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Had to put in a new plug and a toggle switch for kill. need to get an airfilter. Started on 3rd pull... (requires a serious tug) Sometimes you win at an auction Pincor 4500watt

TL/DR - Shipped a 257-H from S. Elgin, IL to N. Attleboro, MA via Fastenal for $244. A few months back a member @Stratman(Dan) put up a 257-H with 95 original hours for sale in the classified section. I have a 520H with a loader, a 314H with a plow and a 314-8 - but the 257 struck my fancy for use as an everyday lawnmower. No hump, easy on, easy off. I really wanted it. I reached out to Dan to let him know that I was going to do some research into my options for shipping the mower from the Chicago area back to Boston. After getting several quotes ranging between $1,200 and $2,300, I sent Dan a note and said it looks like it isn’t going to happen. Then in a chat with @ebinmaine, I mentioned that there was a Fastenal store down the street from me and I was thinking of popping in and asking them what they might charge. So I did. The guy I spoke to in the office (Earl) was great and gave me the name and number for their sister company that does shipping - Blue Lane Freight Shipping. I called, the young lady asked me for the weight and dimensions of the tractor, which I provided. I had a quote emailed to me literally within five minutes. I called Dan back and said it looks like it’s possible for us to get this done. We had a quick conversation, and made the deal. Here are some things to know… - Blue Lane Shipping 855-978-5695 - Dispatcher: Tawnya Johnson (sent the quote) - They will not insure the shipment unless it’s fully crated. Mine was shipped on a skid Dan made. He also covered it with a furniture blanket and an old John Deere cover and strapped it down. - Your seller has to be willing to put it on a skid, drain the gas and oil (leave tranny oil in) and deliver it to a local Fastenal store. - You need to make an appointment at the store for drop off - no walk ins. - The receiving store will call you when it arrives. - They will not commit to shipping times, mine took 1 week. - The payment for shipping is paid at the pickup store by credit/debit card, no checks or cash. - The Fastenal store uses a forklift to load, unload and reload the machine onto your trailer. I hope this helps anyone who may have been thinking of a mower they like, but felt the distance/shipping made it unattainable. Paul

Peppered bacon. Brined a week. Rinsed. Cold smoked 4 hours. I prefer black birch. I had peach and red oak 80/20. So I used that. Can't bring myself to dispatch healthy trees. Tasty stuff

Don’t forget to Greasy Pete your door rubbers! @peter lena you’d be proud!

Hats off to the harrow Our plowed field has been smoothed somewhat by the drag harrow; now final preparations must be made prior to planting. Ole Ringness of Norway, a mail carrier, invented the disc plow and disc harrow after noticing how a warped wheel on his wagon moved large amounts of mud while moving. Harrows are not very heavy and their main job is not to dig deep into the ground. Instead, they are better suited for tasks that happen close to the soil surface like killing emergent weeds and preparing the seedbed. The advantages of using a Disc Harrow are that it breaks up clods in the soil and surface crusts, cultivates the soil very precisely, Improves soil aeration and surface uniformity. The disc harrow is good for eliminating weeds and kills the already emerged weeds and the discs can be adjusted to any soil type pulverizing the soil thoroughly.

Early 2 HP version??

Got some cold and wet seat time this morning. Here's 16 1/2 minutes of plowing bliss! 418-A didn't miss a beat.

Whereas it was going to be a miserable day here in southwest Missouri, I decided it as a good day to double smoke a supple of bacon. Our son in law showed up last week with ten pounds of "restaurant style" bacon. (What ever restaurant style is--just looked like a big box of thin sliced bacon.) We ended up with about 20 bags of bacon of eight slices each. Then this afternoon, I played with model train.

Lawn rolling aims to even out frost heaves or similar “bumps” in the lawn, including rodent burrows. Makes mowing easier and, on closely mowed lawns, prevents scalping. It's often a cosmetic and maintenance process and less of a health thing. Rolled lawns often need aeration afterwards. Yep, you can see where lawn care can consume a lot of resources! Consider growing a meadow of indigenous (shade-loving, in your situation) wildflowers--mow only once or twice a year as well as attracting pollinators for that garden!

With the automatic fertilizer dispenser feature at no extra cost...

My First wheel horse was the one I grew up on. I have tons of awesome memories on this tractor mowing with my grandfather (him on his 416H which I own now) and me on my dad’s 12 Automatic. We mowed 5 acres twice a week. When I moved into my house (my grandparents house) my dad gave me his 12 auto. I remember my dad tearing it apart and repainting it and adding the 18HP Briggs and Stratton Vanguard V-twin to it in our basement. He had red paint everywhere lol. I used it a ton around here but unfortunately it sat for the last 5 plus years. Well I finally got it into the garage a few weeks ago. I dug into the carb. Had to get a new gasket. Cleaned the fuel pump and changed out the fuel lines and filter. Unfortunately Alex and I couldn’t get the starter to work so pull start it was. So happy to have it running again. Now to steal front tires back from @WheelHorse_Kid and get it out and stretching its legs. It should start first or second pull now that the fuel system is primed. I also ran it for a while after it died at the end of the video and it throttles up and down perfectly fine. this is the tractor that started my crazy addiction. So glad it’s back to running.

Never mind that! More on that Rare English tractor please!

You really have no idea how many people out there are experts at everything ( Jack of all trades master of none ) until you deal with Facebook . I belong to a community page wont even ask or answer questions anymore I’ve been hauling fuel /filling tanks 23 years - driving truck 36 - I made the mistake of trying to help a few out with home fuel/tank related issues - let me just say your tractor experts are fuel storage and delivery experts also … need a doctor lawyer electrician plumber they have it all covered .. lol

This is exactly why I roll mine every spring after the ground thaws. Well there's that and after suffering from cabin fever for months with no snow to plow and no grass ready to mow, it's a good excuse to get some seat time.

You may consider a removable rubber flap to cover the deadbolt keypad. Is this on a side door?? A storm door helps greatly - and allows you to use a screen in the summer......

I'm drooling. The only thing better than bacon is MORE bacon!!

Including Maple Bacon Bourbon..... my favorite adult beverage. Treepep....I'll take 2lbs thick cut . Thanks

I was a little nervous, but the 312-8 worked great. 9 " heavy snow. The Kohler was strong and that deep growl while diggin was killer. The 2 stage is very heavy for the small frame, under way its a beast traveling raised it has some weight out front. 150# weighted out back. i was a happy operator after 23 hours in a loader.

BORING! I read that first line as being bored, not getting an engine bored Great input, Mr. Jr!

Hey I can pack a shed too remember…

Sure have enjoyed reading all your birthday wishes ...and jabs. Joe wanted pictures, so here ya go. I was up pretty late last night watching the Bills-Dolphins game. Wanted to see who my Steelers would get. So, I slept in this AM and woke up to the scent of dried smoked chipped venison. Mrs. K was making one of my favs., chipped venison gravy w/ mushrooms on toasted english muffin and scrambled eggs. Then took my friend "Groovy" for our daily walk. Her muzzle is about as gray as mine but she has all her hair. Finished a couple items on the Honeydo list. Then heard a knock at the door and here comes my inlaws with a surprise home made cake ( Bourbon Pecan). Worked on the gen set. Made a cover plate for the fuel pump hole and trimmed some tin off the breather. Getting things cleaned up and back together. Gotta get that exhaust pipe of to plumb up the check valve, pressure gage, pop off and tank. She's soaking in PB. Mrs K called me to clean up for dinner. Another fave. Peppers stuffed with my ground bacon/ venison, rice, tomatoes, and cheese. Steamed broc and cali. Settled in now to watch the Michigan / Washington game. All us Penn staters hate Ohio and Michigan, But I gotta root for the BIG 10. Go wolverines. It has been a great 29th Bday Richard and this is the 51st time I celebrated it. I am actually a 29yo.... don't know when I blinked my eyes and ended up in this 80 yo body. Thanks again guys. I always look forward to reading your posts. My Red Square Family and this Kennell Family keep this old dog in the hunt.

i know some of you got snow, we just got a lot of rain. url

Farm Show Magazine got ahold of my story! I wish they would have sent me the article before print to proof read, but it is what it is.

This is awesome! Hopefully when someone is looking for a good way to ship a machine I can remember to reference this one!

Aeration is important...I have a plugger that I used in Virginia...no rocks...up here it just bounced along (lay and rocks) I gave up I live in the boondocks if it is sort of green i am happy (weeds are green!)

Did you leave the switch on run accidentally???

I started cooking bacon outside on the Blackstone griddle. As clearly stated previously, I love bacon. I just don't like the house smelling like it for 24 hours afterwards. @rmaynard how does the stove method work out? Always wanted to try that, especially with some brown sugar and... I need to shut up before I end up in the dang kitchen!

I recall seeing just that a while back at Home Cheapo - an entrance set and deadbolt keyed alike, Now, if you want them keyed to something you already have - consult a Locksmith. My son is one, but does not deal with residential work anymore.... I have 2 properties - and a "Master" key that opens all the doors and the garages. Had to upgrade to 6 pin tumblers from 5 - the Master tumbler is the 6th one....

Not a fan... I volunteer at a place that has 5 of them. Between batteries, ice, code defaults etc. I would suggest a regular key deadbolt. Manual lock box if you want to make sure key is always available...

2nd on the helicopter coil. Drilling & tapping to 5/16 might be another option. Did that a few times on the bottom right one.

The early Troy-Bilt Tiller had only 2hp engines. Father had one. It had the front mounted sickle bar attachment mower an acre field ...

Well, there go my dietary plans for 2024. EVERYTHING is better with bacon!

Wow, I just got a call from my other SIL. She lives in Tampa Bay, Fl. and left on a bus at noon for Pa. She will arrive here tomorrow at 6AM. She knew I would be watching the football game and called as soon as it was over. She and 50- 60 other people on the bus sang Happy Bday. She will be here for a triple birthday party this sunday. Her sisters Jan. 1, mine Jan 8, and her mothers 99th on Jan. 11.

Did someone call? Swap the engine with a good running one! LOL Little 8hp Kohlers aren't too difficult to find. Curious, what problem or condition was discovered that indicates new valve guides are the fix?

I don't call it a sickness, I call it a necessity. Each tractor has a purpose. And one of those purposes is that it makes me happy.

I have been using Armor All on the rubber seals for years, works well.

This drawing should help you.

Not for 22 clams & free shipping on fleabay Bill. That's for both valves too!

Good score there Paul... 10HP on a rope pull is a workout!!

I was a systems consultant on an engagement at Case IH Corporation just as they got “deeply” into No Till farming equipment. Really fascinating to see the amount of research and development that informed the engineering and production methods. They were expanding to make “Red" a significant global competitor to the big “Green" and technical innovation was a big part of their game plan.

@Pullstart thanks for the shout ! one of my favorites , SUPER LUBE , liquid / paste / aerosol , just an aerosol / wipe down or liquid on a clean cloth , has an instant release to it . also minus 60 DEG / + 450 DEG . range , terrific in , wheel horse , choke / throttle cables / related linkage . doing storm prep now . pete

I have a couple cans of this...ya think it would work as well as vaseline?

Done several Helicoil fixes.

I want someone to blame for this, and that is good enough for me to permanently ban Champion spark plugs.

Twice as good.

The overwhelming response to this indicates that there probably isn't a lot of interest in this problem or there weren't any ideas, but I did find a solution so am updating in case anyone is losing sleep over this. I certainly was. There are prepackaged protection modules available to keep the magic smoke inside the rectifier diodes when the battery is disconnected with the engine running: Sterling APD Balmar APM When the battery is disconnected the voltage in the charging circuit will rapidly rise and the current will follow. This smokes the rectifier diodes (usually). When it hits a breakthrough voltage of about 16 volts (on a 12V system) a gate connects that clamps the voltage at 16V - thus limiting the current - and dissipates a little power to ground. i don't know what's inside these modules but it's probably more sophisticated and predictable than my conceptual zener diode, capacitor, and resistor. Or it could be something more sophisticated. Anyway, I ordered a couple of these for my project for testing and anticipate them fixing my problem. I'll know in a few months. This question makes me wonder whatever happened to Chuck @Save Old Iron ? Steve

Bolens 1556-3. Oh160 Techy. Blown Rings. May do a Predator Swap.

I'm all for building crazy stuff and absolutely love the ingenuity to make it work and drive. Very clever indeed! It has to be made for a show piece type of build thingy because of the light truck front. Highly doubtful it would actually be productive for those towing tasks mentioned. Hence the for sale sign on it.

I had one of those 7-lug Fords. Mine was a 1997 F250 4wd that I bought new. There are pix of it on here somewhere when I traded it off in 2017. I liked it when I had it. I happened to talk with one of the engineers on that generation truck development program several years ago. The reason for the goofy arrangement was that they wanted to use hub-centered instead of lug-centered wheels. They didn’t want customers swapping lug-centered wheels to hub-centered hubs (and vice versa) so they gave that truck series the unique 7 lug pattern. it did make buying brakes and whatnot somewhat difficult when work was due. If you look at more pix of the wacky ramp truck on Bring-a-Trailer you’ll see a couple shots of the front suspension. It’s standard 2wd F150 Twin I-beam design. Should have 5 lug hubs as the 7-lug trucks had a coil spring/A-arm setup. So I suspect those are just wheel covers or somehow the spindles were swapped. sold for $14501 there is a shot of the GVW sticker from the donor truck. It had a pretty light GVWR, so I’m not sure this tow truck would be capable of carrying a lot often. A lot of work went into that thing, for sure. I got a smile out of the author’s last sentence when I (mis)read it: I'll choose to admire it from afar, and maybe even dream of what I would build if I were more skilled with a wrench than a chimpanzee. I read that as him having some particularly mad chimpanzee skills. Steve