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January 23, 1986 Inaugural class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Chuck Berry; James Brown; Ray Charles; Sam Cooke; Fats Domino; The Everly Brothers; Buddy Holly; Jerry Lee Lewis; Elvis Presley; Little Richard; Robert Johnson; Jimmie Rodgers; Jimmy Yancey; Alan Freed; John Hammond; and Sam Phillips

Just can't turn your back on them there Wisconsin Garden Tractor Mafia members. A few years ago I bought a real nicer Wheel Horse at the Big Show, went to have lunch and came back to this

First major hurdle is over.

Not to be out done by the WI dudes ( @Achto, @WHX??), I've decided to start a restore on the 551 I brought back from the Big Show. Big thanks to @Pullstart and his crew for working with me and bringing to show for pick up. This will be my first Tecky motor restore and already miss my Kohlers . Just kidding motor seems solid without any unusual ticks, knocks, or smoke. Ordered a carb kit and will start there if and when I get steering wheel off. The throttle cable needs some attention fo sure cant hardly move it. Have had it running and drove it around and trans seems to be good. Haven't put a battery to it yet just used rope to start but wanting to have it both ways. I have a lauson 5.5 from the 550 I have and looks like a lot of stuff is the same ??? and it ran when took off years ago. May need some help on the electric when I get to it. One thing I can think of right now is what is the little box with the diode/fuses do thats on side of motor? just have one pic of it before I pulled it in shop but will post others asap .

Yes the starter relay is the same as a 701 relay. Positive power is present all the time, the relay is activated by a ground signal from the switch. This ground switched relay is also used on Western snow plows.

The 401's had the 3 piece, 551's has the 2 piece.

Wheel stud bolts 7/16 x 1- 1/2 20 NF ready to install. I use washers for all but two studs. Blue loctite will be used to retain bolts in position. Left hub ready for bolts to be installed. Bolt holes have been cleaned out with a 7/16 NF tap and blown clear. Right hub ready for bolts to be installed. Note the bub set screw and a wheel bolt line up in this one place on each hub. The bolt without a washer gets installed here. This is for clearance so the hub set screw can be properly torqued later on. Wheel stud bolts partly installed. Loctite applied to all bolts. Left wheel stud bolts screwed in and tightened. Right wheel stud bolts screwed in and tightened. This is how I tightened the wheel stud bolts. I did not torque them, just pulled them tight.

Hands down my favorite vehicle was my 1963 F7 dump truck. Fire engine red. I bought it from a corn farmer. Grain truck with 17000 original miles. Needed the normal biz to be reliable. High/low 4 speed including reverse. Best bet was to double clutch or not clutch at all. BIG tow hooks in the front. Low/reverse you could pull a building down. Double stomp works best on earlier rigs. I drove a model T ONCE. Having driven trick cars most of my youth the experienced gentleman that allowed me to drive his restored rig was impressed. Facts are.. nearly everything is fairly intuitive. Not a rocket surgeon, never will be. Pay attention and if you cannot... ask square folks

Probably see headlines next month - "Super Rare Crescent Wrench Fetches $500K at Auction!"

Here is a pic of my 60 550 with that style hood???? Might be a 60 hood also same foot boards.

A buddy of mine and I have been replacing seals in my 36 year old truck. About a month ago we replaced the oil pan gasket, the front seal, the three seals in the front differential, the water pump (under warranty) and timing chain gasket--the timing chain was tight and good as new. It seemed the engine rear main seal's leak was getting worse but not worth the effort to get to it--well--until I checked the transmission fluid and was low with no obvious signs of leaks. I decided to change fluid in the transfer case and found it was full of transmission fluid--that is where my transmission fluid went. We just put it back together this afternoon. Rear engine seal, front and rear seals in automatic transmission and transfer case. We replaced the flexplate and the U-joints. I'm real sure the U-joints were original to the pickup with 235,000 miles on it. How I know is because they still had the plastic glue that GM used to lock the U-joint caps in place. My pickup no longer needs a "diaper" under it while parked in the garage. A touch over $800.00 in parts.

Got bad news for ya Squirrels... Dan and I already had our grubby mitts on that tractor and had our way with it. Pullstart plow day last year or the year before CRS. He had just got it and the first thing I said to him is... Kev this is way too nice a rig for the looks of you In between furrows Dan and I got bored 😴 and fingered we couldn't mess it up any worse than Pullstart could. I don't remember what we all did maybe @Achto does but we got it running. Pretty sure Dan had to teabag it a couple times. I was gonna flash some cash on it just to keep the angle grinder off it but tractor heavy ya know. Don't need another project. If I recollect it didn't need a frame off resto. On the carb for 15 clams I wouldn't be afraid to try a off shore. One worked great on a 502 I had & cheaper than rebuild parts. On the electrical I can definitely help you out ther. I went through a couple of techies and got real intimate with them diodes. '24 it was... AC Dude and Sylvia supervised. Well Sylvia just stood around lookin stoopid and doled out the 🧀 curds

Same internal design but the Snow plow relay (Solenoid) is supposed to be "Continuous Duty" to handle the long " on time " during operation

My 551 has the full length rib.

Good job helping others Tony. This is what this country is all about. Safe travels.

The only thing I am waiting for now on this 1057 is the E/fuel pump. This was supposed to be my winter build. But this went faster than I thought it would. But it is not running yet. I am sure there will be some tweaking to be done. I had this almost three years now just sitting doing nothing but taking up space. The seat was worth putting these patches on the seat from years of use good enough till I can have it reupholstered by Matt. I hope you enjoy the picks. OHH Also Wallfish made this pice that controls carb linkage. It works very well. No slop from worn out holes from years of use. It has full throttle movement. Or click click from idle screw to full throttle stop. Best I can do.

Thanks, thanks Mike. I will do a video of it running . Via pump came in the mail today so I’ll be installing that it’s gonna take a couple days and do that and also I need the plate or dummy plate that goes over where the pump was so that’s what I’ll be doing there again, I’ll be posting pictures as I go along. Pretty much put it the same place that I put it on the 856 that I bought from you a couple years from the big show. Anyone has questions please feel free to ask. Like I said this is my last build so I’ll be looking for another one maybe in the spring for next winter take care everyone.

FYI some transfer cases were ATF from factory.

The weather weenies are notoriously inaccurate when to come to predicting precipitation amounts...However in the last few years they are getting pretty close to predicting temperatures, So I am pretty sure it is going to be cold as a witches t*****

I little thing that I just noticed. Your '61 Suburban has a rib all the way down the top center of the hood. On the '61 Suburban that I am restoring that rib stops at the gas cap. Just like it does on my '60 Suburban. You also have the cast foot pads just like my 701 has. Mine has the bent diamond plate pads. The serial number tag on mine is a cut off serial tag from a '60 Suburban that was bolted to the hood support. I'm guessing that mine is an early model that was built with left over '60 parts.

Agree 100% I can double clutch or I should say I used to could but its been a while so might take a mile or two. I never understood why people insisted on double shifting clutch when you can shift without using clutch at all, up or down when you get used to your truck

Yes, that's a 12 volt battery. Obviously not a tractor. The generator was due for a walk and yesterday I figured it was as good a day as any to do that. I turned the key and listened to silence. I don't think we're going to gut much of that storm that's fixin to hammer areas south of here but I'm glad I found out under better conditions.

I knew I wasn't her first but DANG.... I'm really unsure what a curd looks like but pretty sure that's what the dog was after or maybe a mouse just dont know...

I represent that...! It was awful... just awful... cheese curd crumbs everywhere... oh the humanity!!!

I think it was mainly some carb work & governor adjustments ?? Not entirely sure. Like I say, "I've slept since then"

Is it time to run in circles scream and shout??? I charged up the batteries in my gloves

They're saying 15-18" here in he Poconos. I'll take double that in snow vs. 1/2" of ice. Lived through one ice storm (Rochester, NY area) and that was enough! No power for days and a week of tree & limb clean-up. If you're in the ice path double down on you're prep. Other than that Let It Snow!

Fun times! When Dan was finished tea bagging and that didn’t work by the seventeenth time, he figured it had a grounded start switch. It was weird, like the starter always had power but the ground was switched or something. @Achto that ring a bell? But not positive ground.

Bob glade you found the problem. Looks like winter is here now for some of us. It’s always good to be ready. Not looking forward to possible 1 foot or more of snow coming our way. Well that’s winter.

One day long ago somebody, somewhere was doing something stupid and hoping they would get away with it. What was that word / practice invented you ask? Sketch / Sketchy... Today im delivering the 310 I built for my wifes cousin so she has it for this weekends "big" storm. Its a little over an hour to her house. Pics are from this morning after I did my driveway. Somebody wish me luck!!

We use a cheap floor jack for the front end lifty uppy taskses. Works good.

it's always something tony. nice of you to help family.

Believe it or not that's been fading FAR longer than most folks realize. The first heavy truck I drove was a 1999 IHC with a VERY tough clutch. I taught myself to double clutch on that and immediately taught myself how to shift WITHOUT the clutch. Haven't used one since, other than at stop signs and lights. All the drivers I've known. All the 150 plus trucks I've driven. All the people I've trained. ONE guy double clutched every shift. One.

We recycle dozens of these batteries every year at the hospital and they are still good. Emergency lights and UPS's. The e lites are mandated to be changed every 2 years just like the Generators. I have one in the UPS under my desk at home now that's over 2 years old. I need an odd ball one for the back up on my garage door opener. Luckily we have one bldg that has an E lite with the correct size! The battery I took out of my garage door this fall had .6 of a volt!

It obviously does an excellent job moving snow. Be safe in your travels. This storm is going to miss Chicago Land...Thank You Very Much.

Yes tilt of vertical ill try a different set of holes that ebinmaine talked about.to help with the snow role to the side. Seams like I get a full blade with no role off or very little. Blade is slick and not full.of rust etc. I usually take all the snow to one edge of my driveway with the 854 which is a beast. That 8 hp impresses me. Then I fire up the c141 with a snow blower on it and chuck it into the yard. That way I have double the fun 😁 😂

Trina and I only ever use the middle two settings. The super scooper I've been messing around with for a few weeks is set at the second one down. All of our other plows are set in the third hole down which gives the plow a much more talk forward set. We find that this greatly reduces the amount of unwanted digging into the driveway surface and has the added bonus of helping the snow roll to the sides of the plow quite a lot better.

657 has a 3-speed. That is NOT a direct swap for your mid-70s tractor. You have a 4 speed. The brake drum is in a different location and the brake linkage pulls from a different direction.

I plow three flat concrete drives, but one has a few elevated joints. I keep the blade top leaning slightly forward so that it doesn't catch the lip on those joints giving me and the tractor a jolt... yes it reduces cutting action, but 9/10 times i don't need it...

Yup. The closer to vertical the cutting edge is, the less aggressive it gets. Won't dig in at all if it is leaning forward.

How old is the battery vs its expected life?

Lucky you didn’t need it at that moment…

The way this showed up on my lap top I couldn't see the pic @Achto had posted and thought man I can't believe they are saying that. Thought I'm going have to turn in my membership after this. I finally had enough sense to scroll up and then seen pic. To clarify read the first 4 post then skip down to post 12 and pick back up and pretend you didnt see the post 5 through 11.

I had a C-125, so maybe there should be a 125 day. I probably forget when Sunday comes around.

Geez you guys ... I was just hopein to see 121 pics. Guess Junior and I must be the only ones that have one. Must be one of those rare collectible models...

Yup, just took the air cleaner base off and found that I had somehow wedged the throttle linkage wide open. Oops. All fixed.

Glad I'm retired. If it gets bad I'll just wait till it melts

Yeah, just got 2 Motorcraft fuel filters for the 7.3 powerstroke $22 a piece, at least half price anywhere else. Also love the grocery pick up I cant remember last time I was actually in store. Yeah I can when I returned 2 3.50-8 Deestones I mis ordered the other day, was trying to order 4.00"s. Another reason I like using them could just take back to store and didn't have to try and send them back through mail.

We got about 6" of the wet stuff that got me 4 hours of seat time on the 312H. Seven driveways and 3 gallon of fuel later.