6.26.2026

Jim was back at work on the Bobcat today.  Trying to get more grease out of this cylinder... 

He took off the other sprocket, hoping that would help...

He finally came up with a way - he clamped everything in place...

Then he used the pry bar through the access hole...

Finally, all that grease started coming out...

Then he was able to start taking the tread off...

Trying to get the back off...

Success!

Draining the oil...

It only takes 2 ounces of special oil to fill up the drive train; however, they give you an 8 ounce bottle.  Jim used an eye dropper to get the right amount in...

Putting the sprocket back on...

He came up with a way to strap up the tread to help him get it on the back first...

Success - tread is on!  Obviously this doesn't show all the hard work in between to wrangle this 450 pound tread back on!

Starting the process all over on the other side - putting oil in...

Jim got the back part of the tread on, but is struggling to get the front on...

Success!  Jim was determined to get this tread on before calling it a day, and he got it done.  This whole right side was much more difficult than the left, for whatever reason.  So amazed that he was able to get all this done to this point!

High 74.2/Low 59.2

6.25.2026

The Bobcat is moved into the auto bay so that Jim can start his big maintenance project - replacing the hydrostatic oil in the drive train.  Unfortunately, on his model that requires taking the giant treads off.

Jim got to try out his new 3.5 ton jack - and it worked great, although it was still a chore lifting it up since the Bobcat weighs 7,500 pounds!

Next, he had to get blocking under the front lift assembly so that he could raise the Bobcat up...

It's officially in the air!

In order to be able to get the treads off, Jim has to get out all the grease from the cylinder...

Once he got the majority out, he put a strap around the tread to squeeze the rest out...

Next crazy step is to get the tread off.  You can see that he has to be able to lift it up over that pulley wheel...

It's off!  It was like wrestling with alligators and took probably close to an hour, but he did it!  No small feat - each of these treads weigh 450 pounds!

He opened up this access panel and found it was full of mouse nests and droppings, so he got all that cleaned out...

He then took this giant sprocket off...

Draining the old oil out - it only requires 2 ounces of oil!

With the left side well under way, Jim started on the right side, first removing the grease.  Unfortunately, this grease isn't coming out as easily as the other side did.  But that's tomorrow's job.

Jim stopped, got the trash out, showered and we headed to The Local to celebrate the progress!

High 77.1/Low 57.2 - rain in PM

 

6.24.2026

We may get rain tomorrow and then Jim will start on the Bobcat work, so in preparation, the Bobcat got a good cleaning... 

Lifting the front up all the way and cleaning...

Jim let it drip dry and did some grass cutting before putting everything away for the night.  

High 76.1/Low 55.9

6.23.2026

After our all-day rain yesterday, the trees were just saturated with water, turning the fir branches almost upside down, which made their color look almost silvery in certain lights.  The view out the back of the house - you can see how the branches are weighed down...

Jim is getting ready to work on the Bobcat.  His 2-ton floor jack wasn't going to work, so he ordered a new 3.5 ton one.  It came yesterday...

He got it all put together and ready to go!

After lunch, Jim went to the Bobcat store to pick up the drive oil he needs as well as a couple of new bolts.

Once he got home, he started cutting through the steel he had formed into rings...

Looking good!

Jim made another craigslist sale of a printer we've been trying to sell for months and months - a guy was driving from Boston to Syracuse and Jim met him and made the sale.  Always good to sell something we don't need that someone else can use - especially when it was big and took up a lot of space!

High 70.7/Low 58.2

6.22.2026

It was pretty much an all-day rain day.  I had errands to do in the morning, and after lunch, Jim started working on his rainy day list.

First up was fastening the toe boards on the island to the island itself.  That required taking everything inside out, including the shelves...

Jim had to take the doors off to get the bottom shelf out and be able to work...

Jim had to remove one set of hinges as well...

Bottom shelf coming out...

Then it's fastening the toe boards to the cabinet - he had put holes in the steel when he made it, so that was perfect.

All four sides fastened and now it's time to reverse all those steps.  Bottom shelf going back in...

Fastening it in place...

Middle shelf back in place...

Hinges and doors back on - this project is complete!

Next rainy day project was to change out switches in the auto bay.  When he added the programmable switch to control the outside lights, he only had almond switches, and he only had an almond switch for the gray box.  Lights off, time to switch...

Oops...he forgot that the right switch is a three-way switch, so he'll have to order one of those...

But it's looking spiffy!

 Then it was the day for deliveries - we had three kind of big deliveries that literally came within less than 10 minutes of each other, but we didn't know that and didn't want to leave the box too full, so Jim ended up making 3 trips down to the box to get everything!

High 61.8/Low 54.5 - rain all day