[AT] bobbing for drain plugs

charlie hill chill8 at cox.net
Tue Oct 31 13:06:10 PST 2006


Chris I had a similar problem today.   I was changing out fuel oil drums for 
my furnace.  The old one had been pulled out of place and was sitting on a 
trailer.  The new one was finally in place and I was ready to start piping 
it up.  I needed to take the valve, filter, etc. off the old tank and put it 
on the new one.  Not much of a problem except that the old tank still has 
about 50 gal or so of fuel in it.  The solution was to pick up the end of 
the tank with the boom on my tractor.  It was sitting right there since I 
had used it to set the new tank in place.  I put a chain around the old 
tank, lifted the end high enough to get the fuel away from it, removed the 
valve, filter, etc and screwed the valve from the new tank into the old one.

I sprained my knee in early August and haven't been real mobile for a while. 
It's better now but I still get tired pretty easy so I went in for a break. 
I had something to drink and a little snack and headed back out about 15 
minutes later.   As I got to the tank I heard what sounded like water 
running.  NOT WATER.  Diesel fuel.   The lift on the tractor had leaked down 
as I knew it would.  What I hadn't figured on was the valve not sealing.  I 
had screwed it in until it stopped but failed to realize that it was just 
jammed and not shut all the way.  I had a 1/4" diameter flow of fuel pouring 
onto the ground into a puddle that looked to be at least 5 gals.

I did have an advantage over you.  My finger  would go over the end of the 
valve and close it off but there I was with my finger in the dike so to 
speak.  After some careful one hand reaching and breaking I was able to 
break off part of a hedge bush and jam it into the valve.  It slowed the 
flow down to a trickle and I headed for the tractor to raise the lift again. 
In my haste I hit the lift lever a little too hard, the boom came up until 
it topped out.  That snached the chain loose and the tank fell.

Well, at that point I guess the luck gods figured I had enough and my luck 
changed.  The tank landed square on top of the trailer tire and the other 
end wedged into the trailer frame and it sat right there like it was welded 
in place.  I fixed the valve and all is well again except for all of that 
fuel on the ground that I'm gonna have to get up ...... sometime.

Yeah,  I know what kind of day you had!  LOL

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Britton" <c.britton at worldnet.att.net>
To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 2:02 PM
Subject: [AT] bobbing for drain plugs


> For those needing a good laugh!
>
> Well, My new tranny fill plug/dipstick came in this weekend at CNH. My 
> ford 5000, up until this point.. just had the fill plug, sans dipstick. I 
> knew it had probably broke off and had been laying at the bottom of the 
> trans for decades.. but hadn't found it on previous services.
>
> I got my buckets and new oil and headed tot he barn. had my tools layed 
> out.. creeper.. etc. Tranny drain is about 12 quarts or so. A 5g bucket 
> won't fit under very well, and let you manipulate the tools.. so i only 
> had a 1g bucket. Plan was.. as I have always done, is to remove the plug, 
> ( check for accumulated water .. just for curiosity, as the plug just 
> starts to come loose), then hold the plug close, and when the bucket gets 
> to 75%, start screwing it back in. That works -great- untill you drop the 
> plug into the bucket!!! The plug is large too.. a thumb doesn't quite plug 
> the hole.. though does dramatically slow it down.
>
> So there I was.. laying on the creeper, propped up with back against right 
> rear tire...left thumb stuck in tranny drain... UTF generously running 
> down my arm, while my right arm and hand were frantically searching the 
> drain pail for the blasted plug!.. Got the plug, and got the drain plugged 
> back up... Bucket was at 99%... At this point.. creeper only has a couple 
> drops on it.. ( my shirt was pretty good at sopping up the excess coming 
> down my left arm... ).. floor is clean.. amazingly.. Had to drag the drain 
> bucket over to my 'bulk' drain ( a 55g drum i keep to fill with drain 
> fluids.. then haul to work to have picked up with other drain oil for 
> free ). And then i repeat the process, sans dropping the blasted plug.
>
> In my defense.. this is not a typical hex or square headed plug.. it's one 
> of those inverted square heads.. like for a 1/2 socket or breaker bar 
> drive.. not much to hold on to.
>
> On the upside, i did find the remenant of the old dipstick.. right were I 
> thought it was.. safely in the lowest part of the sump, intact, but bent 
> in a semicircile with a few gear marks on it.. looks like it may hve been 
> bent by a previous owner, and when tractor moved, a gear snatched it out 
> of the cap, drug it down the side of the housing ( low clearance.. thus 
> bending the post ), and then depositing it into the lowest part of the 
> sump near the drain.
>
> it took a telescoping magnet to find the end of the stick and fish it 
> out.. but i do feel better that it is now out.. I wouldn't want it to ride 
> the 'train' and take any more trips thru the tranny. Previously, when i 
> first got her, I looked at the gears.. I saw a couple with minor side 
> chips.. but no teeth missing... nothing i havn't seen before on an antique 
> tractor. I coulddn't find the dipstick then.. glad i found it now.
>
> I figured a few of you may have needed the laugh.
>
> On the upside.. the oil was nice and clean... good to know i have no water 
> leaks.. and no metal bits came out.. that's always a plus.
>
> After I got all the utf off, I primed and painted the new cap ( even has a 
> FOMOCO ) logo on it.. nice.. And she now matches the rest of the tractor..
>
> I kept thinking.. good thing this wasn't one of those 2" bung drains like 
> a ford N has... I'd have never got the oil stopped trying to find that 
> plug!!
>
> Soundguy
>
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> Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
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