have no idea which barrels of the old stock are as it came off the line (Sticks included) So until all the old stock is used up we must screen it.....

We dug out our original screen bottom bucket....and shake the stuff....
Now with the 1/2 shells and running them through the "Munchy" we do not get any sticks....

A stick will jam Munchy and requires a quick clearing of the anvil.....So no bad stuff reaches the stove.

But until the old stock is gone ....Gotta screen it....
Maybe 6-8 barrels left.

Back this spring we completely cleaned off the concrete slab in the barn and rotated all the stock.
The rear of the storage area is all new 1/2 shell stock and the old stuff was brought out to use up first...

During the transition to doing half shells and crushing them we had one season that we were using a "Cracker" that the plant loaned us until we could get our "Munchy" built.

We crushed a lot of material and barreled it up....Sadly during this time things got mixed up and there were many barrels of "Stove ready" that got mixed in with old stock that was not screened.....

Some of the crushed stuff was labeled as stove ready.....

Barrels that are not labeled are suspect.....A broken auger feed motor jammed from a stick is not any fun.

So we have a few barrels left that we just have to fuss with a bit.....

I will be really happy when all this old stock is gone... A grand old chapter in our stove history will finally close....

The materials we get running the 1/2 shells through MUNCHY are cleaner with very little fines and little dirt and dust....The old stuff had more crap that made clinkers...

The time to run the stuff through Munchy is overall no more than what was required to screen the old stuff.....

Munchy can handle a 55 gallon barrel of 1/2 shells in about 10 minutes... STOVE READY at that point.

The season is here.....We are about ready to go get a load....

Munchy in action...The machine is being fed pretty slow for the video....Normally we just stoke the beast....Just keep the hopper nearly full ...Then it goes quick....
The blue catch tub will be filled about 4 times to fill a barrel with stove ready materials...
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/chGYl3p7Nbs

 

The old disc I took off was clean. Either it was defective or they just don't make them as well.

 

Nothing is as good as it was a few years ago...
Also depends on ....IF IT WAS AN OEM replacement part.

If the part was an aftermarket replacement....All bets are off.....

Many times the aftermarket stuff is JUNK.....

It may look the same and fit the application....but the quality suffers.....

 

We had a large maple tree by the stable that died last year....

The branches were starting to break off and drop on the roof this fall...

It had to go.
Called a few outfits that do removals....$1500 was the cheapest.....Most did not want to touch it as it was leaning towards the barn...

Son in law rented a telescopic lift and got the worst of the stuff off the tree. (He limbed up the big fir too)

I ordered up Three 30 foot Recovery straps (Rated at 30,000# )

We connected them together and hooked up high in the crotch of the tree.
Connected the other end to the 2500 Suburban 4x4......

WE put a big strain on the tree.
Son in law did the relief cut....THEN THE BACK CUT....As it started to CRACK....I got the signal and put the 454 in the Burb to work.....TREE DOWN SAFELY...And right where we wanted it.....

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/j6ZfkLWgy38

 

Interesting that most didn't want to deal with the leaner. Around here everyone, besides those using horses/oxen have the equipment needed to take that out of there (assuming the access is fairly easy - as it looks in the picture). But you are right, they ain't cheap. I got a great deal last year when I took a bunch of trees down in the backyard. I used to work with his wife so they charged me $4k for 8 trees (then he actually ended up taking 13 and not charging me more). Of course for 1 tree it would be much more expensive just for the cost of the equipment to get here, then the cost per tree goes down after that.

 

You got a screaming deal on that many trees....

My daughter did the contacts and had the quotes done..
The first guy was the High priced one.....
He actually came out and looked over the situation.

The others just asked for pictures from a few angles....

The cost was just outside the budget...

So the kids decided to rent the green lift..
The original thought was that all the limbs could be trimmed off and then the trunk could be cut off a couple feet at a time to eliminate the worry due to the lean....

The lift came up about 6 feet short.....The one long limb hanging over the barn was too big to cut loose at the trunk and allow to fall on the barn roof.....
With winter and ice snow possible....The real possibility of that long limb breaking was a real concern...

So we decided to get the heavy straps and use the Suburban to give a good helping hand.....

I am glad that thing is out of our way now...
I wanted that tree gone years ago....When we built the barn the tree was very small (1996)
My mom was alive then and was not amused at the idea of removing the tree.

So to keep peace in the family we left it.....

The only thing left is to remove the stump....
May rent a grinder and chew it below grade.....

I do not want to mess with the ground too much....The power line to the yellow building in the background goes right by the tree...... The line is 3-4 feet down ....
So doing any serious digging is not a good plan...