No Roy I was 11 then

 

Coulda been me or the wifey.

 

Very true Roy but as we age our urges come with discipline. I have had a few temptations this Spring but one item I have back logged for years is a 2 post lift in my shop. When things settle down with the Spring frenzy and we get a few other projects done on the farm, I need to start making room and finish this once and for all.

 

Love that tractor Tim...it might be vintage to some, but I see an awesome machine built to last.

 

Andre, I'm married to it financially and emotionally
Seriously were great simple tractors.

 

I checked the fluid quality in my Trojan T-105 GC2 6v batteries yesterday using my hydrometer. All cells are in the green and I noted the readings for each cell. The batteries appear to be in good shape. The water level was down a bit and I topped the cells off.

If I listed to the radio for a few hours, the battery state of charge goes down to 80%. The radio must really draw a lot of juice. It has 5 interior speakers and two exterior speakers. I'm usually running just the interior ones. I need to put an ammeter on the wire to see how much is really being pulled.

 

Speaking of batteries, I set up mom's cordless trim mower today. The woman could start her own landscaping service at this point. 2 push mowers, 3 lawn tractors and a zero turn... Anyways, I love the thing for trimming. Def going to order one for myself now...

 

Lots of shiny new steel in here! Congrats Eric and Tim!

I was told last night that she'd rather see the ditch out front go away than get a new car. Not the direction I expected things to take, but I hate that ditch with a passion. Time to start getting a few quotes, and hope I don't get knocked on my *** by them! I really have no idea what to expect on cost, it will be about 190' of pipe, grade up 2-3' at the lowest point, cut, remove and repave about 6'x24' of driveway. Really hoping to see under 20k, but theres only one way to find out!

 

Hey now, I posted some shiny new steel too Scott! LMAO.... 82 volts worth... On that subject, I just posted my Echo handheld leaf blower on CL. Going to drop it while it's new (I got a really good deal on it so I won't take much of a loss selling it...) I'm going to replace it with the Milwaukee 18V blower for small stuff since I have my backpack for the big jobs.

 

Believe if I read your last post right that one belongs to your Mom. Doesn't count, lol. I got all excited about the M18 fuel blower, then I realized that owning 3 was probably excessive. I now keep the handheld echo in the shed and use it to blow the ZTR off, almost exclusively. Becky tries to use it for other things but most of the time just tells me to get the PB8010 out and make it happen!

 

My new hand held Echo is a nice unit. It just takes a while to warm up and smooth out. Damn EPA can even mess up something as simple as a 2 stroke blower... Anyways, since I generally only use it for blowing out the garage or trailers, it's always getting shut down just as it's warmed up and smoothing out. So, I figured the Milwaukee would be a better fit for what I use a hand held blower for.

Speaking of Milwaukee, I just sold my framer my circular saw and ordered the Milwaukee 18V unit. My very own 2732-20 should be here early next week... I'll wait til my Echo blower sells to order the Milwaukee one... One day at a time... LOL

 

The good news is the EPA really can't screw the blower up too much. I just remove the spark arrestor and have the special screwdrivers to rich the mixture out a bit so it runs smoother and has less risk of running too hot.

If that doesn't work, a Chinese version of the carb usually has the non-EPA regulated **** that allow you to make one of these smoke like a coal train if you want :-).

 

If I can't sell it, I may play with the carb. I think you just have to break the sealed caps off the mixture screws. I'd rather not though. The Milwaukee will work just fine my needs.

 

Echo sold... Milwaukee blower ordered... Came out 2 bucks ahead... LOL. The Milwaukee fleet is growing fast! The only thing I was considering that I passed on was the chop saw. Acme tool had a 20% off deal that would have brought it to a very reasonable price but it was still expensive and my Delta does the job when needed. A chop saw is one of those items that doesn't need to be cordless as it's not moving around like the rest.... Anyways, the next thing I need to research is battery options. I have some small ones that came with my drill. I used those on the 1/4" impact and drill. Then I have the larger 5.0 ones that came with my 1/2' impact. Will see how they do with the circular saw and blower. They may well be enough but I know Milwaukee makes much stronger ones if needed...

 

Rodney, I know I will end up feeling stupid for asking this question, just as I do every time I ask a question on your thread, which is probably why I almost never post on your thread, but here goes. Everyone on here seems to be a Milwaukee fanatic for most power tools. At least cordless tools. My entire inventory of cordless and many corded portable tools is Ridgid as I've had great success with them and the lifetime warranty has been flawless. But I've noticed no one ever mentions those tools here. How come? They are the same company as Milwaukee.

I don't only have Ridgid tools. I also have many Dewalt and Milwaukee and Bosch tools when I felt they had the best in class for a particular tool. But pretty much all my cordless, both 18v and 9v are Ridgid. I welcome anyone's thoughts.

I do like the Ryobi string trimmer. It caused me to get rid of my Stihl after many years of frustration.