Stuck Dump Truck and Hot Wiring the MF 240

This weekend we had 20 tons more gravel brought in to thicken up a few areas that didn't have sufficient depth.  On this particular occasion the dump truck driver would not heed Scott's advice to back down the driveway dropping and spreading the gravel.  By this method he had learned from one of the previous dump truck haulers (who was very good at operating his truck and spreading) that delivered last month, that while tougher to navigate down a winding road like ours going backwards, he would not get stuck in the soft gravel on the slope coming back up.  Anyway this particular driver went forward and dumped it evenly at about 4-5 inch thick.  Sure enough he was unable to back up the hill because the gravel was too loose and soft, as predicted.  Eventually with a long series of backing and forwarding maneuvers he compacted the road enough for his tires to get some traction and eased his rig up the slope but not without making a rutted mess. Once he was gone our attention went back to getting the tractor going so we could level and smooth the gravel with the loader.

Finally we figured out the problem with the starting system.  The battery was not the issue after all but nonetheless we have a brand spanking new one installed that should last us a few years.  Long story short we were able to bypass the neutral starting switch which we think is defective based, not only on our diagnostics, but also on the mechanic's testimony on a phone call back to the dealer in Florida who sold it to us.  We did this with a screwdriver tip on the neutral switch terminal running to the solenoid over to the hot battery terminal of the solenoid.  The engine fired up!

While warming up the machine we made an attempt to learn how the various functions of the machine worked when you pulled a lever or turned a knob.  The PTO works as it should but the lift bars of the 3 point hitch were funky and didn't raise or lower (he thinks he diverted the hydraulic fluid from the auxillary lines that run the FEL back to the hydraulic storage tank when randomly tweaking the levers).   No matter at this point Scott got to work crudely spreading the newly laid gravel by back dragging the FEL bucket from top of the driveway to the bottom.  Actually he did a pretty good job grooming it with the bucket.   See some of his handiwork here.

This is Caterpillar brand battery part# 153-5656.  Supposedly they are higher quality battery's with anti-vibration design built into them for "Ag" applications.  Below this you can see the solenoid where the (+) battery lead (heavy cable) connects.  The blue terminal lead is the neutral switch line which is either faulty or the connection onto the solenoid is bad/inadequate.

 

Tractor electrics on the fritz

We received the replacement hardware and installed the other half of the gate.  However as you can see we still need to add the bracing on right side gate.  Eventually we'll finish it but for a good part of the day we spent tinkering and learning how to operate our tractor. 

Scott is presently researching an electrical issue with the tractor starting system.  Sometimes it starts sometimes it doesn't. The battery seems to be holding a charge so next thing he says we need to look at are starter solenoid, battery cable connections and the (neutral) starting switch.  Good thing the operator and shop manuals arrived last week.  Nonetheless we were able to practice driving up and down the road a few times and put it to "work" by carrying bales of straw down the hill to where we re-seeded.  I also installed some grass seed blankets in the ditch and pegged them with sticks to prevent seed wash-out in future rain storms.

A road and a tractor!

February and March 2014

Tree clearing in preparation for the road continues. We have to work quickly so that we can get the road put in by mid May. If we wait much longer than that then we won't be able to seed the sides of the road and the ditches with grass to prevent erosion.

Craig and Devon Tomlin came to visit.









We are bucking a lot of the logs to be used as firewood, but also leaving the straight trees in 10-12 ft lengths to be used to make a small log cabin. These are too heavy for us to move!
We have cleared about 500 ft of road length, 12 ft wide and are ready for the bulldozer to remove the stumps and install the roadbed.

Late April 2014

 We hired Cherokee Excavating, a local proprietor, to rip out the stumps and grade and shape our road for best drainage. He took out a few more trees than we had planned for in order to create a more gently sloping drainage channel together with a culvert along the left side of the road way. The bulldozer pushed over trees like they were toothpicks. He piled up the logs for us that we couldn't move on our own, and also created a rather large 20 ft high "compost pile" composed of stumps, topsoil and brush.

Scott laid down a 6.5 oz/sq. yd. polypropylene geo-textile material from US Fabrics after the road was shaped and before the gravel was delivered. This separates the gravel from the sub-grade and makes for a more stable, long lasting gravel road.

We had gravel delivered from the local quarry near Pelham. We used crusher run grade called Virginia 026 which is a crushed angular granite rock with quite a bit of fines to consolidate it well.

So far we have had four truckloads of rock delivered, but we need a few more! After we get our tractor we are going to spread what has been delivered a bit better and then get at least another 4-5 loads (~20 tons/truckload). Immediately after the excavation we spread about 75 lbs of grass seed and 30 bales of straw on the cleared areas to begin the "healing" of the cleared bare soil areas.

May 2014

 The grass seed is sprouting! I was a bit worried about it because we had a torrential rain storm that dropped about 3" right after we spread it, and we had to go back and add a bit more and re-deploy some of the straw.  However, Cherokee did a great job with the road, and the erosion was minimal. Hoping that May brings enough rain to get it established before the heat of summer arrives. Still waiting on our tractor so that we can spread gravel around and move logs on our own.


The most recent project at the land has been to install a front gate. Now that the road is passable we don't want curious visitors driving down our road and stealing our firewood, and later on, our tractor and whatever else we decide to leave there.

So we have half the entrance gate installed. We purchased the gate parts and hardware from Gatecrafters.com. BIG mistake! The old bait and switch routine with these internet stores. When the product arrived, the hinge plates had only 1/4" piloted holes requiring you to expand them to 3/8" (not so easy to do on 1/4" thick plate steel --unless you have a drill press and some cutting fluid).  The other problem I experienced was that the aluminum frames would not hold a semi-gloss metal paint even after priming/etching with the manufacturer's recommended product. One of the 4 hinges was the wrong size, so we are waiting for them to send us a replacement. The company marketing promoted the idea that their kits allowed one to make almost any kind of gate you want starting with the basic metal framework. However the hardware and basic frame or of only fair quality and unless you want to spend HOURS preparing the aluminum frame, go and buy a finished farm gate and hardware from your local store.  After stripping and re-finishing two of the four frames to bare metal again I settled on a flat olive green spray paint which seemed to adhere to the primed surface without blistering. Skip Gatecrafters.com folks.  Hit the bricks and mortar hardware stores when shopping for your gate needs.

May 12 was an exciting day - we received our Massey Ferguson 240. We bought it from Fred in Florida  - found it on eBay -Seemore and Doolittle. It is 20 years old but had all of its hoses replaced and was repainted. Seems to be in very good running condition. Scott met the transport truck at the end of the road, the truck driver showed him how to drive it, and he drove it down the road to its new home. Can't wait to put it to work dragging stuff around and moving gravel :)

Scotty makes his first board out of a Virginia pine log using the Haddon Lumbermaker

Scotty went up to do some more road clearing yesterday, and try out the Haddon lumber maker that he got for Christmas. He made a mighty fine plank that will be used in the construction of our out house!

Scotty waxes profoundly on road clearing...

Road clearing

January 3, 2014

We went up to the land today and finished piling up the brush we had cut. Also carried the concrete footings into the center of the lot for our outhouse. Had to take a few breaks along the way - they are really heavy! We also cut down some "hanging" trees so we would have some seasoned firewood to burn. It was really cold today, so we really enjoyed our thermos of hot tea :)

The road is really coming along

July 2013

The road to our homestead site

After years of searching for land we finally found the perfect homestead site in rural North Carolina. Close enough to the city to commute to work, yet quiet, remote and woodsy! We purchased 24 acres in two different parcels. A 10 acre parcel that will be managed as a woodlot, and a 14 acre parcel that will be transformed into our homestead. Both lots are mixed hardwood with some areas of pine. They were selectively logged several years ago, but there are still lots of very large trees on the land. The sites are hilly with several different ecosystems in each.

Wetland

Entrance to our homestead

One of my favorite ecosystems on our homestead lot is a wetland area that is adjacent to a year round creek at the back of the lot. It is not always wet, but floods after several days of rain.

Our goal for our homestead is to clear a road, then clear an area for a house, drive shed and barn, make terraced vegetable gardens and have some areas of pasture for goats and maybe a horse. We definitely plan to have chickens.  We have a lot of work to do!

 

 August 2013

We have spent many hours marking our property boundaries (wouldn't want to build a road on our neighbor's land!) and making trails. We have made some good use of the Husqvarna 343 FR brush cutter saw to clear saplings. There sure are a lot of ticks this year! The other vile creature that we have become acquainted with is the chigger. As former Canadians, we were not familiar with the chigger, but have become very well acquainted as we spend time at our beautiful land. We spent a lot of time walking the whole property so that we could find the best place to locate a home.

October 2013

 We made a plan for our homestead design and had the health department come out and approve where we wanted to locate our well and septic field. We located the house centrally but well above the flood plain of our triangular shaped lot. We are planning on practicing permaculture based on concepts presented by Ben Falk in an excellent book called The Resilient Farm and Homestead. Our ultimate goal is to live as sustainably as possible.

November 2013

First stage of road clearing

 We started clearing trees in preparation for road construction. We are clearing the trees ourselves to save money, and because it is just fun to be out working in the woods! This required the purchase of a bigger chainsaw (Husqvarna Rancher 450) as some of the trees are fairly large. We plan to heat our home with an efficient wood stove, so the cleared trees were bucked and stacked. We will have to move these piles of firewood to a sheltered woodshed later, after the road is built. We are really enjoying working without getting bitten by ticks and chiggers!

Road progress by end of November

We left the stumps so that a bulldozer can come in and push them out. The wood pile is growing. The next stage of the road will involve clearing lots of small brushy trees.

I think we need to start a new wood pile!

Hungry logger

Log shaving station

 December 2013

We had so many tall straight pines that it seemed a shame to cut them all into firewood. One of the side projects is preparing logs to use to build maybe a small log cabin, and also an outhouse. (Some of the workers are complaining about using the bushes...). I have been using a draw knife to shave the bark off these logs.

The outhouse will house a beautiful hand-made composting toilet based on the Loveable Loo plans.  Merry Christmas to me!

Composting toilet

January 2014

We are now in the final stages of road clearing. The rest of the work will be removing small trees and saplings. They are easy to cut down, but a lot of work to drag into piles some of them are entangled in vines and prickly stuff. We have some giant brush piles to deal with now. I think we need to rent a chipper.

This is not so much fun!

Taking a break to visit some of our beautiful beech trees!