Jeff and the stick were out on Friday to work clearing willows around the pond near the boating launching and ice fishing drive-on area. When that project is completed there will be some photos. There is some loader work and snow fence installing to do.

Yesterday, I removed the Barge, the irrigation system, and installed the circulator on the ramp.

During the winter it is time for a some work on the Barge in dry dock. I am installing a new deck (Trex) and will be doing a small amount of maintenance. The Barge has been on the water since April 2008 and the deck shows it. It is still physically sound but showing the stress of the elements.

In case you have forgotten The Pond Barge Sage

Cool stuff Dwight. And here I complain about putting in winter diffusers and changing out compressors.

Wow. Seems like it was just the other day you guys were getting over winter. Now it is coming back already?

Good luck with the preparations.

Hey, I like ice as well as the next guy. As long as it's in my glass that is.

Dwight, IIRC there is a class action against Trex for swelling and going bad prematurely. Take a look at the difference of weight between the engineered plastic deck replacement and PT wood.

There is a giant price difference. I am pretty sure that Trex sinks and PT wood floats. There are Trex decks around here that have been going strong since early Trex.

There are pluses and minus' for all the options.

I priced aluminum sheets, now that is expensive!!

Plus aluminum, even aluminum diamond plate gets slicker than owl you know what if it gets snowed on.... Hopefully you will have it out of the water before then.

Yes, Trex is heavy. IIRC a 5/4x6"x12' weighs 27#. Plus with tht you better have the joists on 12" centers or it'll sag and bounce.

Legs are kind of sore from that horizontal chain-sawing. Must have used some parts that don't get used that often. On the positive side I am looking forward to carefree pond access this winter!

Can you put an outdoor carpet over the thing and call it a day? Wood looks like new under my carpet on the floating dock (treated lumber).

Even though I like Trex (we have it on two of our three decks) I decided to R&R the deck that needs work and then put on some marine carpet. That and a perimeter Durabak job should have her looking good as new.

Our Trex decks are 16 OC and there is zero bounce or give.

That's good to know. The couple that I were on had 16" OC and were soft, but the owners didn't know for sure who mfg the decking.

Barge on Wheels

Warehouse is spiffed up a little and things are stowed for winter....

Dwight, did you get the snow that north and north central wisconsin got on Friday? They also were a wee bit chilly - 13 degrees is what I heard. We're sitting at 21 degrees this morning.

21 degrees...(as Cecil would say) YIIIKES !!!

Bob did you hear about the elephant that saw the nude guy wading in the water? The elephant laughed and laughed and said, "You actually suck water with that little trunk?!"

Drum roll.........

Yeah I know it was bad...

No snow!! We are in the 50s yet this week. The first mention of snow is around the 10th.

Your shop is disgustingly clean.

Just a couple specks of dirt where the broom was lifted

A dirty warehouse is the devil's playground.

Then Lucifer and I are bosom buddies.

Well, that does explain some things.....

I turned my "mule" into a hayride this weekend for the 1 and 2 yr old grandchildren. My cart had 2 flat tires so I stuff the back of the mule with pine straw and put the kids back there (with parental or grandparental supervision, of course) and rode around the homestead. The 2 yr. was still saying "ride mule" as he was leaving with his parents later.

DD,
BTW... My shed is not even 6 months old and already is 100 times messier than Dwights!

Kids do love the Mule. When our grand kids are here that is the first order of fun.

One day years ago, when my kids were both still in grade school, we had taken the mule over to the ponds to do a little work. They were riding in the back, and I caught wind of a conversation involving the mule, firearms, chainsaws, and tools.

When I began to pay closer attention to what they were saying, it seems they were dividing up my stuff between themselves, in the event of my demise.

Fortunately, I learned that they didn't envision this happening for several more years.

Now that's funny...

I'd bet that the pic of the workshop has been photo shopped. Nobody in there right mind keeps things that tidy. Well now that I've said that, maybe it is real.

Dwight, I'll have you know that last month I rearranged everything in my shop. I even threw away some stuff that I didn't know I had. Then I pulled up the anti fatigue mats and swept the whole thing. That ought to hold me for another 22 years.

I took my 15 year old nephew in from a broken home and his first day on the bus some girl, after seeing the house he came out of said, "Wow your mom and dad must be rich!" His reply was, "Yes, yes they are."

We still laugh about that one.

The Geezer mind requires some organization in order to avoid losing it all.

This all took place last week. This week, I needed an electric motor mount that I tossed.

Has the pre-winter land movement on the landing been accomplished, or does the operator know you want it done? Perhaps the PBr's would like to see that snow fence and clear cut area. (Picture)

Land movement?? Some heavy equipment involved?

We cut down the willows at pond edge, installed a snow fence and mowed the area. This in hopes of keeping the area easily accessible for ice fishing drive-on and other activities.

Still need to have the pay loader guy cut down the gravel hump at pond's edge. (between the two markers)

Yesterday PM I welded up a clamp-on hitch for the Barge.

This winter there are other projects to work on besides the Barge re-decking so an easy way to move the Barge in and out of the shop was needed. The hitch will also make launching/de-launching the Barge a lot easier.

I used my good ole stick welder and some 6013 rod for the job. It is good to prove to yourself that you can still lay down a bead without a wire welder.

Looks good! 6013 is a good general purpose rod.

I would expect you to be at least using 7018. 6013 is a good general purpose rod as Spark mentioned. You can lay down a pretty decent bead on just about any mild steel, but it's general intent is for sheet metal fabrication. 6011 is another easy rod to work with, but that's more for like hand rail and ornamental stuff.

Looks good tho!

If I had the ability and the equipment to weld aluminum, there would be no stopping me!

Well, that and a good plasma cutter.....

My Dad, after he retired use to weld up a lot of aluminum mower decks for a local repair shop. He bought a Hobart TIG and the amount of work he got paid for it pretty quick.

Pipe welded for 35 years. 7018 is by far the best and very stong for most applications for a towing hitch I would go over it with 3/32 atom arc 7018 it will last a long time

PatW

I use 7018 and 6011 well. I had this old 6013 to get rid of so why not use it on a relatively low stress piece.

I am pricing 4x8 sheets of 12 gauge aluminum as and option for the Barge deck. No welding on it, but it would be light and long lasting under marine carpet.

Dwight
That is true enough. Have u used 7018 on stainless before? If you're in a bind it works real well cept it will rust... Makes a pretty weld


Pat W

Dwight, 5052? Just watch how you attach it to the barge. Unless a barrier coating is used, most fastners will create galvanic corrosion around the fastners.

Aluminum Rivets, the big ones.

Gonna seine a pond on Sunday for YOY bluegills. Hope I don't have to break ice! Wanted to do it much, much, earlier but one of my ras tanks is still occupied by bluegill and perch that are destined for two high schools. Problem is they still haven't cycled their systems for the year!

It will be a PITA as water temp in the pond is about 30 degress cooler than inside. I'll have to bring in about 100 gallons of pond water and slowly allow the water to warm up while keeping an eye on ammonia. I'll have to add Amquel to keep ammonia at bay and the water will have about .5 percent NaCl. From previous experience it'l probably take about 24 hrs. to warm up. Not a bad thing though as the slower the warm up the less stressful on the fish.

I have two sizes of bluegills in the hatching pond due to staggered hatches and wanted to seperate them. Now I will have to put them all in one tank and separate later. I hate handling fish more than is needed. It's a recipe for health problems especially at the densities I keep them.

The next school year I will bring them live media! No waiting! The teachers didn't want to keep the systems running over the summer even without the fish.

My third high school killed half the fish I brought them. Really nice bluegills too. It appears although the ammonia had dropped, the nitrites hadn't crashed yet to complete the cycle as when I came over to test, the nitrites were off the scale and the fish were dropping like flies.

Dwight if you feel I hijacked your thread please fee free to delete.

I would use the aluminum rivets. I have the big rivet gun.

Winterizing entails a number of diverse activities depending on ones requirements. No worries on thread hijacking.

Thank you!

So very true.

Dwight, we'd use mylar barrier tape anywhere aluminum would contact steel on the truck bodies. If you're attaching the aluminum to wood, then no worries. (aluminum stems in the rivets, I assume)

Dismantled all the electrical, cleats, motor mounts, and seat mounts from the Barge. Everything was in great condition and will be re-used.

Deck demolition was a lot more work than I expected. Made it about about 3/4 of the way before time expired. Sore for a few days...........

All chained up and tested.

Summer or winter... keeps on working, eh? I'm glad I don't need chains, tho!

I can't even imagine it.

What are the 2 tires in the bed for ?

Structure - for when he rides that bad boy thru the ice...

There are actually four in the bed. Those are the Mule's open water wheels/tires.

Making Progress.

Wow, great work! I was lazy and paid someone else to build mine. Came home one day and it was there! It probably wont outlast me like yours will though.

What? No heat shrink tape on the connectors to prevent water migration up the wires?

Looking good Dwight!!

Quick question about the chains on your tires (see Mule picture above).

I have a JD X series tractor with knobby tires (HDAP), fluid filled for ballast and an asphalt drive. I bought the tractor with chains but wanted to see if I could do without. I use it for snowblowing and this year for the first time get to trial the set up. I have a grade going up to the house, gentle. If it is too packed or icy I start spinning unless I have momentum.

So I had time to break out the chains and it was a real learning curve trying to struggle to get those one with my 11 year old boy. I read about people laying them out, driving on them, and then wrapping each side around the top and fastening them. We tried and tried and that didn't work so well. It didn't help that the previous owner had oiled up the chains to keep them from rusting (Glad they are not rusty, but...)

So then tried jacking up a wheel, put tractor in free spool mode and spun the tire to get them on. That seemed to work a bit better.

The chains were for the turf tires, the knobby tires are taller and bigger so I didn't even know if the chains would even fit even though the size of tire 26x12x12 is the same.

I got the latch to latch and the chains are on but they seem a bit loose. They don't spin on the tire but the horizontals part tend to bunch together on the upside and downside of the tire rather than stay evenly spaced all the way around the tire like in the picture of the Mule/UTV above. By hand I try to extend the locking arm to the next link to tighten it but then I can't crank the tightening/locking arm down without worrying about bending it.

Took them for a test drive and they seem to help a lot with traction. But that was on snow not ice.

So the question, I see some adjustment on the chains above where a small circular chain is installed with what looks like turnbuckle fasteners to tighten all the way around. I have not seen that before. Is that helpful/important for my use?

Chains intended for bar tread tires are often slightly longer than the ones for the same size tire in a less aggressive tread, but sometimes they will work just fine.

When you put your chains on, jack up the wheel and let the air out of the tire. Cinch them down as tight as you can, then re-inflate to proper psi. If that still doesn't tighten them up, they may need to be shortened, although shortening the cross chains is not usually much fun.

Thanks sprkplug.
I imagine I could take a little air out of the tire but would have to be careful in how I did that (not sure how much room is left in the tire for air after all the beet juice was installed) and would have to be sure valve stem is at 12 oclock position. But that is something I did not try.

The HDAP are not ag tread or bar tires and the chains do settle down in between the knobby rubber parts. I agree, the tension on the 'circle' is pretty tight, the horizontals not so much, but the tensioner system used in the picture above may help me.

I guess if there is slack, as long as the chains aren't spinning independently of the tire we should be good.

Dwight, the decking on that dock looks great. I clicked the picture to make it bigger and found your pics that are online.

You should start a thread on the awesome modification to the boat trailer that involved adding extra rollers. Never saw that before, that is brilliant! I'd love to know how you make the 'channels' that the rollers bolted to?

Tire chains take a great deal of fiddling to get them secure. The HDAP tires are in between the turf and the lug, so I think chains intended for turf should work. Deflate as much as you can, then keep working with the chains...keep tugging the circular chains, (both outside and inside) down towards the middle. This will let you gain a link on the latch, then latch and repeat, latch and repeat. Once you've reduced the circular chains to their absolute smallest diameter, (and I have shortened those many times, even to the point of having to remove one cross chain to gain more room), reinflate and see how they look.

Are they 2 or 4 link chains? (Is there a cross chain every 2 or 4 links on the circular chain?)

I'll double check but my recall is that they are 2 link chains. Why is it that you have to shorten chains frequently or take out a cross chain? Mine are such that there is a span of tire where the two ends of the chain connect where there is no horizontal/cross chain. No chance of overlap, again, probably because the HDAP tires are wider and taller on the rim than the turf tires.

I like the gain a link, latch, repeat.

I take it that others do not have the added tensioner that spans the rim like in the pictures above?

It's a sign of the times. Some companies manufacture their L&G chains to be able to fit more than one tire size, thereby reducing inventory requirements. When the specs on the chain lists multiple tire/rim combinations for the same set of chains, it's a pretty safe bet that at least one of those combos will be a "best fit" scenario, rather than exact fit, requiring additional work by the installer to get a set of chains tailored to fit that particular tire/rim combination.

The chains in Dwight's photo are two link style, and I have seen those with the center spider design before. I've also seen them crisscrossed with bungee cords in an effort to remove the slack.

Hopefully I didn't stray the thread too far although it is under the 'winterizing' heading yet. Here is my picture.

My first impression is that those chains are intended for lug tires, or, they are not cinched down tight enough. They are latched in the first link, and I normally can move up a few links.

Pull em' tighter, they appear way too loose. As you're trying to latch, you need to be picking up on the chains, wriggling, and adjusting. They will cinch down further.

sprkplug, I agree they seem loose. But I have hard time getting slack.

So do you adjust with the tire jacked off the ground and able to free spool? this way I can easily spin the tire but also means it is hard to pull tension as the tire can rotate one way or the other.

Also, the inside chain clasp is just a single hook, not a tensioner type. So do I hook that first and then try to pull slack out of the outside circle? I found through trial and error that if I got the wrong link on the inside hook (there are only 3 to pick from) that I couldn't even get the tensioner arm through the first link.

I'll get my brother over and maybe the two of us can get some better tension.

I thing part of it is truly that if these were mounted on my turf tires which are noticably shorter from top to bottom when lined up on the ground side by side, that the chain would overlap a bit more and look more 'matched for size'

Thanks

Latch the inside first, try for the middle link. Then set the latch in the corresponding link on the outside. If you can deflate the tire any at all, that will help. As you attempt to swing the latch up and hook it, keep tugging and pulling on the chains, especially the cross chains...keep working them over and between the tread, gaining a little slack on each one. Pull, tug, adjust, and repeat.

You should notice the latch swinging a little further with each adjustment you make, until it breaks over fully. Then evaluate the chain for overall tightness. Many times I have found that what seemed at first to be way too tight, was now way too loose. In that case, unlatch, go to the inside and rehook that chain shorter, pick up another link on the outside latch, and start all over again.

I know what you must be thinking....but once you establish which link count works for your tires, you won't have to go through this anymore, as now you won't be wondering if it will fit, you'll KNOW it fits...then it's up to you to cinch it down.

Once you're sure that you've cinched the chains up as far as humanly possible, you still might have a few cross chains loose. That's where re-inflation comes in. Be sure that you are latched fully before re-inflating.

I'm sure this is confusing and I apologize for that. I'm not doing very well at trying to describe a process that I've performed hundreds of times, just never long distance.

NO problem, your explanation is clear. I'll get a helping hand and we'll try to cinch them better. Thanks!

Once the decking is installed the wires are enclosed in waterproof aluminum enclosures. The wires run in PVC tubing back to electronics control central which is enclosed (though vented for heat dissipation from the on-board 2 bank charging system).

There is a thread on it but not much of an explanation. Roller Thread I will answer your question on that thread.

Thanks Dwight, I understand now why you used the connectors that you did.

CC, I havd the same style chains for my JD345 and have 2 sets of tires, one ag "bar" type and one turf tire type. I use the chains on the turf tires, but they will fit on both.

I use bungee cords criss crossed across the outside of the tire to keep any excess slack out of them. I can't get them one link tighter, but they seem too loose where they are.

I got tired of fighting with putting them on and took the tires off of the tractor to install them.

And YES they are a great big PITA to install!!

Esshup,
My goal was to seek out, size, and purchase the new chains that have rubber tracks over as cross members (rungs) and chains for the 2 long inside and outside lengths. I think there are at least 2 makers of these and they are designed to help not scar up asphalt. Reviews are very positive except when on glare ice rubber cross members do not grip very well. That may be an issue for me if I ever dare put my JD X485 on the ice to clear snow. I didn't know how to size the rubber chains on the slightly larger HDAP tires and so held off on purchasing. Maybe they are the same challenge to install.

Since I already had the metal chains I gave them a whirl and I can see that I might have to ask the next time I buy chains if they need a little bigger size on the larger tires. Thanks for feedback on how it works on your JD345.

I bought the HDAP and rims to have 'winter tires' and 'summer tires' and so the ballasted tires don't run around on the lawn in the summer. Maybe when I take the winter tires off I can more easily fuss with the chains and then keep them stored with the chains secured and very tight so I never have to put them on or take them off again...

I have the bar (ag or lug) tires for when I use the rototiller and thought that they would work as good as chains in the snow. Nope. I thought that by throwing chains on them it would improve their function during the winter. Yes, but marginally.

I get better traction with the turf tires and the chains when using the snowthrower.

The chains will even mark up concrete driveways if you spin 'em. Just ask my Dad........

They really do that if they are on your fork lift that weighs 10,000 lbs, and ya don't even have to spin!

Being a gluten for punishment, I added more crossbars to the Mule chains; doubled the number actually. It is pretty much unstoppable unless it gets high-centered in a hard snow drift.

The biggest problem with chains, as I see it anyway, is the Superman complex....that's where we see a need for improvement, and act on it accordingly.

"The thing was helpless on snow/ice before I added the chains/bigger tires/studs, etc, now it can go anywhere, climb trees and swim rivers, and it's more powerful than a speeding locomotive"

Okay, but it's been my experience that all things mechanical have an inherent, weak link. And once that weak link is identified and bolstered, then the weak link just moves up the mechanical chain so to speak, to the next weakest area. And chances are, this one might not be as benign as a spinning tire. ($$$).

Adding chains is fine, as long as the machine is still operated within its rated capacity. But I have many customers who push the envelope too far with their new-found traction, and then I get the call. Good for my business, bad for their wallet.

When I worked at the dealership, I remember getting the service bulletin from Deere advising that installing chains, or switching to lug tires on the entry level, inexpensive lawn tractors, would void the customers warranty on the spot. Those spinning tires were intended to be the weak link. And the next weakest link turned out to be the axle shafts themselves. Ouch.

Tony, when I had a real job, DFD would open all the station speakers during icy weather, and tell everyone to install chains on all apparatus. Within 2 hours, guys were out of service and calling for a service truck. Brake lines, diamond plate, and axles definitely don't like improperly installed snow chains. Couple that with aggressive driving, and chains can go south very quickly.

I enjoy modifying most things. If I go too far and have a failure there is a shop full of tools and equipment for repairs. It has always been that way.

I recall welding up hotter camshafts for lawn mower engines when I was a kid; sometimes good results sometimes bad.

I tore down and reassembled my first car engine in the 6th grade, it didn't run (no carb), but I learned a lot.

Still learning and bumping against normal.

Bumping is fine. It's repeatedly bashing your head into the thing over and over that leads to problems.

Bumping is fine. It's repeatedly bashing your head into the thing over and over that leads to problems. [/quote]

Truer words may never have been written. I worked with another engineer years ago that just never picked up on that concept. It was "don't try to confuse me with the facts and the data, I am right!" That situation did not end well for him. Bumping is great as long as we learn from it!!

Dwight, that reminds me of the time my Brother and I installed a small drone aircraft engine onto a Cushman motor scooter. It took some odd engineering to get every thing hooked up. The thing lasted about 40 ft. before everything but the engine came apart and pieces of metal flew everywhere. Dad locked the tool chest for awhile.


When we got a little bit older, beer was generally involved in our "I wonder what would happen?" projects.

Got er done.

Nice!!

What are the little plates for?

Pedestal seat mounts

That's what I figured, but with you, ya never quite know.

Looked like .50 cal machine gun deck mounts... LOL

Pat W

Very nice fishing pontoon, Dwight.....that thing would look great in SE Texas!

Yes it would Charlie


Pat W