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I received word today that one of our very early members, Mr. Lauren Cummings, known to us affectionately as Duff (and apparently Deereman before that), has passed away. I never met Duff in person, but his work here came to my attention very soon after I joined this forum. I knew him first as someone who did really nice work on his 300 series tractors, and who enthusiastically shared his knowledge and experiences with anyone who was interested in reading about it. I learned shortly after that we shared a love of music, and at some point in our conversations I noticed that he was the stage manager for an organization called the Lebanon Opera House in Lebanon NH. I started receiving their emails shortly after that, and that's how I heard the news this afternoon. Duff hadn't posted here in several years, but his work will live on in his contributions to RedSquare. Here's part of the email from LOH: Last Friday, we lost a beloved member of the LOH Family. Lauren “Duff” Cummings passed peacefully after a long hard-fought battle with respiratory disease, one of the very few things that Duff couldn’t fix himself. As LOH Stage Manager, he stewarded world-class touring musicians, Upper Valley-based performing arts groups, and thousands of local student-artists. Duff treated them all the same and made sure their moment in the spotlight was truly special. His work with LOH dates back to 1969 when, as a college student, he helped revive the dormant theater and "bring it out of mothballs." Nearly every LOH show for the past 56 years has had his fingerprints on it. And a link to Duff's obituary: Obituary | Lauren Herbert Cummings, Jr of West Lebanon, New Hampshire | Knight Funeral Homes & Crematory What an interesting guy, I had no idea! The phrase "life well lived" comes to mind, and I'm looking forward to reading the stories that his friends, family and coworkers post in his guestbook. Rest in peace Duff, we'll certainly miss your presence here.

National Chocolate Covered Nut Day is on February 25 every year, and we’re here to help you amazingly celebrate the day. Do you know that it has been almost 100 years since the first chocolate-covered peanuts were sold? Chocolate is something we all love, and one of the ways to make it even better is to add yet another thing that we adore — nuts! It is said that the first mixture of chocolate and hazelnut happened during the 1800s in the northwestern Italian region of Piedmont. The paste was called ‘gianduja.’ This was way before even milk chocolate came into existence. Milk chocolate was born in 1876 when Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter added dried milk powder to chocolate. In the 1900s, many companies such as Nestle started mass producing chocolate-covered nuts, and it soon became a favorite snack among people of all ages.

Got the 2x12's and post out.

When removing a flywheel with a harmonic balancer puller I have found that hitting the end of the puller screw a couple times after it is under tension tends to pop the flywheel off its taper.

I guess you will be using 2 at a time, simply wire them in series.

I just shut it down. Once the fire was out, my rotor stack was close to 950 degrees without fire.

I bought Donna a new recliner last night, so the gears are greased for a tractor purchase!

Wow! Am I ever ready for this day. I always have some of these in the kitchen. By the way, these are "medicinal". Dark chocolate is good for your heart and almonds lower your LDL cholesterol.

Well, I decided to jump into the 414-8 shown below. Asking price was 500. Purchase price was 300. - All 4 tires are pretty badly cracked. I have a set of Carlisle rear tires in the correct size off my '73. - Mower height adjuster is broken off at the (HORRIBLE) factory weld. A very simple fix. - Gas cap needs to be replaced. - Knob to front mule is broken. - Knobs for shift levers are AWOL. - Trans oil is milky, needs drain, flush, refill. - Slightly "notchy" shifting into 3rd, both high & low range. I am hoping the drain/flush//refill and linkage adjustment will fix t. If not, an 8-speed arrives tomorrow. - Transmission "boot" for gear selector lever is shot - Left outer deck spindle bearing squeaks when PTO is engaged. No grease on the zerk fitting, hoping grease fixes it. - SLIGHTLY worn right (inner) tie rod end. - SLIGHT front wheel bearing play. - Seat is all torn up and taped - Gas strut on seat completely worn out - Edge of hood by dash is damaged/bent - Lots of paint falling & chipping. A bit of surface rust. - I'm sure it's the wrong battery, but it's brand new. Cheapo lawn tractor battery. Struggles to start it. - Battery hold down loose, likely because of wrong battery. - Engine runs great! Does not idle extremely low. I'll disassemble and clean the carb. - Needs an oil change. So, ok deal?

Looks like mid 70s here on out in Florida so, time to pull the toys out, everything has sat since early December except the loader tractor, 318, and C-100. Everything fired right up without any boosting or hand holding. Everything needs a good washing but no surprises this year. Last year I had to replace 6 tires, and 4 batteries. Ive got 3 Onan P series 216/218/220 2 Kawasaki FD620D L/C 20, 22efi 3 Kohler Command CH Twins 23, 27, 27 1 Yannar 3cyl Diesel 22 2 Kohler K Singles 8, 10 1 Kawasaki FH Vertical 15hp 1 Briggs Vertical Pro Twin 27hp My neighbors think im crazy...🤣

After letting paint cure I got the tower and lift arm installed

May have been a Prentiss. Here's my # 21 . 5.25" jaws, 8" opening, 360 rotation, and weighs 109 lbs.

I once said to my wife: for every tractor I buy, you can get another critter to make it fair. 8 pygmy goats, 5 dogs, 4 cats, a donkey, and a giant tree frog later- she is WAY ahead of me!

Shortening the horizontal flue helped increase temps greatly! I’m not sold on the whole design, but it’s getting better.

I opened it up this morning. Just a good cleaning, new brushes and bushings and it should be as good as new. I found kits on Ebay. Some have a new brush holder which I won't need. Most don't include bushings which I'd say I definitely need. I'll take a look at DB Electric later today.

I always looked forward to his posts. RIP Duff.

RIP Lauren It's been many years since we got together at a small event way back when. It was an honor to meet you

Of course, there are corollaries that must be considered as well... Floor space showing in the shop? Buy... Rafter space in the shop? Buy... Wife out of town and won't notice another red thing in the shop? Buy... Bored? Buy... et cetra...

The minimum number of tractors is ALWAYS a minimum of whatever number of IMPLEMENTS you have, +1. @SylvanLakeWH said so and he knows stuff.

I have repurposed 6V emergency lights on my snow machine. They even come with an adjustable base. It's actually easier to wire in series than in parallel. .

Dark and got volts? This is the dead one. Dark and no volts? This one is still good. (Unless BOTH lamps blew at the same time! ) No access to the connections on those pesky Christmas lights, though!

Excellent save! The ONLY issue is that like those wired-in-series Christmas light strings, when one bulb burns out, both lights go off. Remember swapping a known good down the string until you got to the dead one? Same (but at least only two bulbs!)

Yeah, that will work.

If its that easy you guys have put a big smile on my face!! Tony

<---- Not an electrical engineer, but a computer guy and a tinkerer, sometimes with things that I shouldn't be tinkering with like 240v circuits I think what he's saying is, run the hot wire to the positive terminal on the first lamp, then run a wire from the negative on that to the positive on the second one, then attach ground to the negative terminal on the second one. I've used 12v batteries in parallel before, and knew that putting them in a series would double it to 24v, but never thought about using the consuming devices in a series. Did I get it right?

Donna would say the animals are for me, too. We have one aging beagle, and she wants nothing else, to make travelling easier. 🥺 Btw, I expect the formula for the correct # of tractors to own is the same as for motorcycles: N+1, where N is the number you currently own!

I would replace the exhaust valve with the correct one. After it gets hot the oversize valve may not seat correctly. How the wrong valve got in there is a mystery....

I had a C195 for a brief time and regret selling it. However, if I kept it and had to repower it, I'd probably go with a Magnum Twin as a replacement; still a Kohler for the sake of the same brand of engine, but more reliable. But given how rare those are becoming, I'd have zero hesitation on the Briggs Vanguard twins or one of the opposed 18hp twins. I see KT19s and even a few KT21s come up for sale throughout the year, but they're not a drop in replacement unless it came spec'd to handle the Wheel Horse PTO clutch; every single one I've seen came from a Cub or JD and I don't believe a vertical shaft engine that had been converted over to run horizontally would be able to use a Wheel Horse style clutch either. Technically they'd bolt in and run, but you would have to use an electric PTO clutch if you desire to run attachments. I went through this when I repowered an early 520H with an M18 from a Cub.

I like the Dark Chocolate peanuts, myself

RIP "Duff" with prayers for his family and friends.

I’ve been playing with this thing, and think the blower just can’t overcome the vent length. It’s a thing, and I knew it might be. I don’t want a fan on the exhaust pulling, for the concern it might get sooted up. I think I need to pull a length of pipe out of the system, though I don’t want to. That’s a cost of trial and error. Other than the masses of people telling me I need this, watching this quick video of the burner working outside reminds me how good it was with vent out of the playing field.

So sad to see this, Duff was a fixture here for quite a while, rest in peace Duff.

I got lucky with a harmonic balancer remover. Just needed to have some courage to wind it up proper. Still used the obligatory squirt with penetrant and a couple of taps to break the seal, but having said that, the taper didn't have any signs of corrosion or binding. (Which reminds me I still need to put 50ft lbs of torque on the bolt)

FYI, DB Electric has some starter rebuild kits that I’ve used.

It's been my experience that this is a good thing...

Tonight it's some Steve Winwood

The full size Ma Deuce non firing replica build is almost complete!

Took the Suburban 550 for a ride. IMG_0607.mov

I had the honor of working with Duff at Dartmouth College! We were in their security department together and he was great to work with, being that he was a Dartmouth alum, he knew so much about the college and was very smart, and very classy guy! I hadn't known him for long when we discovered each of our love for which was a true bond! I will miss him! C-85

I've read here n there that's a good way to make a flathead breathe better.

The stroke on the 6hp & 7hp is the same and they use the same rod 2.5". I did not have to turn the crank so a standard rod will be used. The smaller bore 2 7/8" parts of the 6hp are hard to find. I'm boring the block out to 7hp size 2 15/16. 8hp has a longer stroke of 2.75 but uses the same piston as the 7hp

Can you see if the seat is burnt?

Uuhhhhhhhh....... Sounds about right.

RIP

There is a notch in the bottom of the rubber to clear the drain tin, do you have that aligned correctly?

@kwalshy happy birthday to you ! pete

Happy Happy Kwalshy

I'll call this "what I expect to see when you're finished" picture!