Would you be able to sit with your thoughts and feelings just a while to consider how you are aging and managing in place on your farm?

Being an emotionally strong farm parent

Strong-willed and independent people might consider a self-coaching approach

Tis the season of farm meetings, where the speakers will talk about business and “keeping the emotion” out of business using data to make concrete decisions. I don’t debate this approach for grain marketing, but I highly doubt stuffing emotions on the farm creates clarity of expectations or happy outcomes. Recently I met Carolyn Stern, […] Read more



rear axle assembly

We find more front axle problems

This time a leaking gasket and another broken stud mean we need to spend more time on the axle overhaul before its ready for reinstallation

In the last progress report on Project CJ3A, we removed a broken stud in the front-axle steering knuckle. After tearing down the rest of axle, we found yet another broken stud. This time it was one of the bolts holding the differential housing cover plate on. The gasket sealing the cover plate to the axle […] Read more

Overhauling the brakes on our Jeep restoration project meant replacing all the steel brake lines. We fabricated replacements in the farm shop.

How to fabricate steel brake lines

Our project Jeep needs a complete brake overhaul, that means 
making our own replacement steel brake lines

The brakes on our ongoing Jeep restoration, Project CJ3A, were a complete disaster. Virtually every part in the system needed replacement, including the steel lines. We could have purchased those lines already preformed, but the cost would have been much higher than buying the basic materials and fabricating our own. So, we spent extra time […] Read more


How to remove a broken stud

Welding a nut onto a broken stud in the front axle of the old Jeep made it possible to easily turn it out

Breaking a stud off in a housing is likely one of the most frustrating things that can happen in the farm workshop. When we took the front axle apart during our ongoing old Jeep restoration, Project CJ3A, we found a previous repair effort left a broken stud at the bottom king pin bearing support in […] Read more