Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[Furniss]

Fedex truck outside, late morning .. Pam excited .. she has plans for this
View attachment 59921 View attachment 59920
View attachment 59919

had to mix up some new 'juice' .. it's 40:1 instead of everything else's 50:1 and gave it a pull ... started well after I remembered to check the idiot switch
stuck the 8" flight on and trekked down the garden for her first little 'can you just' ....
would usually take me a good while to dig a couple of holes for her to plant out some of her 'pot bounds' into
Brrm brrm and I had a hole .....
View attachment 59918
'nother brrm and we had a second .... with a plant stuffed in it
View attachment 59917
can't fault it as a weapon .....
that bank is usually a hard dig ....
it p*ssed it in seconds ....
starts very well, first pull and doesn't want to take your arms off ...
would screw itself into the deck if you let it
I also have a bigger flight which I acquired off fleabay some time ago for pennies, which looks like it'll be a perfect fit .... be interesting to see how it handles it
no more hole digging for me -- 'least not with a spade -- for the boss's green things

only down side is the manual is in German ... might have a go at 'em and see if I can get an English version

............... and it's persisted down ever since lunchtime ... we did get a few un-forecast dry hours this morning though

You need a manual for that thing when you built a tiltrotator....your kidding right

 

[V8Druid]

You need a manual for that thing when you built a tiltrotator....your kidding right

very good Kev ..... that really made me laugh
there's a little spring loaded adjustment screw under the throttle trigger, which I assume could be a limiter or a pre-set throttle lock ... I'll investigate when it ain't lashing it down .... otherwise .. Nah ... never read 'em

 

[Lancs Lad]

very good Kev ..... that really made me laugh
there's a little spring loaded adjustment screw under the throttle trigger, which I assume could be a limiter or a pre-set throttle lock ... I'll investigate when it ain't lashing it down .... otherwise .. Nah ... never read 'em

YouTube does in 30 seconds what half an hour wasted trying read some translated manual ever did .

 

[Gecko]

to plant out some of her 'pot bounds' into

Be careful not to make the holes too neat - if the sides of the hole and hard and smooth, the roots will just go around until it strangles itself (same as being pot bound)
Also, the hole may hold water and drown the plant.

 

[Storrsy]

Fedex truck outside, late morning .. Pam excited .. she has plans for this
View attachment 59921 View attachment 59920
View attachment 59919

had to mix up some new 'juice' .. it's 40:1 instead of everything else's 50:1 and gave it a pull ... started well after I remembered to check the idiot switch
stuck the 8" flight on and trekked down the garden for her first little 'can you just' ....
would usually take me a good while to dig a couple of holes for her to plant out some of her 'pot bounds' into
Brrm brrm and I had a hole .....
View attachment 59918
'nother brrm and we had a second .... with a plant stuffed in it
View attachment 59917
can't fault it as a weapon .....
that bank is usually a hard dig ....
it p*ssed it in seconds ....
starts very well, first pull and doesn't want to take your arms off ...
would screw itself into the deck if you let it
I also have a bigger flight which I acquired off fleabay some time ago for pennies, which looks like it'll be a perfect fit .... be interesting to see how it handles it
no more hole digging for me -- 'least not with a spade -- for the boss's green things

only down side is the manual is in German ... might have a go at 'em and see if I can get an English version

............... and it's persisted down ever since lunchtime ... we did get a few un-forecast dry hours this morning though

I'm surprised you had much luck with that. Before I had one on a digger I remember hiring one once, let's just say by lunchtime I was on the phone to auger torque

 

[V8Druid]

Be careful not to make the holes too neat - if the sides of the hole and hard and smooth, to roots will just go around until it strangles itself (same as being pot bound)
Also, the hole may hold water and drown the plant.

went 50% deeper to loosen it all up and gave it a good wobble to 'scarify' the sides, but know where you're coming from

 

[V8Druid]

I'm surprised you had much luck with that. Before I had one on a digger I remember hiring one once, let's just say by lunchtime I was on the phone to auger torque

I've borrowed a two man-er before and done a couple of dozen holes, two feet plus deep, so had a bit of an idea what to expect ...
fair play to yesterday's experience, was way better than expected, but has been just a little bit wet of late ...
had to hold it out of the ground, or it'd've screwed itself into the deck ....
110% happy with it ...
great starter and a horizontal crank shaft, unlike most others

 

[Storrsy]

I've borrowed a two man-er before and done a couple of dozen holes, two feet plus deep, so had a bit of an idea what to expect ...
fair play to yesterday's experience, was way better than expected, but has been just a little bit wet of late ...
had to hold it out of the ground, or it'd've screwed itself into the deck ....
110% happy with it ...
great starter and a horizontal crank shaft, unlike most others

What are the vibes like?

 

[V8Druid]

What are the vibes like?

only did two holes so can give you a better idea after a bit more use, but can't recall thinking ooooh, not good ... will get back to you on that one

 

[V8Druid]

spent a couple of hours Sunday sorting out our nice neighbours' water system for them ......
had had F*lt*rcle*n come and take a look at it and supposedly service it and what a balls of it they made ...
basically it was taking an hour to fill a bath .....

his tanks and pump set up are circa 5-6m below his bath ...
there's huge head capability on these pumps -- like 40m

first thing they'd done was rip him off 350 quid (plus VAT) for a 180 quid (inc VAT), Nocchi Pentair Jetinox pump unit ( have the same in my system - great pumps) ..
'cos it wasn't pumping?-supposedly (if it had been an issue a new impellor is only about 20 quid and they're totally rebuildable

New pump was cutting in out continuously and the trickle out of his kitchen tap was pitiful ....

first things first - how's the filter? ....
God knows why but this guy'd put a paper filter in it ..
blocked solid with fine particulate ...
ripped that out and stuck a 1 micron string wound in, from my stock ... better ..

looked at the gauge he has in the system - under a bar ..
this knob had wound his pressure switch down ...
'cos he'd failed to check the charge pressure in the pressure vessel ... 0.9bar

emptied the system down in the pump compartment and recharged the vessel to 1.7bar - refilled it all and wound the pressure switch back up to 1.7 too
pump working as it should and his plumbing in the house has never been so good ...
one very ecstatic neighbour ...

didn't dare ask him what these pr*cks'd charged him in all
and to add insult to injury .. said to him give me the old pump and I'll have a look at it and rebuild it if needed ....

Bar stewards had taken it with them - his bloody pump FFS

God knows how folks go through life, unable to do anything for themselves, having to pay for everything - and then worst of all - getting ripped off in spades, by pr*cks like this mob

anyways .... in light of James' issues I thought I'd take stock of my 'spares' situation Monday
I knew I had a couple of 'old' 1.5bar fixed pressure switches ...
one with a split diaphragm, that i'd managed a repair on with superglue as a temp fix, waiting for a new unit to arrive

and another with a suspect controller unit .....
so dug them out .... pulled 'em to bits and built a good un out of the two

then found two new ones I'd bought mega-cheap off fleabay a while ago, lurking in the bottom of the box these two'd been stashed away in .....
so think i'm covered on the pressure switch front for a while ... usually last about 5+years, from experience -- should see me out .....
but I do want one for another pressurised water system I want to install here, to give me a pressurised circuit up on me patch


then damn me yesterday .... pump kept cycling here with no 'cause'
traced it/nailed it down to the upstairs cistern, dribbling and overflowing, (into the pan), ever so slowly, but enough to drop the system and vessel pressure to bring the pump on, every half hour or so
piece of crap plastic guts in it, which I've had apart before, quite some time ago .....
dual flush thing, ultra silent fill, with the weirdest ball valve I've ever seen
completely stripped to find the culprit - little scale flake in the tiniest of orifices in this weird 'valve', holding it ever so slightly open
been good all day today, so think I nailed it
problem with a pumped supply is the slightest of leaks/drips/whatever, will run the pump ... any loss of water can't be tolerated, unlike mains, where a dripping tap causes no issues, aside from the drip drip, noise factor

 

[bobthebuilder]

spent a couple of hours Sunday sorting out our nice neighbours' water system for them ......
had had F*lt*rcle*n come and take a look at it and supposedly service it and what a balls of it they made ...
basically it was taking an hour to fill a bath .....

his tanks and pump set up are circa 5-6m below his bath ...
there's huge head capability on these pumps -- like 40m

first thing they'd done was rip him off 350 quid (plus VAT) for a 180 quid (inc VAT), Nocchi Pentair Jetinox pump unit ( have the same in my system - great pumps) ..
'cos it wasn't pumping?-supposedly (if it had been an issue a new impellor is only about 20 quid and they're totally rebuildable

New pump was cutting in out continuously and the trickle out of his kitchen tap was pitiful ....

first things first - how's the filter? ....
God knows why but this guy'd put a paper filter in it ..
blocked solid with fine particulate ...
ripped that out and stuck a 1 micron string wound in, from my stock ... better ..

looked at the gauge he has in the system - under a bar ..
this knob had wound his pressure switch down ...
'cos he'd failed to check the charge pressure in the pressure vessel ... 0.9bar

emptied the system down in the pump compartment and recharged the vessel to 1.7bar - refilled it all and wound the pressure switch back up to 1.7 too
pump working as it should and his plumbing in the house has never been so good ...
one very ecstatic neighbour ...

didn't dare ask him what these pr*cks'd charged him in all
and to add insult to injury .. said to him give me the old pump and I'll have a look at it and rebuild it if needed ....

Bar stewards had taken it with them - his bloody pump FFS

God knows how folks go through life, unable to do anything for themselves, having to pay for everything - and then worst of all - getting ripped off in spades, by pr*cks like this mob

anyways .... in light of James' issues I thought I'd take stock of my 'spares' situation Monday
I knew I had a couple of 'old' 1.5bar fixed pressure switches ...
one with a split diaphragm, that i'd managed a repair on with superglue as a temp fix, waiting for a new unit to arrive
View attachment 59981
and another with a suspect controller unit .....
so dug them out .... pulled 'em to bits and built a good un out of the two
View attachment 59982
then found two new ones I'd bought mega-cheap off fleabay a while ago, lurking in the bottom of the box these two'd been stashed away in .....
so think i'm covered on the pressure switch front for a while ... usually last about 5+years, from experience -- should see me out .....
but I do want one for another pressurised water system I want to install here, to give me a pressurised circuit up on me patch


then damn me yesterday .... pump kept cycling here with no 'cause'
traced it/nailed it down to the upstairs cistern, dribbling and overflowing, (into the pan), ever so slowly, but enough to drop the system and vessel pressure to bring the pump on, every half hour or so
piece of crap plastic guts in it, which I've had apart before, quite some time ago .....
dual flush thing, ultra silent fill, with the weirdest ball valve I've ever seen
completely stripped to find the culprit - little scale flake in the tiniest of orifices in this weird 'valve', holding it ever so slightly open
been good all day today, so think I nailed it
problem with a pumped supply is the slightest of leaks/drips/whatever, will run the pump ... any loss of water can't be tolerated, unlike mains, where a dripping tap causes no issues, aside from the drip drip, noise factor

filterclean are from up here ,boss seems ok but some of the blokes leave alot to be desired

 

[V8Druid]

filterclean are from up here ,boss seems ok but some of the blokes leave alot to be desired

never met the boss, but unimpressed by his 'staff'

 

[V8Druid]

gave the hole a clean up on this the other day ... see if it fitted

it did ......
looking at the label on the Lumag, they rate it to 250mm so I'm sure it'll handle this 300mm with some careful use in the right conditions
plant planting just became a doddle

 

[V8Druid]

continuing the 'saga' of the DHL **** up form where ever else I started it here in PT .. went into tracking this morning to find " We're sorry but the delivery of your shipment has been delayed. We expect to deliver on the next working day " which is now Tuesday despite last night's tracking saying this " Your parcel is due to be delivered on Saturday 04th May 2024 " ... was up early in case, for sod all ....
damn me late morning white van on the drive, who'd obviously been here before (he knew how to turn around) ... out gets a DHL lad (who I used to teach 'in a different life')
" Bloody amazed to see you this morning " and related the sorry **** up to him
" unreal .. that is cr*p .. take it to the top and give 'em hell "
anyway ........

lugged 'em up to me bench .... unwrapped and checked 'em all and stuck 'em in a box out the sun ... yes we had sun this morning
Pam nagging the hell out of me to have a crack at replacing some fence posts ... which I wasn't really up for today, but..... made no odds ... so sorted through a pile I had here and she volunteered to lug 'em down the garden to where they were required whilst I assembled all the other necessary gear to have a go .... she had no idea that we'd need a wheel barrow full of kit -- or how much effort was actually involved in replacing these bloody posts .. she has now !!!

I am not overly bothered about this damned fence line as I want to buy the adjoining piece of ground and see no point in pratting about with a decent replacement, when it'll get ripped out eventually (and what's there is totally bollauxed)

ground here is not the greatest ... and bloody soggy ATM
the Lumag's done a great job of getting what can best be described as a 'pilot hole' and saved me a LOT of pounding posts into the deck ... last 8" was enough, but leaves them solid

I have strict instructions NOT to refit the top rail, so'll have to find my roll of straining wire when we get to the other end.
Got nine in and Pam said she'd had enough for today ... and had to go feed our cat-sitter's dawg, as they're away at a wedding for the weekend. Actually admitted she had no idea of the work and effort involved in what she thought'd take a couple of hours, tops.
I'd had enough too ... getting too bloody old for this sh1t ... would've been so much easier with a virgin fence line, or even with the existing out the way completely, but then I'd have had to strain it all back up

as for the Lumag's vibes ..... was fine, perfectly tolerable and does it ever make nice neat 4" holes

 

[Storrsy]

continuing the 'saga' of the DHL **** up form where ever else I started it here in PT .. went into tracking this morning to find " We're sorry but the delivery of your shipment has been delayed. We expect to deliver on the next working day " which is now Tuesday despite last night's tracking saying this " Your parcel is due to be delivered on Saturday 04th May 2024 " ... was up early in case, for sod all ....
damn me late morning white van on the drive, who'd obviously been here before (he knew how to turn around) ... out gets a DHL lad (who I used to teach 'in a different life')
" Bloody amazed to see you this morning " and related the sorry **** up to him
" unreal .. that is cr*p .. take it to the top and give 'em hell "
anyway ........
View attachment 60132
lugged 'em up to me bench .... unwrapped and checked 'em all and stuck 'em in a box out the sun ... yes we had sun this morning
Pam nagging the hell out of me to have a crack at replacing some fence posts ... which I wasn't really up for today, but..... made no odds ... so sorted through a pile I had here and she volunteered to lug 'em down the garden to where they were required whilst I assembled all the other necessary gear to have a go .... she had no idea that we'd need a wheel barrow full of kit -- or how much effort was actually involved in replacing these bloody posts .. she has now !!!
View attachment 60135
I am not overly bothered about this damned fence line as I want to buy the adjoining piece of ground and see no point in pratting about with a decent replacement, when it'll get ripped out eventually (and what's there is totally bollauxed)
View attachment 60134
ground here is not the greatest ... and bloody soggy ATM
the Lumag's done a great job of getting what can best be described as a 'pilot hole' and saved me a LOT of pounding posts into the deck ... last 8" was enough, but leaves them solid
View attachment 60133
I have strict instructions NOT to refit the top rail, so'll have to find my roll of straining wire when we get to the other end.
Got nine in and Pam said she'd had enough for today ... and had to go feed our cat-sitter's dawg, as they're away at a wedding for the weekend. Actually admitted she had no idea of the work and effort involved in what she thought'd take a couple of hours, tops.
I'd had enough too ... getting too bloody old for this sh1t ... would've been so much easier with a virgin fence line, or even with the existing out the way completely, but then I'd have had to strain it all back up

as for the Lumag's vibes ..... was fine, perfectly tolerable and does it ever make nice neat 4" holes

Absolutely feel your pain. Used to do a LOT of agri fencing, no probs when it's all new- but my heart would sink when asked to repair an existing fence. Rotten strainer posts being the worst as generally the stump of the old post would still be in the ground and with sometimes that might have been the only place they could have gotten the post in ok the first place. People could never understand why it took the same amount of time to 'make good" an old shitty fence as just ripping it out and starting again. The only repairs id consider doing to an existing fence now is adding a few new stakes next to the old ones to prop it up for a few more years, beyond that it's uneconomical to repair

 

[V8Druid]

well the 'Boss' was up for more fence post replacement this morning ..
I was still recovering
Plus the back of the fence line, field side is so over grown with brambles and all sorts of tish, it needed sorting first..
she went off to see the cat-sitter's Dawg and I thought I'll get the hedge cutter out and do 30ft 'praps ...
you know what it's like -- you get going and it's -- do a bit more -- then a bit more .. and 'fore you know it ... you're bollo-ed

got within sight of the finish line and it started to rain - and I'm on me knees ... time for some grub and if it doesn't come to much, hopefully reach the finish line
well it got proper wet so lunch developed into four o'clock, fore it'd backed off and I was in no mood to tackle the home straight ......
plus my left little finger callous had watered up, finger next to it's callous was getting there and the crook of my right thumb wasn't gonna put up with a lot more ... hedge trimmer's a handful and an awkward little sod to hang on to/grip. haven't had a blistered callous in years. I've never run a tank and a half of juice through it before in one stint

but... it had stopped persisting down so went and tackled ......
some black rubber things

did one of the spares yesterday afternoon

and gave the rim a good wire brushing off, cleaned the bead seat and gave it a dose of shiny tish ... almost out of ali and struggling to get a hold of Firwoods last week, as I said some where here ...
will be a very sad day if I can't get a hold of any more as it's such great paint.
then stuck the first one on

went on sweet enough with plenty of lube - after I'd remembered how to set up the install end of me tyre bar
and this is why I've had to buy 'em new boots
tread's fine but they'm all getting long in the tooth and daren't use the damned things

so #2 this afters ... had had a go at it yesterday evening and gave up trying to break the bead by hand .... they've been on there probably 15 years
so pulled the cover up on Lil' Jakie (job and half on your own - how the hell did you ever manage it Ollie? 's one tight fit)
and gave this a try

result after a bit of playing about to get it just right .. then back to the bench ... burgered one off

and new one back on after a wipe over of the bead (nice and clean) and plenty of lube

swapped it onto the trailer and took #3 off for some treatment with the Hanner and then the stripping bar

Started to rain as I was putting it in the grab and was it ever coming down by the time I'd gotten it broken, on the bench and stripped. was running out my backside by the time I'd cleared up, put the cover back on Jakie and packed everything away
Still lashing it down, but it was forecast to have started at noon, so got an extra four hours I wasn't expecting

 

[Lancs Lad]

well the 'Boss' was up for more fence post replacement this morning ..
I was still recovering
Plus the back of the fence line, field side is so over grown with brambles and all sorts of tish, it needed sorting first..
she went off to see the cat-sitter's Dawg and I thought I'll get the hedge cutter out and do 30ft 'praps ...
you know what it's like -- you get going and it's -- do a bit more -- then a bit more .. and 'fore you know it ... you're bollo-ed
View attachment 60161 View attachment 60160 View attachment 60159
got within sight of the finish line and it started to rain - and I'm on me knees ... time for some grub and if it doesn't come to much, hopefully reach the finish line
well it got proper wet so lunch developed into four o'clock, fore it'd backed off and I was in no mood to tackle the home straight ......
plus my left little finger callous had watered up, finger next to it's callous was getting there and the crook of my right thumb wasn't gonna put up with a lot more ... hedge trimmer's a handful and an awkward little sod to hang on to/grip. haven't had a blistered callous in years. I've never run a tank and a half of juice through it before in one stint

but... it had stopped persisting down so went and tackled ......
some black rubber things

did one of the spares yesterday afternoon
View attachment 60171View attachment 60170
and gave the rim a good wire brushing off, cleaned the bead seat and gave it a dose of shiny tish ... almost out of ali and struggling to get a hold of Firwoods last week, as I said some where here ...
will be a very sad day if I can't get a hold of any more as it's such great paint.
then stuck the first one on
View attachment 60169
went on sweet enough with plenty of lube - after I'd remembered how to set up the install end of me tyre bar
and this is why I've had to buy 'em new boots
tread's fine but they'm all getting long in the tooth and daren't use the damned things
View attachment 60167 View attachment 60166 View attachment 60168

so #2 this afters ... had had a go at it yesterday evening and gave up trying to break the bead by hand .... they've been on there probably 15 years
so pulled the cover up on Lil' Jakie (job and ahlf on your won - how the hell did you ever mange it Ollie? 's one tight fit)
ad gave this a try
View attachment 60165
result after a bit of playing about to get it just right .. then back to the bench ... burgered one off
View attachment 60164
and new one back on after a wipe over of the bead (nice and clean) and plenty of lube
View attachment 60163

swapped it onto the trailer and took #3 off for some treatment with the Hanner and then the stripping bar
View attachment 60162
Started to rain as I was putting it in the grab and was it ever coming down by the time I'd gotten it broken, on the bench and stripped. was running out my backside by the time I'd cleared up, put the cover back on Jakie and packed everything away
Still lashing it down, but it was forecast to have started at noon, so got an extra four hours I wasn't expecting

Get yourself a flail for drema...thank me later.

Rain? Beut of a day proper nice.

 

[6feetdown]

well the 'Boss' was up for more fence post replacement this morning ..
I was still recovering
Plus the back of the fence line, field side is so over grown with brambles and all sorts of tish, it needed sorting first..
she went off to see the cat-sitter's Dawg and I thought I'll get the hedge cutter out and do 30ft 'praps ...
you know what it's like -- you get going and it's -- do a bit more -- then a bit more .. and 'fore you know it ... you're bollo-ed
View attachment 60161 View attachment 60160 View attachment 60159
got within sight of the finish line and it started to rain - and I'm on me knees ... time for some grub and if it doesn't come to much, hopefully reach the finish line
well it got proper wet so lunch developed into four o'clock, fore it'd backed off and I was in no mood to tackle the home straight ......
plus my left little finger callous had watered up, finger next to it's callous was getting there and the crook of my right thumb wasn't gonna put up with a lot more ... hedge trimmer's a handful and an awkward little sod to hang on to/grip. haven't had a blistered callous in years. I've never run a tank and a half of juice through it before in one stint

but... it had stopped persisting down so went and tackled ......
some black rubber things

did one of the spares yesterday afternoon
View attachment 60171View attachment 60170
and gave the rim a good wire brushing off, cleaned the bead seat and gave it a dose of shiny tish ... almost out of ali and struggling to get a hold of Firwoods last week, as I said some where here ...
will be a very sad day if I can't get a hold of any more as it's such great paint.
then stuck the first one on
View attachment 60169
went on sweet enough with plenty of lube - after I'd remembered how to set up the install end of me tyre bar
and this is why I've had to buy 'em new boots
tread's fine but they'm all getting long in the tooth and daren't use the damned things
View attachment 60167 View attachment 60166 View attachment 60168

so #2 this afters ... had had a go at it yesterday evening and gave up trying to break the bead by hand .... they've been on there probably 15 years
so pulled the cover up on Lil' Jakie (job and ahlf on your won - how the hell did you ever mange it Ollie? 's one tight fit)
ad gave this a try
View attachment 60165
result after a bit of playing about to get it just right .. then back to the bench ... burgered one off
View attachment 60164
and new one back on after a wipe over of the bead (nice and clean) and plenty of lube
View attachment 60163

swapped it onto the trailer and took #3 off for some treatment with the Hanner and then the stripping bar
View attachment 60162
Started to rain as I was putting it in the grab and was it ever coming down by the time I'd gotten it broken, on the bench and stripped. was running out my backside by the time I'd cleared up, put the cover back on Jakie and packed everything away
Still lashing it down, but it was forecast to have started at noon, so got an extra four hours I wasn't expecting

Started here about 2.30 and it lashed it down for a good 2 hrs put pay to my afternoon so got to watch the rugby instead

 

[6feetdown]

Get yourself a flail for drema...thank me later.

Rain? Beut of a day proper nice.

Was thinking same he could mount it on his new backhoe!

 

[Diggerdavey]

well the 'Boss' was up for more fence post replacement this morning ..
I was still recovering
Plus the back of the fence line, field side is so over grown with brambles and all sorts of tish, it needed sorting first..
she went off to see the cat-sitter's Dawg and I thought I'll get the hedge cutter out and do 30ft 'praps ...
you know what it's like -- you get going and it's -- do a bit more -- then a bit more .. and 'fore you know it ... you're bollo-ed
View attachment 60161 View attachment 60160 View attachment 60159
got within sight of the finish line and it started to rain - and I'm on me knees ... time for some grub and if it doesn't come to much, hopefully reach the finish line
well it got proper wet so lunch developed into four o'clock, fore it'd backed off and I was in no mood to tackle the home straight ......
plus my left little finger callous had watered up, finger next to it's callous was getting there and the crook of my right thumb wasn't gonna put up with a lot more ... hedge trimmer's a handful and an awkward little sod to hang on to/grip. haven't had a blistered callous in years. I've never run a tank and a half of juice through it before in one stint

but... it had stopped persisting down so went and tackled ......
some black rubber things

did one of the spares yesterday afternoon
View attachment 60171View attachment 60170
and gave the rim a good wire brushing off, cleaned the bead seat and gave it a dose of shiny tish ... almost out of ali and struggling to get a hold of Firwoods last week, as I said some where here ...
will be a very sad day if I can't get a hold of any more as it's such great paint.
then stuck the first one on
View attachment 60169
went on sweet enough with plenty of lube - after I'd remembered how to set up the install end of me tyre bar
and this is why I've had to buy 'em new boots
tread's fine but they'm all getting long in the tooth and daren't use the damned things
View attachment 60167 View attachment 60166 View attachment 60168

so #2 this afters ... had had a go at it yesterday evening and gave up trying to break the bead by hand .... they've been on there probably 15 years
so pulled the cover up on Lil' Jakie (job and ahlf on your won - how the hell did you ever mange it Ollie? 's one tight fit)
ad gave this a try
View attachment 60165
result after a bit of playing about to get it just right .. then back to the bench ... burgered one off
View attachment 60164
and new one back on after a wipe over of the bead (nice and clean) and plenty of lube
View attachment 60163

swapped it onto the trailer and took #3 off for some treatment with the Hanner and then the stripping bar
View attachment 60162
Started to rain as I was putting it in the grab and was it ever coming down by the time I'd gotten it broken, on the bench and stripped. was running out my backside by the time I'd cleared up, put the cover back on Jakie and packed everything away
Still lashing it down, but it was forecast to have started at noon, so got an extra four hours I wasn't expecting

That haner looks a nice grab! Doesn’t look like it’s done a lot of hard work either. Nice bit of kit