The thread title is a little bit of a misnomer, I'm not actually fixing anything yet. But now that the shop should be functional in a few days, I'm really really close. And since I'm sure I'll have lots of questions about how to fix some of this stuff, I figure having it all on once place would be best. Right now all I've got is the pictures of the shop getting built. I started clearing back in October, started dirt in January, poured concrete early this month and should be wrapping up the sheet metal here soon. Since I still feel new on this forum, I'll kinda start from the top; I don't want to focus too much on this, as it's still hard to talk about. But this barn building process started back in September when Dad died very suddenly. He and I were in the process of starting a machine shop and farm with obsolete machinery saved from craigslist, fence rows and scrap yards. We had grand plans of building a huge building ourselves, but that's just not gonna happen now that I'm down to one set of hands. I realized that if I wanted to save any of this machinery, I would have to turn-key a shop built. There is only so much a full time 19 year old engineering student can do. Ended up going with a 40x80x16 insulated pole barn with 25' opening in both endwalls and having a 20' lean too on each side. Making the overall building about 80x80. Even though I HATE pole barns, they do have some advantages. I started by clearing the area where I wanted the building built. Took two days with a 250G and a 1968 F600 hauling off tree waste. I think it was about 40 loads of tree waste, that old truck paid for it's self and then some that day.
Then we started the dirt work. Dug down 2'-3' and then fill back in with 95 loads of select fill. Ran both end dumps and dump trucks. We were flying, got that pad knocked out in 7 hours. The ground was soft so each one of those end dumps had to be drug in with the dozer. Tried to do it with the Case 930 and it would only dig ruts. The tractor could pull them out empty, but loaded it had no chance.
With the pad done, the next thing was my yard/driveway. Before that I had get my underground power done as that went under the driveway. Used the Case 930 with a post hold digger and a 24" auger to set a telephone pole 4' deep. Then used the excavator to set the pole. Tried to rent a trencher for the conduit, but that wouldn't cut it. So again used the excavator. Then I laid out 3 rolls of geo-fabric to minimize material losses and brought in 18 loads of 4"-6" crushed concrete. My driveway has 40' culverts and I designed it so a 3 axle truck and a 4 axle lowboy would have all weather access. Then the building people came and set the poles for the main 40x80 section of the shop. They did the lean toos once the building was up.
A total of 76 yards were poured and finished. A couple of trucks got stuck up to their axles, but other than that, it went pretty smooth. They started pouring at 9am, and left at 11pm. Normally I would never do this, but I drew Dad's initials and them mine with the date in the wet concrete by the door. Seemed fitting for as much up hill slogging, herding of cats and pushing of chains that he did to get everything to this point. And it seemed like he should get his name on it as it was his life insurance that paid for it.
Pictures of framing. These guys have been doing decent work, but they are slow. 18 loads of bull rock and I'm still getting stuck. I need to cap it with a layer of fines and do a better job of compaction
More framing and sheet metal pictures. As of today they got my roof up and only had the front face left and the trim. Not sure what I'm going to do about doors though. I'm glad they got my roof up today because I bought a planer last week and I'm bringing it in on a rollback Wednesday. Got a long way to go before this is ever a real farm or machine shop. But I'm planning on trying to move some stuff in this weekend if the weather holds. Guess I have to swollow my pride and have the dirt contractor bring his dozer back to do a final clean up so I get the P&H parked by the shop. Can't drive it though the ruts in the field that are left from the land clearing. I told the dirt guy to do a final clean up before he left, but must have "forgotten".....
That's going to be a nice shop when it's done. It looks like your fighting flat land with soft soils and a lot of rain. The forklift is heavy with skinny tires so it's putting a point load on the rock. What do you have to use to roll the rock in? At this point with the rock down I would roll what's there down and try to cap it with 3/4 crush or #57's (3/4" washed rock). Depending on how soft your soil is it may take a lot of rock to stabilize it.
Realized the same thing. So last week had 6 more loads of fine crushed (3/4") concrete delivered. It was enough to flesh out the area in front of the shop and make the approach into the building. But I need a lot more unfortunatley. I spread it with my small W-11 loader and used the loader with a full bucket load of rock to pack. Didnt worry too much about finish grading it becuase its just gonna get all messed up with the building people running their telehandler in it. A dozer and vibratory roller would make this a lot easier......
with those flat out roofs, Im guessing you never get snow down there?..LOL
Hahah, yeah snow isn't too big a deal down here. Shop shell is done, they finished yesterday. Need to finish the wiring, lights and do something about doors. I moved my planer in today. Was a big strech, first move with out Dad as a helper. Riggers said the machine weighed 24,300 lbs.
Shop is turning out nice. Snow, Houston.. 24K on the planer, that's some weight to move around. How did you go about it?
I wish I had sealed the floors BEFORE the plane got here, it made a huge oily mess in the middle of the shop and I'm sure it's gonna stain. It's not a big deal really, this is hopefully going to be a working shop not a play thing. But that concrete was awfully expensive, considering it was life insurance that paid for it.... A 25/35 Versalift and a couple of riggers was all it took to move it. Cost 1500 for 2.5 hours of their time, then 900 to haul it, and 990 to buy the machine. http://s1309.photobucket.com/user/mebunting/library/Planer?sort=2&page=1 The machine came out of an old oil field shop that was finally getting cleaned out. Lots of really cool, old iron that was in really surprising condition. Hopefully I can find some work for it..... It can be run as a planer mill with the milling spindle it's got, so I think I can find something.
Wipe up the oil as best you can and maybe soak it up with sawdust. Then flood the area with a flashy solvent like gasoline or brake clean. It will dissolve the oil into itself. Wipe it up before it dries. Very little oil will be left and it will disappear after a short while. Don't breathe the fumes or catch on fire.
Pour out some dry Portland cement onto the oil-soaked areas. Then scrub the dry cement powder into the surface with a really hard bristle brush. I have even used the sole of my boots to scrub it into small oil drip areas. The main thing is to use lots of dry cement and scrub it in HARD. Then, use a stiff bristle broom, followed by a softer broom, to sweep up all the leftover dry cement. USUALLY, the oil/stain, will be gone. I use this method to clean oil drips/spills off of customers driveways. Ever notice how a hose will always break or leak when directly over a nice clean concrete surface? Jeff
Thanks for the tips guys, ill be sure to give them a try. I'm going to try and get what I need to finish my electrical service drop tommorow and see about getting power turned on. Who knows how big a mess that will be.....
930 and W-11 are now both enjoying a never before felt treatment, being parked under cover. W-11 got a leaking injector line fixed and I'm gonna do fluids and filters ASAP. Then an overall cylinder repack and possibly line bore. Machine probably isn't worth the work, but in the 5 years of owning it. It's been just awesome for so many things, such a handy size and been nothing by reliable. This week is my spring break so hoping to make some progress. Goal is to finish running the conduit for the power hook up tomorrow. Also went over to a neighbor to look at a forklift he had. He also had this little Insley with a drag bucket. Cute as all get out, he want's $3,000. Also has a couple of old case backhoes, and case tractors. Thinking clean up one of the backhoes, and maybe a tractor or two to cover the cost of the lot. Although cash is tight right now and absolutely don't need anymore projects. Although that little crawler would be super handy as a little yard crane. What do ya'll think? Supposedly runs, but I'm sure the clutches and brakes are gonna need work since the cab glass is broken out.
A guy that's helped me make some parts for a broken machine is helping me down at the farm. So although I could only work down there 3 days this week, we got some progress. Moved the planer out of the way. Got this old combine started and moved out from under the temporary cover Dad built for it and under nicer cover. I want to say Dad bought this machine about 10 years ago, but I was too little to remember exactly. He then drove it 200 miles to our house in Houston and parked it there for a few years. When he bought the farm we drove it back across Houston and it's been sitting under that temporary shelter he hastily built for it for the last 5 years. Needed points, a coil, HT lead, free the starter up, clean gas and a hot battery. Also split a hydo hose and sprayed my help in oil from head to toe. Other than that, started and ran good considering it's probably a 50 year old machine that's been sitting for 5 plus years. Also pulled all 5 cylinders off the W-11 and the guy that's been helping me is going to try and repack them this week while I'm in school.
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Recently bought a small 4000lb propane forklift. Much nicer in the side the building than the "bull-in-a-china" shop 25k Hyster. Starting to do a little more wrench turning. Case 430, was a family's puttering around tractor since new. When they wore the clutch out decided to go new. Dad got the tractor for less than what the nice late model detachable front end loader it came with is worth. Other than the clutch its in pretty good shape. Also going through the F600 so I feel safe actually taking it down the road with a load. Weren't in too bad a shape, just new corroded lines, worn drums, siezed bolts, you know the usual. The lug nuts on the F600 were incredibly siezed though. Took heating/beating and also a 3700ft/lb torque multiplier. One of the budd nuts (is that the right name?), was so siezed had to just let the torque multiplier shear the inside stud off. Hopefully can get parts here so and start putting these two back together to get them out of the shop.
That little crane is too cute to ignore, you just gotta have it!
I'd love to have it, but the guy kinda dropped off the map and hasn't returned any of my calls. I doubt it's going anywhere soon.
Keep posting pictures! Your machines are great.
Now that school is out, (my last final was the 10th, was my birthday as well, turned 20) trying to get some stuff done. Clutch job on the 430 is sort of done, clutch is put back together and tractor is one piece again, but I need to modify a linkage in the clutch pedal. The new pressure plate and throw out bearing are slightly different and the existing adjustment is not enough. I think the Hyster has a leaking fuel cap, the fuel filters keep getting fill of water and killing the machine. Well yesterday it died on me right outside the shop and I resolved to finally fix it. Raised the forks with the starter turning the hydraulic pump though the engine. Then drug it in the door dead with the 930. The plan is to drill and fit the bottom of the fuel tank with a drain of some-sort. Way I can clean the tank out real good. I was planning on having the 430 done today, so I drug the next project over to the shop. But since the 430 is going to take a little longer, this project went under a lean to for right now. It's a Case 700B, Dad said it had a leaking headgasket or cracked head. But this tractor probably hasn't run in over a decade, so I was too little at the time to remember what it was doing at the time. Also got a 4-53 parts engine, paid way too much, $250. But might be handy if I ever have problems with the 4-53 in the P&H.
Rebuildable 4-53s are getting harder to find. Shop in Duluth charges $500 for a bad block on exchange. The blower if good is an easy $300 used. You probably did OK.
Well that makes me fell better. If they weren't getting harder to find, I wouldn't have messed with it. Kinda anxious to do some tinkering on it to see what shape it's in. Looks like I get to split the 430 AGAIN. Something ain't right with the clutch, as long as the input shafts arent't messed up, it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Making a POS slightly less junky. And then promptly breaking it...... 6' mower Dad got from the scrap yard for next to nothing. It was worn out and beat up when we got it, and then we beat the crap out of it again. I've been patching it as I break it, but it's getting to the point now where there isn't much left to patch. After doing that little fixing to it today, mowed about a couple acres and broke it again.... Mind you, I was mowing some HEAVY stuff, it's my own fault for going too fast and hard. I'm not trilled to be welding on beat up, bent, worn sheet metal. Give me some 1/2" plate so I don't have to worry about blowing through. Seems like on the thin stuff I'm either always sticking and get no penetration, or just blowing straight through. Guess I should start looking for a replacement... :/ A 15' batwing behind the 930 would be so nice. Could knock down overgrown pasture like nobody's business with that.
Jim D, do you still own the Case W-14 loader?
Finally moved the 730. Dad sold the first farm and we parked all the equipment at friend's places and our house in town. This the last machine that Dad never got round to moving. Instead of trying to get it up on the gooseneck dead with the bad read tire, I just called the rollback. It's been sitting for about a decade, last running about 5 years ago and it was running bad. Gonna start to tear into it and see if it lives again. It's been holding that front end loader up since the last time it was running. Kinda amazing.
I've been into a 430 case clutch once a few years ago. The release bearing goes in backwards to normal thinking. The bearing runs on the release fork not the clutch fingers. The body of the bearing rides the independent PTO drive sleeve that runs at constant engine speed. IIRC.
Its a dirty rotten shame your DAD isn't there to share this with you. Life sure as hell isn't fair!!! I know good and well he is proud as a peacock of you. Grandpa.
Yeah I figured the release bearing out. I think the problem was the clutch wasn't lined up right. Used a tool that used a cone to center the clutch disk, I don't think it was accurate enough and put a slight bind on the input shaft. When we split it again kinda finessed it going back together and it sort of "clicked". Thank goodness that tractor is running again, still need to repack the steering rams though. I had to do some work on an international 484 for the guy that was storing the 730. Even though that 484 and my Case 430 are about the same HP. I hope to never work on one of those internationals ever again...... The 430 is laid out so much better. Yeah I agree. The thing that keeps me up at night isn't that he's gone, it's that I never got a chance to say thanks..... Dad was a 1 in a million guy and he got some real raw deals through out his life, I feel bad I never really got to tell him how important he was to his face. He knew how I felt, he and I were our closest friends, we could read each others mind. But he really deserved a better thank you. These old tractors and junky machine tools represent a lot of memories. I just hope I'm not letting those memories cloud my business judgment too much. I do need to get the farm and machine shop making money at some point. Dad and I had a good run, 19 years, he taught me a lot in life and even in death he was still taking care of what needed to be taken care of.
Ever since this site no longer works on Tapatalk, I haven't been here as much. But been busy this summer moving iron into the shop. Only have one big lathe on that gooseneck to move into the shop still, it weights 27,000s (yeah that trailer is overloaded....). Got close to 60 tons of machine tools in the building now. That machine in the first picture is a 3" HBM, about as small as they come and still weighs over 20,000lbs. Was a load for the 25k lb forklift. My buddy standing in the picture shows the scale. Also been working on my electrical layout. Trying to finish the single phase 220v runs and the 3 phase system. Also starting to fab up my doors, hopefully should have that all done by the end of the summer. Been having to take some engineering classes over the summer so that's been slowing me down a lot. The guys towing the mobile home blew a tire out, made their turn too shallow and got hug up on the crown of the road. They were stuck good and proper when I came along. Even though I wanted to get home early I went back to the farm, got the 930 some chain and pulled them off the road.
What happens when your a serial bushhog abuser, trying to shred small scrubby trees and the shear pin decides not to shear when it was supposed too..... Looks like I'll have to cut the larger scrub out by hand with the chainsaw and then shred it.
Pretzalitis is the tech term.
Started working part time in a machine shop, and school is keeping busy as always. But was down at the farm, working on stuff last weekend and recorded a slightly cranky tractor start, thought ya'll might enjoy it. Getting ready to do another big phase of land clearing and dirt work over Christmas vacation. Slowly getting all the trucks, tractors and support equipment ready for that. I'll probably rent an excavator and CLT, should come up with some good pictures.
Cool thread. Cool Tractor. It does not seem so big until you look at it near the truck. The tractor looks BIG. At some point for us (could be just me) that don't know you will have to explain what some of the machine shop tools you have do? For instance what do you use the large planner for?
The 930 is the largest tractor I've got, but she's only 80-90hp depending on how good the fuel filters are. 401 cu-in long stroke engine, so lots of torque. Small by today's standards, but big when she was new in the late 60's. She has enough grunt to pull a stuck 25k Hyster out of a hole and up a little rise with 12,500lbs on the forks. The forklift and load together are probably pushing 40-50k lbs. You can kinda tell in the pictures, I got the forklift stuck up to the axle there on the front. The second picture shows me running the forklift bringing that 12,500 lb lathe in the shop. I'm over 6' tall and the forklift makes me look petite. And as far as what I do with the planer, right now it just keeps that section of the shop floor from floating away. IE, nothing, it just takes up space. But since I haven't even started on my 3phase wiring, it's not running yet, so there isn't much I can do with it. The way a planer works is that table reciprocates back and forth, and the "gantry" supports a stationary cutting tool. The main benefits of a planer are that they are very accurate over the stoke, very rigid, and doesn't impart high machining stresses. But the down side is that they are very slow and inefficient, because they only cut on the pull stoke. But mine also has that milling spindle, so I can use it as a planer mill, which is just a milling machine laid out the same way as a planer. You don't have all the advantages of a planer doing this, but you can drill holes, mill pockets, and have a higher production rate. Not sure exactly what I'll use this machine for, but they are the berrys for rebuilding machine tools, I suppose I could so resurface really large engine blocks and heads. Saved it mainly because planers of any decent size are pretty rare and I wanted one. I've always kinda planned to chase hydraulic cylinder and pump work. Once Dad's estate is finalized (it's been over a year and no where close), and I'm done with college, I'll be in a better position about where I'm going with the farm and machine shop. Depending on what happens with Dad's estate, I might get into dirt work.
Finished the back wall of the shop today. This is eventually gonna be a door, but right now sealing it off with a wall is faster and cheaper. Not my best work, but it's done, just need to trim the foam and seal the edges with silicone. I was shredding with the tractor, and looks like I found a hole! Guess I hit it just right, bent the tie rod up like a pretzel.
I've started working a machine shop, and schools taking up tons of time as usual. But got my doors up, which is a big deal. They look a little goofy, but should work alright. Thought the picture of the shop at night with the lights on was cool
Looks good and it looks like a lot of work.
If you do hydraulic repair you want to start with cylinders first. Most gear and vane fixed displacement pumps are now throw a ways. You can buy clones for less than the labor to tear down and rebuild, never mind the parts. if you want to get into hydraulics just get hold of me and I can give 40 years worth of advice.
Thanks, yeah it's been a bunch of work. Lots more to go though. Thanks for the info, and I'll be sure to get ahold of you. I'm not there yet, but that's where I'm working twords.
alskdjfhg, How are you doing?
Busy. Been on Christmas vacation since mid december and this is my last week off. Been working full time, so really not much of a vacation. And not as much shop progress as id like. But did get a little done. Moved the small mill and lathe from the house in Houston to the farm. And also finished moving a 15hp Fairbanks Morse Y engine. Bought it years ago, but could only move the jug as the gooseneck was too big to get back to where the guy had the engine. And the 2wd pickup would get stuck in the moist dirt even on dry days. I used a small rental told bed trailer to move the small machine tools, had to have the trailer all weekend, so just used the 4wd suburban to move the engine. Good thing too, I had to drive through a wet ditch loaded to get out, almost didn't make it. Was throwing all sorts of mud. Been moving so much small stuff and just dumping in the building, shop is an insane mess
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I'm liking the pictures, thanks for posting!
Thumbs up! I envy you for those machines...
Good grief alskdjfhg ! You are going to need a bigger shop at the rate you are going. Very nice !
No need. I'll find room!
Thanks guys. Yeah it's getting a mite cramped inside the building. I'm going to be doing a bunch of organizing in the shop tomorrow, hopefully make the space more usable.
nice shop. nice tools. you can never build them big enough ( if you need space I would take that big lathe off your hands )
I figure I should give this thread a bump. Still working on junk, but with all the rainy weather we've been and as busy as school keeps me, it's slow going. I joined the FSAE society at UH. They build a 1/4 scale F1 car and race other schools. I haven't had much time to be involved, but for the last month or so I've been making suspension parts for that car. This is the steering pinon box for their little car. Hopefully can get these guys taken care of here soon and can get back to working on my stuff. Spring is starting to get here and I need to fix some iron.
Overflow. Took me about 40hours to make this part with all manual machines .
Geez. I have to up my game. nice work.
Really nice work!And nice machines too
Looken" good
thanks guy, it's very slow going and can be super frustrating at times. My goal for this year is too get all the machine tools, farm equipment and heavy equipment fixed. Or at-least in a position where the engines start....