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September 16, 1977, William Alton Carter III, then-President Jimmy Carter’s younger brother, appears at a press conference in Louisville, Kentucky, to announce that he is lending his name to a new beverage: BILLY Beer. The new brew would first hit store shelves in the Carter family’s home state of Georgia, then roll out nationally by November 1, Louisville-based Falls City Brewing Company announced. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll become the Colonel Sanders of beer,” Billy Carter told reporters.

I bought my 953 from Paul 4 or 5 years ago. When I had a couple of small blocks apart and needed some small bits he sent them to me free of charge. RIP Paul.

He was a long time member here on RedSquare @oldredrider rest in peace!

I built one like that a few years ago, love it.

I learned this afternoon that Paul Benzinger (oldredrider) passed away the week before last. I talked to his wife, who told me he had been battling cancer for quite a while, and gave me the okay to pass the word along to RedSquare. I didn't know Paul well, only really met him once, at the big show in 2021. We talked about the engines he had rebuilt and had for sale at the show, and generally just had a real easy conversation about Wheel Horses and Kohlers, and just life. I know some of you guys knew him much better, and I'm looking forward to hearing some of your stories. Rest in peace, Paul, and thanks for the chat. @nylyon

Wow ... musta tasted like crap ...

A single Billy Beer can is worth between $2 and $10, while an unopened six-pack generally sells for $15 to $25. [1]

Bet the cans are highly collectables.

Old ranch owner John farmed a small ranch in Montana. The Montana Wage and Hour Department claimed he was not paying proper wages to his workers and sent an agent out to interview him. “I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them,” demanded the agent. “Well,” replied old John, “There’s my ranch hand who’s been with me for 3 years. I pay him $600 a week plus free room and board. The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $500 a week plus free room and board. Then there’s the half-wit who works about 18 hours every day and does about 90 percent of all the work around here. He makes about $10 per week, pays his own room and board, and I buy him a bottle of bourbon every Saturday night.” “That’s the guy I want to talk to, the half-wit,” says the agent. “That would be me,” replied old rancher John.

A bit more thinking…. And progress Steering complete tidied up that butchered end... tube for drive line

Thank you for all the input and comments!!! I have some thinking to do... The C-125 did fine at @Pullstart's plow day this year (well, after some meatball fuse surgery) with turfs and chains... and it's rigged and ready... so I'm leaning toward keeping that as plow mule and setting up the B-80 as dedicated kid hauler and back up snow plow... More to come...

probably just leftover bud lite

Valves removed. Valves wire brushed and cleaned up with a scotch brite pad. Engine cleaned up. Top of piston has some damage from what I assume was a foreign object at some time in it's life as the head also has matching marks. I don't think it will cause any issue and I will likely do more damage trying to repair so I will likely just leave it as is. Valve lapping compounds used mainly because I have it here. Valve lapping compound applied to valve. Valve inserted and lapping tool applied. Valves were both lapped in using the three compounds in order of medium fine to very fine. Valves after lapping. Valve seats after lapping. Valve stems got a thin coat of grease then valves were installed and keepers held in position with grease and valves fully installed. Intake valve clearance checked to be 0.008 to 0.010 using this step feeler gauge. The thinner part slid in easily but the 0.010 part was a tight push so intake valve clearance was perfect. Exhaust valve clearance checked to be 0.017 to 0.019 using this step feeler gauge. The thinner part slid in easily but the 0.019 part was a tight push so exhaust valve clearance was perfect.

Goober Juice... I concur that the hype was much better than the product. Had Jimmy not won, would we have missed out on this?? I refer to the Trio for this... "Don't know, don't care, don't care to know".

RIP Paul.

So sad to hear, rest in peace sir.

Maybe stick the turfs on the B-80 and get some gnarly ags for the 125?

In a high compression engine with oil and coolant passages I might be more concerned but in this 14HP low compression engine that I don't think has been apart before I think these bolts will do just fine. However, if they looked or felt suspicious I would replace them. I think they are grade 8 or grade 5 it's hard to tell with these for some reason, regular 3/8" bolts. Before I retired I was a mechanic at a chemical plant and when it was taken apart for the yearly shutdown maintenance all but the largest bolts and studs (over 2" diameter) were replaced even if they still looked good. The large ones were thoroughly cleaned then checked by an engineer and had NDT checks done to check for cracks, stretching, corrosion etc.

Rest easy Sir.

Picked up some HEAVY Bolens front cast iron weights. They had "BOLENS" cast into the face, so I filled them with some JB Weld. Decided while I was painting them, that my JD rear weights needed to be red too! Now all my iron weights are red. Just one set of plastic fronts are the odd-balls now. Started doing a little prep work for an upcoming parade in our local festival.

RIP Red Rider.

Fer sure although the 1054 isn't bad on fuel. I take her to WFOT and then just back it off a bit and running in 2nd. not a speed demon but gets the job done. @PeacemakerJack always said it all depends on the soil and conditions with small bore singles. That's why the MN boys run heavy weighted 16s. They are good to go for any soil type.

The driver, a young man in a Bryony suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?" The farmer looks at the man, obviously a city slicker, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?" The farmer thinks it over, it's a huge herd so he accepts the bet. The city slicker parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location. From there he feeds the data to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo. Within seconds he receives an email on his Smart phone that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his phone and, after a few minutes, receives a response. Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the farmer and says, 'You have exactly 1,423 cows'. The farmer is astonished because the city slicker's figure is exactly correct. He says, 'OK, I'm a man of my word, take a cow.' The investment city slicker selects one of the animals and begins to walk away. 'Wait,' yells the farmer, 'Let me have a chance to get even. Double or nothing that I can guess your exact occupation.' The city slicker agrees readily. 'You are a Congressman for the U.S. Government,' says the farmer. 'Good grief!' splutters the city slicker, 'You are exactly right, tell me, how did you deduce that?' 'Easy,' says the farmer, 'give me back my dog, and I will tell you.' "No guessing required.' answered the farmer. 'You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows.

My thoughts exactly...

I remember my parents trying it. They weren't impressed, sounds like others weren't either. Could be why it only stayed on the shelves for a little over a year.

Ed I have a 856 the best tractor I own!. The engine is mint. Starts right up perrrsss like a kitten.

Rest in Peace...

One of those came with the MF GC 23 I bought this spring. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet, though.

So the folks working on my house cleaned up most of the debris from the fire. That being said there is alot of small stuff everywhere. Siding, drywall, burnt pieces of lumber, and whatever else you can imagine. Of course this makes mowing a bit of a challenge. So I bought something to drag around and pick it up. Not to mention it will help smooth some of the ruts left by heavy equipment. At least to the point they won't snag the mower deck. I'll report back how it works later this evening.

Like Jim stated the B-80 would do fine with an 8" plow, might even pull a 10". You will be working the engine though. In my opinion, you can feel the difference between a 10hp and a 12hp engine. Beyond a 12hp, I don't seem to be able feel a difference. I also know that a 12hp seems to be better on fuel than a 10hp is. If I was to build another dedicated plow mule it would have at least a 12hp under the hood.

Split some wood today and the C-121 was on log splitter hauling duty.

B-80 would make a fine plow mule with that 8" Brinly you have. I wouldn't even think twice about throwing a ten on. Heck maybe even a 12 just for a hold my beer and watch this. Guessing you would run out of traction before power in hard dirt. I had a no name eight that was a house mule and it did just fine.

I have the fitting if interested. How on earth someone could have cracked it is beyond me.

I adjusted the lift links. It sits about 4 inches off the ground now. No not really. It's not "60 inch mower deck heavy", but you know it's there for sure. I'm gonna add another hole in the hitch to slide it forward. It has a radiant for rotating to both sides but it won't get used that way here. I think that will lighten the leveraged load a bit on the lift arm. First test was the gravel driveway. Got rid of the studder bumps on the first pass. So far so good.

My suspicion is when you arced the rush of power broke down a sheet metal to sheet metal contact point in the ground path that was somewhat corroded anyway.

Hallelujah. My persistence paid off and all your help she runs again!! Took ground from battery to engine mount and she's alive! From the mower graveyard given new life then I killed her and brought her back to life again haha 😄

I bought a lift table from Harbor Freight years ago, one of the best tools ever made for us old codgers.

Getting ready to mount tires. I did this yesterday but the internet went down due to heavy rain so I could not post pics. Rears are Carlisle turfmasters that I got a great deal on last winter (I don't remember who from). This is the tool I use for all of my Lawn and garden tractor tire mounting and demounting. Rear wheel mounted on tool. New TR413 valve stem ready to be installed. Tool used to pull valve stem into position after giving it a light lube with dish soap. Valve stem installed. Tire bead and outer edge of wheel was lubed with dish soap then the tire was pushed on. These tires seem just slightly small so it is quite a push to get it on. Next step is to put a couple of clamps on the tire to reduce it's width so it is held down into the smaller diameter portion of the wheel for the tire installation to go easier. The tire bead, top edge of the wheel, and the tire installation tool are lubed with dish soap and the tire is popped into place. Tires aired up to 20 PSI to fully seat onto the beads Tires sprayed with Snoop to check for leaks. None found. Front wheel sat on tool. Front wheel clamped into place then the tire was lubed and popped into place. Again, harder than it sounds but it went on. Tube installed and the valve stem tool is screwed on so I don't accidentally knock it down installing the tire. Front tire installed using the same technique as for the rear with the clamps and lube (I know that sounds bad). All four assemblies taken outside and washed to clean up the tires and get rid of any dish soap.

I can get 2 Ar-pro ones off of the jungle site for around 30 bucks and they fit 23 8.50/9.50/10.50 and they are quite heavy duty and I have yet to have any problems and I've used them in 4 tractors so far

Got the rear end out and propped up on stands. It then got the final cleanup, wire wheeling, and sanding complete. A coat of primer was applied. I would have preferred red primer but I ran out of that so the grey will have to do. A couple of coats of IH red was applied.

Well, it is sunny today. Supposed to rain tonight but I took that as a good day to apply some paint. Top side of two hoods and two fenders got some red paint.

Finally got a sunny day here today. It rained just under an inch last night though. I managed to get the bottom of the hoods and fenders painted that I had sanded and primed a few days ago. Hopefully I can get the top sides painted on Sunday as it is not supposed to rain that day.

Flywheel has been cleaned up and painted. I screwed bolts into all 8 threaded holes to keep paint out.

Shop with a heat pump..... You just can't hide $$$.

I have two fenders primed although one of them needs more sanding and a re-prime. Two hoods are stripped and ready for sand and prime. I am getting a heat pump installed in the shop so it is a mess right now.

I have been busy bead blasting and painting a lot of small parts. I can't get the spray gun out to paint big parts like the hood and fender (I paint outside) because it literally either rains every day or the humidity and bugs are through the roof.