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So I’m one of those guys that names his tractors. I decided to make “license plates” for them with thier names on them. Finished the first one for my 953. I named it after my ex-father as he was a very hard worker, simple and no frills kinda guy...... same as this tractor. A fitting tribute to the man.

A couple young bucks are showing up on the minerals.

Plucked an old 12hp Kohler off the shelf to replace a worn out and tired Briggs in a GT1142. Converted wiring for mag ignition to battery type. Basically, turned the old girl into a 312. Ready to go back to work.

This truck was at our dairy queen which is a block from my house. I haven't seen this in town before, so probably just going through. There is another 6 door Ford in town though but its a few years older. Still cool as hell. I'm not a ford guy, but would love to have this one!

Got the decals from Terry today so finished up the hood on the Wheel A Matic. Along with the hood latch and ornament.

First there was @wallfish tooth pick art, then @Dan.gerous swizzle stick art, now we have @19richie66 tig art. What a bunch of talented artists.

Wonder if someone cut them down to keep grass ,leaves and other lawn crap out of the belt and pulleys? Don't call OSHA on me,but I usually run my decks with the guard off for that reason.2 minutes with the air hose when I'm done mowing and everything is clean.Plus,I can keep an eye on the condition of the belt.Ya know.........like change it way before that big mow on a Sunday afternoon.Break the belt and ya don't have a spare.What am I talking about?? I never change a belt until it breaks........Who am I kidding?

In May i dragged this mess home.It looked like a kid sprayed craft glue on it and threw a box of cornflakes at it.The original owner had sprayed it with clear plastic to keep it shiny and time was not on his side.The last owner knew little about WH electricals and could not get it to run.They unplugged everything.The wiring harness has not been harmed but they discarded anything they didn't recognize like the R and R. Little ugly has been earning its keep and will be digging taters next month.

Took it for a ride and had to get a couple of sun shots.

Here’s a few fav’s... Ok... it turned into a couple more than a few...

Between projects is always the time that shop improvements occur here. Absolute sharp and tuned tools is a must, so with only the exception of a few specialty honing stones I consolidated all my sharpening and tool maintenance devices to one area dedicated for that function. Each one slides out so it can be used without any obstructions on their sides. The indispensable Norton multi stone submerged in kerosene, two buffing wheels charged with different compounds, the grinder honer running real slow with an additional hard felt buffing wheel having special shapes for carving tools, and the wet wheel for major edge grinding without burning the edges with an additional small buffing wheel run by a fan motor from a retired US Navy ship.. At the bench I keep a couple of strops for immediate frequent touch up.

Fresh mowed grass smells great! Mike, your title gave me a pleasant memory of my youth. I always loved the smell of fresh cut grass every year when we did the first cutting of hay.

Damn it! Thought I could get them changed before you guys noticed!

I mowed today for the first time in a few weeks. Not much growing with the heat. (except weeds) Remember my broken shifter retaining set screw that I was going to drill out this winter? No need. I took about 2 passes across the front yard, switched gears and she wouldn't move. Of course, first thing I do is lean to the right and look for bits of drive belt. Go to shift back to 2nd from R, oops... Shifter is all wobbly. The set screw worked itself out. Problem solved. Or it will be when my Flea-spray order shows up. I was able to get it back into 2nd and finish the job. No backing up, DO NOT try to shift. heh.

Headed!!!

I alternate mowing between a couple machines....this week it was the C-105 with a 42”SD. Always does a nice job

Puzzle worked out pretty good, i think. Probably going to put on a helper spring or two. I will probably feel the extra weight this winter.

Thanks Ed but that’s all my son’s handywork with the tig torch. I cut, scribed it out and he zapped it. My son said bring it on!

The extruded plate is really cool. I have some flat aluminum blanks and have done some for the forum that Karl gave away to forum members at show a couple years ago. I will try to make a few different designs this fall when I have more time.

Baby got the shoes on backwards

Yes. They'll acclimate fine. Because you only have 3.

I’ll have more for you.

You might say I have a small collection! I was giving @19richie66 the business about all the ones he had so he donated to my nubbie museum. Kept in a place of honor of course!

Dan... better reverse traction

Nah - plow’s on the wrong side of the tractor... Nice looking rig!

We have a new family member arriving next week. This is Ben, who is a distant brother to our other Collie Finn. Hopefully he is the same temperament as Finn who is the best dog we have ever had. Bella is visiting this week as well, she lives on a dairy farm not far from Lockerbie. She often comes to stay for a few weeks as her human mum is Canadian and goes back over quite regularly.

By the way there @AMC RULES, I hear you were trying to get my tractor up at Ed’s! It’s at home in VA. I’ll let you know if I ever decide to sell. I’ve since put a correct deck under it - saving the 701 deck. Runs great too!!

I use stainless on every tractor that I redo. To avoid galling I try not to put a stainless nut on a stainless bolt or vise versa. Which ever will be showing gets stainless. Anti-seize and believe it or not Loctite will both prevent galling. I use a fair amount of blue Loctite when I am assembling a tractor. I have yet to have an issue using these practices.

Yes do as @stevasaurus said. You can Buy that bracket with or without that cross bar. Put it on and see if the plow lines up if so dont worry about the bind it wont hurt nothing.

Thanks Jim! He does this 10 hours a day making ski towers for high end ski boats. Definitely gets more practice than me.

Your to late! My wife threw me under the bus about an hour ago! I'm leaving town as can't show my face anywhere. Kettle is on anytime your in the area, or I can always nip down into Dumfries.

You ain't doing a very good job being busy not to be busy Ritchie! Tell ya right now guys are gonna be pestering you with orders!

Don't you worry ... I've got a Trina so you all will get pics...

Lol I should have saved the ones off Cindy's 702 duallies...was a pile of them! My goal is to collect enough to make a set of tires!

I agree.I'm the only tractor operator here.At 67 yrs old,thank God,still have 10 fingers and 10 toes.If I had a kid here running machinery..I would have guarda on the gaurds.Plus,I wear steel toed safety shoes and long pants when mowing.Not shorts and flip-flops.

I suppose the main purpose is person guarding not belt guarding? I know at work the emphasis was on person guarding. The rule was rotating parts, pulleys, shafts, belts etc must be guarded to prevent contact with any part of a human body. It looks like someone did a pretty good job altering those guards. Looks like they would protect your foot of if it slipped off the running board and onto the pulley. I would have no idea why someone would opt to put there finger there if running? I guess i am a outlaw, I like them off.

So as you can tell, I went and picked up the Lawn Ranger. Based on the serial, I'm guessing it is a 1962, first year. This would also confirm that the solid front tires are in fact, original. I ended up with the Lawn Ranger, the plow, and they had the original 32" deck for it The plow was attached with bolts and angle iron on the rear-end. I did not find any tag on the plow, but all the linkages work well, and nothing is seized on it. It has a newer cutting-edge on it, and the plow / frame are all solid, and actually in nice shape, just with 58 years worth of patina lol. I also dont know if the solid links are correct on the blade (where the tip-springs usually go). Since I dont have a model tag on the plow, I cant look at a parts list. The deck is going to need some work, the shell has some holes / rust, but nothing too bad. I wasn't planning on mowing with this, so that was just a little bonus. I got it home and tried to pull-start it (no battery or electric start). It felt like it was pulling over good (compression, and not locked up). I saw there was gas in the little glass sediment bowl, so I figured there was some old gas in it. After pulling for 5 minutes and no-go, I finally checked the tank. Bone dry, and very clean inside. Didn't have a lot of time, so I tucked it away for the night. This is a low-priority project, and I need to finish my Commando 8-8 first. Took some pictures. Overall, she looks good and complete. The hood is not the original. The guys I bought it from said they got it from Long Island, and that it had no hood. They claim to have tracked down the correct one (which explains the different color). Not sure how to verify this one is correct. The hood does not fit with the current motor, and luckily they did not cut the hood to fit. The transmission seems to work fine, shifts into all the gears and rolls okay. It's a little noisy when pushed, but I am not sure what (if any) oil it has in it. There are some issues that I will need to address, but I can't complain for the price and what it is. Issues that I spotted off the bat are: - Cracks / bent seat - Front tires wobble on spindles - Steering wheel issue - Hood / motor adjustment (if I keep this motor, not sure if it runs) - Minor bend on left fender - Need new shift boot - Throttle / Choke Cable area on dash / tower Anyways, here's the pics. Again, I am super happy with it, I love the size of it. I have an original 32R / 32E manual / parts list on its way, as there is not one in the manual section.

Nothing wrong with Facebook if you don’t let it take over your life. I started a Hesston/GMT page because there was nothing out there for info or parts and now have 29 members on the page. One guy has several of them, tons of knowledge from using them over the yesrs and has met the man who was on the design team. I never would have met him if not for FB. Also may have two machines coming my way after I finally get moved, if everything falls into place. It can be a good thing...... all how you use it. Lot of good deals pop up on market place too.

Exactly my thoughts

Best kind of fix. Simple. And if you don't have the correct clip a piece of ~18g copper wire wrapped around the groove and twisted a few turns will do the trick!

Happy as a pig in 💩

JAinVA , your local h/w store probably has s/s carriage bolts in the pull out drawer section , my true value store has a lot of stainless bolts . i have used s/s bolts all over my horse , without any issues ,and nyloc nuts also , pete

I’d love to see you try that!

Maybe Terry @Vinylguy might could do these!

That's AWESOME!!! And true for me at least...

You know I hate it when guys find deals there... almost makes we want to start FBing .....NOT!

Wait'll you see this....

Got my big old plush W-H love seat cover installed today.Oh...and a matching PMCO bullet tail light to finish off my recently installed HL-5 light kit.