You know that Rule of Threes? The one that says bad shit will happen in triplicate and then it’ll be done with? Well someone is testing this on me and I think they are playing silly buggers with the rules.
The first thing to go was our much abused chipper. It just stopped. So I removed the filter housing to check the air filter and the throttle linkages. Both were actually fine. Then I checked the fuel tank contents...despite the fact I had been assured that it was 2/3rds full. And it wasn’t. It was quite empty. Like totally. Refilled it and lo and behold it started. So this probably didn’t count in the Rule. Even though it later caught fire...still doesn’t count.
Next to go is one of our chainsaws. An old, well used but deeply unloved Husqvarna 455 Rancher that used to belong to my brother. I don’t love it because it is heavy and exhausting to use. It’s response to being unloved is to frequently be noncompliant in its effort to be a chainsaw. This time, I decided to give it a minor Svend before properly dressing the bar (it has never cut straight) and properly sharpening the chain. Plus a cleaned up air filter. Then I set it to work on a very large log which it proceeded to rip through like it was 1992 (when it was new). It managed 98% of the first cut before dying utterly in mid roar...
Routine trouble shooting commenced after a bit of jumping up and down, swearing and aimless tugging of the recoil starter. Once I’d calmed down it appeared the ignition coil had offered its last spark. So that has been sourced and ordered...
Next to go was the Grillo...our Italian stallion of a ride on mower.
This time, this temperamental piece of continental calamity decided to throw one of its two drive chains which ended up being eaten by the mower blades. Whilst it could still move, its diff lock function was...non functional. Sourcing a replacement chain from the town’s motorcycle shop was easy enough but fitting it turned into something more Italian than it needed to. Suffice to say, a clever piece of Italian thinking was yet again compromised by complicated Italian design and daft specification choices. It now works but includes some Australian modifications...
Then the Volkswagen decided it was its turn...
During the run into town for the Grillo chain and other essentials, I noticed these puddles under the front end when I came back to the it from the various shops. By the third puddle...I figured something on MY car was broken...not someone else’s. Lifting the bonnet showed an engine covered in diesel due to a ruptured fuel line. Drive it round to the mechanic and together we figured out where the problem was.
Ages back when the clutch was replaced by another mechanic, the fuel line had been misaligned in its journey across the from of the engine. It had become trapped by the cooling fan shroud which then wore through the line over time...so I left that with them and they gave me a lift home. It has been temporarily fixed today and we await a replacement line set from the UK.
Today..after the VW had been repaired...the tractor broke. I was using it to slash the paddock which it did quite well despite the battery either being dead or the generator being dead. Let’s just say that a little lithium ion jump starter is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, the hydraulic circuit that controls the 3 point linkage which then allows me to raise and lower the slasher decided to fail...somehow somewhere. Which left me dragging the slasher around on the ground like a flailing dead body...
It’s been quite a weekend, Oppo....