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My son has begun to really like riding his bike, so I drug mine out of hibernation to ride with him. Apparently as I've aged, the amount of padding on my saddle grabber has disappeared. So I swapped the seat to the "old fart non-reclining couch" version, and it is so much better! Looks a little dorky on my bike but I don't care... It's a Cadillac now!

April 12, 1954 Bill Haley & His Comets record "Rock Around the Clock".

Just joking of course. I'd love to be up there with them. Not sure I'd do touch and goes in random fields they way they do, but fun to watch. I was running my compressor and didn't hear them in time to get great pics, but this is my back yard.

I was an Army pilot. We don't jump out of a perfectly good aircraft. Of course mine were helicopters so it didn't make sense anyway...

That applies to more than wagons. When I start to think I really don't need another WH tractor....

Plaid sport coat, bow ties and enough grease to keep @peter lena happy!

Doubled…maybe even tripled the value here ! Found a 300-400 series rear fender decal in my decal stash-pile that I’ll never slap onto a fender. Last picture is what I started with.

I hear ya! My seat is similar AND my bike has a seat post shock.

Yes, one on left is metric 17mm (6203 bearing 17mmx40mmx12mm), an the other is imperial bore 3/4" (6203-12 3/4"x40(mm)x12(mm) using a seal and inner spacer. I have used the smaller metric shaft in the deep bearing housing by using an old bearing race as a spacer under the bearing. I knock the guts out of and old bearing and left over bearing race is the right thickness. This eliminates the seal and seal carrier spacer.

We went roboting this week. I volunteered to be a robot inspector. Fun job. Get to take a close look at the robots the kids built and talk with the kids about the robots. The upperclass team won the competition and was also awarded the Industrial Design award. The underclass team made it into the finals and were runners up to the upperclass team. The upperclass team is now rated at #38 worldwide, and the underclass team is at #328 worldwide. There are about 3,750 active teams this year. Both teams are qualified for the world championships that will be held in Houston at the end of the month.

We pullum to the barn then turn tractor around and push back in barn. We use to have a barn or two you could pull through which made it nice and one that was in a pretty flat spot with plenty of room and I could back wagon in it pretty good. Use to pull tractors with a young man 20yr my junior beat anything I ever saw backing a wagon he actually won the state FFA competition of wagon backing in high school. Man he could fly backing that thing, he could put two in a barn before I figured out which way to turn steering wheel first time .

Happy Birthday @Blackhood Bill, we are glad you were born.

Agreed. You boys remember that come fall when Trina's lookin for great pics.

Haha yeah I was a bit worried about having enough room in the furrow for the weight on the right front tire. But it worked ok, definitely can't keep them nicely painted doing that though. Thank you! Now that this one is about done, I think it's time for my 73' to get some love next.

Thank you! Your's as well, well besides about burning down haha. It was good seeing you again and a great day!

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday or Sunday morning was to fire up the Dual Sport bike and head over to Sky Dive New England to watch the action. @kpinnc

Trial by fire. Just started for the first time on Thursday and put it in the dirt today. I got the charging system wiring done, the carb nipple was leaking fuel got that fixed. It still needs tuning more, I may end up putting bushings on the throttle shaft of the carb I thought it was tight enough but I think that might be part of what is giving me some trouble. But it did plow really good! Still some small stuff to get sorted out. But traction is good, the front stays planted.

As soon as you have to think about it, you’re doomed.

When I was in 4-H we had tractor driving competition at the county fair. I hade never mastered the hay wagon backing skill (our hay barn was a pull through) but figured I would give it a try just for fun. I had one pull forward and the wagon was in place with no saw horses or ribbons disturbed. Next I hooked up the corn picker to back it into a stall and ran over two cones. All previously accumulated attaboys were now history.

Been riding quite a bit this week. Today I went on a stretch of the trail that I haven’t been on in a loooong time. It goes right thru the center of a small city which usually doesn’t appeal to me, but I actually had a great ride and eventually I passed thru the city and back into the woods. Stopped to snap a lot of pics:

Over the winter months when it was too cold and nasty outside I looked for small things to do in the house. I decided to PM our 2 vacuum cleaners. Not everyone knows most uprights have 3 filters in them. The regular dust filter for the canister, plus 1 to keep dust out of the motor and a HEPA to exhaust to the air in the house. I ordered new filters for both. So my wife who works at a thrift store asked if I could look at their vac. It was a Hoover Commercial upright. They had used it to vacuum the entrance rug and with the weather it was filled with mud! So I volunteered my time. Took a bit of cleaning but I got it working great. In the meantime, corporate bought the store a brand new vac. BUT the new kid they hired SOLD it to a customer!!! Well my wife brought home another vac that came in as a donation yesterday for me to look at. It's a Bissell and all I can say is What a mess!!! First this thing is junk compared to the other one. It had a zoo full of animal hair in it and what wasn't hair was drywall compound and dust. Major pain to get the motor filter out but I got that much back together. Used one of those claw grabber 's to get the animals out. Going to have to power wash the bits to get it cleaned well enough to even try to see if it's going to work. I told my wife the next time they have a pizza party at the store I better be invited!

Installed vacuum gauge on 520 today. Not going lie was kinda dreading getting steering wheel off but was easiest one Ive ever tackled . Had to take lift control lever off but the hydro control got to stay just loosened up to allow dash to move out of way. The harder tractor pulls the lower reading number on gauge, I had it in my mind it would read the other way. Also does anyone know if someone makes/sells steering wheel center cap for the 520? BTW big thanks to @Bow_Extreme for vacuum gauge.

If you look closely ol' Bill appears to be a generation apart from the rest of the Comets....

Quite a few great tallents got their national exposure on his show - Elvis, The Beatles to name a few...

@OoPEZoO looking right at it ? first flat belt idler pulley after chipper blade set up ? would bet its lubrication heat / stress , failure ! self explanatory , tiny sealed bearing , unknown lube , violent incremental bearing / belt stoppage, starts the typical BELT WAVE OF RELATED STOPAGE . look up a similar pulley with a , larger bearing , with wide rubber side grease shields , carefully remove shields , small pocket flat screwdriver , small flat putty knife , wipe out . carb cleaner flush , lucas x-tra HD green chassis grease ? hand pack , 550 deg flash point , polyurea rated , stays with bearing , all my decks , pto,s , related , long past failures , were ELIMINATED with this lube , you know what doesn't work , make the change , would also plan a mod to long unsupported , belt runs , that heavy loading power wave , is showing you the way . looks like a basic fix to me , pete

Last night after getting the entire lawn mowed twice and several interactions with land mines we shut her off and took a break to tend to the burn barrel that’s been burning for 3 weeks to get rid of the trash wood scattered all over the property. When I came back….no start. Battery was dead. What’s odd is I confirmed it was charging shortly after buying it and the ammeter shows it’s charging and increases as you add lights or clutch. But the only thing I can think of is that I was using the clutch for so long that it put another draw on the battery and I didn’t let it charge up after shitting it off. Not that it’s correct but it’s something to keep an eye on

@Sparky Great pics. If you ever get a mentally demented hankering for a bit of tougher trails... head to the house here. We'll show you some old "cart roads" and maybe even mountain notch roads. Fair amount pushing the bike uphill on that one but it leads to an old abandoned village.

Same here. Same seat and seat shock. Wait until you get past 65! Get your scar tissue built up whilst you can. Even on a nice cushy seat that I had on my Goldwing I was starting to wear down after 25 miles.

I need one of these in my life. Missed out on two of them. One day.

Agree 100/%

My weenie dog likes to hang in the garage with me. While I think the pads are a great idea, I wonder if she'd be confused?

Cleaned up a downed apple tree at my mom’s house today. The tree had just started good apple 🍎 production! Uses the 314- 8 of my brothers anddhis 4 wheel wagon as our other Wheel Horse cart was being used by their neighbor . Five loads in the four wheel wagon and she was cleaned up!

The older I get the shorter my bucket list gets. Kinda wish I tried stuff that when younger.

Nice! I see a couple of calendar shots there.

From a Suzuki V-Strom to a BMW. You high roller you. Very nice ride Mike. @Sparky

Is your dipstick and dipstick tube the original and in good condition? Did you run the tractor till it got up to full operating temperature before parking it? I do believe that you can do everything just right and they will still burp occasionally. You might want to invest in pee pads:

New torch setup: 50ft reel, nowhere in the building I can't get to.

My dad could do that as well. I could do one or the other but not both. Hardest part was backing the wagon. Out of the barn after unloading it with only a few inches on each side.

Yes it is. Very well built. It will need a new cover soon.

Use a front hitch and push it. I never got the 4 wheel backup skill. My young neighbor can back up a 4 wheel hay wagon that is hooked behind his baler. That is skill.

Hmmm…I have a set of those out in the shed. Been sitting there for years attached to a seat I’ve never used. I’ll have to go out and find em and see how they operate. I love extra leg room.

April 11, 1970, Apollo 13, the third lunar landing mission, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise. The spacecraft’s destination was the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon, where the astronauts were to explore the Imbrium Basin and conduct geological experiments. After an oxygen tank exploded on the evening of April 13, however, the new mission objective became to get the Apollo 13 crew home alive. At 9:00 p.m. EST on April 13, Apollo 13 was just over 200,000 miles from Earth. The crew had just completed a television broadcast and was inspecting Aquarius, the Landing Module (LM). The next day, Apollo 13 was to enter the moon’s orbit, and soon after, Lovell and Haise would become the fifth and sixth men to walk on the moon. At 9:08 p.m., these plans were shattered when an explosion rocked the spacecraft. Oxygen tank No. 2 had blown up, disabling the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water. Lovell reported to mission control: “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” This is such a coinsurance that Artemis 2 completed its nearly flawless mission the day before the 56th anniversary of launch of one of NADSA's most spectacular seat-of-the-pants engineering feats.

Lots of good wood for smoking. Apple wood smoked ribs on the menu anytime soon?

Added adjustable seat tracks to HHHOOOWWWAAARRRDDD!!!

Here you go then The line up 73 16 Auto & C160 68 Raider 12 68 Commando 854

Today was "Get the tractors ready to mow day" Went to the WaWa to get some Rotella 30W and a couple tubes of Red n Tacky Engine Oil change, added EZ oil drain valve ,grease and blade sharpening on the 875 Engine Oil change, Trans oil (Mobil 1 10W40 Napa 1410 filter) grease. New battery and blade sharpening on the C-160

A cheap HF engine stand can be adapted to hold a unidrive trans fairly easily

Ditto. My metric Grizzly knockoff has a 20 mm (.787) pass thru diameter. I also have about 3X the cost of the lathe, used, in tooling and DRO. The problem with previously owned equipment is that they are similar to used cars and WH tractors. You are looking for one that is used, not used up. A bargain priced lathe or mill with worn-out ways can be very expensive and time consuming to repair. NOT a project you can do at home. The ways get worn with use; they wear on a lathe mostly near the headstock, a milling machine near the middle where the vise is. The leadscrews also wear resulting in inaccurate positioning due to excessive backlash.

It's a metal lathe, but I wouldn't invest in it. Get a more modern one with tread cutting and at least some attempt to safely cover gears and belts.