mels 174 #76 Posted April 24, 2015 (edited) Happy Friday, gents! Excellent tip, Jake, thanks for the sage words of advice! Thanks too for shipping those gaskets out, I appreciate it. Brandon, great idea. I wondered what the heck those little crowns were beneath some guys avatars. Thanks for the link, I'll get right on it! Cool, crisp Autumnal-esque morning here, looking forward to it warming up so I can just laze around the front porch in the sun like the old dog I want to be. Although, with the forecast calling for mostly cloudy and wind chills in the mid 20's to 30's today may just be an inside day. The last couple days up on my feet of and on at Jeffs' has my leg fighting back. Maybe head over to check out the progress on my wheels, then go see the sandblaster. Head Home and take it easy. Youngest daughter is Home, down for a Spring Break visit from where she lives on the cape. Leaves again tomorrow so it'll be nice to hang out with her for a few hours today. You guys with kids still at Home, love on 'em. Despite how much trouble they give you, how much they argue and push back, no matter how many times the Police become involved or they go off to rehab draining every single penny from your accounts and have you leveraging your very Home to try and keep them from dying. Before you know it they'll be grown and gone. Hopefully and through the Grace of God, clean, sober and most importantly, alive. And you know, maybe just maybe, they'll come Home one day after not seeing or hearing from them in two years, stop everything, share with you their milestones of accomplishments, apologize for putting you through hell and just say thank-you. Love on 'em. Grace and peace, my friends here at RS. Enjoy this glorious day! Edited April 24, 2015 by mels 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #77 Posted April 29, 2015 First day back to work, talked my surgeon into sending me back ahead of schedule, put me on light duty no stairs no lifting etc... Pretty much means just sit there at my desk and watch the clock BUT at least I'm not sitting at Home going stir crazy. Would've liked to gone fishing, reality is the weather here this past week was for the most part just real crummy. Of course my first day back and it's right around 72 and sunny out, lol... Anyway, returned Home this afternoon to find Wifey pointing out a couple surprises waiting on our front dooryard: Hmmmm, what could it be? Hoops! Went with the Carlisle Farm Specialist, just seemed a little beefier without "overkill". Heard from my powdercoater today, says all the wheels should be done and ready to pick up Friday. We chose a high gloss "Traffic White" which, while much brighter than the "correct" white, should really pop against the color Wifey wanted. Slowly coming along... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ken B 3,116 #78 Posted April 29, 2015 Happy too hear you are up and around! Sounds like everything is coming together on the wifey's RJ. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #79 Posted April 30, 2015 Thanks Ken. Feels good to be able to walk a little more. Hope to get back up to see you soon. Wifeys RJ is coming along, but s l o w. I had really wanted to have everything off to sandblast already, but there are a couple little things I need to finish working on yet before I can get it all over to Joe. Picking up the wheels Friday and mounting the hoops will be a tangible milestone, but definitely need to get the rest of it up to paint. Fortunately, one of us local guys has offered to help me get this K91 fired up this weekend after so many years of having just been sitting. Picked up a new float for it this afternoon in addition to the carb kit and points I grabbed a couple weeks ago. I think all that's left is a new condenser, will hit NAPA for that tomorrow. I just need to remind myself that despite how far behind I think I am, I'm way ahead of our original plan of this being a project that was to be started during my recovery... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevebo-(Moderator) 8,040 #80 Posted April 30, 2015 Mel- We will have the motor running smooth before that thing is painted for sure. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #81 Posted April 30, 2015 Heya Steve, thanks man. Get it running then take it apart for blast and paint, sounds crazy don't it? Lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AMC RULES 36,945 #82 Posted April 30, 2015 Can't wait to see those new ags mounted up. Have a good source for them to share? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #83 Posted April 30, 2015 Hey Craig, I found the outfit on ebay. Morrow tire. Most of their listings are for pairs of tires. I wanted to order three pairs of the two different types but the way their ebay listings are they can't combine and refigure shipping costs, plus I wanted tubes for all six hoops, so I called them. The guy that answered, Kane, was easy to talk with and more than willing to help cut the costs to get my business. Placed my order over the phone with him last Thursday, they arrived UPS yesterday (Wednesday). Pretty sweet. The six tires with tubes came to a tik over 300 shipped. I don't know if I got a great deal or not, didn't search here before I bought to see what anyone else's experience with them has been, but I enjoyed speaking with him and he seemed knowledgeable enough and worked with me on costs so that's enough for me to do business with him again. Hope that helps! Here's their contact info: Kane Morrow Morrow Tire 34579 Linwood Ave Slater, MO 65349 Phone 660-831-0200 Bus. Hours (Central Time): Monday-Friday 8-5 closed 12-1 for lunch email: kanemorrow@hotmail.com webstore: http://stores.ebay.com/Morrow-Tire website: www.morrowtire.com 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AMC RULES 36,945 #84 Posted April 30, 2015 Cool beans... thanks for the tip. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #85 Posted April 30, 2015 Update: Stopped in at my good friend Helio's on my way Home to grab the hood. Helio fashioned and welded a new front strap for the gas tank to the hood and filled the hole the previous replacement strap had been bolted through, leaving an acorn nut atop the hood. Pretty nice. Almost ready for 'blast. Have to hit the hardware for tapered rubber stoppers to plug the openings in the gutted transmission, get the engine running then strip it down, plug it too and I think that's it! Gave the boys at Newtown Power a call for a head gasket, hoping they have one in stock if not, then soon. Wish I had a little more time, would be nice to go through it and replace bearings, seals, rings and do a good valve job. Learned yesterday while at Newtown Power that the spec number on the shroud of this engine shows it was originally for a power rake. Can't remember the name John told me, but it was something something speed rake or something along those lines. I'll firm that up tomorrow. The good news is that as a power rake it, in theory, it shouldn't have as many hours on it as what I'd expect a multi-use lawn and garden tractor should have. IF the shroud and the engine are original to each other. Who knows, maybe the engine is original to the tractor and the shroud was swapped over... Looking forward to hearing from powdercoater Mike tomorrow telling me to come pick up my wheels, hopefully earlier in the day so I can get those new hoops mounted up tomorrow too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #86 Posted April 30, 2015 Just heard from John, "EZ-Rake" was what that spec number cross references to. Head gasket will be in on Wednesday, so I'll swap that in after blast and prime. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fireman 1,021 #87 Posted May 1, 2015 (edited) So Mel and I met up at Steve's house so we could get his K91 awoken from a 20 year slumber. Steve did most of the work as I was running late. This is the results: http://vid298.photobucket.com/albums/mm279/fireman14344/Mels%20K91_zpsvr2xhlic.mp4 Edited May 2, 2015 by fireman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AMC RULES 36,945 #88 Posted May 1, 2015 So... was it even a challenge? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevebo-(Moderator) 8,040 #89 Posted May 1, 2015 They usual... Points carb cleaning and rebuild kit. Some soldering of points wire and a and a little tinkering. Time well spent. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fireman 1,021 #90 Posted May 2, 2015 Any day just screwing around in the garage sure beats working! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #91 Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) It was a good day. Time flew too quick, always does. First order of business was to drop the bowl and pull the carb. Because I parked this old girl long before our ridiculous state mandated this crap they sell as gasoline, the carb looked like it had just been rebuilt yesterday. Aside from a few tiny crumbs of dry debris laying in the bowl which were easily small enough to have passed through the screen atop the sediment bowl way back then (yeah, the gas tank has some surface rust) the inside of the carb was clean as a whistle. Even the rubber tip of the needle looked new. Despite how clean everything looked, Steve pulled the carb completely apart and soaked it in some good clear carb cleaner for an hour. While the carb was taking a bath, we turned our attention to the ignition. Made a repair to some old jury-rigged wiring at the points, replaced the sparkplug, cleaned the points quick and set the gap. Viola! Spark! Grabbed the carb, blew out all the passes and reassembled. Despite how clean it was when we pulled it, we used the OEM carb kit since we were in there anyway and they're cheap enough. Drained the oil, black gold, texas tea... Gave it a quick flush and refilled with fresh. Rigged up a hokey fuel supply and after a couple pulls wouldn't you believe she coughed to life? Ran it for a few minutes till it ran out of gas. Gave her another drink and wouldn't you know, she Just wouldn't start. Thinking we weren't giving enough fuel, strapped up the fuel tank and ran an inline filter (remember, tank was lightly rusted). No luck. Fiddled around a bit, turned out it was the old points. Something had broken and was making intermittent contact (which, looking back, might be why I parked it so many years ago...). Swapped them out for the new OEM set I'd brought for just such an occasion and BAM! Fired right up again and ran and ran and ran. She smokes very lightly, guess she's old enough. Other than that there's no rod knock, no piston slap, no obvious objectionable noises except from the recoil. Maybe the pawls aren't returning all the way, will hava look at that over the weekend. There is a light ticking, thinking maybe that's valve noise. Any adjustment there? So that's the relatively long version. She's alive, thanks to Steve for motivating me to push it along at the last minute, opening up his Home (and workbench) and for doing all the dirty work. Thanks Jeff for the pointers, keeping the energy cranked up and for getting right in there too. You guys rock. Edited May 2, 2015 by mels 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #92 Posted May 28, 2015 Been a while, had to put this project aside as other priorities took a front seat...Here's where we're at:Ordered the transmission bearings and seals from my good friends at Newtown Power Equipment http://www.newtownpowerequipment.com/ (shameless plug, lol), received a call last week and again yesterday that they have arrived so I'll stop in there on my way Home and pick them up.Finished installing the new tires on the freshly powdercoated wheels yesterday, was simply a matter of installing the stem spacers for the front two wheels. Will try to get a couple pics of them and post 'em up here over the next couple days. Still have to press the bearing into the wheels and I guess they'll be ready for the shelf while we slowly progress with the rest of the build. Wifey hasn't firmed up her color choice yet so I'm taking advantage of her indecision and saying it's her fault the job isn't done yet... Lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevebo-(Moderator) 8,040 #93 Posted May 28, 2015 Mel-Will it be ready for the big show? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #94 Posted May 28, 2015 We'll see, Steve. Shooting for it but like I said, priorities change.Have too many projects juggling in the air and there are a couple that just moved to the front of the line.Hoping to at least get everything to sandblast and prime next week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #95 Posted May 29, 2015 (edited) Not the best pics of the new hoops and powdercoated wheels and seat, but it's what I could grab in 5 minutes this afternoon, lolThe rears are the Carlisle 6-12 "Farm Specialist" tire, fronts the standard run-of-the-mill Carlisle block tread or whatever they call it.Still have to pop the bushings back in, well, have to remember where the heck I set 'em...Powder is really WHITE. Can't remember the brand, but it's called "Traffic White". Not as brilliant as other whites Mike had, but certainly not as yellowed as the white normally used on these tractors.Enjoy! Edited May 29, 2015 by mels 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RedRanger 1,468 #96 Posted May 31, 2015 Duals on the front???? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mels 174 #97 Posted May 31, 2015 Lol sure why not but only because it's not something you'd normally see around here anyway The second pair belong to the dump cart. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
