Holiday Help

Our shed was supposed to be finished in July.  Of course it was never the main event of our build project but it would be very useful to have a storage shed especially with the colder weather coming on.  To move us along, my wife's sister Susan, her husband Doug, and their daughter Liza came out for a day after Thanksgiving to help with the framing.  The weather was pleasant, we all had a great time, and a lot got accomplished.  Thanks guys!

Kathryn and my niece ride up to the build site with a load of tools and supplies.

Doug, Sue, and Liza team up on some framing.

Doug and Liza deftly handle a sheet of plywood.

The B21 Rolls Again

It took nearly three weeks but we finally completed the repairs to the B21 tractor.  We had to remove the front axle and disassemble the left side bearing box to get at the bearing that had failed.  In the process we discovered that at some point in the tractor's past someone had replaced this particular bearing before.  We could tell this from the grind marks on the inside of the bearing housing.  Evidently during this earlier event the technician had difficulty removing the bearing from the housing and resorted to grinding it out.  We found this repair history a little curious for two reasons.  First was the fact that the bearing had failed before.  Now bearings do wear out with time but this particular bearing is not the typical fail point - far more likely would be one of the main axle support bearings.  These, however, were fine.  The second thing that was funny was that the bearing had to be ground out - they should just slide out from the recess in the housing where they are located.  Indeed this time I had difficulty removing the old bearing.  I didn't grind it out, but I had to build a special pry tool in order to pull it out of its recess.  Once the old bearing was out we realized that the new bearing would not fit nicely into the recess.  At this point we decided to go ahead and replace the entire housing.  Perhaps the bearing failure in the past had distorted the housing or perhaps the housing was never quite in spec and the bearing had never seated properly.  In any event it was for us more delay as we ordered the part.  When it finally arrived we went ahead and assembled the bearing box and the rest of the front axle.  Everything went together well and I am confident that this particular bearing will last a very long time.  While we were at it we replaced the front tires.  The previous owner of the tractor had for some inexplicable reason put on front tires that were too large in diameter.  The result of this was that when the tractor was in four wheel drive mode (which it is 95% of the time) the front and back tires rotated at slightly different speeds which tended to tear up our new roads a bit.  On the day after Thanksgiving we finally had everything back together and the tractor rolled again.

Perc Test

In order to get a building permit in Morgan County WV, your land must first pass a perc test.  Morgan County is by no means a heavily regulated area but you are required to have a septic system if you are going to build a structure where people can dwell.  The first step of that process is to find a licensed company to carry out a so-called perc test to see how well your land can absorb water.  The hope is that your land percolates well enough so that you can install a type 1 leach field which is the simplest (and cheapest) way to go.  We found Billy Sheets of Hard Rock Excavation in Slanesville, WV on the advice of a neighbor.  The test requires a number of holes to be dug the largest of which is a 6 foot deep trench.  Billy came with his large New Holland backhoe to do this in short order.  We passed our perc test and we will have all the official paperwork in a couple of weeks.

We Rent a Bobcat

With our tractor down due to a failed wheel bearing we could not continue excavation.  We decided to rent a Bobcat skid steer loader for a week to keep us moving along while we waited for our parts order to come in.  The weather was perfect for a number of days and we moved a lot of dirt.

The Bobcat proved to be a very useful machine.

Work on the shed continued as well.

Busted Bearing

The snow is gone and it's not raining and the ground has dried out enough to continue excavation.  All is good and we are going great guns moving many cubic meters of dirt each day.  Then it happens.  A crunching, clanking sound from the B21 tractor.  At first we though it was a bad universal joint.  We knew we had a bad U-joint and even had gone ahead and purchased a replacement.  We just had not yet installed it.  No more procrastination.  We installed the new U-joint the next day.  Feeling clever we rolled out our tractor with its shiny new universal joint only to be instantly disappointed when the grinding, crunching sound persisted.  Yes we needed a new U-joint, but apparently our problem went deeper.  After much disassembly we finally identified our problem as a failed ball bearing in one of the front gear boxes.  This is not a simple quick fix.  We are going to be down for a while waiting for the parts.

We had to disassemble the entire front axle of the tractor.

If you use a log as a jack stand - You might be a redneck.

This is the gear box which contained the failed bearing.

A Shed is Born

While Nick and I excavated, Kathryn came for the weekend and worked on building a 10 x 10 storage shed.  This is a project that was supposed to be completed in July so I guess you could say that we're a bit behind schedule.  As our project develops so does the array of equipment we have on site.  The shed will give us a large and secure place to store tools while we continue to work into the winter.

Kathryn cuts a pressure treated 2x6.

The shed will be erected on a level platform resting on pyramid blocks.
We use this type of construction for small structures on our land.
It is quicker and easier than pouring a concrete pad and is stable.

Diagonal bracing provides extra rigidity.

Here at days end, Kathryn attaches the plywood to complete the level platform that will become the floor of the shed.

Excavation Continues - A Large Stump is Removed

The weather has improved a bit this month and we have been able to step up the pace of the excavation.  There was a large tree in the build zone which we have dug out on three sides as the cut grew larger.  Today we reached the point of finally being able to knock the stump over and remove it.

The stump was too firmly rooted to remove
until we had cut out the dirt all around it.

Nick poses on the stump peninsula.

The stump is detached.  Now we just have to move it out of the excavation site.