on the backhoe.. whoda thunkit?
While checking & cleaning things since the radiator is out.

I didnt see this coming at all..

The radiator I Did see comin, been a green spot a growin for a coupla months. The other day it shot steam & I tasted the sweetness of antifroz,, immediately replaced with the bitterness of a heartfelt SunnuvaBITCH,, Started makin the calls, hunt used,, Nope, stopped makin that radiator in 86.. I dont want a used one,, Repair this one? Nope, puttin a core in one costs more than new,, First quote, new, local guy,, right at FYVE Hunnert Dawlurz! No Kiddin? The core is 17.5 X 19, 3 deep,, More calls,, landed one for $375.00, OTD.. I can stand that,, So, while its down, time to look at stuff Ive never really looked at all that hard. Cleaned the 30 years accumulated goop from under the radiator, about 3 inches deep, gack,, Since the hood panels had to come off to get in there, I pounded out the years of little wrinkles that have built up. While the air cleaner was out & gettin blown out I thot Id clean "up in yonna" where it sits. All this time Ive looked in there & thot the cylinder it went around was a screen,, & I decided Id clean it,, well, LO and Be Hold,, it isnt a screen,,its a real life, no kiddin, finer air filter,, No one told me,, & I never thot to ask, Id been cleaning the "air filter" regularly since Ive had it.. Apparently not many know theres an inner filter, since the date on it is


March/ 1987,,, Eaux my GAWD,,, I wonder how much better it will run with a new one..

Yea, wow, indeed,, ya know how an air filter looks when held up to the sun,, well,, not this one,,its so nasty that wiping it with a hand = time to wash.. I cant believe the thing even ran with it,, I wonder how much air it was sucking thru the split rubber hose I found that was duct taped..

JOG, apparently it was WILLED you spend some quality bonding time with "said" machine.  No doubt it will love you much more after all this "hands on attention" you are giving it and it will perform sooooo much better for you.  At least for the Honeymoon Period anyway.  

shorty wrote on 03/22/14 at 07:54:20:



Like this? Works fine.



I did bend the log grapple and root rake teeth on the front bucket though...

Cleaning up THIS mess...



I'm 6'2" 240#, that's a limb sticking up behind me. That backhoe got a work out... Tree was well over 400 years old, full of lead and iron fragments from the 1860s...

Weight of what? Tree, a couple hundred thousand pounds. Tractor, no clue. JD10A loader conversion, couple tons.

The loader is a bolt on. Pull off 4 U-bolts, uncouple 4 hoses, pull out 8 large bolts and drive away. Freeing up the PTO, and exposing the 3 point hitch attachment lugs. Speed pin the arms back on and it is a 2wd John Deere 5400 tractor again.