[AT] bobbing for drain plugs

Tue Oct 31 16:53:30 PST 2006

Yep that is exactly the way I would clean it up if I could.  Unfortunately, 
right at the moment, there is a trailer with a partially full 480 gal tank 
sitting right over the spill and a partially full 55 gal drum sitting beside 
it.  All of this is about 10 feet from the end of my house.  The drum and 
the tank are fairly easy to move but I didn't have time this afternoon. 
Meanwhile the fuel is seeping into the soil (sand) directly over my septic 
tank.  I'm not too worried about it.  If all else fails I'll mount my 
backhoe attachment to the tractor and dig up the contaminated dirt.  Then 
I'll put that somewhere where I can burn yard debris on top of it for a 
while.

Charlie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve W." <falcon at telenet.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 5:57 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] bobbing for drain plugs

> Charlie,
>    You clean up spilled fuel? I just toss a match on it....
> You should have seen how a local fire department cleaned up a rather large 
> spill.... OOPS they say they didn't know that a flare would ignite the 
> fumes!!!!
>
>
> charlie hill wrote:
>> 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
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> AT mailing list
>>> Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
>>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> AT mailing list
>> Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>
>>
>
> -- 
> Steve W.
> Near Cooperstown, New York
>
> Pacifism - The theory that if they'd fed
> Jeffrey Dahmer enough human flesh,
> he'd have become a vegan.
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at 