Tractor woes.

It finally quite raining long enough for me to go out and work on the tractor.  First thing I had to do was give it a bath and get all the mud off of it from the irrigation ditch.  I used actual warm water and soap plus much high pressure water and pulling of weeds and grass from various crevices.  Once the tractor was clean I discovered that did not fix the problem.  Dirt was not holding my bucket arm down and causing it to creep up at a subpar snail pace.  I then concluded that it was the control valve and it just needed a little adjustment (I hate being a mechanic).  I attempted to get a wrench into a small gap under the seat so I would not have to take any plastic cowlings off.  No go, three nuts and two of them jammed up against the middle one to prevent it from moving.  I had to remove some weird plastic pin/clip things that held the cowlings on (I had to move two not just one), a screwdriver pried them out with some difficulty.  I adjusted the valve and it did not solve my problem.  This necessitated me stooping low to something I don't usually do, I broke out the manuals and read them cover to cover.  No help troubleshooting my problem.  

 I called the tractor dealer and asked for the service department.  The repairman and I went over what I had done and the lack of results.  He suggested I undo the quick disconnects and see if one of them may have come dislodged.  Also, if that didn't fix my problem then to swap the lowering and raising quick connects to see if it is a cylinder issue or control valve issue.  I went out to find the problem.  I took apart and reassembled the quick connectors.  One was dang near impossible to put back together.  Took me 10 minutes to force the connector back together and get it to seal shut.  I had not realized that if there is pressure on the line it is going to be near impossible to put back together.  I was trying to reconnect the line holding the bucket one foot off the ground, note to self, lower the bucket before working on hydraulics.  It fixed the problem! 

 I then tried to get the fancy plastic rivet things to go back in the holes.  No such luck, so I went and got a hammer and tried to beat them into submission.  No go they just would not go back in the holes.  Then it dawned on me they do kinda look like plastic rivets and are in two pieces.  I worked the center piece out and put the rivet through both pieces and just pressed the center pin in with my thumb, no tools required.  

Yesterday the tractor was used to clean up the straw pile from the barn that my nephew shoveled out. I was informed this morning that the bucket on the tractor doesn't work again.  So now I have to recheck the connection and may have to change out one side of the quick connector.  I must have scraped it on something when I was digging the ditch.  

I also saw the bull mounting one of the heifers a couple of days ago.  We are trying to keep track of his mating so we can predict when the heifers will have calves again.  Nine months from now would be late March which would be an okay time to have babies.  It is back to raining here, good for our pasture but bad for anyone with cut hay on the ground.   Our back creek is starting to slow way down in the last week.  This rain may give it a reprieve but I don't expect it to stay running past the Fourth of July.  A small section of the barn floor warped so it will have to be repaired when I finish up the barn this summer.