Wouldn't ya' know it.. my first time back on the machine post heart attack and this happens. I don't think it's a pilot line this time as I lost power at the bucket and the first sign of trouble was a hissing noise that is only with the safety lever in the down position. But whatever it is, it continues to pour out even with the engine off. Any repair is going to have to wait until my cardiologist clears me to get back to work. This area is hard to reach, naturally. Year of the Dragon has been quite something: Dec 31: generator building fire Jan: give away free firewood, guy wrecks driveway with mini excavator Feb: well pump stops working, little help pulling up 200' of pipe and pump, chest pains that day Feb: snow, plowed the snow, power steering gearbox explodes, truck towed to local repair shop which rips me off and proceeded to break the lock on my toolbox Feb 29: I'm shoveling millings I got free from public works and chest pains and tiredness. March 1: heart attack at 7:30am. Change of diet and lots of supplements and feeling better, but now this. And we're not 1/4 through 2024!
Mark I feel for you. Hang in there.
At this point, I'm wondering if a mobile mechanic would come out and replace the line for me. I really can't exert much at all. I won't know if I have to go for open heart surgery until I have a battery of tests done. As it is, I'm scheduled for hernia surgery since a month ago. Not a good year for me!
I'd come over and help, once my gout clears up.
I'm in CT, over 3000 miles away, unfortunately!
Mark, sorry for you troubles but glad to hear you are on the mend. **** happens and never at a good time. I would definitely reach out to a mobile mechanic, the money spent on him replacing it will be money well spent. It won’t be cheap, but it’s hard to put put a price on your well being….
When one is on a fixed income, there's not must elasticity in my ability to come up with money. We just got our daughter's car back from repairs. New brakes, wheel bearing, tires and battery was nearly $2400. So I'm $6400 down between the well, truck repairs and daughter's Mazda, from where I was in January and haven't paid the July property taxes yet! I did some raking of the driveway yesterday with a hand rake, feeling improved, but still that sickening ache in my chest that I never felt before. Cardiologist appt tomorrow. At least the hour ride to Fairfield will be in a reliably repaired car.
I landed in the hospital ER with my second heart attack on Friday, March 15th. My condition was serious enough that they kept me alive on nitroglycerine and bumped my surgery from Monday to the very next day after admission--Saturday. Long story short, they put a stent in my LAD artery and I will be on meds the rest of my remaining years. I'm no longer in pain at rest, but if I walk a bit, I still get some pain. This sucks. Don't know if my heart will ever be normal again. I found a good mobile mechanic. He visited and looked over the machine, then got out the service manual and gave me an estimate. We discussed it at length. The cab has to be disassembled to access these lines. 10-12 hour job. I'm not surprised, as there is no underneath access. So the plan is to have him replace all the lines under there, rather then have to go through this all over again. So much for my investment. It's turning into a money pit. Oh well.
Mark I'm so sorry for your troubles. This stuff is supposed to be more fun.
No way the line can be fished under the cab? A lot of times if the clamps can be accessed I'll just tie the new line to the old one with a union fitting and pull the new line in while pulling out the old one.
Guy that works at Schucks has had 2 heart attacks, prostate cancer, house burn down, wife left him and dog was stolen all in the last ~3 years. And still is working 50-60hrs a week. With a smile and great attitude. He's my motivation for sure. "No one cares, work harder"
I will mention about bolting the lines together and using the existing broken line to pull the new one through. But from what I can tell, we can't see where the go after the manifold. I still don't know which line let go, but he thinks it's a pilot line. I myself had a pretty rough 3 months, as I mentioned in my March 13th post. The stress has been building up, but I suspect I was in trouble with my heart for at least ten years, maybe longer. Other symptoms are the canary in the coal mine and I had quite a few of them for at least 15 years. My attitude is, "as long as you're still alive, keep going."
Hope you didn't take the "nobody cares" as me saying that directly to you. That's definitely not how I meant that!
Oh, not at all. I figured it was a tagline, but is in fact, very true. The only people that are not family that care, are the hospital staff who saved my life earlier this month. What a group of amazing individuals--all very professional and super competent.
Taking meds. and aching doing simple things isn't very enjoyable but it sure beats not being able to do much of anything. Hang in there and just go at a pace that's comfortable for your body. If you have to come back later to finish something it's OK. It will get better with time. Don't do any heavy listing or a lot of bending. Dr's. say the worst thing to do is change a tire or shovel snow. Hoping you have a full recovery and can do the things you like.
If you or anyone else decides to just sit down and let things go, have everything lined up within 6 to 12 months so your family will not have to deal with it. Shorter saying, PRESS ON
At the moment, the thing that is inconvenient is the almost constant never-ending nose bleeds from the blood thinners. They got me on at least two different ones and just started me on another yesterday. I have to go for a blood test in one week after starting this Losartan. Any time I dab my nose, even gently, it starts bleeding and won't stop. Annoying. My house is a 'high maintenance' self-built house (I started construction in 1966) that is currently running off-grid solar that I built entirely myself. I have to teach my wife how to check the batteries, know how to operate the inverters, charger and generator, as well as where all the plumbing valves are in the event of emergency. A buddy of mine, whose dad passed in '98, left a manual he wrote for the major functions of their house. I'm doing the same. Running on solar, one has to be in touch with the rhythm of nature. On sunny days, do the washer/dryer use, when it rains, be ready to start the generator to charge the battery bank when too little solar is coming in. Etc. I've got to fix a new roof leak as well. That's a priority. These "lifetime" roof coatings that sport white silicon surfaces are a joke. Two years and the leaks start. Last summer, had to replace 64 sq ft of roof decking and short up rotted (all pressure treated mind you!) joists that were newly installed in 2014 when I finished completely rebuilding the roof. The way I'm feeling now, it's seemingly ALL out of reach for me. People I've known in the past century, lasted about 2-5 years on average after their heart attacks. So naturally, I'm not feeling optimistic, especially since I am just a couple years from the average life expectancy of an American male.
There's a lot of people who lived 20 or more years after a heart attack too. You need to take it easy and look after yourself for a year or more. It sounds like you're expecting a real speedy recovery. Try to get some friends or pay someone to do things for you. If you go back trying to do the same things you did before the HA is what will really affect how long you're going be with us. Take it really easy for at least 6 month's and ideally longer and just appreciate what you have. I'm really fortunate that I got a treatable form of cancer. I can't do half the stuff I used to but I can do some stuff like drive and walk. It could be a lot worse. It is for a lot of people so count your blessings and be thankful for what you have.
I have had 02 heart attacks with 02 stints being placed in 02 days. Blood thinners SUCK!!!! Heart attacks were due to genetics which took my Dad out at 51.5 years old and I was 9.5 Be careful shaving, You will be fine.
I used to have friends and a neighbor who could help with things like pulling a well pump. I've done that four times in the 58 years since I built the house. But now my friend have passed away, some moved out of the country, and my neighbor passed at 73 in 2019. That pretty much leaves me to fend for myself. Money to pay people? I'm on a fixed income and can't even keep up with the property taxes on the home I built to be my final home. If it weren't for me building off grid solar, we'd have no electricity at all. The bills were exceeding $700 monthly four years ago. I was running an amp repair shop until the heart attacks, but now even that income has completely dried up as I have not taken in any work since March 1. Savings pretty much wiped out with the well and truck repairs this month. Now we're dipping into the wife's 401K to get by. And god only knows what the hospital bills are going to be like. I've never been in a hospital on Medicare before. I've already had to pay about $80 in co pays on the meds. Got some bad genetics on paternal side too. Lost two uncles in their mid forties to myocardial infarctions. I ate pretty healthy as a young man, but as the years went on, the lack of a reliable lady in my life caused me to live to eat and to drink a lot. When I met my wife almost a quarter century ago, I was long past ever thinking I would meet someone. We're still together and she is the most nurturing, caring partner I could ever ask for. But being a great cook, I ate a LOT after marriage and put on even more weight. About 4 years ago, I decided to go on a high fat low carb no sugar diet and lost over forty pounds. I was physically very active over those years, which helped. I also live with a Congo African Grey parrot, who, for some reason, since the heart attack, has been sticking very close to me, as in constantly perched on my shoulder. The flying hedge trimmer makes me nervous. I could bleed to death if she bit me! But she won't leave my side for the past month!
She might sense something is wrong and is looking after you. Animals can be amazing sometimes.
The diesel mechanic was here this morning bright and early and he was able to remove the cab and then found a way to lift the baseplate and gain access to the hydraulic lines. He just got it all back together before dark. It's VERY low on hydraulic fluid, but he'll be back in the morning with ten gallons of the stuff and a final checkout. $1270 spent. Hopefully all works properly tomorrow!
Sounds like a fair deal to me, also sounds like you shouldn’t lose his number! Hope you’re feeling a little better every day.
I hopped into the cab this morning after breakfast and turned the key and... nothing. Turned it off. Removed key. Idiot lights were on. I've seen this before, so I opened the bonnet and jumped the start solenoid and she fired up. I started to move the machine straight back and I heard a loud pop from the left track. Dang if the track came off again and I wasn't turning! So I'm going to hire Matt to come out again and adjust the big nuts on the track adjusters so I have more range. The springs are not compressed at all. These new tracks are slightly longer than originals and so the idler wheels stick out 6" more than they did with old tracks and as such, I can't tension them enough. I did manage to get the track back on. How? I tried turning the machine into a hard clockwise turn and then driving forward intermittently as I turned. I heard another pop, drove forward a foot and got out and the track was back on! Saved me hours of monkeying with big crowbars. Not that I can lift anything with my heart condition!