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Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


Advent Horizon posted:

Remember when you said to get a CO2 fire extinguisher so there’s no cleanup after the inevitable fire? I ignored that advice.



Whoops!


edit: terrible page snipe. Pasted in quote for context.

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Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

Your not really trying unless you accidentally set your work bench on fire with the welder

SpeedFreek
Jan 10, 2008
And Im Lobster Jesus!
Don't forget the UV burns on the sliver of exposed skin, or entire forearm/thigh.

Lit my clothes on fire more than once, I turn them into rags before they get that tattered now.

Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

SpeedFreek posted:

Don't forget the UV burns on the sliver of exposed skin, or entire forearm/thigh.

Lit my clothes on fire more than once, I turn them into rags before they get that tattered now.

My uncle managed to get UV burns on his scrotum from welding in a set of football shorts commando… that was an unpleasant experience from reports.

the spyder
Feb 18, 2011

Advent Horizon posted:

Remember when you said to get a CO2 fire extinguisher so there’s no cleanup after the inevitable fire? I ignored that advice.



Pro tip. Grab a cheap spray bottle or small garden sprayer. Keep it full of water and hang it on the welding cart or work bench. If that won’t take care of the fire, then grab the extinguisher.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


Ooh, I think I have an antique extinguisher around, I might be able to repurpose with water.

Yesterday we did a bunch of cleanup and reorganizing, I also swapped a couple parts over so the engine would run and I could get this back inside:



My first goal is to make a 2nd bracket and wiring harness for the remaining vacuum valve so that it will run with just a battery in the future. Then I need to jack it up and make some brake lines to replace the ones I borrowed in the spring. Finally, it needs an interior detail because we have had a wet year and there’s mold inside. Once all those are done I’d like to run a full tank of gas through before winter, especially since I’m paying to keep it licensed and insured.

Today we were planning to finish the driveway maneuvering for winter (boat needs to move and then have the tent placed over it) but it was too darn nice outside for chores. We first went and grabbed some food, where this beggar came up looking for McNuggets:



That is a chonky raven less than a foot in front of my hands. There are a couple choice begging locations, like McDonalds, that the ravens will fight over.

Then we set off for some alpine hiking:



Most of my pictures aren’t great; that’s as high as we got. Cropley Lake, and if you look you’ll find Doc playing beaver. The trail hasn’t really existed for over a decade, and combined with all of our recent rain it was a real slog to get there. Still, though, it was a good day outside and the bushes were full of very ripe blueberries!

sharkytm
Oct 9, 2003

Ba

By

Sharkytm doot doo do doot do doo


Fallen Rib
Southeast is just so drat beautiful.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


Last week I got a call from a man claiming to represent Bellevue Nissan, telling me to drop the Leaf off this morning at a house 20 miles away.

We showed up at 7:30 this morning (no time was discussed) to find a house with a shitload of Leafs in the driveway and, by all appearances, everyone was asleep. After waiting 20 minutes a bearded man in camoflage showed up driving a dirty Tacoma and said he would take my keys. No paperwork.

Three hours later I got an invoice in my email for a good amount of money. I had not approved the work on that invoice.

After a couple phone calls it was determined I had been sent the invoice for someone else’s car, and my total was actually only $110 for the ‘remote fee’ to come to town and do recall work, plus tax.

This is what it’s like owning a new(ish) car in a place without a dealer. Overall I’m happy they felt us worthy of sending techs at all; they said they had only been in contact with 1/3 of the registered Leaf owners. As this was a project/partnership with the Juneau Electric Vehicles Association it also only covered Leafs, but they clearly have enough Nissans in town to make visits a more regular thing.

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


Well, that's not sketchy at all.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


Yesterday was nice.



The mountain on the island in the center is where we hiked in my last post. We took Doc out to Auke Recreation Area for what may be the last swimming of the year. This time of the season every bit of good weather could be the last before the cold hits. He seemed to enjoy the sun and was brain-friend pretty quickly from exhaustion:



Came home and finally got the boat moved back to the middle, as far away from both roofs as possible. We don’t want a repeat of this:



Got it hitched up to the FJ62 (that 3:1 low range is very nice for backing up a boat!) and maneuvered around to get between the buildings. With the turn and deck overhang it’s actually a really tight spot to get a trailer into, but it’s also out of the way so the best spot for seasonal storage. Then we walked the tent over it and here’s where it will sit for the winter:



I am still looking for an engine but our dealer options are not good. The one new dealer here, for Honda and Suzuki, is a shitheel and if you mention their name to anyone the response sentence will usually be “don’t ever go there”. I’ve heard a rumor that a Yamaha dealer is opening up in the basement of a Chinese restaurant, so that may be where I end up going. I’m probably going to rig it myself so I could just order one from another brand - and that gets the cycle of ‘what to do?’ restarted anew.

Since the weather was nice I cleared off the driveway again. Lest anyone think that living in an evergreen-dominated forest means you don’t have to deal with tree crap, think again:



That’s about 4 inches deep of needles at the leading edge. I need to keep the driveway clean from here out so that they won’t freeze down and make shoveling problematic.

And winter is coming. Very soon. Last night it would have been a hard frost if the clouds hadn’t moved in. They dumped into the mountains; for an idea of how our microclimates work in relation to the Juneau Icefield, the mountain face on the right is less than a mile closer than the mountain in the center with the low snow line:



We had a covid exposure, the ONE TIME we go to a friend’s house, so we’re working from hone this week. Hopefully we don’t get sick and hopefully I can get more accomplished without the commute time.

the spyder
Feb 18, 2011
What an absolutely beautiful area.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


Good news! It looks like we didn’t catch covid. It’s been 9 days and we have no symptoms, my wife took a home test and it came up negative.

In the mean time, I’ve picked up a new stupid project idea: I want to run a simulated phone circuit between the kitchen (at the center of our house) and the shop. I have buried conduit already in place to do the part between buildings and the garage drywall (under the kitchen) is open so now is a good time to do it.

I put a listing on the local FB Buy/Sell/Trade group looking for an old pay phone to use in the shop. Instead of anything useful I was accused of being a cop. Until I can track down a pay phone I’m just going to buy a regular old wall phone off eBay. That means I have to make a decision:

Avocado Green:


Black:


Or Harvest Gold?


Harvest gold looks the most fetching but will show grease fastest. Black wouldn’t show grime but isn’t very in-your-face tacky. Avocado is sort of ‘meh’ but could be a good balance. Thoughts/other suggestions?

I already ordered a red Western Electric 500 for the kitchen end. I’ve always wanted one of those.

SpeedFreek
Jan 10, 2008
And Im Lobster Jesus!
I still have that harvest gold phone mounted on a post in my basement, haven't had phone service since I bought the place but it's been there so long I don't even notice it's there.

Whatever you get you need a regular one and a red one right next to each other, red one needs some kind of engraved plate above it.

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...

SpeedFreek posted:

I still have that harvest gold phone mounted on a post in my basement, haven't had phone service since I bought the place but it's been there so long I don't even notice it's there.

Whatever you get you need a regular one and a red one right next to each other, red one needs some kind of engraved plate above it.

Red Phone = Bat Phone

Always go Red Phone.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

Advent Horizon posted:

I put a listing on the local FB Buy/Sell/Trade group looking for an old pay phone to use in the shop. Instead of anything useful I was accused of being a cop. Until I can track down a pay phone I’m just going to buy a regular old wall phone off eBay.

One thing to keep in mind with pay phones - the last (and fanciest) of them, a Nortel Millennium, needs a server and specific type of line to work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nortel_payphones

You can get them working with a good bit of work, it looks like someone on github has released their own version of millennium manager.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Oct 28, 2022

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


The Leaf’s AC compressor has been making noise for a while so today I finally got up the courage to touch refrigeration.

I bought some cans of R-134A but realized I needed a can tap; while at O’Reilly I spotted this and knew I had to get a can just to annoy Motronic:



I got home, did the gauge checks, and started adding refrigerant. One can got me up to here:



I was shooting for 35/155 but this will do for now. His thread advice is that low is better than high. Why only one can when I had several? Well, I happened to notice this warning label on the next can:



It turns out that anything with an electric, rather than bet-driven, compressor needs to use a different oil that is very incompatible with normal PAG oil. To the point where they say you need to use a different set of gauges to avoid contamination. You especially need to avoid using any dyed R-134a…Now go take a look at that can up above.

Yep, I probably hosed up big time.

In my defense, that can does NOT have a warning on it and the O’Reilly computer explicitly says it’s compatible with my system. Maybe they used a different, compatible, dye? I sure freaking hope so because that compressor is $1,500. I’m saving the can and my receipt in case anything happens.

That said, the compressor is a whole lot quieter now and seems to be drawing a lot less power. I went for a test drive in 38* weather and this was all it pulled:



Remember that my car uses the AC system for heat.

I don’t have any way to remove that dye from the system so my only options are run it to see if it dies or preventatively replace everything before it dies. I’m going to see what happens. Fingers crossed.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

You can run a flush through the system and start from scratch, but being a hermetically sealed compressor with the windings likely sitting in the oil, that'll probably do more harm than good. :ohdear:

It's more like a home AC system than a typical automotive system, as far as the compressor goes.

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


Well, I learned something today.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
I didn't know that either. And yeah it's probably winding insulation related. I would open that thing up and flush it out, just make sure the flush is compatible with the compressor/insulation...

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


Sure, I can do that - what refrigerant alternative do I use? Literally the only stuff I can find in town that doesn’t carry the warning is freon-brand -134a. Both dyed and undyed.

From reading the Freon-brand product data sheets, it appears that their dye does not contain oil - it says it dissolves into the oil already in the system. Looking at the products Chemours sells they don’t list any separate ones for hybrid/electric vehicles. A/C Pro brand does, and they’re the other cans I have with the warning label.

Maybe the cheaper A/C Pro cans have some potential manufacturing contamination?

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

The contamination is the "A/C Pro" label. :v:

As long as it didn't contain oil, I would think you're probably okay - there has to be SOME kind of UV oil that works on EV systems, right? It's a growing market, and 134 didn't get phased out until the beginning of the 2021 model year for light duty vehicles - I know some EVs were using 134 up until then. Might reach out to the company and see if they have anything to say though. I think you specifically need to ask if their product is compatible with ND-11 oil.

It might be worth investing in a low end sniffer. You can get them for under $100 (though I'm sure you know shipping might be almost as much).

kastein posted:

I didn't know that either. And yeah it's probably winding insulation related. I would open that thing up and flush it out, just make sure the flush is compatible with the compressor/insulation...

I'd assume something that would be safe for a package unit or commercial refrigeration might work, though they usually only get flushed during a compressor swap AFAIK. And the compressor is usually out of the loop (but there's always going to be a little bit of flush that can't be completely removed).

Maybe ExplodingSims might have some input? He works on commercial HVACR for a living, though some of the larger refrigeration stuff will use an external motor on the compressor. I sent him a message on FB, though I know he's tied up with marriage stuff at the moment.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Nov 2, 2022

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


A new shitbox project has entered the garage! A 2004 Ford Fuckin’ Ranger Mazda B2300:



2.3L I4, 5 speed manual transmission, 2wd. It’s actually a decent truck; jet ski friend bought it to haul all his poo poo (hopefully off of my property) and the seller told him ‘the brakes need bleeding’. He called to ask if I knew how and I, being an idiot, said “I have a power bleeder, just bring it over and we’ll get it knocked out pretty quick”.

Spoiler: It is not getting done quickly.

Yesterday we spent quite a while messing with the rear drums before realizing the bleeder screws were completely plugged. A trip through the ultrasonic cleaner got them unclogged but we didn’t finish that end until 9:30pm. I gave him a ride home and he came back again today to do ‘the easy end’. Nothing around here is easy - the driver’s side bleeder screw snapped off.



We ran to O’Reilly to get their only set of bleeder screws and then set to work extracting the broken one. It still hasn’t come out. Heat, cold, drilling it out, using the ez-out - nothing has worked so far.

He’s got to decide whether to attempt removing the caliper and getting it out on the bench or ordering a new caliper. Either way, both of us are going out of town shortly so this hulk has joined his other stuff living at my house.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
Stack weld on it, vise grips.

Oh and DO NOT OFFER TO GET INVOLVED IN ANYTHING WORKING ON THE DRIVETRAIN OR ESPECIALLY THE loving CLUTCH ON THAT THING.

The clutch hydraulics for those are legendarily hostile to repair.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


The day after my last post we decided to try getting the boat out of the water with the shitbox Mazda and, well, it did it - barely.



4 cylinder, 2wd, manual transmission, plus ice and high winds = worst case ramp scenario. I was standing by with the FJ62 but thankfully that wasn’t necessary.

The trailer, however, is not adequate as-is:



Note that the bunks end right about where the tail lights are. This trailer is going to need a lot of adjustment to work long-term. The tires also instantly went flat and cracked-out, TURNS OUT they are 22 years old. With some air they somehow survived the 20 mile drive to the yard he’s dumping this at. Thankfully not my yard.

After that freezing day it was time to head to Arizona to get some sun!



…crap. It gets cold in northern Arizona.

That said, the precipitation worked in our favor because it cleaned the air nicely. That picture was looking into Canyon de Chelly (pronounced ‘canyon de shay’) and the next day we took an all-day Pinzgauer tour through the bottom of the canyon:



I absolutely would recommend. I’m not going to post any other pictures because that is a place that pictures don’t do justice. Google it and go visit!

We then drove up and spent the night at Monument Valley, which even my phone can take a good picture of:



Still no justice, honestly. Stay in The View or The View cabins if you can; being able to look out at the mesas under moonlight is pretty amazing.

We next went over to Page and saw Horseshoe Bend, which is a solid ‘meh’. It looks better in pictures. We then did a tour in Antelope Canyon, which was totally worth it despite being around a lot of people. Good guides will know where and how to take all the best pictures:



Speaking of, tip your guides! Tour guides live off tips!

After that we went down to Flagstaff and visited some friends for a couple days. While walking around downtown I spotted this:



…I could probably make that work.

One of our friends works at Lowell Observatory, which is where Pluto was first found - using this telescope:



If you’ve ever looked up at the stars, do yourself a favor and visit an observatory. Lowell lets you look through telescopes up to 32” and we could clearly see Neptune’s spot and Saturn’s rings. We went back during the day and they had a ‘solarscope’ set up to look at the sun - that was probably one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life. Seeing solar flares 10x the size of earth, as they happen, is incredible. This is all stuff they let the public see and everyone should do it.

We also went up to Jerome to visit where their house used to live, and even did a little ‘off roading’ in our rental CR-V:



Note that we got stuck behind jeepers from Kansas with huge built trucks that were highly annoyed a Honda was cruising the GRAVEL ROAD better than they were. It’s an old railroad bed, you do not need 40” tires and lockers.

We then went down to Phoenix and spent most of a day at the zoo. It was pretty decent but this is the worst fake FJ40 I’ve ever seen:



That about covers our trip, now that we’re back I want to go on vacation again. Funny how non-family trips are nice and relaxing!

SpeedFreek posted:

I still have that harvest gold phone mounted on a post in my basement, haven't had phone service since I bought the place but it's been there so long I don't even notice it's there.

Want to part with it?

Advent Horizon fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Nov 21, 2022

cursedshitbox
May 20, 2012

Your rear-end wont survive my hammering.



Fun Shoe
That is the best FJ holy lmao.


You also wickedly hosed up by touching a ford. especially a Lima Ford. That's two years worth of automotive luck spent.

That was a baller trip to the southwest. As another person that lived in Alaska, Yeah it gets fuckin cold here doesn't it?

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


I brought a new floor jack back from Arizona. Imagine a picture of a normal Harbor Freight Daytona 1.5 ton aluminum jack here:

<I got excited and didn’t take any pictures before I took it apart>

Harbor Freight machining is as precise as ever:



The mod I did was the big wheel kit + skid plate from 911 Motorsports. The wheels were super easy to swap out but the skid plate did require drilling and pop rivets:



And voilà, it is now a conversation piece!



I could have bought a Pro Eagle jack but a) this was half the price b) I don’t actually want an ‘off road’ jack. I just want something that will roll easier between buildings and across asphalt. I especially didn’t want one that replaced the pad with an extension because I plan to use this on cars and there’s not a huge amount of extra space left:



Even though I don’t need an ‘off road’ jack I still got the skid plate because I think it will both stiffen up the jack frame significantly and also really help if I need to change a car tire on dirt (say, at the demolition derby).

You can see why most people get the pad extension when you compare it to the Super Duty 3-ton:



That’s *not* what I’m comparing it to, though. I’m using it as a secondary jack, replacing this 20 year old Craftsman POS:



With the lift kit the jack pad manages to go both slightly lower and slightly higher than the Craftsman. It rolls nice and quiet with the plastic wheels and extension cords are barely a bump to roll across.

The original jack, minus handle, weighed 28.0 pounds. It now weighs 30.8 pounds. The Craftsman weighs 25.0 so the ‘lightweight’ hype around aluminum jacks should be considered just hype. It does lift and lower much easier & faster so will make tire swaps outside much more enjoyable.

Darchangel
Feb 12, 2009

Tell him about the blower!


That's neat. Had no idea such a thing existed!

PitViper
May 25, 2003

Welcome and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart!
I love you!
Where did you source the wheels? I've been meaning to replace the steel rollers on my older jack with something a little quieter, but it lives on concrete in the garage so it's entirely a noise thing.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


It’s a kit from 911 Motorsports; they’re some kind of plastic industrial wheel. https://www.911motorsports.net/Off-Road-Floor-Jack_c_25.html

I gave it a try this morning with the front of an FJ62, which is probably right at the jack’s limit. The wheels acted like it was nothing:

honda whisperer
Mar 29, 2009

All I can think is don't talk to me or my son ever again.

Neat jack mod though, I didn't know it was a thing but it makes sense.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


Oh this is freaking awesome - if you can’t hear it, there are even dial tones and busy signals!

https://i.imgur.com/bLmPiX1.mp4

I’ve got about half the house wiring done; finishing that might be a task I pass off on my dad and FIL when they come to visit for Christmas. All four of our parents will be staying with us for a week.

blindjoe
Jan 10, 2001
Whats the phone controller that you are using?
Ive always wanted to re-connect the house lines and have the ability to call out with voip, but haven't looked into it much.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


I’m using a Viking DLE-200B phone line simulator. It’s just like a PBX but without the ability to dial out (or dial anywhere, really). You may have seen one used before; these are the same thing prisons use for phones on both sides of a glass divider. https://vikingelectronics.com/products/dle-200b/

A friend recently crammed a bluetooth/landline adapter, plus battery, into a Western Electric 302. He can carry it around and use it like a cell phone - something like that, minus the battery gimmick, could be fun around the house.

I’ve spent the last several days cursing at fish tape; I’m hoping to have the whole setup working this weekend. I’m overly excited about this stupid project but it will have tangible communications benefits.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

Advent Horizon posted:

A friend recently crammed a bluetooth/landline adapter, plus battery, into a Western Electric 302. He can carry it around and use it like a cell phone - something like that, minus the battery gimmick, could be fun around the house.

Now that's awesome.

There were some plug-in handsets for cellphones for awhile, but most phones did away with headphone connectors years ago. I got some looks using one in public.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


Woohoo, it works!

The living room hosts the Bat Phone:


(Living room not pictured)

And the shop (next door) has this green beauty:



Pick up either receiver and it automatically calls the other. No VOIP, no monthly fees, just a dedicated connection between two phones in two different buildings.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go patch an access hole in my garage ceiling from running the low-voltage conduit.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


It has been way too long without an update. That’s partially because I have not been having a great winter motivation-wise and the parts FJ62 is still sitting in the shop waiting for brake lines - remember that I brought it in when I did the jack mods. Brake lines would probably be 3 hours of work and I just have not found any motivation :sigh:

This morning I got out of bed at 11:30am and we went to go get some breakfast before everyone stopped serving it. Jumped into the car and this popped up on the dash:



That looks bad. The car also would not go into ‘drive’. Time to consult the Nissan Leaf troubleshooting guide:



Let’s take a look at that 12V battery…



Yeah, that looks pretty bad. Note the date - this is a 2013 car and that battery is from 2017. It is also the 3rd battery in the car, which means it has lasted far longer than the prior two.

With some time and a little effort I got the corrosion crap cleaned up and the new battery installed:



The car works but now the clock menu is missing the option to set the clock. I disconnected the battery again for half an hour and it was still missing when I hooked it back up. Went for a drive, still missing. I finally did a reset to all the factory settings and the clock instantly set itself somehow - but the menu is still missing the ‘set clock’ function. loving weird but it seems to be working fine.

We went to California a couple weeks ago as my grandmother-in-law turned 100 on the 27th. I insisted on putting 100 candles into a cake:




She actually managed to blow them all out!

On the way down we had a lesson in aircraft deicing. I took this while we were boarding:



After the doors closed the Captain came on to announce that they first had to plow to the aircraft, then someone would have to climb in and clean out the engines, and THEN they could pull back and start the deicing process. The result of that is we boarded on time but departed an hour and a half late.

California wasn’t a whole lot warmer. We were in Santa Barbara and it’s an odd feeling to be standing on the beach gawking at snow on the mountains. We went down to San Diego and really found some snow:



Oh, and Hertz upgraded me to a Mustang. That was pretty fun - I put over a thousand miles on it.

One last *little* thing, and violating the thread title yet again, I am now in the market for a skid steer. My zipline-destroyed shoulders just cannot take much more manual snow clearing, and we need something that can do down pressure. That means something other than an ATV or regular truck plow, as our snow packs down very easily. It also plugs snowblowers like crazy so even our 9hp monster can’t function a lot of the time.

I think my budget is about $20k so if anyone knows of a good skid steer let me know - I really don’t want another project just to get it running. I don’t need anything big but I would prefer hydrostatic drive so nothing really old (like 1980s old). If I can find one in the PNW (or Los Angeles/Santa Barbara area since we can get there pretty easily) for under $15k I could probably get it here with the remaining $5k of my budget.

Mustache Ride
Sep 11, 2001



I've had good luck with the Kubota SV series but I'm in Texas and we don't have y'all's icy north. A question, and I probably already know the answer, but have you considered a small hobby tractor with forks instead?

How bundled up are you on the plane?

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


The plane was actually well heated. That big duct covered in snow is for warm air all night.

I haven’t ruled out a tractor but we really need something as maneuverable as possible - our only remaining covered parking space is a 10x12 section under our deck (which has roofing underneath to make it properly covered); that space only has about 7.5’ of clearance under the gutters to get into. It also requires a 90* turn in that 10’ width. A tractor could probably get there but a skid steer would do better.

My new equipment dealer options are Bobcat, Caterpillar, Hitachi and Volvo. I’m not willing to buy new without a local dealer given our logistics.

Bobcat has several dozen new tractors on the lot but only one skid steer (which is a rental). I bet they’ll be willing to negotiate on price in a few months since they seem to just keep arriving and not moving. I’m hesitant to take on a current Bobcat-branded tractor, though, as they are rebadged Kiotis and Bobcat has announced they plan to discontinue those for their own very soon.

Advent Horizon
Jan 17, 2003

I’m back, and for that I am sorry


This popped up locally, I may bid on it. Any thoughts/advice?

https://bid.alaskapremierauctions.com/ui/auctions/97561/11059427

2002 Cat 236, 2640 hours, includes forks and a 6’ bucket. Would definitely need new tires and it doesn’t look like it includes the door.

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randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

I can't really contribute much, except those hours are pretty drat low. Does it have a PTO?

That thing is in far better shape than the <2 year old poo poo running around <unnamed EV maker> factories, including the tires!

e: actually after seeing what bidding is up to, I'd probably pass if it's just something for home. It's pretty spendy at this point.

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