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It’s really hard just to pick one!

Favorite pic… No way I can pick just one. But this one of my son “discovering” that a hydro will in fact go faster than a manual, just by shoving the lever forward is a good one:

i had already posted a photo of my son from 1989 on our then new 312 - - but i have a fondness for this one PHOTO -- it's my son ( AGE 8 ) with me under the new 312 installing the plow - Sorta that whole entire Dad and Son thing we all cherish -- My son as an adult now has a Toro 520 lxi and one of his sons a 520HC, plus C165 - - but also they do mechanical projects together on their atvs, their "side by side" UTV's, the family Jet Ski, my grandsons 2 Jeeps, etc - I 'd like to think those activities and hobbys get passed through the generations - Special memories !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's an old machine that needs some cleaning and TLC. It's a model PM serial no. 239 I had to disassemble it to move it in the shop so I decided to clean it up so I could paint it before reassembly.

We are now offering complete hood hinge rebuild kits which include the 101732 and 101733 hood hinges , the 101710 pivot rod , and the 5667 bumpers . These are always a popular item at the Big Show , and have been discontinued by Toro, so we are now offering everything as a package , plus they are pre-painted and ready to install . These hinge packages cover most of the very popular C-series . Manufactured and finished in house ( no supply issues or waiting for parts to come in ) Price is $40.00 plus shipping / continental US only. Please do not comment on this post. If you're interested or have questions , private message me here or call / text during normal business hours.

Yeah could not post just one! First pic is my first meet and greet as a guest in CT. That is vinsrj my son brennanbo and I checking out my early 55’. Fast forward a bit to the two of us riding around big show on our seniors. Being able to share this hobby with my son and of course all the friends I made along the way makes it special.

Grandkids on their tractors.

I run my Brinly attachment with an adaptor slid into the slot hitch. A cultivator hanging off the back with 40 extra pounds added way to the back of it has never been an issue. Same with a disc harrow or moldboard plow

The transmission tunnel and steering tower and all of the controls and belt drive mechanism are different from a manual transmission to a hydro transmission. Your best bet really is to find another tractor and use that, or if you really want to convert your own, get a parts tractor from the correct year range. CAN it be done? Yes. Is it anywhere near practical or easy? IMHO, no. It's far far easier to swap engines than manual to hydro transmissions.

Take a piece of your existing wire in and match it. If you can, go to a real hardware store for some help... You're overthinking this... match the wire and cut it... it'll be fine... mine looks like it was used on the Mayflower and it's still going strong... it does not have a tough job.

Paint job...? What paint job...? Now ... Them duallys...

FWIW- I’ve used a couple of the blue TSC belts now, and both shed blue dust at the block for the first couple hour’s run time. I believe it’s completely normal.

Something to keep in mind when hooking up via a ball hitch--because the slot hitch is offset upward from the transaxle pin, it is held by the cable from pitching downward with trailer tongue weight, but there is nothing stopping it from pitching upward! If the trailer on a ball pushes against the tractor, it’ll almost certainly pivot the hitch upward. I have a slip-in ball hitch for the slot (thanks @953 nut!) but I am very cautions and use it only on level ground at slow speeds. The slot dimensions are ⅝” H x 2” W -- not a common size for bar stock.

Well here you go! IMG_0040.mov

When you have a straight tongued implement and it is inserted in the slot hitch correctly and pinned with a hitch pin an early Wheel Horse tractor with a Hein-Werner hydro pump added on will lift over 300 pounds without damage. Not if you have an implement with addiotnal weight, improperly hooked up or snagged on something -yes you could probably break or damage the cast iron slot hitch.

Don't over do it now with all those super powers. Take it slow and easy. No rush.

The breaker bar didn't work. It was time for plan w. I wanted to try moving the hub in the opposite direction just to see what happens. I bore a 1-1/4" hole partially through a 4"x6" so I could stand the axle up as well as protect the splines. I cut a short piece (about 2") of 1-1/2" galvanized pipe and threaded it into a pipe cap. I set it on the hub and had at it with a sledgehammer. It didn't even begin to budge. Hoping to find a press locally I went to a small shop in town that has a sign. This was the 3rd attempt to go there and nobody was there all three times. Knowing that some NAPA's have a shop I went to a local one. Even if they didn't have a press I could get the headlight pigtails and some straight 40w oil and tap into some NAPA knowhow to see if they knew who had a press in town. They suggested trying a few places and one of them was The Pit Stop just down the road. They had a press, I handed them the axle/hub and a few minutes later he handed me this. Now I can finish the transmission and if the extended forecast holds true get a coat of paint on it sometime between Christmas and New Years.

My readings when I was curious about this wandered into some serious engineering papers. Cutting to the chase, they concluded that geared transmissions were anywhere from 92 to 95% efficient. Hydros ran from about 80 to 83% at horsepowers in the 10-20 HP input range. Higher HP was more efficient for both. I don’t recall anything about operating temperature ranges. Put into HP terms, a 10 HP tractor would have ~9.5 HP at the wheels geared and 8 HP hydro. The difference being 1.5. A 14 HP tractor having ~13 geared and ~11.4 hydro. for a 1.6 difference So, at 20 HP the difference between an efficient gearbox and a not-so-efficient hydro could easily be 2+ horsepower at the wheels.

Carlisle (brand now owned by Carstar) still has something very close to the early 60’s fronts. Their Sawtooth. They are not curved like wheelbarrow tires and have good load ratings. They look pretty good when paired with the original Firestone “All Purpose” rears that resembled auto snow tires!

We have hard red clay in my section of NC takes something extremely heavy to leave tracks. You will have to look for 480x8 trailer tires to find anything with a flat face treaded tire. The rounded face are usually called wheel barrow tires.

The downside with TSC belts is sometimes they do require a little "blue shedding" to clutch proper.

I have quite a few tractors with the TSC Husky belts. They all shed a little blue dust until they wear in.

Very cool Jay! I use the Bridgeport and lathe in my shop quite frequently. They are very appreciated (abandoned?) pieces of equipment of the previous owner of the place! If he would ever come get his CNC that takes up too much room, I’d like that!

Little tip for the restorers here ... Slide a piece of clear 1/2 tubing over the spring to protect new ... or old paint on the brake band. Protects the spring too. Thought I had a pic. Found these springs in the drawers at a hardware store. Not quite as strong as EB's but works well.

It is a very robust machine. It will cut steel as long as you understand it's limits and make cuts accordingly. It was made as a production machine. I am replacing the levers and racks with lead screws. It is also limited for speed control so I am replacing the motor with a 3 phase controlled by a vfd. Based on what I cleaned out of this machine I think this one was used for aluminum. I also received several slitting and grooving cutters with the machine as well as an indexer.

Well boys and girls, seems we are off and running on another @ebinmaine type of post; made it to page three without any work being done, guess BBT must be busy working on the house. Anybody care to hazard a guess on how long this post will go before the build is finished? Colossus is at 77 pages, Eric is probably going to win an award before that one is finished. Shure am glad Eric has a good sense of humor.

I picked up a tiller last spring from a young couple just over the WI border that had recently bought this old farm and the tiller was just sitting in the barn. When I showed up and they showed me the tiller, there wasn't anything else with it. I already have a tiller (that is not in the best of shape) so I already had all the hookups and mid mount pulley, but while I was there I asked if they had any of that anyway (with a brief description of what the items looked like). They weren't certain but said they would look around with me. Not 10 ft from where the tiller was sitting in the barn was a pile of "junk" and in the "junk" under a ripped up tarp and some other stuff was the complete mid mount pulley assembly with the belt and cover plate. They had no idea it was there and since it matched my description of it, they gave it to me at our previously negotiated price. Moral of the story is it never hurts to ask.

A hunk/chunk/section/piece of metal coat hanger would even get ya outta trouble. Not permanent... but usable.

Here's a few more from our Herd. Carlisle Tru Power. Stated size. 23 x 10.50. Measured 21.5 x 10. (Important to note these are fluid filled. I've never put air in. Air filled tires are usually larger.) 4 ply? Industrial tires. These are EXCELLENT tires. We use them on the forklifts at work. Traction is excellent. Wear is excellent. I've had them on 4 or 5 tractors now. They're pricey..... would I buy them again? Used, yes. Not new. Carlisle Super Lug. Stated size. 6-12. Actual size. 20.5 x 5.5. We have them on the front of my C160-8 Cinnamon Horse and Trina uses the same on the rear of her 657 Pony. Great tires. Wear is good. Traction is good. Kenda Super Turf. Stated size. 23 x 10.50. Actual size. 21.5 x 10. (Important to note these are fluid filled. I've never put air in. Air filled tires are usually larger.) Wear seems minimal. I'd buy again if needed. Carlisle X/Trac. Stated size. 4.80 x 8 Actual size. 4.5 x 15.5, maybe 16? We have these on the front of Trina's 867 Pigpen which is her primary snow pusher and sees a lot of service year round. Steering traction is excellent for woods work and general rough terrain. Usable in fresh snow. Would we buy again? Absolutely. Interwebs pic.

I'm assuming it would be similar in capacity to a Brinley style clevis hitch. Some of those attachments don't look light + they hang out there quite a ways.

Oh man... Right after lunch?!?!?

The only reason I wanted one picture is the member in Michigan would probably post 40 pictures @Pullstart only wearing his boots and a towel , that would have taken away from @WHX?? Wife with her boots on, and we just can't have that. After all this is a family forum.

Certainly that’s part of it, but the other factor is that trying to push the fluid too fast causes cavitation within the pump (think of frothing the oil) which reduces the efficiency and can damage the pump.

Super excellent @Sarthurs01 . The Barn, rolling fields, the tractors and more importantly those SMILES

Hydro cooling fan ready to install. Hydro cooling fan installed and bolt torqued to 84in/lb.

Some previous owner decided to drill a hole in the side of the dash console so I decided to square it off and install a carriage bolt. I could have had it welded in but decided this would work just as well. Here is the hole. Bolt installed.

I do. When I was pricing machine work for cutting keyways in 2 axles the price was almost as much as I paid for this machine. With the 3 phase motor and vfd I will have about 60 rpm to 1000 rpm without a belt change. I agree. But Barker wanted 1700.00 for each lead screw so I will have to make my own.

A new motor with speed control would be my first thought, it will make the mill much easier to use. Converting the Y axis is also a good call, the lever is fine for a surface grinder or light cuts but a lead screw offers more control I bought a light vertical milling machine some years ago and when i stripped it to clean and rebuild it I found it was full of saw dust. One previous owner had used it as a router which must have worked for him. Please keep us posted on your progress.

What horse power is your 73...Hydro for snow plowing you would want at least 12hp in my opinion. I agree easier to swap your engine to the 417a frame/rearend..

As per request of @953 nut here's a couple part numbers and pics of the clutch springs we use. For Trina's mid 60s tractors I ordered clutch/brake pedal springs from McMaster Carr. These should fit most 3 and 6 speed tractors with a SINGLE pedal. https://www.mcmaster.com/#3114T112 Extension Springs with Hook Ends Black-Oxide Music-Wire Steel, 4.5" Long, 0.625" OD These are just a touch stronger than the stainless steel ones I've found recommended. New one on top. The one that I use for all my TWO PEDAL tractors from 1968 up is the standard Toro part number 108035.

Some options to look at. The same tires may be found at a lower price through other vendors. https://www.millertire.com/categories/lawn-garden-tires/6-12/ https://www.millertire.com/categories/lawn-garden-tires/4-80-8/ https://www.amazon.com/400x8-4-00-8-Front-Garden-Tractor/dp/B09QCVH1GL/ref=asc_df_B09QCVH1GL?mcid=a73f248afbf936d8ad433d52105512fa&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693712983091&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17537249678000248719&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1016367&hvtargid=pla-2245661323389&psc=1

You been a very busy man this year Eric. Let’s hope you can find time in 25 to finish up these projects.

I saw it after it was mentioned. The first go around I was too distracted by the driver.

Thanks for looking @953 nut. Sounds like my only issue then is the belt guard on the bottom left... seems weird to me it'd throw dust all the way over to the drive pulley but what do I know! Just to confirm, the belt is NOT supposed to touch that guard? EDIT: ended up putting a few thick washers as spacers between the guard and frame on the back bolt. Now the belt does not touch the guard!

Awesome!!

What's that white stuff on the ground?

Installed some cast iron wheel weights on the rear wheels. Found them on FB Marketplace about 30 minutes west of me.