Tractor maintenance: Got the engine oil and filter changed, plus some fiddly minor stuff. As others have noted, the first oil change takes longer than it should, owing to the thick layer of paint applied at the factory right over the doggone drain plugs (plural, there are two). So, one-size-larger socket, excessive force, and then time spent chipping away at the paint so the bolt'll take the right size socket next time.
I'm leaving the hydraulic filters for tomorrow, but I know where they are and which is which.
So there's one half-done task, and I was getting a bit tired of crawling around on the barn floor. There was another little thing, wasn't there? Oh, yes: the previous owners left a backpack sprayer in the barn, partly filled with some sort of ick. If it can be cleaned up, and it still works, it should be just the thing for hosing down the newly-cleared areas with brush killer once the brush starts growing again.
Off to the driveway with it, as whatever is in there is presumably better dumped on a gravel driveway than on a lawn or into a septic system, drainage ditch, or whatever. Get it kinda-sorta cleaned up... and it does indeed function. Leave it sitting around mostly-filled with clean water, in hopes of removing whatever remains crusted on the inside. (Not that it needs to be super-clean, being as how I figure to use it for herbicide.) And that process kinda messed up my back, though it's recovering now.
Update, Wednesday: Sprayer is sufficiently cleaned up to be used when the time comes, probably in a week or two. The tractor....
Well, I changed the two hydraulic filters, using a separate, clean oil pan that I'd bought specifically for catching hydraulic fluid that didn't need to be changed yet. About half a gallon escaped while I was changing the suction filter; I guess this is about typical.
Changing the suction filter is a royal pain; it's almost like it's supposed to be done with the wheel removed, which was very much not on today's agenda, but I did eventually manage to get a wrench on the old one and loosen it sufficiently. And, naturally, that's the one that has to be changed quickly at the 50-hour mark, lest all the oil drain forth.
The escaped oil was pretty yucky, so I ended up replacing it with clean stuff. Gotta put Super UDT2 on the Messicks shopping list. Probably a 5-gallon pail, plus a pail pump from somewhere.
A cheap yoga mat is a good thing to keep in the barn. I'd bought it for home-handyman stuff, but it's also useful for tractor maintenance!
Then, around to the side of the barn to pick up the tiller. Having a proper level spot for the implements would make things ever so much easier, but I did manage to get it connected without injuring myself.
Still need to deal with the slip clutch on the tiller, and make sure all the grease points are dealt with. I don't think I'll get around to using the tractor today, but I should at least get it back in service.
Oh... and there's definitely some leakage from the hydraulic coupler* for the loader, so I need to park the loader, detach it from the tractor to get access to the coupler, disconnect, clean up (assuming the problem is some stray particle interfering with a seal), and put it back together.
One more thing: my shirt got greasy. Funny how that works. Guess I'd better put some extra-strength grease remover on it once I finish with the dirty stuff for the day.
Shopping list, shopping list... I need to dig up a detailed parts diagram and order spares of a lot of fiddly things (seals, drain plug washers, and suchlike).
Update 2: Everything done (I think) except the dang slip clutch, which I'll see about doing tomorrow morning. It's much too time-consuming to address in what remains of today. Did the grease points, and the loader/coupler thing, before running short on time. I haven't confirmed that the leak is entirely fixed, but it seems to have been quite a slow leak to begin with.
* No longer a word in Newspeak, it seems.
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