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Today in Lower Bavaria

I started my first week in 2025 by falling into a N.O.S brand new 315-8 60th anniversary. (Last year made ) Today picking up parts to another local dealer 15 minutes from work I walk in for parts and come out with nos Xi series 36” Tiller - 48” deck - grader —300/400/500 grader . Pure luck right in my own backyard. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the XI stuff as I’m not a Xi collector ….

just back from , dr x rays on hip replacement , gave me a spot on , for where I am in recovery , especially liked my daily walking / activity / naps . he said , unfortunately too many patients do very little , as they should , to stay with opportunity . then they come in here and complain , and critical early movement was never established , staying at it , my walks are much better , and daily stair climbs , much easier , also used a dense foam pad to side seat support / enhance iced gel pad , that by itself eliminated a pain pill , staying upright . pete

Static Electricity Day is every year on January 9. It is a day dedicated to the funny (and sometimes annoying) electric charge phenomenon and learning why and how it happens. Humans are no strangers to static electricity since we can see, feel, and hear its effects in most cases. Static electricity is around us in more forms than just static shock and is quite useful and harmless.

In one of my science classes, there was a student that frequently was late for class. The day the teacher had the Van de Grraff out, he closed the classroom door, wired it to the door know and turned it on. The late student got a supeise when he tried to open the door.

I used to order from v belt guys and they were always good quality belts but for some reason not quite right. Switched to tsc and never looked back. They do shed a little blue and some break in required.

My Wife Krista took these pictures of me posing with my newest baby.

One inch will make all the difference in the world

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. It was a good typical Wednesday for me. A couple hours at the local auction this morning spinning hunting and fishing tales with a half dozen old codgers. Then after a fried deer bologna sammy for lunch, I fired up the 520 and chewed out some mail boxes with the Ber Vac. I need to remove one of the two lift assist springs. She wants to float up and not scrape clean. Good on the stones but not so good on the pavement. But it did chew into the 3 feet of hard packed snow that PennDOT plowed into the mail boxes. The Mrs. K made me a couple of her great crab cakes with the lump back fin meat from the crabs we caught in September. A sea salted baked spud, broccoli/ cheddar salad, and a fresh home baked pie from the blackberries we raised this summer. Then Monday and Wednesday is double deck pinochle night with three more old codgers. Happy to be 81 and still on the green side.

Once it warms up a bit and I can run the engine and set the idle, max RPM speeds as well as setting neutral on the transmission then it can go for a drive on the driveway. It was around -20 with the wind chill today so while I was able to do other outside activities, setting up an engine and transmission wasn't one of them. Friday it warms up to -6 so maybe then.

A quick before and after pic.

The needle is probably damaged. That needle is the same as ones used in some Briggs carbs. On YouTube there a Taryl video where he uses a Briggs needle to fix an Onan carb. Both carbs are made by Nikki. Briggs number is 797410.

My 310, 312, and 520 are all inside. You do have to hold them out as you close the hood.

Set up to do front end alignment. Two straight edges set up at mid-point of front wheels extending almost back to rear wheels. Steering wheel set straight and two measuring tapes (verified to have the same measurements) set up on straight edges. Front end alignment complete at least for now. Steering wheel is straight, there is around 1/4" toe from front to rear of tires which should be close to 1/8" at wheels as the manual states. Also, straight edges are in about the same amount at the rear wheels. A test drive on a flat surface will verify tractor tracks straight and steering wheel is also straight. Tractor looks like this now.

Ya cain't be in a rush....

Six years later……😁

That poor girl [ the truck ] is gonna have a complex. It's okay to have 2 girlfriends as long as one lives in the garage.

He's got a sheet over Colossus. The Blue truck is next on the list first. And then the................, then the ..................... then the.........Well you guy's get my drift.

LOL. My lab partner in high school electrical class was always late. I wired the metal frame of his chair and the table edge to the variable power supply (he would grab the table and the chair to pull himself in). Never late again.

I normally do something like that as well. With this one I went a different route and glued a piece of rubber gasket material to the bottom of the hood.

Yes, especially the 520. The rubber latch seems to want to default to the inside if you don't hold it. However, they do give you something to hold onto to pull the hood down.

That's all I use on mine is tractor supply belts. They definitely do require a break in period where things will grind a little bit and don't get fussy about blue fuzz right off the bat. Once it's broke in, give it a good wash and your won't see much fuzz after that.

Sure did. We even had the only TV in town. I remember the living room was filled watching the 1952 world series on the 5" screen. Some of my heroes...Micky, Yogi, and Phil.

Go there and get the 83" and grab an 82" Return what you don't use. check the # on the belt against the sleeve before you leave. sometimes folks return belts in the wrong sleeve. I've had more trouble with WH belts than the aftermarket TSC ones

Wait... they had the 'lectricity when you was a youngun'?

This was taken quite a while back, but I just got around to editing a bit…

One rear wheel installed. Rear wheels both on the ground. Front end down. Tractor is officially a roller ! Front tires are sitting on pieces of Teflon to aid in front end alignment that is coming next.

Rear wheels ready to install. Rear hubs ready for wheels to be installed.

Plowing all day!

GT-1800 came with B&S horizontal 2 cylinder opposed engines.

Note that the top carburetor is the newer "emissions" style having an accelerator pump under that dome held on with 3 screws and a hidden idle mixture screw under the smaller welch plug. The idle mixture screw on the bottom carburetor is clearly visable. No rebuild kits were ever produced for the "emissions" carburetors to meet the laws and the only fix was to replace the entire thing. onanparts.com may have the pumps if you want one. Most people try to replace those carburetors with older models. Any Nikki carburetor from any 20 horsepower P220 Onan will work, carburetors on the 16 and 18 horsepower engines will also work but jetting and bore size may be different. Just above the idle mixture is a 3/8" welch plug that hides some small passages, removing that plug is the only miserable job on a Nikki and often that area can be blown clean by spraying carb cleaner with a straw in all openings possible with the plug in place.

I’ll just leave this here…

Hey Eric. Since I haven't been around lately, while I was here, just wanted to check on the status of Colossus. I think we are in a dead heat with my 856 for a completion date!

Found the invoice dated 1-28-08. Toro part # NN10204 $ 225.00 + tax 11.25 = $ 236.25

Replacing the carb isn’t very easy since you need to pull the exhaust and intake. You will need new gaskets for the exhaust, intake and carb. Replacing just the needle and float is very easy, just take a photo and remove the linkage, then 4 screws. If you are very careful no parts or gaskets may be needed. The Onan Service Manual will guide you thru the carb. To answer your question, there will be a number on the side of your Nikki carb that is something like 6100-xxx. My guess is once you remove the carb top you will see the debris causing the actual problem. Get a spray can of carburetor cleaner and have at it.

Thanks Ed! I have the cover on it now but can check. I don't think there's enough slack even when it's pressed down. The width is making it seem too short. I could tell when I put it on it is sitting much lower than my other 2 rigs. I'll plan to get a TSC belt and verify the width and see where I get with that. I'll post some update pics with new belt and verify which one works for future reference if anyone searches this thread.

That belt does look too short. Can you take a pic with the clutch fully depressed? Here is my 310 video with the 5/8x82 TSC belt. The belt brake stops the belt without the belt guard on to support the bottom loop. https://studio.youtube.com/video/Bq-e8XxKtxw/edit

The largest air insulated Van de Graaff generator is in the Boston Museum of Science. Saw that a couple times when I was a kid. Absolutely fascinating show.

Sort of off topic, but the same thing happened in the next town over, but it was a STUDEBAKER junk yard. $50 a car. Some real classics went out of there. Hawks, Avantis, you name it.

Looks too short to me or it could be too wide and not setting into the pullies far enough. Where did the belt come from? Someone on here bought a belt on line that was too wide, replaced it with a Tractor Supply Kevlar belt and that solved the problem.

I'm assuming you had the belt guard on when you tried shifting?

Hood latches ready to install. Upper rivet is 0.232" long and lower rivet is 0.294" long. This is from the manual. Hood showing lower rivet hole. Upper hole is covered by the side decals. Upper rivet hole punched out by a sharp awl. A flashlight behind the hood shining through the hole made it easy to locate. Right side hood latch partly installed. I get both rivets just partly tightened to ensure proper alignment then fully tighten and "pop" them. Right side hood latch complete. Left side hood latch complete. Both hood latches installed.

I remember being the kid in middle school that volunteered to touch the Van de Graaff generator and have my hair stand up. Must have had a positive (no pun intended) effect on me as the following year I won first place in the science fair.

Thanks for the memories Richard. I built a Van de Graaff generator for my high school physics project in 1961.

Beautiful work Cleat!!

Outstanding job!!! Thank you for the meticulous detail!

Same here....1987 416-8. The smell is rancid..

Double Nuts on everything for this nut case.

Let me be specific about the nuts issue, these are chopped edible nuts like peanuts or pecans. NOT the hex nuts that we use on bolts. Got to be specific around this bunch of nuts.

Took a couple of pictures - tractor resting in garage, no more snow since plowing. Next time I'm out I plan to buy some 10w-30 synthetic and do a complete oil change in the trans. If that doesn't help, I guess I'll swap the trans. Maybe after it gets a bit warmer, going down into single digits this week.