u/vennic18

Had to tear down this waterfall feature on a pond rehab job to chase down a leak (original in pics 1 and 2). Rebuilding now and I have a gap/trench to backfill (pics 3,4,5) between the limestone block and a buried cinder block retaining wall. This is important because this trench is where the base of an epdm trough will sit for the outlet of the pump to form the water feature (as in pic 2).

Before the teardown (when I had installed the cinder block retaining wall) I had the area between the retaining wall and the limestone waterfall backfilled with sand. The trough is about 2 feet deep and 6" at the widest in the center. Should I just fill back again with sand (under the pond liner of course) or just bridge the gap with something solid like scrap wood and leave it hollow? Spray foam it to fill in and trim it flat? I live in an area with cold frozen winters so I don't want to use dirt for fear of heaving (how this all started in the first place).

Thanks!

Spent the last couple weekends putting this together. Thought some of you would appreciate taking a look. Aside from a handful of 10mm nuts, all materials and fasteners were "scravenged" from old projects, inherited when I moved in, salvaged wood etc.

During Sheriff Fletcher's typical Friday night livestream, his Undersheriff, Mike Martin, pursued a reckless driver that eventually crashed into an innocent motorist. This occurred on 7/24/26.

Deputies found a polymer 80 firearm frame & the parts to make the gun usable (other than the slide) inside the vehicle.

TLDR Had success today clearing some torsion axle grease ports after multiple attempts and methods. In the end the toughest one required sliding out the entire track, drive and roller assembly a few inches with a screw jack to get at it from the outside with a pick. It was solid with dry packed dirt. I have to say after many hours of farting around and trying to avoid that scenario, it was way easier than I thought it would be, wish I would have done that method sooner. Hoping this post can help someone out in a similar situation.

I am new to owning heavy equipment and neglected to find the torsion axle grease zerks for about 40 running hours on my used CTL due to build up and plain ignorance. The zerks were all fine but 3 of 8 pathways were blocked, all on the rear lower axles. I've read this is typical. I got one path clear with a drill and a pick, as it was within reach. Another went with a cheapo Fleet Farm version of the Grease Buster while waiting for the real version in the mail. I also got a dewalt grease gun to help out.

The final one was a real bear. The pathway was blocked and was about 8 inches deep in the bore of the axle, so a pick was not an option. I tried everything except getting the axle ripping hot (I don't have acetylene), including the auto grease gun, multiple rounds of the brand name Grease Buster, filling and soaking both the inside and outside of the axle with PB Blaster overnight, etc.

I ended up going with the "nuclear" option today and decided to slide out the track and rollers. Turns out it was very straightforward. After watching some axle replacement videos I was pleasantly surprised to see that the entire drive assembly can slide out intact and removing the tracks, hoses, etc is not needed. I jacked up and blocked the skid on one side, removed the outer hubs on the axles, and removed the guard over the hoses. I used a screw jack and some elbow grease to slide it out and opened the grease path with a pick, then used clamps to slide everything back in until the bolts on the hubs could be threaded back in and finish the job. Properly tensioned the tracks while I was at it. Whole process took a few hours.

As you know, we made a post a few days ago saying that we were gifting this wind phone to the community. We were under the impression that this tree was on private property since it’s on the edge of our yard. Well, a code enforcement officer just stopped by to inform us that this is a city tree and we now have to take it down due to a complaint someone lodged.

I don’t know who would complain about this.

In the few days it’s been up, people have used this phone and we have been personally thanked by both our neighbors and people driving by.

I don’t know what makes the complainant hate joy…..but I hope you get therapy and find peace.

As for the phone, we are looking into options to have it securely in our front yard but still accessible to the neighborhood. The Wind Phone is NOT going away, but we will need to relocate it.

Would people feel safe using it on a fence? Perhaps on a pole in the yard? Do we need to relocate this to our back lot? Our only fear is that the back lot is an alleyway and not easily found or seen.

I wanted to get some opinions.

Looking to replace this gas spring for a CAT 279D radiator door and its more difficult than I thought. For now I'm just using a piece of scrap wood. $50+ at the dealer seems steep, but having trouble confirming if similar aftermarket options on ebay, Amazon etc would work. Any links or leads?

I have a few dead ash trees in the yard to drop and process due to EAB and thought I'd share my stump burning set up. I started with some bore holes and a small bonfire on top the night before, then covered it with a barrel overnight. The next morning it was mostly still intact, so I set up the smoke stack and air pump. It was about 80% gone by the end of the day, with periodic adjustments. Here's a fun shot of refueling the stump with more branches towards the end of the day. .