Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

so 'today' was the 5th......
Got t'other / the second head set out, holed and welded up that afternoon.





Two sets of holes, as an either / or alternative for fitment ...
the weird 173mm PCD x 6 holes and the 140 square std Kins rotater mount centres, (another weird 197mm PCD), so it'll fit most Kins att.s with this configuration.


Remembered after I'd put the mag-drill away .... needed 4 more holes so's it'll also pick up my beam too .... annoying !!





thought I'd better make 'em a bit more recognisable too, with some APE 'branding', whilst I had 'em on the bench!!





this one fitted 'sweet as' and I even had a hand to lift the damned thing off the bench, in the shape of an 'Alex' .... hadn't realised they're 68kilos ... no wonder I been finding 'em 'heavy' !!
Was gonna have to hump it back off in the morning though .... fit those port plugs, when / if I got 'em made !!


Clara day tomorrow and Pam'd been rough, all that night and the next day, with a gut bug doing the rounds ... Clara had had it the pprevious week and had obviously, kindly shared it with Granny !!
so I couldn't see me getting much done , between looking after the lil' girl .... and the big one!!


Not often Pam's bad and had to persuade her to stop there that morning, which she did all day, remarkably, so must have been feeling 'proper rough' ...
and I deffo did not want / need it ..... had a busy week ahead!





Tidy enough fit in the HPX ... knew it was gonna be tight and may yet need a turret making up for under it, to clear a certain -/*@=$- ........... you'll see why later !!

As predicted ...... naff all done that day


Had a report back on the S50 and grapple ..... 'twere a nice "snugg fit" .. as it should be


worked a treat apparently





was gonna be getting a good testing later that week !!

[v8druid]

I'd been looking one evening at the HPXs side ports ......I might yet have to make it a packer block, tap those into the block and exit 90 out of the edge of it ..... there is f*** all room to get two hoses into the OE side ports





even with a compact elbow, either on the hose or loose onto a straight union, the amount of space is massively restricted by the four lugs on the body for mounting the ancillary ejector plate attachments ... might just about get over and behind them with the S50 in place, but was too dark to get a good look, after I'd found an adapter to fit the ports, for a gander.


Couldn't see that it'd be feasible with 1/2" plumbing though ... 3/8" possibly ??


I'd been busy on other things all day ..... and thought I might get time tthe following day for a look, between 'other things'


the Hill picked it up alright this afters and tucked it in out the way a bit better.
Would probably suffice for loading with too, as there was no forces at work on the hook, other than vertically








don't know as I'd want to take the chance ?? safe enough for chucking it about empty though .
First time the VA-r'd been on in a while !!
There was a reason

[v8druid]

Next day was a busy one ...... got the ol' cranab out and under the VA-r





It still chucked rocks about alright







this lot ......




was all off to a new home, over the next couple of days!!


to ensure a smooth load out, I'd spread 'em about a bit, as some of 'em were a tad on the tightly packed/stacked side ....

Plus I'd not had the VA-r on in a while and wanted to be sure all was well with it and there wasn't going to be any surprises for me the next day.





thought I might've been pushing my luck with a fifth one on top of the stack of four !!
hopefully this would expedite a quick load out at 08.00 the next morning ... neighbours were gonna be happy when I wound her up at quarter to eight to warm up ...
reckoned on a 90 minute-ish turn around for the first trip .... ish, then a bit speedier as it progressed ... perhaps .... assuming they got off loaded as quick as they went on of course ... LOL





Been a while since they got stacked and I'd forgotten just how easily the 'Drema handled these bad boys .... and just how hard that ol' Cranab grips the buggers.


I'm expecting a few jaw drop looks in the a.m., when the grab starts rotating and tilting to juggle 'em onto the transport !!

could have done without it pissing down all night of the 6th ... had been dry for days and the ground was well hard!!


not the morning of the 7th though !!!


got a lot of what I'd stacked the previous day, loaded out ....


the heaps were diminishing !!











Old Druidic cult past-time ... boulder stacking ... anything over 5 high and they're getting shakey







'Twas dark when we kicked off that morning .... and really bloody dark by the time the last load had departed that evening ....


those LEDs were brilliant ...in all senses of the word ... to quote Dan, one of the drivers ... "they're ****ing blinding"


Got a dose more of 'em sat in me box, waiting to go on ...
need better light behind, couple down the sides to see in the mirrors / cameras ..... oh and a few more up front'd be great too





'Twere dark without 'em .... that's just the halogens on me light pole .... though to be fair to them ..... yon phone don't take the greatest of pix in low light





Another early kick off in the morning ......... for the neighbours


forecast is drier but felt like snow out!!

[v8druid]

what a bloody day it was on the 9th ... 7.45 kick off again and bang on the dot it started snowing.... properly!!!!


were very lucky that the ground was so wet or we'd have had a fair covering .. hills all around were seriously white.





Was coming down so hard at one point that morning I'd had to stop ... couldn't see WTF I was doing .... didn't get a pic....all you could see was white !!
It'd been coming down most of the day


last of the rocks departed that day and had a bit of a rough tidy up...








some cover was required where they'd gone, so several loads of 'Druid dirt' were required ..... VA-r off and me fave Geith on for some bank ripping..




first to go was the 'shelf' where I'd lifted a load of stuff down from recently.
Wouldn't believe this was the same day .. a rare glimpse of sun Frday between the snow storms !!








then it was on with the forks and lift down anything I could get at, as the requirement for soil hadn't been fully met ..... had stuff lying about all over the place that night ..... BIG tidy up the next morning.


Was glad I put those LEDs on the old girl .... gets dark seriously quick and VERY early those days .... 12 more days and it'd be the shortest day ... AGAIN!!
where the hell do the weeks go?





Again, the snow did not help 'the cause', once it got to lighting up time and had had the front window open most of the day ..... and the heater on full bore ..... hell it'd been a cold one, with worse forecast for the weekend.

as said ..... stuff strewn about all over ....





I keep saying it but, great lights
when the big yeller thing goes down it is SERIOUSLY dark up here
the headlights are halogens .... amazing the difference .... and halogens were considered the mutt's nuts at one time!!





18.00 Friday .... last load gone and time for some breakfast ..... hadn't had a chance to stop all day, between loading out and prepping for the next load ... I was proper hungry !!!


God knows what it was all gonna look like in the 'cold light of day' ... passable i hoped !!!!!

[v8druid]

well didn't get the chance to see what the carnage was like on the following morning

left her the wrong way round Friday evening !!!! was gonna have to hop her round to blade me way out














started 1.30 friday night .... 8" by 8 sat. morning and we'd had another 4" through the day .... was still coming down well, by dark, but was supposed to stop about 5 a.m. on the Sunday....... we'd see!


we'd got a good foot of snow in the a.m. .. everywhere .... first job was manually dig the Rangey out,





then see about getting out up the drive




minus five tonight though and it hadn't melted much Sunday


we'd had our fair share for now TBH .....





the bins are in a sheltered corner ... don't get much sun and been no wind to dislodge this ... gave a pretty good idea of what we got in 26 hrs

poxy white sh 1 T .... I really do hate the stuff, with a passion .. just work ...... lots of it!!


needed to get out Monday ....





..... and having had to negotiate that bit of drive in the past ... usually sideways, it had to have the shovel to it Sunday. ....
I'd be parking up on the patch ... nice and flat/level ... when I came back. No worries about doing the full 4 wheel drift maneuvre on the cross slope .... there ain't one !!


I'd seen enough snow for last year, those last 48 hrs .... it's very pretty to admire nature's wonders .....








.....but it's 'kin cold, bloody inconvenient and you can't see a damned thing buried under it !!
There was 2 grabs, five head plates and a few other bits an' bobs under that pile of whiteshite .... somewhere ??





needed to get the one finished, put t'other one back away, out me way and tidy up from the last weeks escapades, on Thursday / Friday, "getting me rocks off" as you'd put it ...
Was nice to 'unload' them all, to one destination, in one hit. Busy couple of days though .... jeez there were some lumps in that pile !!!


Oh and I had to stop me new MIG being delivered monday .... they'd never have gotten back out !!!

had a call from the new MIG welder's supplier's delivery driver, asking directions and instructions .... "ring me later in the week ... I ain't towing you back out today"

[v8druid]

so where was I??

had to tackle the drive a couple of days later ...
ordinarily I'd have said sod it 'til it melts, but needed to pick the little 'un up, pick up some milk from the village and a Crimbo tree for the boss
(the BIL's are now toooooo tall to even be arsed with) .








Up was 'interesting' ....... back down was just plain exciting ..... twice was enough for one day


the good news was .... it was thawing rapid out there, although I really don't know HTF the gutters were still up


I was hoping that it was gonna look a lot less white in the morning !!

I'm glad that we don't get this every year and deffo not on this scale !! ..... but when we do ..... !!!!!


If it hadn't been forecast to thaw, I'd have had the 'Drema spun around and me 7ft bucket on clearing it all off the drive .
Was melting well though and we had a few avalanches off the roof through the late evening ....
you would not have wanted to be under it for sure ...
to my amazement the gutters were still up, thanks in part perhaps to me clearing the over hanging stuff off and chamfering it off as best I could reach.
All slid off without damage anyway.


Might be an idea to knock out some snow board brackets for next year and get 'em up.


As said ..... had been thawing real well ... 'cept for the shared parts of our driveway (which is a lot of it) where the neighbours had been charging up and down dozens of times a day, playing with their four bys.
Was well packed and bloody treacherous next morning when Gill from Phil Weeks in Bath rang ... again .. wanting to deliver me new inverter MIG. Wasn't taking no for an answer ..... until she got to the top of the drive !!


"Er ... can you come up and meet me" ??


so emptied the back of the RR and headed up .... three attempts later at the bottom bit, which there is no chance of 'charging' at .... and a very slidey ride to the top, I had it in me boot, on the way back down at a crawl on 3" of solid ice in places.


the last bit's one of the worst as I have to make a right into our drive ...... or make the decision to use the escape route down to the neighbours!!


After a particularly hairy right i went back with the shovel and 'attacked it'
no way was I doing that maneuvre again !!!!








it'd hopefully make for an easier entry/exit .... but was hard work hacking that lot off to make a decent run out of ours. ... Then it absolutely pee-ed down ... on me!!


Was really hoping this lot'd be completely gone in the a.m., but hell there was some water running in all the drains !!

[v8druid]

It'd been an expensive day .... new welder ..... and found meself a great fuel tank





Brand spanking, never been used and galvanized ... with fork skids and full cap lifting eyes ... 650 litres .... bloody perfect !!





Loads of ports, 3mm thick and under cap. for bunding requirements and transportation


Hazardous Goods Container .... God knows what it'd cost new, from the original suppliers ..... German engineering at its best


Conversation with the seller that morning to check he'd let me book a pallet collection ... and bought.
Said he's had loads of 'em in the last 12 months and this was the last one, getting knocked out at a bargain price ...
had been selling 'em for a grand, so was well happy with £375, plus another 50 quid for the pallet freight guys.


No way could you make one for that and don't mind paying that for a brand new item !!


Dip tube to the bottom and a QC for me new fuel pump ... job sorted and'd beat the hell out of 45 drums.


Nice and compact too .... metre diameter and 1300mm tall ..... let it weather for a few months then get a few coats of shiny shite on it .. will last me for years and probably see me out !!

"and now for something completely different" ......


Found a lovely D S & G type 17 lathe on ebay, mid November ... messaged the guy about it and got a call fairly quickly.





Same as I used to have and a superb lathe. Been used in a tool room situation for years and guy sounded like he knew what he was about.


Got a hold of Mogman as this was supposedly about 20 miles from him and he is 'the kiddy' to have collect anything like this ... it's 3.5 ton.


"Yeh, no prob.s. Get me a post code and address, I'll have a look and give you an idea on cost"


Got a hold of the seller again and asked for a location .... "well it's a bit tight, down a 'ginnel', but we got it in here OK"
The 'ginnel' was down a back lane 8 ft wide
"So what's your post code/addy, so my mate can come reccy the job?"


"If he calls me when he's on his way, with the lorry, I'll tell him and talk him in"
"Er ...... I don't think so mate ... no addy, no come"!!!!!


After much argy bargy-ing I failed to get a location, so told the guy I was 'out' ... no longer interested ...
not paying for, or wasting Mog's time to get there and find a nightmare scenario!!


Had a few messages for days and calls which I ignored, 'til i got one last message saying "who dares wins" .... cheeky bastard!!


Damn me, message in me inbox that night ... " wondering if you're interested in the DSG Type 17 " LOL


HTF do people expect to sell gear with these sort of attitudes.


His D S & G was now worth half of what he wants for it ...
he couldn't sell it, five weeks later and it sounded a nightmare collection. He still has it


If he was prepared to move on the asking I might have just gotten interested again .....


if I could have an addy for Mogman, to do his stuff.


Wasn't holding my breff though, this guy sounded a complete idiot, after several conversations about his location!!


Give me strength

As a further twist to the tale ..... A few days after I'd given this idiot the elbow, a Mitchell came on Fleabay, in darkest Kent ...
guy was very affable on the 'dog an' bone' , had easy FLT access, it had a 3.5" mandrel a short-ish bed length and was only 10ft O/a length .... Ideal ..
oh and it was bloody cheap.
Emailed Mog asking if he ever got down that way ... " I was down in the next village yesterday collecting a m/c " FFSAffable though the seller was he wanted it gone and couldn't wait for another 'possible' collection date, so got a pallet quote from Pallex ... 140 quid ... very reasonable.
Got a hold of the seller again .. "Can you put this on a double pallet/skid stillage of some sort and I'll get it collected?"

After a couple of days waiting to hear from him, and with Pallex calling me daily, to ask if it was collectable yet, he came back to me to say he couldn't find a suitable pallet

so that was the end of another possible ... I'd have paid him for the 3 x 3 to make up a suitable skid to transport it on

haven't dared look on Fleabay since

[v8druid]

fast forward to teh 19th December and ..... it's arrived, late morning. Had been chasing Pallex earlier as the tracking hadn't changed since 06.00 on the 16th, when it said it had arrived at the depot?

Driver was lucky I was here, as the last email back from them had said probably the 20th ?? Not that it was urgent, but needed to be here to offload it and sign for it !!


came off easy as on the pallet truck and tail lift ...
saved me winding the ol' girl up,although I'd been using her the rest of the day ...





as advertised ... brand spanking and smelt of now't ..





lots of 'ports' on it and according to the book, that arrived with it, still in its sealed placcy bag, along with labels and a tap top, it was double skinned !!!





it's even got a dip stick port and graduated dip stick !!







whipped it off the pallet and stuck it out the way for the afternoon ... had some tidying up to do ......





aside from a bit of dust, there wasn't a mark on it ... 'Twas the mutt's nuts of a tank!!!




I'd been putting the trailers back where they usually live, followed by tidying away the crap and stuff that got hauled down from the top level and just dumped, when the rocks got shifted and I had to pull some more soil down to load out.


Buckets and grab strewn about too, so got them stashed away, out the way and tucked some 'large' pallets of stuff into the corner.
Would've been an easier job with the VA-r on, but managed with me straight forks and a little judicious fork and machine positioning/juggling.





Also needed to get at me burning bin, which I'd foolishly trapped behind all the junk .... I'd not burned the rubbish for nigh on two weeks and it soon mounted up.


WTF does all the packaging come from and WTF do we all have to tolerate it !! ....
been threatening to take it all back to the supermarkets it comes from and fill their bins for years .... just too much hassle .. quick match and it's gone !!





good South Westerly wind again .... fortunately ... some of that placcy packaging produces some shite ol' smoke !!!


Hopefully dryer the next day, to get the lid off yon tank, investigate the insides and check it out to see if it really was double skinned, but'd have been be surprised if it wasn't as stated in its lil' book ... it's a beautifully crafted piece of work !!


Only thing missing were the hold down bolts for the domed fill point lid ....
might contact Chemo and see what six'd cost ...... or I'll have to knock some out.
Bolted down with some M10 x 70s temporarily, to keep the weather out, with the nice O ring seal on the lid !!




Ground was gonna need to dry some yet, 'fore I could get 'the residue' tidied into a heap and out the way. ... was like mud pies !!

knowing how you all love a good pic





could do with a few more of these ... and the days to follow them


it'd been dry .. sort of .... least the air had been, but hell the ground was still sodden
Was gonna take weeks to dry out from all that white shite melting.

[Stock]

HMMM Druid I've always been told that one never is to use galvanised material in connection with diesel, dissolves in the fuel and fecks upthe pumps..................................

[v8druid]

HMMM Druid I've always been told that one never is to use galvanised material in connection with diesel, dissolves in the fuel and fecks upthe pumps..................................

Hi Stock
yeh there was a huge discussion had on CEF about it, at the time

'Twas a new one on me ..... got on to the Galvy Assoc. about it and I eventually got a response which basically said it was a greater issue with red. White and petrol are unaffected

Not actually the fuel 'per se' but, more its additives and inferred it was the dye, plus red is far more hygroscopic and contains a much higher percentage of water, which is the main problem with the zinc, forming oxides ..... a right PITA as that was what I wanted to use it for

Also said that it affects large storage quantities more so than smaller amounts.
and that adequate filtration more than copes with any particulates ???? ......... but !!

do I want to take the chance

can easily install a 5 and 1 micron in-line filters in the 'Drema/jake/dumper/etc., fuel lines and been reading about cyclonic filtration units recently, but they'll only take fuel down to 10 microns ... would still be reliant on 'old skool' filtration below that size though

These tanks are purpose built for fuel storage and transportation. Mogman says he uses one for storing petrol out of scrap cars.

Been meaning to get on to the manufacturers, to see what they have to say too

It'd be nice to be able to use it as it's perfect for what I want ...... but not if it's gonna create MAJOR issues down the line


Anyone got anything further to add ..... please chip in

[Stock]

I don't own one of these yet but know some that do and they swear by them.............

https://www.boattest.com/view-news/4527_full-test-of-fuel-filter-funnel-from-shurhold-industries

<a href="https://www.boattest.com/view-news/4527_full-test-of-fuel-filter-funnel-from-shurhold-industries" target="_blank">

[v8druid]

I don't own one of these yet but know some that do and they swear by them.............

Graham Simpson has one Stock and rates it highly ..... would be some fine filtration to seive out water ... must suss the filtration capacity/capability of their filter units

[2414.ginger]

Borrowed one of these from a friend , when I first bought my mini, fuel was very dodgy. Amazing what it picked out, but, patience they say is a virtue, and you will need some if you want to filter large quantities.

[Stock]

Borrowed one of these from a friend , when I first bought my mini, fuel was very dodgy. Amazing what it picked out, but, patience they say is a virtue, and you will need some if you want to filter large quantities.

I do believe the larger twin units are rated at 15 gal /minute but that may be them yank gallons. The filters I believe are based on a unit fitted to a tank or some such vehicle .......................................

[Muz]

Anyone got anything further to add ..... please chip in

Not other than the fact that its a combo you just dont see ? and you'd have to ask why, old heating oil on metal tanks yes 10 a penny, but never seen them galvinsied.