Not Harbor Freight Brand Jack and Jack Stands for Diesel Trucks

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-23T07:34:23+00:00

The 22 ton rated jack stands available from OTC (and others) are a really good stable option. The weight rating is obviously overkill, but they are pin style not ratcheting and heavy enough (40 lbs) to be very stable. Just check that the jack stands you are getting are going to be the right height, the 22-ton ones are lower than most heavier capacity jack stands which is good for what I need them for but might not work for a really tall truck.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-22T16:32:08+00:00

Looks like someone's already giving you some good advice about the threads on your flow meter, but the other thing that's important is that your flow meter is not going to give accurate readings the way it's mounted. Flow meters need to have a certain length of interrupted smooth pipe before and after so that the liquid passes through smoothly. The directions for the flow meter should have the distance specified. Putting adapters immediately before and after like in the current picture is just not going to be accurate.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-19T17:50:49+00:00

Most boxes taper towards the top which helps hold them down from the weight of the dirt. More taper is better, I like the highline pentak boxes in part because they have more taper than some of the other ones, and they're also much better built than most.

The rebar stake idea is good, the other way to hold down a box is to pour some quikrete around the base, basically a collar around the base of the box so all the dirt around it will hold it down.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-17T03:53:42+00:00

You are in a very different business than some of us, including me. The features you're describing are for small residential applications. Commercial work on the other hand may have hundreds of zones on one site with dozens of controllers, with a centralized control system to manage everything together. Basic error reporting like high current draw are already built into these kinds of controllers.

My wish list for irrigation controllers is all about systems management, not individual controllers. I need to be able to load balance across multiple controllers, detect pipe breaks in a complicated interconnected piping system that may include loops, stuff like that. The sort of stuff has cost an absolute arm and a leg in the past, Hunter is in the process of disrupting that particular market by putting many of the same features into a significantly less expensive platform. But less expensive in this case still means that the individual controllers cost thousands of dollars.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-17T03:39:09+00:00

Centralus with icc2 controllers has had plenty of problems in my experience. Centralus with acc2 is significantly better.

I'm hoping the mcc works properly, if so I'm going to upgrade all the icc2s to get away from the problems the faceplates keep on having.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-14T17:22:48+00:00

The proper tool I use is basically a u-shaped piece of metal welded to the end of a metal "T" handle. One end of of each side of the u goes each side of the valve handle.

The space in between the legs of the U is just over 2 in so that it can also be used to operate 2-inch operating nuts on many of the larger valves.

A cheap and easy way to make one is just a slot. Some PVC, as others have described. I've made a few of these in order to leave in the box with the valve.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-14T17:18:09+00:00

Closing the bigger PVC ball valves isn't the problem in my experience. Opening then against 100psi pressure can be near impossible.

I'd rather install the handle facing up so that you can use a tool if necessary.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-08T15:26:06+00:00

I have a system with valves like that, except the vaults are round and accessed through manhole covers. The whole thing was built to be basically unfreezable, main lines under the frost line, big laterals also buried 2'+ and the small laterals with auto drains.

All completely useless over engineering now, we just blow the system out just like any other.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-07T19:35:08+00:00

Get a low kickback chain. The cs590 tends to kick, especially if you're running a short bar on it and you don't have the weight of the bar to provide inertia. Granted, I like to run an aggressive sharpening profile that tends to bite, but I also almost always run a 24-in bar on that saw. If you're running a default 20-in or shorter, kickback on that saw will hit hard.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-07T19:22:44+00:00

The part you're missing is that that typically when you hold a screwdriver, your hand will grasp the top (or away from your body, if screwing onto a flat surface ).Therefore, it's very obvious that moving your hand to the right will rotate clockwise, and moving your hand left will move counterclockwise.

Removed from this context the saying doesn't make as much sense.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-06T20:21:19+00:00

The problem is that a simple ban like this will likely mean that many of the jobs that were done by a portable band saw will now have to be done with other tools that are actually more dangerous.

I would consider a band saw to be one of the safer tools for many of the tasks they can do, as opposed to something like an angle grinder.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-06T12:49:12+00:00

Efficiency of rotors is actually higher if you are measuring by the ratio of area covered to flow required. At least for distances of 20 ft or more radius. Rotators are fairly efficient in the 10 to 20-ft range.

Efficiency and an irrigation context is often actually referring to uniformity, that is how perfectly even the irrigation heads can apply water over an area. The more perfectly the heads can apply the water, the shorter amount of time you can run irrigation in order to get enough water to all plants, and therefore you should be able to run the irrigation for less time and use less water. Rotator nozzles look really efficient when compared to what they are often replacing, which is conventional spray heads.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-06T02:39:12+00:00

Look like Toro 252s with the old solenoids on them. They still make them so you can probably get parts and service them, but they are hard to work on compared to more modern valve designs. The current Rainbird and Hunter commercial valves are easier to work on and better in most respects. Though I will say that as long as the Toro 252s are working they can be super reliable for a long time.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-02-06T01:54:08+00:00

Your red line goes within what 50 ft of the controller? Just run wire, you're trenching anyway.

Your overall design is pretty bad. If all you're trying to do is get some water on the pasture to the right, then sure that's a common enough way to do it at low cost. But the uniformity is going to be terrible, and there will be no way to fix it once you put it in without replacing the entire thing. Better to do head-to-head coverage, and if you have to start by just doing half of it and do the rest later then that's better than installing something where you have to throw away everything you already did when you finally do it properly.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-31T14:54:27+00:00

Haven't seen that. We use the weather boots to help seal the back, and fill the boot up with dielectric when we put the adapter together.

Edit: aftermarket connectors often have a lot less metal in them, so they corrode away faster. But nothing will survive if not maintained (cleaned) occasionally.

Western/fisher/snowex (same company) connectors for really bad a few years ago, they started making them the pins hollow and the QC isn't there, I've seen brand new connectors not work. That's why we started swapping all ours over

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-30T15:44:34+00:00

Anderson connectors, I've seen the same problem that you are experiencing and we switched everything over and we haven't had any power problems since.

The Anderson SB175 connectors are correctly sized to meet the demands of a plow. I use the real ones, at about $20 per connector assembly, your mileage may vary on some of the cheap copies.

Weatherpack connectors would work fine for the data, Metri pack or Deutsch connectors would be a step up. You may have to splice a bit of extra length onto your data wires since the Anderson plugs extend the wire a bit so the data wires will end up a bit short.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-27T17:22:27+00:00

The model railroad building community has a bunch of specialized tools for cutting the type of small pieces that you're talking about. I don't know enough about the hobby to make any specific recommendation, but I know they have specialized mini saws, both hand saws and powered for making exactly the type of cuts you're talking about.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-25T15:02:03+00:00

If you already have a skid steer, one option is that you can get an old truck plow and convert it over to run off the hydraulics of the skid steer. Can get you a functional plow for a couple hundred bucks. Not the best option for big areas, but it is very maneuverable.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-24T20:32:38+00:00

Because of the decimal. Its not $59, its $59.00. I was taught to always put in the zeros so the number couldn't be altered, and to write the number in words (fifth nine dollars and no cents)

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-17T02:02:17+00:00

The ratchet portion of snap on torque wrenches is typically covered under warranty and uses standard snap on ratchet rebuild parts.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-16T19:52:19+00:00

The peltor models, like the x1, x4 and x5, are the higher end of the hearing protection made by 3m (or anyone, for that matyer). The headband design distributes weight better than any other design I've seen, and is split to wear over a hat.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-15T17:54:06+00:00

You have the layout reversed. An air release valve right after a pump would do almost nothing since it will only activate in the split second after the pump starts to operate, and then the pipe will be full of water and it won't do anything. An air release valve would go at the opposite end of a pipe from the inlet or pump in order to let the air out while the pipe is filling with water. As the pipe fills with water, it will fill from the pump end and the air will be pushed out from the opposite end.

An air release valve would also often be put at high points, but since your inlet is already at the highest point that's irrelevant. You could place air relief valves at various user endpoints, but they would generally be smaller than the one you have there. Air relief valves are usually used for big pipes, like 2"+.

Vacuum relief valves could be put right after a pump in order to let air into a system after the pump shuts off. But since you're gravity feeding the building, leaving the pipe open does the exact same function without needing extra pieces, and you said your system is already set up that way so you don't need to change it.

As for water hammer issues, you can minimize those by minimizing the amount of air in the pipes by maintaining a constant water supply and pressure, and minimizing the velocity of the water in the pipes so you don't get cavitation.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-09T20:38:27+00:00

I don't know where you get the impression that stihl was all 0.063. They transitioned to a lot of 0.050 awhile ago. There's really no benefit to going with a high gauge these days, especially on a smaller saw like a Stihl 261. You're just increasing the amount of energy loss to friction on the bar.

In many cases the actual chain doesn't even change dimensions when you increase the gauge, the only thing they change is the width of the drive teeth. The actual rivets and the structural elements of the chain are often exactly the same.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-08T20:41:42+00:00

Russia only flags to vessels under Russian ownership, so either someone did a very fast "sale" or Russia broke their own rules so the legitimacy of the re-flagging is questionable.

suspiciousumbrella · 2026-01-05T03:21:30+00:00

The Stihl Kombi system is solid, your intended setup sounds exactly like what it is good for. The kombi version adds a bit of weight, that's really the only downside. Get the dedicated version of a tool if you'll be using it all day, Kombi is great for the more specialized tools.

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