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November 12, 1979, President Jimmy Carter responds to a potential threat to national security by stopping the importation of petroleum from Iran. Earlier that month, on November 4, 66 Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran had been taken hostage by a radical Islamic group. The alarming event led Carter and his advisors to wonder if the same or other terrorist groups would try to strike at American oil resources in the region. At the time, the U.S. depended heavily on Iran for crude oil and Carter’s cultivation of a relationship with Iran’s recently deposed shah gave the radicals cause, in their view, to take the Americans hostage. Not knowing if future attacks were planned involving American oil tankers or refineries, Carter agreed with the Treasury and Energy Departments that oil imports from Iran should be discontinued immediately. This ended America’s formerly friendly association with the oil-rich nation.

I often wonder if this would be a safer war free world if action had been taken then.

A trying time for our family. UK Royal Air Force rescue in Iran 1979 - C-130 Historical - C-130 Hercules.net -- The internet's #1 C-130 resource My MIL and FIL were rescued by one of these C-130s after living in Iran for nearly 10 years. They were allowed a suitcase in each hand as they waited on the tarmac for the C-130 to touch down. They rushed on board and were lifted off immediately. My FIL was manager of purchasing for the Bowen McLauchlin company that was in the process of building a armed vehicle factory for the Shaw. He was involved in many business meetings and ceremonial dinners with the Shaw. I have many memories and items from Iran including many hand carved items and Persian carpets. One of my favorites, a hand carved aluminum hard hat.

How you fix a broken pumpkin? With a pumpkin patch.

What do you call the Dark Knight and a bowl of noodles? Batman and Ramen

Anticipating rain overnight and knowing that moving dry leaves is a LOT easier than moving wet ones, I used a blower to bring them closer together at the back corner and then, like @953 nut, chopped them with multiple passes with the 854 and 36” gear deck. Then the blower put the minced remains into a pile that will be composted.

@Pullstart has a video on removing the grenade gears.

My grandpa mulches his leaves up and puts them on the garden and for us it makes the soil a nice looking dark brown color. Might be worth a try for you guys

This is what I made for my 400 with a Predator on it. Note that I added belt brakes on the engine pulley too. Not sure if they were necessary, but I had room for them with my home made belt guard.

You might be acle to make/use sumin like this (The tab on top of idler pulley). Main thing is belt has to stop turning for everything to work right. Pulled this pic off interweb and is not my mochine.

Happy Veteran’s Day to all that served. And also to all that Support our Soldier’s, for without your support, the Missions would never be completed. USAF-82-88, OHARNG 90-04, Desert Storm and OIF-03/04..

This is good info. Gotta make a belt guard and some belt keepers when I get to that stage of the rebuild. Dave

A belt brake as Squirrelly and Achto show will cure the issue. While your at it get a boot for the shifter. keeps dust and dirt and most important water out of the tranny. https://wheelhorsepartsandmore.com/product/wheel-horse-3577-shifter-boot/

Way too much can go wrong over time there - kind of like the OE one wire circuit for C series headlights, grounding thru the hood hinge pin...

I have a couple of observations, the fuel is a gravity feed from the tank to the carb. Your fuel line appears to go downward and then upward behind the fan cover ands then downward to the carburetor. Air could be trapped in the high point behind the fan cover obstructing fuel flow. If relocating the fuel line doesn't cure the problem then you probably need to do a more through cleaning of the carburetor. There are several small passages in the carburetor that respond to the amount of air passing through the venturi and the low pressure created there. If one or more of these is not clean it will never run properly. Also, I didn't see a condenser connected to the ignition points, is there one at the magneto behind the fan shroud? The lack of a condenser will not prevent the engine from running but it will shorten the life of your points. Happy hunting, hope this is helpful.

BBT has talked about running our leaves through my chipper and laying them in the garden.

I pile them in our planting beds and then run over them with the mower. They make fantastic mulch... mow them right where i want them...

to the Mike. Why do you need to rebuild or replace the carb? Mine surged badly and needed 1/2 choke to keep running. I cleaned it several times and it has been running perfectly for many years.

Excellent video. Thanks!

I saw this grader blade at online auction. When I saw it, there were still 17 days of bidding left, so I popped a $1 bid on in it just to get email updates on it. I figured surely someone would bid on it. I was curious to see what one would bring at auction. Since it's 6 hours away from me, I really had no intention of buying it. Cut to 6 hours left to go. I guess if I end up with it, a couple tanks of gas are worth it for a $1 grader blade I need to learn to just add them to a watch list rather than bidding on them.

GO NAVY!!!!!

Family-ized it for ya 🫢

This is the first time I have tried to mow with my 856 so I sharpened the blades and attached the deck the best I could figure out. I started cutting the grass and the pulley immediately came off the motor. I reattached it and started to cut the grass again when one of the belts broke on the deck, and the other is so loose it wasn't turning the blades, so I quit for the day. I have what I believe to be a 32" mower deck SR # 13965. and would like to replace both belts with new ones. 1. I would like to know what size belts I need, and where I can find them. 2. I would also like to know how on earth you replace them. 3. I have screwed the deck lift bar to its lowest level and the rear wheels on the deck are still at least two inches friom touching the ground. What should I do to keep the rear of the deck form dangling in the air and come back down to earth? I eagerly await for any help you can give me. Thanks, Dave Dave

There is a set screw you can see in the 3rd picture. It has a locknut (7/16) on an Allen Head dog point set screw. Need a 1/8" set screw wrench to tighten. If you loosen the set crew, you can pull out the shifter and check it to see if it is OK. We have a thread around here some where that shows how it all works. I'll try to find it for you. Here ya go.

I’m too frugal to replace parts until I’m sure they’re kaput. Yes, it is possible for a leaking fuel pump diaphragm to introduce fuel into the crankcase. Caught early, the likelihood of damage is slight. A replacement diaphragm or pump is not a difficult repair. Oil change and new filter? Absolutely Voltage regulators do fail but preemptive replacement? Not something I’d do. Aftermarket carbs are available for the P220, but by the time you’ve removed the carb you’re most of the way toward a thorough cleaning. Unless there is internal corrosion or evidence of other irreparable damage, a cleaning with a standard rebuild kit install would be my starting point. Plenty of posts here cover being thorough, including getting under and replacing the Welch plug. Coil? if you have spark now, no. Plugs. Sure if it’l make you happy. Plug wires? If there is any sign they are not doing the job then yes. Transaxle oil change and filter? Probably unless you know oil is in good shape and proper filter is less then 50 hours old.

Yep. Same here and the last time I broke down and removed the Welch plug to clean behind it (hint, hint).

I can't even begin to describe the amount of work that this woman has done in the last 4 months plus. When the dog was injured she needed 24-hour care for several weeks. That was an incredibly massive undertaking that many people could not or would not do. And then Just when that was starting to level out a little bit I severely injured my ankle... I was restricted from any movement for two weeks. Less so, for the next two. But unable to do much at all. At this point we are so far behind with normal daily living chores that we won't catch up till next year or the year after.

@856 addict - Busy couple of days - will call soon.

Happy Birthday @AlexR!!!

Appears to have been made for Jacobson. Yes those carbs can be finicky. might need to clean it several times. You may be able to try a different standard carb.

Are you saying "SHE" hasn't done that yet?

I like to run decks like that until they are completely unusable. Save the wear and tear on the good ones.

shouldnt need to - like I said what we did was to cut notches into the HUB above the flimsy sheet metal pulley V for the bearing separator puller to "bite into" , just have to get the top of the notches relatively square to the hub and deep enough, and the puller installed so that the tapered edges face down... ?

@sqrlgtr @Achto noting those idler pulleys , tiny bearings , a lubricant that will stay with them / and stand up to heat / stress , belt wear / fraying will show you that , experimented with lubes , and application . ideally , rubber side grease shield , lucas xtra hd , green chassis grease , polyurea , 550 deg flash point , never had a failure, REGULARLY EXPERIMENT with REPEDITIVE FAILURES , @ achto, thought about a short horizontal ski on the belt , push down ? enhance , hand off ? only asking , nothing sarcastic , if its not bouncing , you are good .pete

agreed - not so sure either - - just looking for any potential solution

That is pretty much what i see it doing now since it swings back and holds it off ground 6"

Another thing came to mind, a hydro tractor is pushed by the tiller under most conditions, that blade might help control that push.

Agreed. I just didn’t expect my max bid of $1 to take me within an hour of closing.

As always, you guys are very helpful and get me to a solid resolution, and I greatly appreciate that.

That wheel/tire set looks just great! I patronize a local shop that has a small wheel adapter for their tire-mounting machine for the front tires--the 12 inch rears don’t need it. They usually charge me $10 per tire (and sometimes they just waive the charge). Yes, the machine leaves marks on the painted rims (sigh) but I’ve gotten good at touching them up. And, no stress for me.

Well today i got to use four of my herd. The A-60 electric hauled my crippled old body from the house to the shop, something it does nearly every day. The 310-8 ground up some more leaves, much like @pfrederi I am on my second round of leaf grinding and this will go on well past Thanksgiving. The 418-C has the leaf blower mounted on it and we cleared the driveway for about the tenth time this season, Oh by the way we live in the forest. The GT-14 with FEL moved last years leaf compost piles in preparation for leaf sweeping 2026. I will probably use a 953 to pull the sweeper , but which one?

Pushed back the leaf pile today with the C-145 auto. Not loving that motion control lever, doesn’t stay in position so I find I’m holding it with my right hand almost all the time.

@hcminis Please start a new thread on this hitch. I have a strong feeling the guy’s would be all over this at the Big Show. Myself included! By then I’m sure you can figure out who’s tractor you’re going to use for the setup. I might know where there’s one or two that might look nice hooked up to that!

Thank you Veterans

Thank You to all Vets for their service...and Thank You to all of the millions that voted last week. The largest turnout in a century. Well Done Americans !!!

Thank You for you service and sacrifice.

I want to thank my fellow veterans and am happy you made it home alive. Also, thank you to the families left behind while we were away from home, they had to do double duty until we returned.

Thank you all for your service! Years ago, I took off from work and took my dad to the Veterans Day Parade. They had a thank you celebration for Vietnam Vets. That was a little before he died. They had set up a field hospital and people asked questions. He ended up answering the questions about patient transport and medical procedures. We had a great time and he really felt appreciated. We went to 2 or 3 of those, A big thank you to all veterans! Dave