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« Last post by sixball on Today at 12:48:32 AM »
A few years ago I invested in a bunch of Milwaukee 18v tools. Since we power our place with solar it made sense to me use our setup to run tools with it. I had tried it before with a mess of several brands of tools & batteries and was not happy. With everything on the same battery platform I like it. 16" chain saw, 6" Chain saw, big hedge trimmer, line cutter that has a tiller attachment and a blade cutter. Router, drill, driver, 3/8" & 1/2" impact wrenches, cutoff wheel, jig saw, circular saw, reciprocating saw, small shop vac, flush cut saw, sander, and probably some others I can't think of. I'm happy with them all but the chain saws & line trimmer/ tiller blew me away. The 1/2" impact will break a 1/2" bolt with no strain. The little driver is my got to for jobs that need to turn.
Worst part is 18v batteries are expensive and there are counterfeits out there on the internet. one and it was crap. I recently bought a 12v pruner that kicks ass and a 12v 8" hedge trimmer that is easy to use with one hand. The 12v batteries are better priced and these two tools are powerful.
A good thing is no starting, no tuning, no dying when you set it down, no gas mixing, no old fuel in carbs & cans, and there are quiet. I do have a couple of gas saws & a line trimmer set aside just in case.
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« Last post by sammons on July 22, 2026, 11:47:44 AM »
Lol, the way i bypass these darned safetys. I drill a small 1/8" hole between the safety button and body of saw, then screw a 5/8" in long ford dash trim screw in there till it pushes safety button in😁
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« Last post by sammons on July 22, 2026, 11:41:24 AM »
I haven't been able to run my chainsaw for 3-4 yrs. Didn't have the strength in my hands to hold it let alone pull trigger. Other than my brother coming back last couple years to clear stuff for me, it was getting out of control.
Last month i picked up a harbour freight cheap Bauer hand held 5" bar 20v chainsaw. Little dude does real good once i overide the safety switch. My brother just sent me another yesterday that he bought his wife, said it kicked butt for a cheapy off amazon. It came with an 8" bar and a 6", and a very handy left hand grip.
I've cut down a group of 10 small trees, 2" to 4" and the last this morn that was 8-9" diameter. Very impressed with both saws. I'm getting one heck of a big pile built up. Waiting for city to come pick up, after all, that creek area is city property. I've been cutting trees and mowing it for 44yrs, they can't complain.
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« Last post by sammons on July 21, 2026, 05:17:19 PM »
Glad your pond finally resealed. Dang frogs/toads/bullhead cats seem to be able to burrow in dry areas and resurface years later,with rain etc.... really amazing.
At least you had the part now. Yep those older Kubota tractor parts are hard to find. Brothers is prob 30-40yrs old, when he bent a bucket cyl rod he found that out. Called all Kubota stores, N.A. called me and i had a buddy back here that worked parts for John Deere industrial equipment, he always said he had warehouses that carried all brands of hard to get construction parts. Lol, nope. He called a place back on east coast that had universal fit cylinders and got the propper specs with exception to the clevis pin hole body was a little narrower. A shim on each side, upper only, and back in busness.
Theres usually a way around the recomended complete tear down. When i painted Toms dads 9nFord (after i used it heavy for a week) i wanted to paint it and replace axle seal and brakes. 40yrs ago we had no internet or youtube. I went to the library and found the procedure, said i had to split at differential and remove axle tube. Nahh, that wasn't gonna happen with me, i'm not a tractor guy. Painted it and had to return it to him with greasy brakes🙄
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« Last post by sixball on July 20, 2026, 11:34:20 PM »
Do tractors count? Saturday I broke the steering box sector shaft on my old Kubota. Odd Ball model (L2050DT) and parts are getting hard to find. It took until this afternoon working where it broke, about 50 yards from the shop, to get the broken shaft out. Hot here! Yesterday I built a tent over it with an old trampoline cover.
It broke about 2 years ago and my son welded it back together while I searched for a new one. He patched it back together and it lasted 2 years of hard use. I put a new shaft aside. This time it ate a bearing and a seal. I was just able to order them on line. Trying to do this without tearing the whole tractor apart like the book shows. Didn't find much on line that helped. Pretty tight spaces for an old guy.
I was hauling a bucket load of my best clay to try and seal a leak in the sound I've been trying to fill. It seem right now to have sealed its self after I got in a walked around searching for the leak. Thousands of tadpoles and young toads I think. There are also some frogs. Theist showed up when the water did. Funny thing in the high desert.
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« Last post by sammons on July 20, 2026, 09:01:23 AM »
Lol, had to go back to this thread to see what i did on window switch 7yrs ago.
Caught up with yard work so time for pickup repair and maintenace work. My battery side terminals were corroded and neg post bolt head stripped. Went out to Tom's and had him use visegrips to remove, my grip wasn't strong enough. Got that done, next it was surging/hunting at idle down to 300-400 rpm then dying. Cleaned throttle body and mass airfow sensor. They were pretty dirty, you could really see the black carbon build up inside throttle body.
My 03 Silverado has the 5.3, l460e trans. Has the K&N cold air kit. When i got it a friend has the same pickup as mine with tow package like mine. He checked it out when brother give it to me. He said get rid of that as the oil on the k&n can foul the MAF sensor and take out the transmission. Happened to him, tranny guy said it controls line pressure and shift points causing clutch pack burn up? So he put stock box back on. He said tranny guy said just clean k&n and not add the oil, just service frequent. So thats what i do. I sprayed the k&n cleaner, then rinse off, blow dry and let sit outside and get good and dry. Refired truck ran for 30mins, then let sit and cycled thru 2 more starts. No more surg/hunting and idles at 7oo-750 rpm with a/c on.
Next was the power window master switch. Intermitant working on drivers window/lock. Took apart and cleaned everything reall good, lots of black carbon from the rubber silicon carbon buttons, and on circuit board contacts. Last time i did this i just posted a tv remote, basicly the same. This time i took pics. Replacements then were $170 dorman and $280 acdeco. Now they are just $40 to $70 on amazon depending on quality. Found a NOS motorolla like mine for $118 on ebay. Oh well, $70 is what i saved anyway. Works great again.
Screw drivers are pointing to the main contacs that need alcohol and q-tip for final clean after regular cleaning with electronic tuner cleaner. Dang thing was really dirty.
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« Last post by sammons on July 17, 2026, 03:39:16 PM »
Man i fought that stupid push cap wheel/axle lock for over an hour trying to get it off last night to replace front wheels. I needed to reuse it so was trying to save. I didn't know where i would find one and figured my luck it would have a hardened axle and would be hard to drill a hole for cotter pin.
Called Tom to see if he had any ideas or would stop by and give a hand later when he got home from work. He asked me what size axle, told him 1/2". Then he said guess what i just bought. I thought maybe the Hd3500 after all. The then sends me a pic of 3 push cap locks. Said i just picked me up one, and thought he might as well get an extra 2 pak just to have. What are the chances of that happening😁
Got here about 9:30 so i just cut it off with cutoff wheel. Got it all back together this morn and edged my curbing. Boy it really rolls easy across the grass to do that. Before i would basicly have to drag it. Yesterday i measured how much blade i used to edge my nieghbors place. Just about 800' of sidewalks, walkways and drive way. Just right at 1/4". Those factory blades i probably would have wore down at least 1 and 1/2 blades.
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« Last post by sammons on July 17, 2026, 03:20:16 PM »
Ah shoot, my buddy Tom was bidding on an online auction site for another HD 3500. He bought a 1996 Chevy several years ago to retrofit the drive train, (front axel disc brakes, rear axle, tires/wheels etc) on his old 1958 Chev C60 Viking wheat truck. This past week he's been waiting out the bidding, he didn't miss it by much. He quit at $850 plus 10%, plus tax, plus 60-80 gal diesel fuel to go up to Grand Island Nebraska after it.
He wanted the extra tires/wheels, brakes spare rear diff and mainly was after the 5 speed overdrive manual trans w/ the old style emergency brake mounted on tail shaft.
Sold for $925 + 10% +tax.
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« Last post by TFoch on July 16, 2026, 06:34:54 PM »
Nice to get parts when they were built to last!
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« Last post by sammons on July 16, 2026, 01:18:25 PM »
Got rear wheels replaced this morn and edger serviced. They went right on, they were 1/2" center hole. They used a shoulder bolt, looks like fronts are similar, but not sure how axle comes out yet. Decided to get my neighbors sidwalks and drive done while it was cooler. Also he couldn't object, they went to Dodge to get theirJeep windshield replaced😁 Breezed right thru it. Sure rolls easy with real bearings👍
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