A few days of slowly picking away on projects. The little Chineseium surface grinder is on top of the new storage base. It might not be as stable as the previous base, but I think it'll work just fine. Might screw the top of the box to the wall underneath or something silly to make it more stable. Might even pick up a stall mat from TS to put under the box to see if that stabilizes it better.
Beyond that, the winter beater is on the lift. Dropped the drifeshaft, as it turns out it's a bad U joint. Of course these joints are not serviceable. Seems to be a modern theme on parts these days. I miss the old days of being able to just change U joints. So the recommended solution is a whole new 'prop' shaft. That's only ~$700! It would be cheaper if it wasn't a manual, go figure!
So, digging around there are some guys making aftermarket replacements. But you need to grind staking and press out the old one, and hope the new one centers up with the clips on the inside of the joint. For $50 that's worth the gamble. Of course, that means getting the press in the garage usable. It didn't have any inserts for the ram, and nothing to lay across the bed.
Picked up some rather ugly 1"x5" steel, a 5 foot bar a while ago. (Why, on earth would I want that???). Well, I think I found out why. First had to cut it, of course the HF portaband is 125mm, not 5 inches!!! There's no winning!
Managed to cut some off. With all the rust, figured it needed some cleanup. Slapped some grey paint after some wire wheeling. If you know me, and my experience with paint, you'll know this isn't going to end well. I'm on my third coat, trying to get it even somewhat coat...
...at least it looks better than the ugly rust. It feels better moving them around, anyway. Finally got to use the wirenut trick I read about.
Needed more Neem Oils for the apple and cherries. Picked some up today but apparently I was too late. That or neem oil is just like Italian dressing for these damn bugs! At this point I'm pretty sure "Organic" is the Native word for "Small fruit full of damage, bugs and worms!".
I've yet to get **** from any of these trees. Planting trees for 15 years, and every single year something gets them. Caterpillars, buds freezing off, no bees, snow, hail, scarab beetles, more snow, deer, voles, rabbits, birds. Even the one peach tree that made fruit last year died from what looks like bugs this spring. I'm tempted to saw these bastards down and level the 40, and burn it all. If you can't beat them, might as well joint them!
Oh, yeah, wind storm made just a little more work for the weekend...
