New World Datsuns...

Thanks guys, it is getting better as time goes by.

I think I am going to put the other observing pad in the grass/weeds and leave the garden a garden this winter, I cannot observe any more of the sky than the other observing spot anyway, but if from the grass/weeds I can see SW and some W/SW, the spot I enlarged I can observe I can see east, southeast, south, and little bit southwest, its trees that are the issue, and all except one tree are my neighbors trees, my tree in the front yard is leaning, I put a stake in that garden and took a measurement, if it starts leaning more I will take it down.

I hauled some firewood home a couple days ago and put it in the wood shed, the photos are below, I hauled another load today, I will unload it tomorrow after taking photos, I am beat, I could do this kind of thing everyday in the past, now I need to heal a few days before doing it again.

What would you guess that load weighs?

DRIVEN wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 7:19 pm What would you guess that load weighs?

More than the axle is rated for.

It likely is between one and 2 tons, the brakes worked fine although it takes longer to stop, the load 2 days before weighed more but I cannot find the photo I took of it.

I hate Microsoft updates, they screw up my photo system/photo down load app on my laptop, I already had to restore my laptop once, it took an hour to restore it, and the next day after it updated again because I had removed the updates it was all fucked up again, scum are running this...........

Impressed, nonetheless.

DRIVEN wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 6:52 pm Impressed, nonetheless.

You have to remember that I built the 521 work truck to tow and haul weight back before any of the Datsun forums I am or have been a member of existed(2003), Mike Klotz even came to my house to see how I did my disc brakes on it, I think he might have been making disc brake kits or was planning to, this was before I joined Ratsun, that was the day he seen my 521 kingcab I was making and suggested I join Ratsun and start a thread about it.

The rear leaf spring packs I made which have 7 leafs in the pack have followed this truck thru all its modifications, but back then it had air bags also, recently I have considered putting the bags back in but I do not drive 120 miles each way to get firewood anymore, so the last big modification I left them out, I do not haul the weights I used to anymore, two businesses have made the comment that they have never loaded that much onto a small truck before, both times were before the year 2015.

Everything changed for me May 9, 2016.

I think one of the miracles in my life is I have never been left on the side of the road because I lost rear bearings from hauling too much weight, but I am not dead yet.

Hey I’m impressed myself. That truck puts in the work for sure.

I am getting free firewood from my cousin, all I have to do is cut it and load it, he has more firewood than he can burn(20 cord stored) in a reasonable amount of time(according to him), most of it is 2 maybe 3 years old that was dragged into a spot he has for it, he also has several rather large fir logs stacked in a pile, a few appear to be 3' or larger round, I am almost to the point where that is what I will be cutting and loading next, I might have to cut them 16"/18" long and then quarter them to make them light enough to move, by the time I am done I will likely have 3 years' worth of firewood stored.

Normally I load as much as I can get on the truck for a cheap price, it was $80.00 per load from the last guy, this stuff is free so I am not putting as much on the truck, it takes me about 5 hours to cut, load, unload, and stack it, 5 hours is about my limit of being on my feet without a rest, I do better if I work a while stop and rest, and repeat this several times, I can last all day that way.

Sunday I sorted out the tubs full of Datsun parts in my parts shed, I was able to make room for 2 telescopes in the shed by removing the shelves half way down on one side, I was hoping to remove the shelves on one side completely, but it is not to be, I have too many parts and 3 tubes of X-mas lights, I need to sell Datsun parts.

Firewood is hard work. But worth it.

20 !? That would be conservatively $6,000 cut and delivered in my area

DRIVEN wrote: ↑Mon Nov 20, 2023 5:29 pm Firewood is hard work. But worth it.

It is hard work, but the way I look at it it keeps my body moving, sitting around for 3 months makes it hard to get my body moving in March, I will likely be cutting, loading, unloading, and stacking 3 or 4 more cords, some will need to be split so I can stack it up high(8 feet up).

BLUE wrote: ↑Mon Nov 20, 2023 6:57 pm 20 !? That would be conservatively $6,000 cut and delivered in my area

He says he has 20 cord in the barn, looking at the barn I am kinda worried that if he burns it all the barn will implode, the fire wood might be holding the barn up/in shape, I should take some photos.

That is a lot of money that I do not want to spend, this is free to me if I cut, load, unload, and stack it myself, plus my cousin does not have to look at it anymore which is why he is likely giving it to me, he does not want it to rot, he seems happy so far.

Here is todays load, basically it was 12 large/heavy rounds and a few smaller pieces to fill in the holes between them to make the load look level.







I suspect half the larger rounds weighed 400lbs plus, I could not roll them up onto my flatbed the way I normally do(use one board as a ramp), I used 3 boards with a round in the middle and I doubled the rear board from my flatbed because I rolled it half way up the first board to the round, stuck a piece of wood to hold it there and I looked at how much that board was bowing, it was bowing 6"+, I was afraid it would break so I doubled that piece with another board.

Rolling these huge rounds up on a 2X6 board is what most would call dangerous, I had no fails, they all made it up to the flatbed the first try, afterwards I thought about what I would do if the board broke or the round tipped over off the side of the board and trapped me under it, it is best not to think about that stuff.

Probably have a little pressure.



Yeah, don’t think about that. I usually don’t until it’s too late

I have not posted much lately, I hauled another couple loads of wood, I had to remove the tractor from its parking spot and put the wood in there, I have just about cut and hauled away everything he said I could have, I have a load or two left and it is all gone.







Remember what the greenhouse I made looked like last year, here is a photo.





Well it is totally different now, starting plants in the house was easier but they did not transition to the outside that well, they would stall/quit growing for a while and then slowly start growing again, I made the greenhouse much taller so I could stand straight up inside without having to dig a hole to stand in, I am hoping to have plants ready sooner and grow right away when planted, I am planning on starting more plants(less tomatoes) like Green Peppers, broccoli this coming year, anyway this is what the greenhouse looks like now, I think it might shed water/leaves/debris better.







You can see on the sides I used square/rectangle pieces the same size as all the other pieces, I do not want to attempt to cut glass, and it doesn't bother me either having the glass sticking out/up on the sides, the top piece has no frame around it(shed leaves and water better, it is slightly angled down towards the front), it is held on with them mounts that hold mirrors on the wall in bathrooms.

Next year I will likely improve the green house some more, maybe get rid of the wood frames, I will see how this one works this next year, I did use it a little this last spring, but it was a hassle to use and lost its heat because of all the holes in the upper areas, them holes are not there anymore, I am sure the cats will like it.

That’s a ton of work , but no heat like stove heat.

How many cords did you estimate you burn during winter ?

I normally burn 4 to 5 cords, last winter it was likely closer to 6 cord as I started burning earlier and burned later, this year I made it more than halfway thru October before I started burning.

Last night I went out into the garage and it smelt like smoke, I went into the attic and could see smoke coming out if the seam of the outer tube in the 3 tube chimney, I had noticed a wisp a couple days before, but not like last night, it was not a fire hazard, but not smoke enough to set off the smoke alarm like my blower would, or too much welding would, this finally got my interest, why would that much smoke be coming out the outer tube that should not see any smoke at all, so I got my flashlight and went up on the roof to look at my chimney cover, 6the spark arrester screen was almost sealed solid with creosote, I got a screwdriver and started poking the creosote out of the square holes till smoke quit coming out of the tube in the attic.

This morning I removed the chimney cover before adding wood to the stove, used a chain in the inner tube(spun it around in the tube) to knock loose the creosote in that tube(there was not that much), then scraped/brushed/blew with air the cover/screen and got 80 percent plus of the creosote off it and I put it back together, the garage did not smell like smoke this morning.

My hotrod Husqvarna XP chainsaw(32" bar)started having issues recently, I took it apart a week or so ago and found all the motor mounts were broke(anti-vibration mounts), this allowed the engine/bar to move independently from the handle/tank, this messed up the throttle, when trying to start it I am supposed to lock the throttle open and start it then pull the throttle trigger so it will idle, it would not lock open easily and the throttle trigger did not do much until I rested the chain on the wood and it would then take off, sometimes it sounded over revved, anyway I started looking for parts, there are like 10+ versions of the Husqvarna XP 266 W chainsaw, none appear to show 6 engine mounts in the diagrams, they all had 4 mounts, mine does not look modified, but I screwed all 6 of the broken mounts in position, the chainsaw guy said there was not enough room for them upper mounts so I put the cover on and it fit, I also said this cover does not looked modified, the guy looked like he wanted to say "What Ever" and ordered me 3 more mounts, they had 3 mounts in stock, I am waiting for parts now, but I also have a Husqvarna 61(rancher type/24" bar), it was cutting crooked, so I now have a new bar for both chainsaws, they both were having bar issues, the XP bar was close to 20 years old(I bought that bar), the Rancher bar on it was on it when I bought it used 10/15 years ago.

I have a dilemma, I have likely 7 or 8 already sharpened 16" chains but that chainsaw died years ago, that size chainsaw is really easy to use compared to what I have now for smaller jobs, but what I have now works, they are just heavy and loud, does one really need 3 chainsaws.

We burn about 2 to 2-1/4 cords a year. No real wind chill factor and its just not as cold down here.

Does one need 3 chainsaws ?

Yes , absolutely , a main , a in a pinch backup , and a possibly in need of repair decoy chainsaw as the 3rd one (but it the wrong person asks you tell them it was working perfectly what were you doing ?) for those who keep asking to borrow your chainsaw...

I have to have 2 chainsaws with me at all times to cut my chainsaw out of a pinch situation, I have had cut one out more than once, recently when I see a possible pinch situation(I have no control where/how the log is resting on the ground) I cut halfway through the log and then stick my splitting maul in the chainsaw groove, hit it a couple times with the sledge or other spitting maul then I finish cutting thru the log.

I do not lend out anything except maybe a shovel, if someone wants to borrow my rototiller, I ask them what needs to be done, then I tell them I will rototill it for them, my best rototiller was given to me because it had been loaned out and came back with only 2 tines left, the rest had been broken off, I bought 10 to replace the broken ones and have used it since, it is a great rototiller, best one I have ever used in my life.

My parts I needed came in today so I picked them up(I get to put my hotrod chainsaw back together), while I was there I asked the shop if they had any 16" chainsaws that used my sample chain I brought with me, they did not have any.

I completely understand having multiples of tools. I have 3 wheelbarrows, 2 push mowers, 2 weedeaters (I think y’all call them weed wackers up there), and so forth. From my experience, you only need one. Until it breaks when you’re in the middle of doing something.


And as you probably know, Husqvarnas last forever. One of my weed eaters (Husqvarna) was given to me by a coworker. It was laying in his barn for over a year and had been ran over by a tractor. I change the fuel lines on it, and it fired up on the third pull.

My wife bought me a Husqvarna chainsaw about 4 1/2 years ago and after using it one time I got rid of the Homelite and Poulan ones I had.

Taterhead wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2023 12:10 pm I completely understand having multiples of tools. I have 3 wheelbarrows, 2 push mowers, 2 weedeaters (I think y’all call them weed wackers up there), and so forth. From my experience, you only need one. Until it breaks when you’re in the middle of doing something.


And as you probably know, Husqvarnas last forever. One of my weed eaters (Husqvarna) was given to me by a coworker. It was laying in his barn for over a year and had been ran over by a tractor. I change the fuel lines on it, and it fired up on the third pull.

My wife bought me a Husqvarna chainsaw about 4 1/2 years ago and after using it one time I got rid of the Homelite and Poulan ones I had.

I also have multiples of everything also, when you are self-employed you have extra everything in case something quits/blows up, I have lost a blower on a customer's roof, I have several times had the pressure washer quit/blow up/smoke belts, rather than repairing it on site I just use the other one(backup), and half the time the one that messed up becomes the backup until it quits, I kind or rotate them every 6 months if nothing breaks.

The hotrod Husqvarna is back together with new mounts, I have not tried it yet, maybe tomorrow or next Monday, I have a couple photos of the new mounts in place but forgot to download them onto this laptop.