Leaderboard

Washed the three wheel horses 🐴 I am taking to the Big Show! I will load up Monday evening!

Just got home from a very busy trip away - got a ton of work done on the ship, but only managed about four hours sleep a day in two short bursts! After complaining that I had no woodwork shop onboard, but was expected to do a lot of repairs, the company finally let me have one in an otherwise badly used space. Unfortunately they got a shore company to build it, and it was awful! It was 1m high, too narrow, had a vice mounted in a corner that was effectively unusable and featured the worst storage drawers i have ever used. The top also had metal raised edges- not very handy for wood tools. I started the trip with cutting equipment in hand and removed the brand new incorrect top, and at the same time reducing the height so I could put a more user friendly top on. Then cut out some of the awful drawers and moved them to one side in a slightly more useful stack. Lots more to do as I want cupboards to hide the mess of tools rather than an open front. See attached pictures of the project from it's humble origins as a locker space. More to follow as I also built a second workshop this last trip....

Washed the show rigs, the haulers, and started loading! This deck is 12” shorter than Norman’s deck over bed setup. I have a feeling the Farm Truck won’t even know 5 tractors are on top of it!

All strapped down! Momma’s gonna daily drive this to work the next couple days.. close by shake down if you will!

I have a ruptured disc in my back, so I can't really do any work right now. I thought I would take this down time opportunity and relate a Bone Head Move. This has got to be the BONIEST Bone Head Move I have seen in a looooonnnnggg time. I mention in another post that my brother and I were working on the motor in his Toro Groundmaster. It is a Kawasaki FD620D. In short, we were changing the head gaskets. Him on the port side, me on the starboard side. I also mentioned that sometimes 2 people simply cannot work together. I love him like a brother, but never again. We just have different ways of doing things. So.....We got the heads back on, and installed the intake manifold. Carburetor linkage and fuel line all hooked up. Installed the spark plugs. This is where things go south, waaaay south. Hook up spark plug wires. Well, one of them anyway, David can't find his. Can't find the plug wire? It's connected to the coil, all one unit, which is located directly under the cylinder. Nope, it's not there, at least not all of it. Not the end for the spark plug. Where could it be? (Are you sitting down?) There's only one place it can be. IN THE CYLINDER! He had pinched the plug wire between the block and the head. It was pinched in 2. As I said in another post, he is a, In a hurry, get it done type of guy. I tend to be a bit slower and more methodical. I was going to take a pic, but I knew that would make him mad. Next time you pull a head, ask yourself. Where is my spark plug wire?

Little mouse in my pocket told me the Plunge @JCM is in the hospital and has to undergo some surgery. Internal plumbing problems I guess. Told him to quit trying to sword swallow monkey wrenches but nnnnoooo! Add insult to injury he had big plans to do some camping with the missus and get to the BS. Prayers Jimbo... pullin for ya and get well soon!

Doing a compare test today after Mowing. instead the Makita Accu pressure washer i used today the normal House Water Hose to clean it up. The Difference is - impressive as i found. First the Pict with the Makita Battery Pressure Washer (12 Bar) and 7 Litres of Water Next Pict with just Spray it down with the hose connected to the House Water system ( 4Bar) and about 20-30 litres of Water My own compared results confirms for me, that thing is definitely worth it‘s money. At least i finished a little Project. Will try it at the comeing Weekend how it performs- if it don‘t rain.

A few weeks ago I posted that I was starting to finish my hood ornaments. Tonight I was finally able to work on the chrome finish on the second one. So far I am quite impressed with the product that I choose. The Horse head still needs a little light buffing in some areas to remove some over spray. I'm sure that you are all wondering what I used and I am more than happy to share. http://www.motostorm.com/Motochrome-chrome-paint.html

A few years back I brought my "Barn Find 953" to the Big Show and got lots of thumbs up. There is no need to presume that a needs to be freshly painted, we love them all.

It's been said many times.... There are those who should just not be allowed to pick up a wrench....

Finally got around to finishing the B-80 "FlowahPowah", 98% done just need go get sum new hardware for the dash and I ordered sum spacers and bearing caps for the front rims painted the rears. Also just have to replace the oil drain extention seems to leak. Anyone know what thred the kohler 8hp oil drains are? Just gonna make a new 1 but she's full right now with new oil so hoping make a new 1 and then drain and install it. Others then that 2 out of 3 horses complete.

WOW..that pic went from simply pastoral to creepy really quick! Just glad they don't have any sickle bars in there!

Ya see that Lane....told you to wear your rain coat I'm going with Lane.

Here's what it looks like together.

We are almost all loaded up. My sin and I put a fresh coat of white paint on the trailer. We picked it up a few months back and have been fixing it up. Paint is not auto paint rather just roll on metal paint. Wanted the rough/No shine look do to the amount of ding/dents. The matte finish covers a lot of that. For what we are using th trailer for we are happy.

last year i started using rislone , zinc additive to all my small engines , now having put hours and oil changes with the same rislone additive , not only do the engines run with out effort , but , my oil dip stick inspection , tube and dipstick are totally clean and clear of the typical milky tube residue. https://rislone.com/product/3x-concentrated-engine-oil-supplement-with-zinc-treatment-4405/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw5auGBhDEARIsAFyNm9Hg6_3LD0791bahLNB9zTrEJK1g4tzlTmJDb_nK1BE1GGRSZkPCK8YaAhOOEALw_wcB , I am not making this up , but letting you know of its improvement to engine cleanliness, worth a try ,use it with rotella 30# . like anything else , its not an instant improvement , how could it be ? but hours and use have proven to me , like my sta bil to all my gas top offs , just my experience . but it works for me , pete

I’m happy to buy some petrol, instead of Mr. Banker Man!

Gas company gonna love you guys haha!

Sadly, most of them don't know who they are...

Tractors of the corn... 🌽

Nice looking tractor!! It looks like you have your belt routed correctly but the tension/idle pulley is not putting tension on it. I'm guessing that either the return spring is not attached or the parking brake is set in the picture. The holes in the back of the seat pan were most likely there to accommodate a tail light. Here is a picture of a typical belt routing. Older tractor but same concept. Return spring for the idle/tension pulley should be on the brake side of the tractor.

You just jinxed it. Happens every year. A week out and a good forecast will change 3 times before set up day. Bringing my rain coat and muck shoes

this is a fun thread! I have a couple of tractors out here at the ranch that fit the bill. The first one is my 1054A named “Rusty”. One of the best compliments he has received was when my buddy and his family came over last year. We decided to get out about 6 or 7 tractors and play “tag” in the back yard. I chose Rusty and my buddy says, “I didn’t think that tractor even ran!” I’m taking the @Shynon route on this one for the time being. My plan is to get the engine running like a Swiss watch, paint the rims, and install my new seat cushions and run it. I even had @Vinylguy make me up some faded and deteriorated stickers for him. Exhibit B is my youngest sons tractor—he named it “Blackbeard”. It is of course, the mighty GT-14. Zach wants to paint it and so sometime this summer it will likely get a facelift but for now, it is a little rough. Zach loves to use it for a variety of jobs. And it is up to the task! Ironically we purchased it from the son of the original owner. It only sat outside the last two years before we got it. I could only imagine what it would’ve looked like had we got it before that. Our buddy fabbed up this 3pt box and Zach loves using it as well. They got some surface rust and lots of stories to tell but it doesn’t hurt their ability to work🙌🏻😎

@JCM, anyone that spends time around Jim is in need of some prayer. I pray that your surgery and recovery are successful.

Here's Trina's mom and Trina's Pigpen Tractor. 867. Her go to worker.

Us old geezers gotta drive the "Automatics!"

@This is 854 we’re bringing an 857 as well, though the rear sheet metal looks a bit different. I added a couple “big rig” parts to Norman today. The air dam should help keep some bugs off the tractors, if anything.

I thought you were in Florida? You moving around with the witness protection program or something? Is Richie your real name? Are you a spy?

My second workshop project last trip involved rebuilding our pathetic deck workshop. You can see from the picture that is quite small with only about a metre of workbench. Not a great size considering the ship is 125m long. I removed the full height shelves to one side, cut them down to bench height, then rebuilt narrower shelves onto the new bench. The scrap shelves were then welded together and mounted in another compartment - so nothing was wasted. We now have lots of bench space, useful storage, and order in what was a terrible area. Certainly getting plenty of welding practice in, although I am still not very good!

no, I just have some time on my hands today!

Finished painting some boards ready to fit to Carol's studio next week. Trimmed the hedges. Mowed the lawn. Had an ice cream. Mowed the green and verges. Had an ice cream. Cleaned off the C-125 and mower deck. Took a walk down the bridleway. Had an ice cream. Just waiting for dinner.

Self-awareness is no more prevalent in the masses than common sense is.. common.

Last night finished up Dug's prep. Got the grease gun after all the zerts, popped on the now red front bearing caps, and finally got the LED ornament wired in to the lighting switch. Now to switch gears to camp prep for the next couple of evenings to be sure everything is there, serviceable, and have all I think we'll need.

I am adding a kill switch to Jackie, but otherwise I’m ready to start loading! Even washed Norman... he gets a bath as often as @Achto gets a haircut... if Norman’s lucky!

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these crazy people from the swift completion of their appointed duty to scourer the flea market and greet fellow Red Square members.

He also bagged and tagged a bunch of stuff. This will be fun!

This is what a 1961 Cub Cadet looks like disassembled..,,

The serial number tag, and the key chain are on the C-125A. That means it's officially done. I believe the tractor is VERY sound mechanically. As with all my tractors there are places where the paint could be better, but then there are a lot of places where it could be worse. I did some re-paint after the gas can fiasco, I think it turned out OK. I got the "creep" adjusted out of the trans, so it's fine now. The motor starts immediately, and sounds great. To me anyway. Now that it's done, it's time to move on to the 175.

Fuel shut off valve or solenoid?

Had these cool looking digital pressure and transmission gauges but they were garbage as expected from a Chinese product. Replaced them with conventional analog ones also USA made. In addition little woman comes home one day and hands me a “ gauge “ for the tractor . It’s an outside cooking timer. Now I can keep track of how long it takes to mow the lawn.

Flowah Powah has come a long way!

Don't send him any Play-Doh money Waldo!

@76c12091520h , @Ed Kennell, @richmondred01, and @squonk If Brian is ok with me sending him money and if he trusts Skunky that would be a great idea. Thanks Ed for the suggestion. Mark it looks like you will be the transfer point for central Virginia . LOL

Hank's gotta have a backup! Yep just finishing up ... Fellas told me I should have it on a magnetic starter and may just do that yet. Amp draw was 20+ with startup much higher of course, so an awfull lot for the pressure switch.

Yes, either is fine. Stick to what's in it.

The Chrome is sprayed in multiple light coats. First coat did not even look like I did anything, 8 coats of chrome paint to achieve the final finish. Tomorrow it will get a couple coats of Moto Storm MototClear to protect the finish.

What ever will we do without rain at South Mountain Fairgrounds?

I found out today that a private truck, or “Not For Hire” on the doors makes this a personal use vehicle. I Goo-Gone-d the rest of the adhesive from the previous company and the US DOT numbers off. I’ll have Not For Hire on the truck in a couple spots before the trip! I tossed a tool kit, chainfall hoist, wheel chock and will have a 12 ton bottle jack soon in the aluminum tool box today. I also did some calculations. We should be able to round trip THIS TRUCK for less than $600 to the Big Show and back!

Howdy guys! So, after a long build on my Duromax engine, I have it on the tractor. I used a 65 inch belt made my own top-plate and belt stops on the motor housing. I ground down the cam, bored out the wrist pin section of the billet rod. I installed stainless pushrods. I had to use my die grinder to grind down part of the block inside the motor so the rod would rotate. I fabricated my own air intake. I custom made an adapter for my header pipe on the exhaust. Obviously, I attached my throttle cable. The Billet rod I went with is +.045 which took some 'doing' to make work. Here is the deal with the Billet rods on Duromax engines. If you do not have a die grinder, you cannot get a predator 420 rod to work in a Duromax 457. The wrist pin of the Duromax is slightly larger than that of a predator engine... so you have to grind out the inside of the rod to get the Duromax wrist pin to fit. The crankshaft journal fits just fine. The other thing is the cam. Not only do you have to grind down the cam between the lobes... you also have to grind part of the outside of the rod... very slightly because you have to have .080 clearance between the rod and cam. Again, my rotary die grinder got to do some work on this build. After speaking with ARC racing about this build, ARC told me that they dyno tested an engine that is comparable to mine, and it made 51 horsepower. Whether my engine is making that kind of power is up for debate... but it is making well over 40 hp. I will say, this motor growls like a hellion. It sounds WAY different than my Tillotson 25 horse engines. The Duromax engine literally sounds like a coyote 5.0. It really isn't as jerky as you would think with this much power. As long as you release the clutch slowly and give it a little throttle, it is actually really smooth... although when you even slightly mash the throttle... it rips. I did go with Mobil 1 oil for this motor, as I do with all my high power builds. Absolutely no oil is going by the breather, so that tells you what a good build this is. Aside from working on the engine, I also got some lights for the '67. These are lithium battery powered lights (since my engine does not have a charge coil, I went with some called Victagen). These lights are very bright and can last many hours without needing a charge. I am very happy with them. Don