DISASTER STRIKES

 The concrete crew finished framing the perimeter, and had all of the rebar in the footings by mid day.  When they left, Patty and I went into town for a couple of hours, then returned home around 2pm.

It's hard to see in the first two pictures, but at the end of the ramp leading up to the garage doors, and the front of what will be the new building,  the grade (dirt) is higher than the soon to be concrete.  I started knocking down the high spot, and did so for about an hour, moving the dirt over next to the driveway.  Then, all of a sudden, when I had some pressure on the hydraulic system, using the backhoe bucket to pull dirt toward the tractor, I heard a loud hissing sound, as liquid started spraying on my left leg.  What the heck?  With no pressure on the backhoe, or the front loader, everything seemed to be fine.  As soon as I had any kind of resistance on the hydraulic system, I had hydraulic fluid spraying everywhere.  Not good, especially since I was right in the middle of a project to smooth out the the area in front of the garage, and where the concrete trucks will be backing up, starting at 6:30 this morning.

I smoothed out the area as best I could, then moved the tractor around to the back of the house, and nearer to my toolbox in the motor home.  After I started removing shrouds, and gear box covers, I discovered that one of the main hydraulic lines had been rubbing against the tractor frame, and it had finally worn all the way through.  Getting to the hose was a bit tricky, but after removing more stuff, like a heavy skid plate, I was able to get the ruptured hose off.

A quick call to the Kubota Tractor Dealer didn't offer much satisfaction, as they did not have the hose in stock, and would have to order it.  Their fee of $175 to pick up & deliver, plus parts & labor to repair, not to mention the time frame to order the new hose, left that option as almost non existent.  There's no doubt that having the dealer pick up and fix the tractor, would probably have cost at least $500, and probably a lot more.  The dealer did give me the name of a company that would be able to make a new hose, if I could take them the old one.

 

 The old hose is shown, half disconnected from the tractor.

A little before 4pm, I was on the way into town with the old hose.  By 5pm, I was on the way back to the ranch, with a brand new hydraulic hose, with new fittings.  Now, I was faced with the quickly approaching darkness, and as things usually go, it's always much easier to take something apart, than put it back together.  Reattaching the hose to the hydraulic pump was a son-of-a-#@%&*, but I finally got er done, and the rest of the re-assembly was pretty straight forward.  By 7pm, working with two flashlights, I finished the project, and the tractor will be ready to go back to work today.

Total cost of the repair was $57.20 for the new hose, and some gas to go into town.  That part of  the disaster remedy felt pretty good, but the old muscles and body aren't feeling so good this morning.
Now, the last challenge will be, to not have any leaks when I fire up the machine, because I sure don't feel like going through this again, at least not for awhile!

A sample of the hydraulic fluid mess, which sprayed all over the tractor, and me.

At 6:30 am, the concrete trucks will start arriving, and there should be about 6 or 7 of them.  This garage and patio project is going to take somewhere in the neighborhood of 55 yards of concrete, and this will be a big hurdle to get past.  Next step will be an actual structure.