The Big Big Stump

As you may recall, earlier this year we had some big trees blow down on Father's Day.  It was a surprise for all of us.  Here are a few pictures from that event...Big Trees

I've set my two boys to work on it with shovels, loppers, gardening rakes, and sticks.  It's been an on and off project for them through the summer for them.  For the last many days, I've been helping them out.  After about 10 days of digging, we had some luck...

I was able to undermine most of the root system for one of the two stumps, and then I cut the intertwined roots between the two with a chainsaw.  The last tool in the arsenal was the old 1939 John Deere H with a mere 14hp.  It only weighs a little over 2000 pounds, but it has the most torque of any vehicle I own.

I was surprised to see my stump roll right out.

Perhaps in another 10 days I'll be able to get the other large stump yanked out.  We'll see...

Turkey Run Day

We had a nice day trip to Turkey Run State Park on Saturday.  

The weather was beautiful.  

The highlight was canoeing down Sugar Creek:

Number Three Kiddo wore that hat from breakfast time nearly to bedtime.

He wouldn't let it go.

We had some beach time.

It was a good day.  

I think it's time to take a camping trip to the Boundary Waters!

The Shiny New Engine

The drop-in engine kit arrived to replace the internally-welded-together-catastrophe MS290 engine.   It looks like a perfect match (except for the slightly larger internal bore, of course).

It's almost too beautiful to install!  I don't want to dirty it up.

The Chainsaw Teardown

I have been tearing down and diagnosing my bro-in-law's chainsaw from a catastrophic failure.  It appears the piston welded itself to the cylinder wall.  This is an MS290 "Farm Boss" only 6 years old or so.  Tearing it down, I see evidence of a few problems contributing to the overall failure.

Tearing off the muffler, it is easily seen the piston is severely scored, and a piston ring is smushed.  This is bad.  After a little research, the most likely cause is either no oil in the gas, or old gas mix.

It's also possible to get this problem with an air leak in the fuel pickup or the carburetor boot, causing the engine to run lean and/or over-rev.

I took off about 300 parts to get down to this point.  That cylinder sure was difficult to pull off.  It took quite a bit of effort.

It's hard to see in the picture, but it's easy to feel with a finger:  The cylinder is trash due to heavy scratches.  It wouldn't hold compression if only the piston was replaced.

The piston is so small compared to the big antique John Deere tractors.  This piston measures at 46mm, and idles at 2,800rpm with a top end of around 12,000 rpm.

Dirt restricts air flow in the air-cooled engine.  

The dirt and grime surely didn't help in this matter.

One interesting find is this:  The race that holds the balls of the ball bearing in place is plastic.  It was broken in many places, but all the balls were still in place (at least for a little while).

The air filter was pretty well plugged up with a quarter inch of fine dust.  This can lead to engine problems from what I've read.

I squirted some degreaser on the main parts, and hosed them down.  

It's amazing things cleaned up so nicely.

I'm expecting a cylinder/piston rebuild kit to arrive in the mail Tuesday.  The kit I ordered bumps up the engine size from 46mm to 49mm.  Thus, it changes it from a MS290 to a MS390.  This bumps up the power from 3.8 bhp to 4.3 bhp or about 13%!

I've also ordered a few other parts (fuel line, impulse line, new air filter, and a missing chain bumper) off of Ebay.  Those are coming from Hong Kong, and should arrive by November!  Geesh!

The Colorado Trip

We took a big road trip in the middle of summer this year.  So big, in fact, that it has taken me two months to get photos up on this ol' blog.  We drove out to Colorado and back.  It was a monumental effort, but we really enjoyed it all - even the drive.

Day 1 - We started our adventure after church.  

Kids were ready to go.

We got as far as Macon, Missouri for the first night.

We lined kids up like hot dogs on the skinny bed.

Today's driving was right around 350 miles.

Day 2 - More driving westbound.  We spent a good chunk of time in Kansas City with the Federal Reserve Bank, and the Hallmark Museum.  Number 3 Kiddo had his birthday today, so we had ice cream sandwiches in the mid afternoon in Junction City Kansas.  We settled for the night at a cozy motel in Oakley Kansas.  500 miles

Day 3 - We finally arrived to Brother In Law's (BIL) house.  It was nice to be done driving.  We unloaded and kids ran around like crazy monkeys.  275 miles

Day 4 - A day in Colorado Springs.  We packed it full with a visit to the Air Force Academy chapel, Focus on the Family Headquarters, Garden of the Gods, and a Space Science Museum.

Day 5 - Kids got tired of the van, so we had a day at BIL's house.  We watched a movie, and some of us went swimming.  #3 Kiddo fell off the little ledge within the pool and plummeted to the bottom!  I yanked him out and he blubbered for a bit but was just fine.

Day 6 - On the agenda today was the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  An all day event, with a picnic lunch in the hot sun.

Day 7 - A day mostly at BIL's house.  We did laundry.  # 2 Kiddo (with the cast) fell down the spiral staircase and was slow moving afterwards.  We went to a park for the fireworks display.  Tons of people, and rather breezy, but good fireworks!

Day 8 - Church in the morning.  Then we drove to Lookout Mountain in the rain, and hiked around for a short bit.  More clouds and rain on the way, so we went down and went to Red Rocks Amphitheater.  There was a concert getting ready to start - some crazy metal rock band that wasn't our type.  We got rained out anways, so we went back to BIL's house with a pizza.

Day 9 - Original Pancake House for breakfast.  In the afternoon, the two of us went out and toured a small microbrewery (Breckenridge Brewery).  It was really neat and interesting tour.  Kids stayed home with their favorite uncle.

(Yes - I ate all of that) 

Day 10 - We visited Hammond's Candies for a factory tour on the way up to Boulder.  Again, we travelled in a rain cloud and saw very little of the view.  We went on a 1 mile hike within Chautauqua Park.  We were nearly rained out, but we went anyways.  Then we went on a factory tour of the Celestial Seasonings plant.  Awesome.

Day 11 - A slower day for us.  We went to the nearby city park, and it was amazing.  I think we were there for 3 hours.  Kids didn't want to leave.  We started packing for home in the evening.

Day 12 - We struck off and started our drive for home.  Eastern Colorado and Nebraska is some really flat driving.  Hot fudge sundaes in the mid afternoon.  We stayed in a posh hotel in downtown Lincoln Nebraska for the evening.  The parking garage was super narrow and scary.  We lined up the kids like hotdogs in their bed again and they went right to sleep.  500 miles today.

Day 13 - More driving eastward.  We got to Grandma's house just around 3pm.  My parents were there and it was fun to see everybody.  We had a quick visit with Grandma in the nursing home, ate more ice cream sandwiches, then continued driving.  We spent alot of time at the playground near the Amana Colonies, and stayed in a skuzzy motel somewhere east of Iowa City.

Day 14 - Rain all day.  (And I mean alllll day).  We stopped at a very crowded John Deere Pavilion in Moline IL, and ate lunch at Lagomarcinos with a desert of hot fudge sundaes.  It was great.  Wife drove through all of Illinois.  I continued on.  Finally home around 7:15 with a quick visit to Meijer prior to for milk, eggs, and a rotisserie chicken.  

The kids enjoyed the challenge of putting their heads in the icy cooler once we got home.  

Good to be home.  2640 total miles.