Leaderboard

I guess a lot of places have extreme weather of one kind or another, but I certainly don't relish this heat. I know it doesn't compare to places like northern MN or New Hampshire, but I can remember back in high school we had a couple day stretch where the low temperature dropped to -16 F. To think we're at 108 F now, a delta of 124 degrees, is quite amazing. I know what you're talking about with the humidity, Jim. I've maintained that St. Louis has the crappiest weather in the world. It's hot and incredibly humid here in the summer most of the time....probably not as bad as New Orleans, but b-a-d. Then in the winter, while it isn't very cold, we oscillate above and below freezing for three months. Which means instead of the snow others are blessed with, or the rain that our friends to the south get, we get ice storm after ice storm. Or snow so wet you can wring it out. Most of the time we get ice, a little bit of snow, then ice again which is a real joy. I was amazed in when I lived in northern Indiana what a pleasure the snow was. 12" was no realy problem. It was so dry you could actually shovel it or use a snow thrower, here it's so darn heavy you can't hardly pick up a snow shovel filled with the stuff and it freezes into a solid chunk covering everything. The division of northern and southern climates here in Lincolnland seems to fall around Denny's place in Springfield. Get way up der by Dino-Steve in Bear country and it's significantly different. I hate summer. Steve

Maybe this will help...sit back, pop a cold one and know that the days are getting shorter now...

Aesthetically speaking, I like the traditional look of the low back much better, betcha it's a pretty comfy ride with the spring mounts too. Plus...those high back seats always seem to get in the way of my running leap into the saddle. :)

Rooster, the chemistry of a new lead acid battery is simple - lead plates are clean and electrolyte is water and sulfur (sulfuric acid). When discharged, the sulfur leaves the sulfuric acid and gets deposited on the lead plates. The plates become coated and become less chemically active. Since the sulfuric acid has lost sulfur, it becomes weaker, more like water, and less chemic ally active - so the battery is overall less active. Charging dislodges the sulfur coating from the lead plates and returns the sulfur back into the water - making a stronger sulfuric acid. Just that simple. You're just pushing sulfur around. Remember - the right amount of mobile sulfur is key. A 900 cca battery ??? Really? You couldn't find a bigger battery ? A 900cca battery could be >95% dead and still start a 10 hp engine with ACR! As long as a whole cell is not shorted, a nearly dead 900cca will turn easily over a 10hp in warm weather - NOOOO problem. But if you insist, several options are available to those having funds to spend on "snake oil" additives for dead batteries. Epsom salts - all this additive does is supply a small additional amount of missing sulfur and oxygen molecules into your depleted cells. Epsom salts do not CLEAN anything, the salts make the electrolyte a little more concentrated. The bad boy in this equation is the Magnesium in the salts. Maybe a chemist can tell us exactly where the Magnesium goes when the salt are dissociated, but I'm guessing we just polluted our electrolyte with a conductive metal deposit never meant to be in the cells. "Cleaning" the lead plates is the forte' of the more expensive and exotic cousin of Epsom salt - EDTA - the chemical equivalent of sandblasting the lead plates. Sounds like we are now heading in the right direction, but the sulfur you blast off the grids is now chemically chelated (combined) with the EDTA and no longer can be easily dissolved back into the electrolyte. Remember, we need sulfur to be mobile to jump between water and lead plates to provide chemical activity in the cells. The EDTA additive has provided us with a clean(er) but only marginally better battery. One other effect of EDTA addition is a chemical "sludge" precipitating off the plates and accumulating at the bottom of the battery. If you have a true starting type battery, there usually is a small space purposefully designed below the plates. This empty space allows for collection of precipitation without allowing an excessive accumulation between the plates. Accumulating deposits will cause physical deformation and eventual destruction of the plates. Turning a battery upside down moves the sludge away from possibly cleaner areas on the lower edge of the lead plates and provides a temporary increase in electrical activity - until all the crap settles once again to the bottom of the cells, covering the same areas as before. A temporary gain at best. There may be some gain also due to mixing of the electrolyte that has become stratified - somewhat like old paint settling out in the can. Enter the most promising solution - electronic desulfation. High amperage (70 - 80amps), extremely short duration (10 millisecond) repetitive pulses sent thru the battery to vaporize the thin interface where sulfur joins lead. The small pieces of sulfur then fall back into the electrolyte and rejoin the electrolyte where it belongs. If the desulfator is part of the lifelong maintenance of the battery, you will get maximum life from the battery. I currently have an original JD battery from 2002 which still starts a 17hp engine in warm weather. I may get the rest of this year from the battery but I don't expect much more. The key is the battery has been under constant trickle charge / desulfation for the last 5 - 6 years. I built this circuit for a friend who went off the grid years ago. I built it to his specs and gave it to him. Never thought twice about it until he told me how great it worked. I have a project planned at SOI U this fall to incorporate a similar circuit into a standard rectifier regulator circuit assembly. This will allow the battery to desulfated while the tractor is in use. Stay tuned. I have taken some liberties in these explanations, but I believe we have covered some basic concepts which generate a better understanding of pitfalls and realistic expectations regarding additives. Best advice I can give is keep the battery charged at all times do not let an uncharged battery sit for an extended period of time recharge at the LOWEST charge rate possible do not overcharge desulfators ??? - yes - use them if you have them and use them thru the entire life of the battery

Hello from Southwestern Ohio! I have a clean little Raider 10 that is mostly original with the exception of the seat. I mainly use it for some rolling, aerating, and as a snow plow for my 200 foot driveway. I already sandblasted and painted the plow frame. Since it runs so well, I am debating about tearing down the tractor too but I do not see it in the near future.

I read on another forum how to "rejuvenate" a dead battery. Now I am no battery expert or chemist, so I cannot tell you how or why this works, but it did for me. To test the process I used a 900cca battery that had been sitting on a shelf, outside of my garage for well over 2 years. You dissolve a couple of teaspoons of Epsom salt into distilled water by heating the water Then you replace some of the electrolyte with the saline solution and slowly recharge the battery. Now what I actually did is use my miniature distillery,AKA coffee pot! I put a few teaspoons of epsom salt in the pot then turned it on and brewed up a distilled saline solution. The battery had sat long enough about an inch of each cell was low. Poured it in and charged the battery overnight. It worked!!!! This battery cost about $100 new and is now holding a charge again. Since my b100 has a charging issue, I have been using this battery to jump it for about a week now and it still cranking it like nothing. I don't know how long it will last, but as of now it is working!

Hello WheelHorse friends, Today I bought the nicest wheelhorse you can probably find in Belgium! I waited a long time for this day as the tractor was on my wanted list. So I bought a very nice commando 8 with excellent mowing deck. It's quite rare to find one with the white decals. It sat in a guy his garage for two years. I brought her home, checked for oil, added gas and a good battery. Turned the key and started right up! I love the sound when it turns over with that startmotor/generator with belt. What I did is I changed the sparplug cable and made some minor adjustments to the carb, I love how it idles! It also came with slot hitch with a trailer adapter in it and a great mowing deck. It was almost never used and you can see it. An extra bonus where the almost new ag tires! Also the seat is in mint condition! I don't plan on restoring it for now, I want to keep it original and just do the necessary cleaning and maintenance. I'm missing some small ods and ends but I'll find those eventually. Like greascap for mowing deck, hub caps, throttle and chooke cable, heat shield for top of engine head,... Question: Does the red generator light has to light up when the engine is running? It doesn't burn at all and I'm not sure if it's broken or the generator is not charging...? Well that's all for now and because you all like pics, here ya go fella's! P-J

Just goes to prove that newer ain't always better.

Yeah baby..."for those about to rock, we salute you." Looks like you're ready to lead the parade Commando. Happy fourth everyone. :flags-waveusa:

NEW PIC...SORRY

leave it alone.... Looks great!! Welcome to Red Square!!!

:) Your paint job looks stellar from here Trouty. Click on it to enlarge. :)

What to call it Craig?? CHARGER 12K... or use it to advertise for...Trouty's Catch & Release Program? :)

Thanks Kelly wasnt sure. they came with my 867. I dead sled pulled 1100 lbs full pull

yes thats a plow frame

real nice 753 you say that this is one of 5 that you have , do you have any pics of the other four

Well its time to pull this thing out a beat the bag out of it. going to try pulling with the slicks

So hot...I saw two trees fighting over the same dog today. How hot was that? :banana-rock:

Deere grinder!!!! maybe a generator :handgestures-thumbup:

Welcome. If your going to tear it down your should get another to use while the Raider is getting a re-do. Mike............

Nice looking Raider, looks great as is. :WRS:

If that is original, don't tear it down. Looks beautiful as it sits. Welcome to the Square!

I hope it runs good for you! I have a couple tractors with those same grooves in the axle. Its gotta be one heck of a nasty noise to hear the pulleys chewing into the axle tho, hard to imagine some folks keep on mowing like that. Mike.............

As "blowouts" on these tractor tires aren't dangerous at a few MPH and often have all the power of a fart, you can easily repair that cut with a patch and tube. -Mark-