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In honor of all those who died defending our Country.

Our garden is now heading into its 3rd season. Creating a usable garden space here in the New England mountains is an extreme challenge involving a lot of extra work in comparison to most areas of the country. The entire region was once covered by ice over a mile thick. When the glaciers departed, the mountains were destroyed and tremendous rock waste fields left behind. We all joke about having rocks and stones in the soil. Here, it's a little (seriously little) soil.. in with the rocks. Over the last several years we cleared an area of forest. 3+ years ago we had an excavator come in to clear the ground surface and make it somewhat level. After that we added 14+ yards of loam, all by hand, tractors and small trailers, load by load, moved a couple hundred feet from the driveway to the garden. Since then we've been picking out rocks sticks etc using an 856 tractor with the ripper or by hand. @Handy Don and I have texted more than once about the possibilities involving the use of a single tooth ripper in our garden area to pop out the rocks sticks roots etc as they rise every year from the frost. In the future I would like to be able to use a rototiller but for now there's too many rocks and sticks. It seems the ripper is a feasible solution for the time being. This weekend we used my heavier 1974 C160-8 Cinnamon Horse for the ripper work. Wanting to be conservative at the beginning, I started poking into the soil about 2" and immediately realized that could be a little deeper. I tried a 4" cut. That was the ticket. I worked back n forth at many angles. Started at the fence all the way around. Pulled every which way but loose. We learned that the pulled materials really have a tendency to stack up towards the middle of the area, logically. We also learned that we could likely use 2 ripper teeth. Maybe 3 (??) 3 might be too much. (With only one tooth there were multiple occasions where the tractor was "high centered" on rocks.) Some of those rocks were pulled out. At least 2 or 3 are too big.

The cemetery at my church is over 200 years old and we have patriots from the American Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War One, World War two, and the Korean Conflict buried there. A few years ago the United Daughters of the Confederacy began placing their flags (Stars and Bars, not the battle flag) alongside the American flag. That started some interesting conversations, the conclusion was that though the confederacy did not prevail in war, the people who gave their lives for their cause were as patriotic as any fallen soldier from any other war. Though this is an American Holiday, on this Memorial Day we also honor all who were at the side of American military members and gave their lives to defend our way of life. If you know a surviving family member who's loved one gave their life for us, please take a moment to thank them for their loss.

Today’s letter is “Y” Yesterday’s yearning for yard versatility yielded Yard Marvel Yard Marvel Yard Marvel built a line of gasoline powered basic operator-friendly lawn maintenance equipment for the rental industry. Paul Hastings of Spokane, WA, was the inventor of a universal quick release mechanism that made it easy to change implements and made the Yard Marvel easy to rent as the drive mechanism had a flexible shaft that would power a lawn mower, a rototiller, or a snow blower. Hastings worked a variety of jobs before beginning a garden tiller distributorship for the Merry Tiller in 1949. During this time Hastings’ suggestions for improvement of the Merry Tiller eventually led to his and Albert Merry’s creation of Yard Marvel in 1955. Yard Marvel’s first product was the combo lawn mower, tiller, and snow blower and was quickly successful. Rental agencies liked the idea of having three machines available to rent with one universal power unit. Some years later Yard Marvels went to stand-alone mowers, tillers dethatches and snow blowers. Albert Merry left the business after several years to join his father, Clayton Merry, at Merry Tiller and Hasting became the sole owner of Yard Marvel. In 1960, Yard Marvel introduced the Mountaineer trail bike, eventually building two different models for either recreation or hunting. At the time there was a flood of small trail bikes on the market and the Mountaineer was never a profitable addition to the line. Industry consolidation led to the sale of Merry Tiller to MacKissic in 1991 and Yard Marvel in 2012. “This is a wonderful union of two long-time established U.S. manufacturers of high-quality lawn and garden products,” said Rick Dhein, president of MacKissic. “The addition of Yard Marvel products to our other brands — Mighty Mac, Merry Tiller, and Easy Auger — is a natural fit.” “After 57 years of manufacturing we have reached a point that it is no longer feasible to continue operation," said Tricia Hastings, president of the company and daughter of the company’s founders, in an open letter to customers. "The poor economy and rising costs contributed to our low sales volume, which in the long run made the business unsustainable. It is with a heavy heart and deep regret that I must inform you of my decision to close Yard Mfg. Marvel Co. in early November 2012.”

Well guys this tractor seems to be the go to worker this year. I picked it up two years ago for a nephew, but the Kohler Magnum 14 is just such a torque monster. I started to take down some pasture with the 48 inch deck. With freshly sharpened blades it did a nice job mowing as high as possible and moderating the throttle it mowed real decent in second gear low range. The tractor has a thousand plus hours on it and the only real issue it had was a bad ignition switch. I see no difference in the tractor to a 416 as far as the carriage and wheels go. I have a preference for the Kohler over the Onan as well. This machine was steering pretty stiff as well so I used some old oil as well as grease to see what could happen. I am down to my last deck drive belt and not sure what length it takes. Thinking a 101 or 102 but not sure. She has nicer original paint but a few rub marks on the hood and hood decals. Bought it from Derek in Fountain City IN at a fair price. That's the news from Deploraville Ohio

I recently got the attachments from the Raider 10 we had when I was a kid. I thought about getting the tractor as well, but it was partly burned in a fire and had a tree fall on it as well and I remember the transmission was fairly trashed as well so I ended up not getting it, wasn't enough sentimental value to get the amount of parts needed to fixed it up. I noticed the slot hitch doesn't quite seem to be factory the holes for the hitch pin to the transmission are very rough like they were cut with a torch. The dirt plow and tine cultivator both have a bar welded to them for the slot hitch. And the snow plow I will combine with the one I have currently to make a good one as the one I have currently was hacked up.

Somebody please buy that so we can all see it on display at the show

These pictures were taken Friday. I was cycling them through the garage for blade sharpening, greasing, and some other minor maintenance, and thought I'd line them up to get some sun and fresh air.... The GT-1848 at right and the 416-H at far left are still wearing the "prototype" 3-D printed bezels that were done in white or silver... hopefully the daughter's BF will find some time soon to print me some more black ones. He just started a new job earlier this year and is quite busy - I wish he had just sold me the 3-D printer. May need to buy one myself. The "517-H" Frankentractor doesn't even have the headlights installed yet. I still have a set of NOS OEM bezels squirreled away that I'll probably put on that one - it's looking pretty nice. Drives great with the swept front axle, steering reduction, and the motion pedal I fabbed for it. I do still have a non-running B-100 out behind the barn but all the tires are flat and I didn't feel like dragging it out to join the others. Have a Great Memorial Day, all! Remember those who sacrificed all.

Picked this B-80 up this morning. It's definitely in need of some TLC. I haven't been doing any resurrections for a LONG while (10 years + ?) and somehow now ended up with 2 in a month. IDK Pressure washed, removed mouse houses, oil change and got the engine running. Then spent most of the time sorting out the wiring and components to start from the key switch,

Looks like the mission I'm getting ready for! 'Cept to level for a new stable for the Horses and other equipment. Have to bring the right front corner inside that fence up about a foot or more and level all to within 3 inches for a new 12 x 41 will extend from that front corner back toward the materials pile in back. Dug got muddy today, but never got me stuck! I shoulda took a pic before the rinse off!

If I want a rock of a particular size I just buy a plant that is in a pot the size of the rock I want, ask my wife where I should plant it and you can rest assured there will ba a rock the size of the pot right there. For gardening (which I no longer do because the deer were eating everything) I used a middle row buster then fill the trench with compost.

Like Kevin said, some of those pulleys have 2 set screws. Three jaw pullers do not often work well on pulleys. The pulling force is too far away from the center of the pulley and damage to the pulley is a common result. What I have started doing with pulleys - I drill & tap two holes in the side of the pulley so that I can use a better puller on it. Best if you make the holes fine tread (1/4 - 28 or 5/16 - 24) Pulls better with no damage to the pulley. Like I did with this brake drum for example.

Thanks to all that were willing enough to lay down their lives for our American dream, and their brothers in arms.

Having cookout later w/family. Decided to pull a few tractors out as part of Memorial Day display w/flags.

Nice day here in Maine to bring out 6 tractors to soak up some sun. Then take the old pickup for a ride and run through the gears. Have a great weekend all.

Got the sheet metal painted yesterday for my C-175 restoration.After much preparation we were finally ready to paint. We have a little thing worked out, he sprays, I sand!! He will not paint until the primer is sanded perfectly, so I sand and sand! I think on the hood alone I sanded over two hours. I really have to thank my brother for this, without him this restoration would not turn out the way it’s going to. We (by that I mean he!) will paint the black on the hood next weekend. I’d like to use gloss, he wants semi gloss, but the proper color is satin. I’ll probably go with his recommendation. By the way this is Rustoleum Sunrise Red which he hates spraying but I can’t really afford to go with a two stage PPG paint. I’d love to but it’s EXPENSIVE. Anyway I’m super happy with the results!

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Got it fellas. Holy hell. Just kept slamming it with the impact. Used a cutting wheel on the pulley as well

The pulley is already destroyed so don't mess around wasting time trying to get it to slide off the shaft. Cut the pulley! NOT the shaft. Cut down close to the shaft and hammer it off. Or, cut 2 locations if it doesn't pop off right away. Less than a couple minutes. Don't cut into the shaft, the pulley will crack

I just pulled one. soaked the screws in penetrating oil for several days and then used a bearing separator with a puller and I won Had to heat the set screws though and I had two set screws. My puller had a dimple on the end of the shaft so I used a nut under the dimple so it would lay flat on the shaft.

Please don't follow Kevin's trend to hang things from the ceiling never know when gravity will kick in and that looks heavy!

UPDATE: I AM HAVING THE CARB REBUILT BWFORE THE SHOW AND WILL BE INSTALLING AT THE BIG SHOW. MACHINE WILL BE THERE FOR DISPLAY, SALE OR TRADE👍 I am thinking about selling my restored Safari 335. I got this from snowmobile collector and he only used as show display did not run it. I got it to fire up however there is some sort of fuel supply issue which is believed to be carb related. The restoration is 8/10 imo. Very cool machine. I also found an original canvas Wheelhorse branded cover for it that you would have got from dealer back in the day. Cover is in excellent condition. I would sell sled with cover and the 3 snowmobile castors for $2,600 delivered to the big show!

Took Mrs K, to visit her fathers grave and place the soldier flag bearer that she painted.

I don't know how to label / caption pictures. I will just include them (hopefully in sequence). Since the input pulley is large, pulling it is a bit of a problem. I made a puller (plate) to be able to apply pressure to the hub. Using the plate for alignment I drilled two through holes in the pulley. That allowed for passing the puller bolts through the pulley and the plate. Now let me tell you, that hub was in love with the input shaft. The dummy who installed the pulley failed to use anti - seize on it. I was not happy with him. I performed many cycles of heat and penetrant on it and finally got it apart. Made a seal puller from a small blade screwdriver and pulled the seal. Cleaned things up and installed the new seal. All back together now, ready for the hood. In case you didn't guess it, I am that dummy.

It still has a little smoke on acceleration but not a big deal and could possibly clear up with some run time on those idle rings. It'll look OK. Yeah, ALL of it looks like it was outside for 40 years but actually not as bad as it first appeared. Still rough just like that Commando 800 was. The running engines are the bonus. Haven't spent anytime on the attachments yet but I can see the blower auger needs some bending back to proper. It turns I didn't bother to look up the numbers for a year, it's old is all I know.

Sometimes, they don’t make ‘em like they used to,..

If you are using gas with ethanol in it that is probably the problem. The ethanol will ruin a fuel system and if it sits around in a nearly empty container it can absorb moisture from the air. Only use ethanol-free gas! Here is a site that will help you find it in your area. https://www.pure-gas.org/

For the idler pulley #7451 V-idler pulley - 4.000" OD - HD 52-4580 or 524580 replaced by WH 99-5678 or 995678 {$40.84} (Stens 280-362 HD 4.000" OD x .375" ID (1/4" offset) x 3/4" HT, Napa 7-05485 HD) V-idler pulley - 4.000" OD - Std 7451 replaced by WH 95-7668 or 957668 {$16.20} (Stens 280-313 Std 4.000" OD x 13/64" wide x 3/8" ID) The HD one has a real sealed ball bearing in it.

For many years as a kid I spent my summer vacation from school on my aunt & uncles hog farm in Michigan. 2500 hogs! They had other livestock too as well as 150 acres of crops. I enjoyed it. Believe me that I know what a farm smells like!

Looking good. Have it ready for the show in 2 weeks?

Me thinks Mrs P coined the term "I told you so"

Wiring all done and it runs! Smokes but it is what it is. Makes a bit of clattering and knocking noise too but again. No wonder they call these flo leak jet carbs. I guess for 20 clams in the jungle wadda ya want. Briggs buddy says ther are two types of these carbs... ones that don't leak and ones that are gonna. Gas seems abit yellow so wondering if my tank cleaning wasn't sufficient. 20240525_172048_001.mp4

Spent my morning at the office:

Tried this trick on a K181 with a really stuck Nelson muffler. The muffler almost fell off!

Maybe put one on the other nipple instead of taking that one off!

Good looking rigs Eric doing real work! Curious to hear more thoughts on the ripper from you. I’m curious about the size of it too if you don’t mind getting a pic of it sometime. The cultivator I have has removable tines so think it could serve as a ripper with one in the middle. Seems handy but but know I need to add weight to my rig. I know cinnamon is heavy so it could be making it look easy.

Yup Bearing separator behind the pulley. Also heat the part then quench it.

One may be in the land between the two sheaves. If the set screw is completely drilled out down into the key, and there is no other set screw, then the only thing holding it on is rust. Others have pointed out that the rust took YEARS to build up and weld those things together. It may take days for penetrant and your efforts to get it loose. Folks here have favorite penetrants. Personally liquid wrench has done ok for me but others folks have their faves (e.g. Kroll, Knock ‘er Loose, PB Blaster, etc.). WD 40 is not a penetrant. In this case, excessive heat risks damaging other components so I’d advise caution. So the first thing is penetrant applied daily and allowed to work. In anticipation of the pulley busting loose, the next thing I’d do is clean up all the exposed crankshaft that the pulley will have to go over on the way off--especially the keyway and the outer end which might have some mushrooming. Then, while waiting for the penetrant to work, I’d tap the pulley all around toward the shaft and on the edges and body toward the engine. I’d also use a punch to tap on the key in all directions. The idea is that even slight movement helps the penetrant get where it needs to be to break up the rust. The exposed part of the shaft isn’t what’s holding this on--cutting it off won’t help. Cutting between the pulley and the engine means you’ll need a new crankshaft and guarantee some significant dollars spent at a machine shop as well as possibly on other new components (piston and connecting rod).

I had the same thought that maybe the gas that you added was bad.

She doesn’t really smoke to much after warming up. Its original engine and carburetor and really haven’t been touched. Amazing how it still runs as good as it does 59yrs old

You should buy it! Or trade me something good. lol

Miss SOI as he always had solid, practical and non-complicated advice on all electrical stuff. I don't care if he didn't have any tractors.

I am going to this show this year I believe I'm taking my rj59, lawn ranger, 701 trailer and cultivator I will add the website if anyone if in Iowa or near altoona Iowa, it is June 22nd sauterday, I don't know if anyone is already going, let me know website : http://www.shrinertractorshow.org/wp/ -Keaton

Contact then and now to see if they have what you need. This may be it. https://www.then-now-auto.com/product/ac-4s-kohler-fuel-pump-kit/

Are you guys saying Pullstart should not be using it?

Several weeks ago I had a friend with a small excavator dig down on the south side of our basement. I had him go all the way to the footer so I could check things out. I didn't think the issue was that far down but I wanted to take advantage of the excavator while it was here. The problem if water. It's not bad per say but any water intrusion isn't good. When we first moved in I was pretty sure it stemmed from the only window down there. Apparently it was an afterthought done after the basement walls were done. The previous (and original) owner said it was an egress window. Nope. Meets none of the requirements for a code egress window. He tried to put the window in after the fact and did a s%&t job. You can see why I thought it was the culprit. You can see the before and after of what I did in 2020. Keep in mind these are I.C.E. Block walls. Similar to ICF wall but some differences. Steel structure walls encapsulated with polystyrene. I had to find and order a custom sized well and cover. The fix didn't work. So here we are, digging again. Weather was a real issue in getting on this after it was dug. I needed 2 days of dry. I finally got it. Grayshield Acrylic Foundation coating as a 'primer' then Tarco BG700 60 mil membrane. IT'S BACKFILL TIME!! At this point I feel really good that it's truly fixed but I can't be certain for a while. In any case I'm having a blast pushing the dirt. I've got it about 1/2 way right now and it gives me a place to stand as I coat and cover the top half. I have a weight box with about 100# of rock on the back in the winter. Knowing how aggressive the rubber 'chains' are in the dirt I decided to remove it to take it a bit easier (that's not a comment I make often when I refer to these tractors) and it's doing just fine.

Throttle and choke knobs broke on my B-80. Ordered some reproduction ones, in the mean time I made up some from some copper tee’s with a wood dowel fit into the bull of the tee’s. slotted the dowel to match the levers, and contact cemented them in place. I’ll see how they hold up. But they look pretty cool, if you ask me.

De-rusted, polished and clear coated Suburban 551 key switch plate.

Nothing like fresh dairy air. Only improvement on the smell of cow manure is to mix it with the smell of diesel exhaust. Those 2 smells mixed together always remind me of my youth. People often complain about the smells coming from a farm, they rarely complain about going to the store & finding the food that they want.