Took the first step towards building my shop

[Frank S]

Wednesday I started to move some dirt to fill in the low spot in the corner of the shop but before I could do that I had to remove the fork carriage and install the loader bucket. Sometimes this is a mere 30 to 45 minute job or even less but other times things just never seem to fall in place as they ordinarily would. Most of this is my fault for getting in a rush to do the change over or where I had decided to do it. This was one of those times I had moved the bucket with the forks and did not have it sitting level after removing the fork carriage then trying to align the loader arms with the pin locations it took the better part of an hour to get the change over accomplished then even more time to locate 2 of the snap rings in the sand and grass burs that had gone ballistic when I removed them.
Anyway I moved a dozen of so loads of dirt to fill in a low spot to make it easier for me to enter the shop from an area I normally didn't go through then I mined a large pile of the select fill. Things were going fine running up and down the haul road a little too fast at times I guess because the backhoe was bouncing sometimes
The used tire I had installed on the rear a few months ago was a lower pressure rating than the original and the rubber was old and probably well beyond an age for tubeless mounting. I entered the area where I had the fill mounded up at a wrong angle ran over a hard out cropping not sharp just a large bump that was when the dreaded hissing sound started grabbing a load of select fill I headed back up the hill to the shop and just barely made it to be able to dump before the tire went completely flat.
OK I have a second tire I'll just install it I thought but I will tube it in an attempt to stave off rupturing the inner bladder of the next tire.
So that night I ordered a new tube which was not going to arrive until next Tuesday. OK fine I will work on other projects then this time take the tire and rim to my tire man and let him wrestle the change.
Well the tube arrived yesterday afternoon late So once again I decided not to wait until I could load everything up and take it to town. half the work of changing the tire would be removing the rim from the machine and re installing it anyway.
But since I already had it off the backhoe laying on the ground and a new tube in hand and it being Saturday the tire guy wouldn't be at work until Monday I broke it down and started installing the equally old replacement tire.

Inspector Whitey wondering where her new favorite sleeping spot had gone

way too much 4 legged help

[metric_taper]

At least you're not dealing with fluid filled tires. That would make this much more fun. So the latest here (operating below freezing) is they use beet juice, as brine with a slow leak would eat the rim. I have such a failure waiting for me to find a new rim.

[Frank S]

At least you're not dealing with fluid filled tires. That would make this much more fun. So the latest here (operating below freezing) is they use beet juice, as brine with a slow leak would eat the rim. I have such a failure waiting for me to find a new rim.

Really not a lot of reason to fluid filled tires on a backhoe tractive force is usually not the primary requirement. however I would almost be tempted to have my steer tires rubber foam filled on it because even though they are 14 ply and inflated to 60 lbs I've seen them mashed almost flat when lifting things I can only imagine the pressure inside them at that point.
I have the front tires on my 8n tractor rubber foam filled because after I put the new tires on I had to repair both of them a dozen times in a week due to thorns Now I would like to rubber fill the rear tires but at $400.00 each to fill them that currently is way low on the budgetary scale.
Filling them with rubber foam would be like filling them with 12lb per gallon fluid it would add a lot of useable tractive weight and never have a flat again I have a flat on the 1 new rear tire I put on is right now

[Frank S]

In 2008 one January morning while working in Kuwait I received a phone call from a guy I had only known through our mutual association with antique trucks. since 1998. One of our common interest was preserving history or old trucks at the time of the discovery of this truck he and I were deeply though separately involved in researching and retrieving lost or deleted discussions which had been posted on various truck forums but dumped from the servers due to lack of band width. Though at the time neither knew the other was doing this. One day I happened to ping his computer while he was online in a search when he noticed me a back chat window immediately popped up asking what I was doing I recognized who it was from a mutual forum he and I were both members of and told him what I was doing then he said you are trying to access my system. We started chatting and learned that we were both doing the same thing then decided to build a server for the society we were members of and present it as a means of saving as much lost of forgotten data as possible.
long story even longer the morning he called me he said he had found an old truck that he was interested in, what were my thoughts. I told him if I wasn't 7000 miles away I would buy it so he bought it.
Here is the link to the url of his account of the truck and part of its history.
I highly recommend reading the full story and comments
C T Electric (Commercial Truck Company - Electric Truck ).
Eddy and I didn't meet face to face until many years later in fact it was well after I had made a trip to California to purchase a lathe and haul a small trailer back for him as well which I converted to a trades day display trailer for him to take to truck and car shows so he could sell his paint.
Anyway the truck is now at my place I will be constructing a permanent protected storage for it so he and I can set about the task of fully restoring it to its prime.
I have long considered it as much mine as it is his even though he owns it.

[metric_taper]

Very rare Truck. Makes my 1924 Model T 1 ton a common vehicle, even with the 2 speed Ruckstell rear axle.

[metric_taper]

I highly recommend reading the full story and comments
C T Electric (Commercial Truck Company - Electric Truck ).
Eddy and I didn't meet face to face until many years later in fact it was well after I had made a trip to California to purchase a lathe and haul a small trailer back for him as well which I converted to a trades day display trailer for him to take to truck and car shows so he could sell his paint.
Anyway the truck is now at my place I will be constructing a permanent protected storage for it so he and I can set about the task of fully restoring it to its prime.
I have long considered it as much mine as it is his even though he owns it.

Did CT design their own DC motors? If so they had talent to do that. I didn't see in the story anything about the motors. There must be a reduction gear train, I assume that was unique to these trucks as well.

[Frank S]

Almost there.
I might have to add another 5 yards of fill to finish out the floor
then I will need to make a leveling drag spray the surface with water cut the high spots allow the low spots to fill then roll the surface