I've been working on making siding for our new barn. We had a 20 x 20 steel carport with no sides. I'm planning to build a 36" high, board and batten wall for the sides out of a bunch of random-width, air-dried oak I had milled a couple years ago. The upper 5' will be barn curtain. Since my "boards" will be about 7.5" wide, I will need almost 60 of them for just the two sides. Likewise, I will need the same number of 2.5" battens. Here's the "boards" cut to length. I still need to rip them to consistent width. The four, 8' pieces will be some of the horizontal piece into which the b&b will be screwed. For those of you following my other posts, you may have noticed that I have WAY too many things going on right now. Don't worry, the sheep will be starting to lamb at the end of the month. EEEEEKKKK!
And yet another "project." This one is unplanned. I knew my idler pulleys were wearing out on my lawn tractor for a few months now but I had been putting that off. I finally got around to it the other day. Once those were replaced - a horrible, needlessly fussy operation - I could hear the noise coming from my PTO clutch. That's shot too, so now I'm replacing that and the drive belt. Clutch replacement is simple as one bolt. Replacing the drive belt was obscenely ridiculous, involving taking apart the front tie rods, and numerous other little sub assemblies. As it stands now, I have everything but the clutch replaced. I'll have to wait a couple more days for that to arrive in the mail. Aftermarket was literally half the price of the OEM at the dealership. By the end of the week, it should be wrapped up. And by the way, I busted several bits of plastic on the hood just taking if off. Whatever JD says, I prefer metal. Here's the broken bits: And here's the hillbilly lift system
I’ll be anxious to see the board & bat going up. It’ll look great! Probably gonna be a while tho, eh mike bayerl?
Yes. It is lowish on the list of priorities, but I would like to have it up in the next 2 weeks before the lambs are due. It will make nice windbreak for the little ones.
Made a little progress today putting up the horizontal boards to attach the boards and battens to. I used some 4/4 random width white oak and hex head sheet metal screws. It was convenient to have two drills and a driver to use for forestner bit (countersink), twist bit (pilot) and driver, without having to continually change bits.
I finally got around to finishing up the garden tractor repair and did my annual spring maintenance, too. Repairs included replacing the drive belt, drive idler pulleys and PTO clutch (pictured). Maintenance: Oil and filter change, replaced air and fuel filters, lube all grease zerks. In the last couple months, I've also replaced the throttle/choke cable assembly and the starter motor. It should be go to go for another decade or so. In case you were wondering when we will replace when we will replace the seat, the answer is never. They want nearly $200 OEM and over $100 aftermarket. No thank you, duct tape is fine. As a wise man once said “If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.”
Can the seat cushions be taken off separately from the seat frame? Thrift store vinyl suitcase or bag might supply enough material to cover the seat. Or a yard of vinyl from a fabric store would work.
Good job on the canopy! I am Like you on the drills! I have a mess of 4.5" grinders all set up with cup brush, stringer brush, grinder wheel, cutting wheel etc.. Sure beats changing them out all the time!
Actually, I only have 2 drills because I dropped the first one and messed up the chuck. It works like 90% of the time. So, I got another new one and use the old one for projects like this.
I’m gonna be watching your progress with the carport conversion because I think this weekend I’ll be moving one onto my property. I’ve had it dealt for for awhile ( I think it’s gonna be free ). Problem is, I’m not sure what to do with it. Was originally thinking wood shed, but now leaning towards a place to park skid steer, 4 wheeler, splitter, mower, etc.. Then there’s also the problem of not knowing exactly where to put it. Not to mention the lack of a reasonably flat and level spot for it. Reckon I’ll just get it here and figure out the final resting spot later.
Check around locally. You may be able to find someone to recover the seat. We did that and wasn't that expensive.
Finally got some more fencing hung. This project has been proceeding in fits and starts for several months now, including clearing the trees, driving the posts, setting up the bracing, etc. It still needs to be tacked up and I have another ~200 ft to hang.
P.S. Please excuse the wonky posts. As you can see, our ground is very rocky/bouldery, and sometimes you just have to take what you can get.
FYI, Northern Tool has those seats $50 A & I Low-Back Universal Replacement Lawn Mower Seat Yellow, Model# LMS2002YL | Northern Tool Or you could "stick" with the duct tape option...I just put a new "seat cover" on my 4 wheeler today...turned out pretty good and only cost $3.79 for 1 roll of Duck brand camo tape Realtree Edge Camo Duck Tape Brand Duct Tape 1.88 in X 10 yd | Duck Brand
It is very tough to work with rocky ground when putting in fences - and it doesn't help when you have to take down trees and fight with their extensive root systems either. But I happen to think that the less than traditional look you have going works very well in that setting