Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Not Much New

Tractor Off Load

I did some shopping after school, so when I got home and fed the Boys, I really didn't feel like riding.

I called Bill's house and got one of his sons who said he and his brother could come over to help unload the tractor.

Well, as usual that proved to be more of a chore than I'd planned. The little trailer was not fully hitched to the truck so when we started to roll the tractor down, the hitch came undone and the trailer tipped back. The two boys had to roll the tractor back and then get the hitch reset. Lucky the darn thing didn't some undone on the way home. I would have had a real mess on the road if it had. Lucky, lucky. The trailer hitch ball is the larger size for the coupler and it doesn't seat as easily as it should. I may want to change that.

OK, so finally the tractor was on the ground. Yea!! The guy in the store said, "Just put in the gas and start it up."

Fine. Did he tell me the battery cables had to be connected first? Good thing Bill's sons knew their business. They fixed that. The engine started just fine, but then the tractor wouldn't move. Was there anything in the manual about that? Nope.

Turns out there is this little pin thing in the back that needed to be pushed in. Don't know if it is a standard operating pin or something put on the tractor for shipping. I will scour the manual to find out what it is, but for now, it's in and will stay in until I determine what it is.

People who write manuals never consider the little details. My car has a flashing light in it that is an anti-theft device. No where in any of the books is it mentioned. So there sits my car with a flashing light and until I called the dealer, I had no idea what it was.

I've had assembly directions say you need a 1/2" wrench to do a job and then halfway through find out you also need a 5/8" wrench as well.

After teaching for so long, I have generally figured out that if you don't write directions very carefully and clearly, someone is sure to misinterpret them.

Wish the manufacturers would figure that out too.

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