First mow
Tractor ran a little ragged. Have to see if the head gasket has failed, Kohler engines are so damned hard on head gaskets it’s not funny. Plus, I suppose I ought to either wire up the damned bolts or put on new lockwashers. I suppose the old lockwashers have only been on there for thirty five years.
Planted two nice rosebushes outside the daughter’s bedroom window. I was born in the morning- but not this morning.
Helped the NPCCC clean up their stretch of highway (two miles of Rt 6 in Chesterton) Found half empty whiskey bottles, inflatable sex dolls, and a sex toy made to look like the rear end of a sheep. Suppose it is farm country. Lots of damned beercans. People who drink Bud, Old style and smoke Chesterfields. And coffee from Speedway.
17 comments Og | Uncategorized
I would have planted Claymores, but that’s just me.
Dick: “What’s mine is mined.”
Unless that rosebush grows handgrenades, the only one that it’s going to deter is the painter. Go downtown and put some bars on.
Don’t know what’s changed, probably the material, but new motors never blow headgaskets.
Sooner or later you’ll find one that ain’t inflatable.
damned good idea dick.
Slightly O/T, but we finaly laid that mound in our front yard.
M
Yippee ! Now I get to replace the perennials that got destroyed by the friggin backhoe. Daffodils popped up in the middle of the mound of earth. We’ll move what we can.I located the Russian sage at a little nursery near here and will pick it up in the morning.And grape hyacinths.Should look better by the time you visit again.
swmbo
Get in touch with Zonker about that sheep’s hindquarters. He’s been wondering where he left that…
Here’s something that I’m sure you’ll find of interest:
http://www.boltscience.com/pages/info.htm?
You’ll have less faith in lockwashers; I personally avoid using them as much as possible. Tighten the bolts until just before they break, and they won’t usually come loose.
I’ll tell you another problem with Kohlers, and it might be yours. If it’s got some time on it and is using a bit of oil, there’s a chance that the exhaust valve is hanging just a bit. This will cause massive overheating, to the point where it’ll boil the gas in the carburator. My Cub Cadet, vintage 1966 with 10Hp Kohler, had gotten like that, so I replaced it in 1987. The guy who I bought the Diesel tractor from told me what the problem was with the old Cub. We had already made the deal, and I wanted a new tractor anyway, so wasn’t about to back out.
A new set of rings might be what you need.
The discussion about the headgaskets reminds me of a quote I just read in one of the automotive magazines:
“When you’re a mechanic, you spend a lot of time thinking about how others think about things.”
Probably more relevant to the discussion here a couple of months back about engineering, but thought I’d throw it out there.
Ya know, if you feel a Spring like urge, you could always daisy-chain the claymores. It’s a freakin’ hoot watching the vicious lil’ bastards go off in sequence. They literally rip the shit out of everything in their path, teenage boys included.
Oh, and don’t forget the foogas, (I seem to remember leaving grandmother’s recipe lying around here someplace) and then toss in a 10 lb. bucket of roofing nails into the foogas, kinda like individual party favors.
Of course, I’m just sayin’. I really wouldn’t know anything about the darkest college pranks ever at 2:30 in the morning.
Jimd: The engine was freshened two years back. Rings, bearings, valves, seats, springs, cam.
And I’m thinking of the other tractor, this one has a briggs.
The lockwashers are grade 5, the bolts grade 8. The old Briggs are medium silica grey cast cylinders, with aluminum oil pans and heads, and the head’s growth rate blows chunks. The lockwashers allow you to have a constant load on the aluminum during use, and help accomodate the motion of the head as it expands and contracts. OTOH, the head gasket is a horrible design,(graphite) which has not changed in- what, a hundred years? Just on the merits of having not changed. The action of the head expanding compresses the gasket, and you have to go retorque the bolts. The gasket then gets compressed further, yadda yadda. I’ve put gaskets in that were .050, and after four years taken them out at .035.
The sticky valves on Kohlers I remember all too well. Got so I could yank the side cover off, reach in with a pair of ignition pliers, and twist the sucker till it was free again. A distinctive noise that bugger makes, too!!
Dick, I’m glad as hell you’re fighting for OUR side. When we gonna see some pictures of that house? you gotta be getting along now.
GOH: “When you’re a mechanic, you spend a lot of time thinking about how others think about things.â€
That’s a good quote, I’ll have to remember that one.
Of course, it’s usually more like “WTF WERE they thinking?!?”
“Planted two nice rosebushes outside the daughter’s bedroom window. I was born in the morning- but not this morning.”
I’d wager this is not so much a deterrent as an early alarm system.
The chambering of a 3½” 00 buckshot Magnum round would be the actual deterrent…
I assume those were NOT thornless roses :)
These roses have thorns ON the thorns. And I fully intend to coat them with capsicum powder.
Be careful of those half-full bottles – that may not be whiskey, especially after having drunk same.