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July 13, 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London, Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially open Live Aid, a worldwide rock concert organized to raise money for the relief of famine-stricken Africans. Continued at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia (where Joan Baez famously kicked it off by telling the crowd "this is your Woodstock, and it's long overdue") and at other arenas around the world, the 16-hour “superconcert” was globally linked by satellite to more than a billion viewers in 110 nations. In a triumph of technology and good will, the event raised more than $100 million in famine relief for Africa.

I get this . I have only a few pics, plow is paid and waiting for delivery from NL , so maybe in 2-3 weeks I will have it at my place. Serial # 11164 @sqrlgtr I think that all pieces are there

That is likely the wire that feeds the ignition switch with battery power. A fuse in that wire would be good protection for the rest of the wiring.

Priceless! Not long ago I said to my wife “something must have happened to the Amazon delivery driver because we haven’t received any packages in two days!”

The BBT aka Trina and I have been helping @Natejc_98 with his 1973 8 HP 4 speed. Nate's been diving right in with great effort. Really good guy. Here's a few before n after pics of the carb & air cleaner. All cleaned up with a new Briggs fuel bowl installed. We also did a partial disassembly and general cleanup. Changed the drive belt and idler pulley out for better used ones. Swapped the 10" rear wheels for more standard larger wheels & tires. Swapped the destroyed front tires for nicer turfs. Did some investigating on a no electricity to the solenoid issue. Turns out both safety switches were bad. Fixed that and found an intermittent ignition switch connection. Installed new switch from @76c12091520h Brian Badman. Replaced all fuel line and added a turn off and fuel filter. Engine oil change done. Transmission oil change on the list. Trina and I have amassed a fair amount of extra parts over the years. It's great to see them being used. I need to finish the wiring and see about getting the transmission drain plug out.

For some reason the LED tail light on my 953 didn't survive the trip to the Big Show. Stopped at Horror Fright and picked up this groovy tail light for cheap. Even had a piece of steel the right color!

This morning I did disassembly and cleaned up everything for the new brake lining from @rmaynard and I took my old seal out to realize it’s wrong so I ordered the correct one (hopefully). I should’ve looked at the manual I have for part number from the beginning 🤦🏻‍♂️. So it’ll be a while. I just want a good brake and not roll to a stop.

Our driver most likely would have called the police to have a wellness check done at our house.

It’s supposed to be 95 or hotter today. The shop just barely fits the new trailer! The shop A/C is on for a bit to bring the temps down to something a bit more comfortable. Rubber flooring and e-track is all here, that’s exciting!

Must be the roller bearing that makes the wheels move.

My badge offers those of us who are using a merroir the opportunity to read it too.

Yep. If I'm at work and don't see Amazon purchases on our account I wait a bit and then call to make sure everything's okay

You ain't givin us much to run on here.

@rmaynard Me too Bob, plus I thought of hanging a roll of white duct tape and a Sharpie marker on Howard’s mash pole. That way people could make a quick name tag to stick on their shirt. That is provided he remembers to bring it next year 😂

I was finally able to do a few things to get the 161 ready to work and glad I did. It was a productive weekend. I pulled the deck and got the sub-frame in place. I made a pair of hiem joint tie rods and got it aligned (it was way out, something must have gotten bent somewhere), installed radial bearings on the front spindles, installed the solid mounts on the shaker, pulled the ags from the 16 auto and got those and wheel studs installed. All 5 of my machines have those now and they're definitely worth it especially if you load your tires. So in support of doing some routine maintenance, I found a loose hub (no damage) and a loose drive pulley on the tranny so as if we all didn't know this already, spending some time turning bolts really can save time and effort down the road .

Got 416H moved over to back of garage so I can start working in it. Accumulating parts etc to start doing any repairs as well as preventative maint. Also got a few things to swap off the 1848 like the rear receiver hitch, weights, & larger wheels/tires.

Got some pictures of the 314 from the other day. It didn’t clean up bad and should make a good mower for my brother. Already gathered some parts like a new choke, throttle cable, clutch return spring and I did manage to score an entire wiring harness for cheap so it’ll save me from having to rewire everything that was cut out of this harness that I’ve found out to be taken and put on the 520. Still need to get a new seat and some tires for it but that’ll probably wait until it’s up and running on its own.

This is a lot of work without a machine shop but I really needed to get these made before I install the ARK on the 161 (the old one on the bench is from the junk pile!).

Not wanting to do too much to this c-161 that is mostly original, I'm making an exception for solid shaker mounts. That last one seems to always be a challenge but I loosened one of the mounting blocks and was able to start that last bolt. This shored up the primary ground wire while I was at it so that's a plus.

A hour working on a Cricuit and one more step done.

@buckrancher Got the rear cargo carrier slot hitch mount mocked up using pieces from the carrier kit and some scrap laying around.

I was never inclined to have an inspection camera in my shop but my wife was apparently not meeting her Amazon purchasing quota and thought I could use one . Well I actually used it today. I had a loose drive pulley on my c-161-8 and couldn't find the set screw behind the pulley with all of the dirt and dust. I don't know how often I'll use it but it came in handy today

Yes please. Pics and measurements.

@ebinmaine I have a set of round lights like the ones you’re looking for. Only one works then I put power to them. It may need a bulb or possibly a bad ground. I can take a picture this evening if you’d like to see them.

It’s something! 😂 @ebinmaine has helped tremendously

So, I took things apart again and tried two things and gained some adjustment and improved the resistance. (I believe cleanliness of the cones was key) Used a scotchbrite pad on the cone and inside of the cup to make sure the surfaces were optimal Added one washer in front of the spring As a bonus, it gave me access to attach a proper brake return spring and get rid of the external spring I had been using.

Get a Youtube account and use that to post video's. Much faster. Grandmother had a 59 Biscayne. Copper color with the 6 banger, glide and manual steering!

Here's the other video too 20260712_145306.mp4

How many would you like ?

Yeah, now that I have it, it will probably come in handy. I can imagine looking for things falling behind the work bench or under the seat in the truck or who knows what.

My grease gun has been stowed in a former wallpaper dip trough for more years than I can remember.

I moved the clutch/brake rod to other hole at the pedal on Whitey today. Removed a bit of the pedal to make some clearance at the foot board to allow the pedal to stand straight up in the rest position for added travel. i found that the rod was already rubbing on the running board at the other end because either it has too long of a drive belt, or it’s just stretched and worn. The rod is almost touching the boss of the lever, allowing the rod to come down and make contact with the rear of the foot board. Had to use the fire wrench to get the rod adjustment to turn freely again. A little adjustment of the clutch rod and brake rod and swapped to the lower hole, i have clean clutching and brakes that will hold backwards on the hill, so i’m happy with that. Unable to engage the parking brake, but i’ve never had one anyway, so no big thing. I’ll worry about that after a new drive belt. Kept getting a whiff of fuel while i was working on it today. Found a drip hanging at the fuel tank line. After 20 minutes screwing around with the clamp, brake clean and a blow gun, and still seeing fuel leaking, i pulled the tank. A pin hole crack at the seam of the plastic tank about 1/4” away from the nipple. I scavenged through my stash and the largest tank i could find was a stupid little predator tank, so it’ll do until i locate another. Just need to remember to fill it every time before mowing. The fuel pump doesn’t seem to work very well as an “air” pump.

Resealed my intake with Motoseal. Bolted back together with 6-32 screws and locknuts.

Fuzzy Points...

I cut a plastic water bottle in half and slip it on the bottom of my grease guns as they hang on a nail. The bottle fits snug enough that it doesn’t slip off but loose enough to allow any liquid to seep into the bottle. Problem solved, no more drips on my work bench! Poland Spring bottles seem to fit perfectly!!

I noticed the pedal has a second hole. This should give me more braking power. I’ll tinker with it this weekend.

Today I got a couple things done. After mowing the Fire Station’s, my lawn and weedwacking both, I got working on small stuff. First, the C -141’s steering wheel was missing the center cap. So I made one up with a scrap of 1/8 inch galvanized sheetmetal. With a big washer for a spacer, a deck screw, and some RTV silicone, voila, it’s covered up now. I also removed the brass adjustment collar, that was under the plastic knob, when it was on the 42” RD mule drive, before I had it. I was getting tired of using vice grips to spin the adjustment rod to tighten the belt. I’ll tackle the replacement tomorrow. I have to also look at the deck too as it’s shredding the PTO belt. Hopefully, more progress tomorrow.

Adjusted the governor arm on the shaft so the governor is functioning now. Ran to Ace Hardware for a 1/2”x39” belt and a longer 7/16” x 3” grade 5 bolt that was needed to mount the 6908 drive pulley on the gear drive deck. I also grabbed a heavy spring that had similar specs as the 5185 spring in the RL-366 mower parts diagram. However the spring had an extra length hook on one end, which I figured was a bonus as i could shorten it to the length needed. Thanks to @Horseoholic for dimensions, i made a 5385 link from bar stock that goes between the spring and the idler. In the RL-367 destructions manual it says to attach the spring to the 7th hole in the frame. On this Raider, the 7th hole is the front hole of the tower, looking at picture in the RL-367 manual, the hole that the spring is anchored to is not there on my Raider. I made a tab 1-1/2” long with a hole to attach the entire length of the Ace spring to MY 7th hole. Since the Raider has footboards, the link and spring are hidden behind it. I had to trim the front footboard bolt 1/4” because it interfered with the link where it comes through on the back side, but it all works well. The belt keeper on the idler doubles as a boot guard. The shimmed drive pulley spins true and freely. If i’m thinking correctly, i may try moving the throttle spring down one hole at the governor so the governor allows a little more throttle up the hill. Seemed to be dropping a bit too much rpm before the governor takes over. I picked the deck up at the Big Show. I only pulled the gear covers off to have a peak, but i didn’t disassemble anything. Some axial play in the cross shaft, but i’ve run much worse. The right blade shaft woodruff needs replacing, not sheared but i can tell it’s worn pretty bad from the slop. Both blade shafts have some radial play, hoping the shafts aren’t worn too bad. Just need to finish out the season and i’ll replace all of the bearings before next year. Loaded it up with grease. It mowed, but it looked really skippy. I shut it down and checked. Sure enough, the right blade was on the left and the left was on the right. This is the second gear drive deck i bought like that. It cuts perfectly now with the blades on their correct sides. Need to order a rectifier yet and some trans seals. Brakes barely work at all on these old 3/6spds… especially backwards, on a hill, when the brake drum and band are saturated with gear lube. IMG_2076.mov

Yesterday I took the gt-14 intake elbow off my 1257, then sprayed the air cleaner white, then realized how bad it looked so I stripped all the paint back off and repainted the air cleaner lid red again. Today while I was at it I painted my ignition coil and bracket since it’s now visible. I got asked about hubcaps on my wide wheels. Since I took them off to try and polish them, I took a picture of the inner wheel weights that the hubcaps hide. If it weren’t for them I’d probably leave them off for that deep dish look.

The C160-8 got a fresh oil change, spark plug, pressure washing then a light rub down with some fluid film. It’s out basking in the sun now.

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Dug these old girls out of the weeds today for a couple hundred bucks. To my surprise the 520 actually started with some make shift gas line but the 314-8 which reads to be an 02 model is in tough shape with everything seized and locked up sadly it only has 200 hours on it with a like new 42” deck.

I'd start with checking all your grounds and redoing the battery cables. That positive cable looks like it needed replaced 20 years ago.

Took out the annoying Push button start button and push/pull kill switch..and added all new wires, switches and black plug to fill the huge hole in dash.

Picked up this two piece seat for cheap money at the WH Show. She’s ugly! Some gloss black rattle can and leather repair tape (lots of tape!) and she’s ready for service. Not show quality or anywhere close to it. But nothing so permanent that I couldn’t replace the seat back and seat cushion if I wanted in the future.

Haven't done much since snow plowing. But it was the time of year to mow and clean up the woods behind the yard. Had a downed tree to clean up as well so the chainsaw got in on the fun. It was hung up some so the 416 got some pulling fun too!

Saturday after leaving the show, I pulled all the Work Horses out of the Horse Garage and clean the garage and them. I rebuilt the garage last fall 1 board at a time, only thing left original is the roof. I have another restored 1848 to bring over that will live here now also. Still 1 more GT1100 at home and 1 at the cabin. Plus a C175 disassembled and on pause of restoration. a bunch of decks for spares. I think the GT1600 shown here maybe next, I have the engine ready to reassemble after being bored.

Installed a "go" pedal on my C-160 Auto. This is the 3rd, and I believe, the simplest, and most elegant of the three versions. Very easy to do. I'll create some drawings if anyone is interested.