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I was contacted by someone who i had sold a tractor to in the past. He said he had a 701 he wanted to get rid of and I was the first person he thought of! Only cost me a B1 Allis Chalmers! (He's an allis guy). He had two decks for it and i bought a plow too. Got home late so I didn't mess with it, ill save that for later this week. Its been sitting and gonna need the carb gone through, but it did start on carb cleaner.

Proud papa here. My daughter defended her dissertation two weeks ago and earned her doctorate in higher education. No she will not become a professor in all likelihood.. She is employed by the university and does research projects as directed by them. She loves her job and is getting good feedback and appreciation from her group. She is living in Ann Arbor so we see her when we can. As always Go Blue!!

Wasn’t really sure what I would end up with on this 125.00 314H and 48” Blade. First was a good scrubbing after installing a temporary spindle and front tires. Then some fresh gas and battery. With fingers crossed and a few shots of carb cleaner it came to life. Motor sounds good and the hydro seems strong. Next up will be new filters, fluids, belt, spark plug. Still need to find the correct right front spindle. I’m a happy camper with this one.

I already have a wife

May 9, 1964, the great Louis Armstrong, age 63, broke the Beatles’ stranglehold on the U.S. pop charts with the #1 hit “Hello Dolly.” Following the ascension of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to #1 in early February, the Beatles held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for three and a half solid months—longer than any popular artist before or since. But just when it seemed that no homegrown act would ever stand up to the British invaders, one of the least likely American stars imaginable proved himself equal to the task: jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong.

Ok, trailer is ready. Practically I used 90% old or stashed material, except a few steel pieces or paint. I have regular 4x8 trailer,but I had to add more character to my tractor. Smaller dump trailer add some flavor to it 😁and I'm sure it could handle ~ 800-900 pounds easy. I look forward to it, however trailer tires are weak spot for that weight

Got home from work and the kids wanted to play outside. After a bit my youngest decided to go to the barn because he wanted a tractor ride. He picked out the C120 and we did a few laps. Then my oldest decided she wanted to try and drive it. So I let her try but seat set up was too tall for her to fully reach the clutch and brake pedals so I grabbed the 10-8 since it’s just the one pedal and seat straight on the fender and she fit it pretty good. While she drove around I grabbed the gorilla cart and put the two youngest in that attached to the 120. Great way to end a long work day.

It's alive!! 20260510_105802.mp4

Added a little bling to the fan shroud on the 520H. Wheel Horse head insert looks more at home than the Toro one.

Just put an electric fuel pump on my 520-HC

This afternoon I decided mow along the side of our county road~about 1/8 mile long. One side is maintained by the land owner, the other not so much. The grass is getting knee high-and much of it taller. Our county roads are chip and seal which is nice and the side I was mowing basically has no ditch. It seems the county only mows once a season. The problem with overgrown grass is the road way appears to be smaller and bi-passing drivers hesitate to pull into the edge of the road. I used the 520H and it completed the task quite well. I don't think our zero turn would have handled the job at hand as efficiently and comfortably. Having the weight on the front end and a steering wheel was an asset. For the past several years, I have also sprayed weed killer around the stop sign because the Johnson grass will block the view of traffic until the nose of the vehicle is nearly on the state highway.

Today was 1st show of year in my area. Not a huge turnout due to overnight rain. It was a neighboring county antique engine club- I'm a member. Only took the Suburban diesel. Ran it around for a couple hours with no issues thankfully. It was extremely wet & muddy though. Few times I thought I was gonna get stuck! Spent rest of afternoon cleaning truck, trailer, tractor, jeans, boots, etc🙄

Made another blackberry / rhubarb pie. Much better than the strawberry / rhubarb.

Today was our local clean up day and they take tires so I took up all of our tires that we nolonger needed. The trailer is a 6 by 12 to give scale to how many tires we had

Pressure washed a bunch of stuff after work. Love-hate relationship there for me. 16 Auto, FEL sub-frame, a bunch of parts and these front weights that took two years to pry out of my brother's hand's They'll be Regal red soon.

May 10, 1869 The Golden Spike is driven, completing the first US Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, connecting the Central Pacific Railroad with the Union Pacific.

I must say I don't even have any play in my steering wheel. I'm very happy with this. But just like the 400 series I had. I'm back on the hook for wheel horses. My wife is like hmm savings account hasn't gotten any bigger. And I'm over here thinking welp it's not any smaller. We doing good baby

Wasn't looking for a snowblower, but happened to catch a good deal on a really clean tall chute nearby our office in Plymouth, MI. Should be a nice upgrade from my crusty old short chute. Just need to take it the @peter lena school of lubrication before I store it for the summer.

You want some real pop Squirrel paint the grass screen red ... ask me how I know ... It was a terrible day for wrenching here. took four hours to install some solids. The holes would just not line up and that's what she said. Got it in the end but what a fight considering the last one only took an hour. Not only that @Achto busted a brand new piston ring and invented some brand new french. I'll let him explain.

Memo to myself; I am attempting to downsize but @Ed Kennell isn't making it easy.

The more modern Tachmatic on the C series is a better setup and opens door for more attachments.

Riding a 308 Wheel Horse with a four gallon fuel supply you will get saddle sores before you need to refill the tank.

Almost done just got to finish the wiring and put new diesel oil in it and finish putting back together

Get one! You could cruise me around at the shows while I bark out backseat driver commands at ya! LOL

The proper type of puller is a harmonic balancer puller. Cheap enough and if you're cheaper you can rent them at some auto parts stores. Clean out the bolt holes with a tap first!

Same here. burning the candle at both ends. I went to the oral defense of the dissertation. Brutal questions. She was a little shook at first but finished strong.She had some huge stress in her personal life and we were holding our breath . Friday is our Golden anniversary and have to attend a funeral. So its always something. The secret of a long marriage is finding a lady who will put up with your faults....and a barn full of Wheel Horses

May 13, 1610, Annoyed by guests picking their teeth at the table, French Cardinal Richelieu is said to have ordered the sharp tips of his table knives rounded off. The new implements also spread butter better.

In other words Tree be a cold day in hell before any horse in 500 miles of us gets scrapped ...

May 12, 1994 "Pulp Fiction", directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson premieres at the Cannes Film Festival.

Restoring a tractor? Painting an engine? Watch this video on why you need to have clean metal (no paint) for your grounds and how it effects engine cranking,

May 11, 1947, the B.F. Goodrich Company of Akron, Ohio, announces it has developed a tubeless tire, a technological innovation that would make automobiles safer and more efficient. . While Goodrich awaited approval from the U.S. Patent Office, the tubeless tires underwent high-speed road testing, were put in service on a fleet of taxis and were used by Ohio state police cars and a number of privately owned passenger cars.

Rear axle bracket for XI 518 through 523xi

And here we go putting tubes back in. Tube should be mandatory for all low pressure applications. Like when you lose air in a tire at a show and it rolls off the bead...

And shortly thereafter, did the Tire Tube Manufacturers go crying to the Feds for subsidies?? With the mass implementation of turbochargers (and prior use of Catalytic Converters) in domestic vehicles back in the late 1980's, the OEM's saw thw need to change the vehicle exhaust components from mild steel to stainless due to the increased heat. That did not sit well with the three big chains of Muffler Shops, as an exhaust system could now outlast the vehicle. So they petitioned the Gov. for a handout to stay in business. Uncle Sam told them to go punt. Basically it was "So, your Business is centered on under the vehicle parts replacement, right?? Learn how to do brakes & struts instead..."

Only known photograph of the May 9th actual connection date... Bob, Hank, Gus and the Other Bob are seen discussing how to inform management... The formal event was postponed a day to allow the Four Stooges pictured to rectify the situation. They are still fighting over the contract change order...

You can trust your mother not your ground....

Checked the S/G this evening and it's pretty clean with smooth tight bearings. Brushes are decent. Wiped it out, put her back together and bench tested. Tomorrow is electrical day...

Sometimes you luck out. I got this one from @RJ Hamner I think there was a tree growing in there too. Put a sip of gas in it and a new battery and fired right up and sounded great. The 8 speed needed taken apart and cleaned up but it turned out good. Turned out good but a ton of work.

Dust caps! The old 701 will finally get the most attention (finally) for a few days. Gotta get it down from the workstand so the Blackhood can go on! Sheetmetal and paint. NOT my strongsuits!

May 8,1886, The first-ever Coca-Cola is served at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta as a health tonic, originally laced with coca leaf extract. It sells slowly at first—about nine glasses a day—but soon becomes the pick-me-up of choice.

We hosted one of our granddaughters for a week and, of course, asked if there were any special activities she’d enjoy. One was learning to drive the tractor with the clutch (854). She was quite taken with the nimble short frame vs. the much bigger 312-H and 518-H++ at home and at the camp.

That has sat outside for a while. Unless you have to have it I'd spend the Franklin on a nice steak instead!

That’s the rule here. Gotta be able to stop if you wanna go (and there is a driving test you must pass). To that end, though, I’ve put seat sliders on two of our tractors, each with ~5” of travel, which lets the “small” and the “tall” both be comfy and safe!

Moved some stuff out of the garage and took a sneak peak picture of a soon to be completed project:

I have arrangements to pick that one up on Saturday morning. Plans are to pass it on to my BIL as a thank you for several things that he helps me out with. Not sure why the status on that has not been changed.

Finally decided to remove a Birch tree that does nothing but drop crap all year round. It's about 70' tall. The only tool I had to do the job was a B&D 20v chainsaw with a 10" blade. I was thinking that it was going to take a few days with a small battery powered chainsaw, and 7 batteries. It ended up taking about 8 hours to drop it all the way. I couldn't cut the trunk up all the way though because my batteries all died.

953 nut, thank you!!! It was the purple wire that was bad. We made a bypass wire with a new diode and it works perfectly. For anyone with the same issue, Kohler makes a kit, part number, 25 755 31-S. Thanks again to all of you for helping me troubleshoot and resolve the issue.

Headlights from the approaching patrol car will illuminate it.

I wonder if one could fab up a suitable hitch on one for a plow and take it to a plow day?

Ed, you are making me consider some bad decisions. I just got rid of one to make space.