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Every year with a few tweaks I post this just before Christmas. I hope you all enjoy! Dedicated to all the members of Red Square world-wide and our families.....(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore!) ‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all ‘round our house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. My tractors were parked in their new shed with care; I felt very blessed just to know they were there. Our dogs were both nestled all snug on our bed, While visions of Milk Bones danced round in their heads. My wife in her PJ’s had gone off to snooze, While I’d settled down for the late evening news. When somewhere outside there arose a dull roar; It rattled the walls, it shook the whole floor! I ran to the door and flung it wide open, To see what the heck had fallen or broken. The yard light shone bright on the new fallen snow, Where nothing had crashed, no damage did show. When what to my wondering eyes did appear, But eight Wheel Horse tractors! Why now, and why here? They pulled a large trailer piled high front to back, With parts and attachments, an impressive stack Of motors and trannies and tires and blowers, And hoods and fenders and belts and some mowers! Then even more tractors appeared on our street, They came two by two in ranks very neat. RJ’s and GT’s and B’s, C’s and D’s, With numbers and letters of every series. Their engines did thunder, their hot exhaust rose, The air filled with laughter and hearty “Ho! Ho’sâ€! Though I did not know all the drivers by sight, Their banner, “Red Squareâ€, waved proud in the night! As quick as they’d come they slid to a stop, Then a man dressed in red ran straight toward my shop! I could see that he carried a very large sack, It bulged and it sagged and it ‘near broke his back! He winked and he grinned as he switched on the light, Then pulled the door shut to hide from my sight. “This can’t be realâ€, I thought to myself, “I’m too old to believe in the ‘jolly old elf’ â€! He was gone but a moment, then quickly came back, His stepped seemed much lighter, and so did his pack. He signaled ‘thumbs up’ with a mischievous smile, Then boarded his wagon, climbed back up the pile. Atop this great load, with white beard and hair, The man all in red hailed the drivers by pair: “Now Karl, now TT, now Ian, now Bill, On Chuck, on Steve-o, on Mike, on Will….†“We’ve far to go boys, let’s keep up the pace, Don’t spare the ‘Horses, we’re in quite a race, We’ve thousands of homes to visit this night, Our work must be done before it’s daylight!†I started to step out to say a “Thank you!â€, But this man was fast, and so were his crew! They all punched their throttles, their engines did scream, The herd quickly vanished as if in a dream! I now think ‘twas Santa who commanded this fleet, Atop his red wagon in a 520 seat! His words echoed long after he’d gone out of sight, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!†If a herd of red tractors should come to greet you, On the night before Christmas, a jolly red crew, It’s our friends from Red Square who’ve cleverly planned To get more seat time giving Santa a hand! *** *** *** *** *** *** May the Holidays be filled with peace, love, happiness and contentment for all of us, May the Lord as you may choose to define Him in your life bless and watch over you, May the memories of those who have left us remind us of how precious life is, and May 2013 be filled with peace, prosperity and good health for us all! Duff :thumbs:

I havent been on in what seems like forever so I just wanted to throw a couple pics up of the 18 auto with the blade on. Supposed to be a white Christmas here in NEPA. If I dont get enough to plow Christmas morning, I should on Wednesday/Thursday with the first Nor'easter in 2 years. I guess we shall see how it pushes with the 29.5- 9.50 R-3s on her....

make sure you take care of your kohler and keep IT and you happy happy. if you don't it will smile and you won't lol.

HERE ARE A COUPLE OF PICTURES OF MY 1975 B80 I BOUGHT NEW IN NOVEMBER 1976, A LEFT OVER. IT WAS $826.00 OUT THE DOOR WITH THE WORN OUT 1967 857 WITH 36" DECK AND PLOW TRADE IN. I PARKED THE B80 IN 1983 WHEN I BOUGHT MY NEW 1982 SK486. IT HAS BEEN IN DRY STORAGE ON MY PATIO SINCE 1986 COVER WITH A BLANKET. I INSTALLED A SPINDLE AND BLADE KIT ON THE DECK IN 1986. THE HEADLIGHT KIT AND LIGHTER WERE INSTALLED WHEN NEW. I UNCOVERED IT TODAY TO TAKE FEW PICTURES OF IT TO POST ON REDSQUARE. IT IS LITTLE DUSTY BUT STILL RUNS GREAT WITH 800 HOURS ON IT, I WILL POST MORE PICTURES LATER I CAN ONLY POST TWO AT A TIME. THANKS BOWTIE IN OHIO

Theres no issues with loading the rims in my opinion Steve, it doesn't load the axle or the axle bearings and seals. I've never seen a 50 pounder that would fit inside the rim tho. I have 50#'s on the outside and 25#'s on the inside of my rims. Mike........

Here is the first test drive, I'm glad I put a seat and footrest on it, it turns pretty tight, the tri ribs dig in with little to no sliding, I need to adjust the hydro so it goes faster forwards, and I think the next thing up is a throttle control, right now it's wide open or nothing, but at least it's up and driving I'm pretty happy, I'm a week ahead of schedule, the plan was to test drive it by weeks end.

without going out and checking, i think a 3/8 open ender fits the square head. a decent quality wrench wont open up as you tighten it and round off the head. a nice tight adjustable will work too. you shouldnt need to tighten them that much that rounding the head happens. replacing the screw is an option too if the point is gone and the screw wont hold anymore. ive dealt with loose hubs before and 9 times out of 10 its better if you take the hub off and take a close look for wear with the hub, axle, keyway first. those setscrews arent meant to hold a loose assembly together......

And being that I never leave well enough alone, always seeking that adrenaline rush from unexpected discoveries ..... a 2 stage alarm with a visual indication (or a muted pre-warning audible alarm if you put a resistor in the horn circuit) p.s. I'm guessing at these trigger temperatures. I have not concluded any research on what constitutes "over temperature" of an Onan cylinder head. From the "Demystification manual": The contacts inside the switch are normally open. As the body of the switch warms, the clearance between the contacts narrows, until the switch closes at 320-340 degrees F. It does not reopen until the temperature falls to 280-310 degrees F.

Maybe the pics are rare too. :eusa-whistle:

Hi everyone I just drained my trannys on both my C-81 and 312-8 and this is the color it came out! What does this mean? Is this normal after years of use?

Well, I finally got the 1954 Massey Harris Pony started, after two months of work! She's good looking, but the 6 volt system usually turns everyone away... Still gotta get some pictures of the 'horses' though... Spenser.

THANKS GUYS FOR ALL THE COMPLIMENTS ON THE B80. MY 1982 SK486 IS A NICER TRACTOR WITH 1300 HRS. IT HAD A NICER FACTORY PAINT WHEN I GOT IT NEW IN 1983. I WILL TAKE SOME SMALLER PHOTOS OF IT SOON ,SO I PUT IT ON RED SQUARE, BOWTIE IN COLUMBUS

Very Nice Matt!! You really have the Midas touch when it comes to those old Briggs. Simply put, Thy look GREAT!! when you finish them.

That block looks pretty pleased with itself! That really is bad, and should be a great reminder to the rest of us to take care of our engines! Matt :flags-texas:

Merry Christmas to you and yours Lars.

Pretty cool, Lars. Merry Christmas to you and yours. :cool:

Thank you Lars, I never heard a Norwegian Christmas Song before! Merry Christmas to you!

I dont understand any of the words but I think I know where your going with this......Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours as well Lars. Mike..............

Got a new Stens carb for my son's Lawn Ranger with a 6hp Techy for $30 shipped to the house. Put it on with no adjustments and it runs great.

Here is the power steering test, Ryan taped and steered it, so the video is a little shaky, I had to hold the elect. motor in place to run the belt.

I've used the non-stick stuff used on pots and pans called Pam with good results. Good luck, Bill

Replace the the woodruff key and the set screws if the key way in the hub and axle still look good. Keep a watch on it as it can destroy the hub and axle.

I generally take the hubs off and grind a flat section into the key itself where the set screw has left a mark. This guarantees the hub cannot slide inwards again. Mark

I put regular allen socket, set screws in. Mine used to wander in on one side, but quit before square head set screw changed out, but changed for convenience. Short fall it may fill up with debris and give me fits removin'. If all else fails and you have enough inboard axel shaft exposed, you could consider a fastened secured collar as back up, long as doesn't hit/rub seals.Let us know what ya come up with. Thanks

Those bolts are square head. You need an 8 point socket.

Show off I'll figure out how to do that someday. HA I think I figured it out, more videos posted.

personally I would just undo the two halves, split the tranny, check for any bits - bent shift fork, etc... prise out and change the axle seals, input and brake seals, clean with some gas, rinse, dry, rebuild and clean oil... will cost around the same, take the same time and you will be certain the tranny is good for another 25 years! You do not need to take every last piece apart, providing you ensure the shift select mechanism doesn't ping out, you can clean and rinse, rebuild largely in tact :D

Now I can't sit with Comfort and Joy! Boy or Boy!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n22-Xk4MTEc

Its official... I now have a new NEMESIS!!!!!!!!! CHRISTMAS LIGHTS........ It used to be my 87 Toronado which now has all the electrical gremlins kicked out of her. But tonight when I got home from work, the front yard light arrangement wasn't lit. So not ever being accused of thinking things through, I go and check all the plugs and power junctions to make sure they didn't get disturbed by the wind and snow. AND, it is very cold outside. So with nothing out of order. I go in the house and say to miss Lori " I don't know what the h#$l is wrong with them". She says, " Did you check the timer"? I look at her like she just fell off the turnip wagon and say, "the timer can't be the problem". So I go back outside and of course the timer "IS" the problem. So I fix that and only half of the lights go on . So now back to the cords and such "nothing" . Now frozen and hands made out of icicles I say "don't work then you rotten b@#%@$d's. I don't care if you never work again"! I go back in the house and say " well they just ain't gonna work"... PERIOD . So then, I am sitting down to supper and look outside and all of the lights are back on . But 10 minutes later a string in one of the trees goes out and comes back on :*****: . Well, it may not be the end of the world for us.... But it is absolutely the end of the world for them after Christmas.... Working or not.

3 to 4"of the wet sloppy messy greasy gunky white stuff. Some drifts up to a foot. Not enough to get Elvis out of the barn. I don't think I've plowed any fluffy snow for over 3 years. Real hard not to put all the gravel in the yard. Really like the 5 position plow sector I added. Don't know why didn't make that a standard feature. Used the 704 to pull snow away from the doors. Hydraulic lift sure is nice on the 160

I got some time tonight to tinker, I tightened all the hyd fittings, and had to guess on the two lines that go to the steering cyl. they are not marked, if I got it wrong you turn the wheel left and the tires go right, then I would have to swap the two lines, so it was a eenie meenie minne moe kinda thing, then I thought about using a drill to try to run the pump as I took the engine back off to ez getting to the fittings, so I went to the barn to find a pulley to use and found a 1/3 hp elect motor with a pulley on it, I take it back to the shop and try it, yup it worked it only runs @ 1700rpm but it ran the pump ok, I was going to build a mount to hold it in place but that would have taken at least half hour or more, so I just held it in place by hand and had Ryan my son run the lift controls, it took a min. but the lift started to work, so I had him try the steering, after a few turns back and forth to work the air out, the wheels turn and I got lucky they even turned the right way I was pretty happy, those two lines are the hardest two to get to, and it turns out it only takes two and a half turns of the wheel to turn the tires from lock to lock, that is pretty fast, now with out the pump running it takes about 10 turns to move the wheels that far, but at least they will turn with out the engine running. I got the upper steering shaft marked to be cut and drilled, so tomorrow I can get that done, then put the engine back in, I really hope to do a quick test drive tomorrow, but not sure with getting ready for Christmas, we are having dinner here this year for the wifes family, not looking forward to that, house FULL of people, but us guys can go out and I can show off my toy.

Thanks to all, you all have made it worth being here.

It'll snow before you know it. I couldn't wait to plow for my first time, that I got up at 4:30 in the morning to see if it snowed. I waited until 8 am for a little more accumulation. The tractor did a good job. Here's a video about a minute long. .

HERE ARE TWO PICTURES OF THE B80. I WILL DO THE 1982 SK486 LATER. THANKS GUYS FOR THE COMPLIMENTS. BOWTIE IN OHIO

very nice to see an original like this in such good condition. it really is a statement there, that you have great respect for these tractors. it really shows that besides buying the tractor to use, you looked after it as a substantial investment as well.... looking back to 1976, even though $826 with the trade in was not the most expensive machine around, it was still a lot of money.... very refreshing, seeing the majority of them all of us come across these days, the condition they are in, and discovering the general lack of respect for machinery in general.....

That's great stuff. about $31.00 at Advance Auto. Take the hair clean off of your carcass. If I get within 5 feet of the stuff, my wife will know it and make me get undressed outdoors! :jaw:

congratulations Kelly on reaching 5 years

I really like the hanger trick !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 12 Pains of Christmas!! RIGGING UP THE LIGHTS!!!!!!

Needs a .50cal mounted to the hood!

This is true....never won a Superbowl and probably never will but being from Minnesota doesn't automatically make me a Vikings fan that is like assuming a person from NY is a Jets/Giants fan...I am more of an "anti packer" the only time I cheer on the vikes is when they play the packers. I still wish Zygi would have packed up his team and headed to LA like he threatened to do if they did not get their new stadium.

That looks like a pretty nice setup you have there. Make sure to take pics or video if ya get any snow! My 633 and 520 are still arguing about who gets to do the work when the first storm hits.

Averie's favorite... My little girl!!!

Or as my Grandpa told me, tight is tight..... go figure, he also used to tell me that: "the worst thing that it could do was kill you".

Or you can use the method my Dad taught me. Yank on it 'til you feel the bolt snap, then back off 1/4 turn :laughing-rofl: