Leaderboard

Ok that'll be it for tonight . We'll see if we can get some more if not a video. We have Bob's son Robert doing our test driving. Have a good one

Whats up everybody, alot of you guys kind of already know a little bit about this project. There comes a time of when you can do things and finally its has come to life as we know it. It moves, runs fantastic. Kind of like excited if you know what I mean. Anyways I am not computer oriented so if I don't succeed at this I am pretty sure that Bob will get it straightened out. Well here goes.

I am going to start this post then let John post up the pictures. For quite some time John has had the idea of building a Articulated Gt-16, and last fall we started to make his idea a reality. We have spent most of the winter getting it into a working tractor and are currently at the point of testing before we go to paint. We won't be showing step by step build pics - just jumping through it. This tractor is using a new design than all previous builds on the center joint and I wish to keep it under wraps until a latter date. So please just enjoy what we do show you and hopefully in a few weeks we can show the finished project. Also we are hoping we can successfully upload the test drive video I shot today. Hang tight and lets see if John can follow me up with the pics..... https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1396517100609436.1073741839.1393219404272539&type=1&l=2c8f30be21 Alternative album to view-at my FB Page Totally Articulated Garden Tractors by Rock and Son Fabrication. Heres the videos!!!! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4nVSDnhrsGoOWFVZ09ONmZyam8/edit?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4nVSDnhrsGoMHBtYmV0MFdpMWM/edit?usp=sharing

I always get a bunch of icicles hanging off my house each winter, kinda cool but they are all the same and not picture worthy. But today I went into my portable shed to look around and saw this one. Its small but different so I deemed it picture worthy . Water must be dripping thru the tarp on my portable shed and landing right on the front tire of my C-105. Mike................

ive had a lot of guys on the forum today asking about the plating of hardware and the cost involved. what you see in the pic below cost me $39.90 out the door. this was about 1/3 to 1/2 a 5 gallon bucket full of parts. they told me its a flat rate for up to roughly 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket. now i don't just unbolt the parts, throw them in a bucket and take them in. they told me that anything that has paint on it will take longer in the acid bath, so much so that the cost would be more. most of their business is local industrial, all new stuff, bare metal, never been plated or painted before. so thats what they like. so to keep them happy and in the end myself too by getting a better looking result, i degrease and glass bead blast everything first. they do clear zinc or yellow and black chromate finish. hope that has answered any questions. right now I'm starting to get another batch ready to get plated. when its all ready to take in i will post another pic to show how i take the parts in.....

so I had to revert back to my old standby.... I gotta walk a little bow-legged to use the angle feature though...

All my tractors to date are built on Case Ingersol transaxles. I hear the subject of duals a lot- I had a buyer talk me into putting a set onto a 4x4 tractor before he took it home. Yes they look neat and gnarly- BUT- I will tell you that to start with- these tractors lay down quite a foot print overall and you have to be paying attention when your driving them. This is particularly worse at a tractor show. The duals make them very unenjoyable to drive when in a show setting especially. They also increase the turning radius as the tires will touch each other when turning. That makes putting in steering stops necessary when they are added after the fact. Now- on Chevelletowns 520 4x4 this isn't as bad as he put some thought into it and used some common sense and went with a narrower tire. Running tires the size of Burlys would be in the uncomfortable area for me -John also planned the build on what he is using with no intention of duals. I have played with just a couple of the tractors and have a pretty good feel for whats realistic and whats not. And No- I'm not knocking anyones opinions - just adding some insight!

Getting out of the cab. Way too much time in the basement Mike. Do they put you down there, or do you just go by yourself???

fired up #2 this morning and took it for a run. figured id give it one last run all together before starting to strip it for the rest of #3s build. took some pics of both of them together. easy to see the wide stance of the jd front axle/wheel and tire combination.

I’m posting this in the hope it may be useful to somebody somewhere, if not to RS members who seem to be generally able to turn their hand to pretty much anything, perhaps for the many out there that trawl the net looking for basic information to give them the confidence to do a job. After all, it’s from the ‘guests’ that a forum’s membership often grows. Having just finished overhauling my 216-5 ready for the new season which included fixing the brake it was time to overhaul the 227-5. The 200 series rarely seem to feature on RS, possibly because they are vertical shaft and considered to be ‘lawn’ rather than ‘garden’ tractors. Anyway, on with the job in hand – sorting out the brake which was poor in that it just about operated with the pedal fully down and the parking brake lever ratchet wouldn’t stay locked in the ‘on’ position. The 200 series are fitted with the ubiquitous Peerless transaxle found on many makes of garden tractor from the 80s era and which have with a transmission disc brake. The rod from the brake pedal applies force to the calliper operating lever via the larger strong spring with the result that you can control the degree of braking action by the amount the pedal is depressed. Adjustment to compensate for the brake pads wearing down is made by tightening locking nut securing the lever to the calliper. If this adjustment is not maintained then eventually the brake only just works at full pedal depression and there isn’t enough tension in the big spring to hold the parking brake ratchet engaged. So it’s simple, just adjust the nut eh? Well, having just overhauled the brake on my 216-5, I would say that having got this far always take the whole assembly apart unless you are certain it’s in good order as you’ve done it in fairly recent years. Removing the lever revealed the first sign that dismantling was indeed required. The disc must be able to move on the shaft and those splines looked ominously rusty to me so continue on. The two ‘plungers’ (for want of a better word) that transfer force through to the pad can be removed at this point. These were clean and still shiny; those on the 216 were a bit rusty but still came out and cleaned up ok. On removing the housing, the brake pad it retains dropped out in two pieces! Be careful to locate and put aside the metal plate that sits between the pad and housing to take the force of the ‘plungers’. So now to the brake disc which when new would have simply slid off the splined shaft. A bit of wiggling and it came off (just) by hand. The problem here is that the disc sits very close to the transaxle casing making the use of a proprietary puller difficult if not impossible. With the 216 it was stuck firm and even penetrating fluid left overnight didn’t help so I had to resort to some tapping. There’s a bit of end float in the shaft so I made wedges from scrap steel sheet of various thicknesses that would just fit either side of the shaft between the disc and casing. A few taps with a copper mallet and it moved a bit allowing a couple more thin ‘wedges’ to be inserted and so on. The idea was to bring it far enough forward to use a puller but by the time it had moved that far I managed to pull it by hand. The second brake pad sits in a recess in the transaxle casing and was part worn but intact. There appears to be a thin fibre shim between the casing and the pad, possibly it was used to hold the pad in place during assembly or possibly it provides a smooth surface. On the 216 it had pretty much disintegrated so I cleaned what remained of it out. It was time now to remove the grass debris, and clean the splines on the shaft and the disc. When the splines on each are clean of the rust and solidified grease mix the disc should move easily on the shaft – almost a tad loose in fact. The disc on the 216 cleaned up well and was pretty much perfect but this one was pitted. Looking at the pad surfaces they seem to have broken up a bit and developed pockets that held moisture causing the pits during winter storage year on year but hey, ho – it’s a tractor not an automobile so it’s going back for now and I’ll keep my eye open for a better one. The pads however, needed replacing. Re-assembly, as they so often say, is pretty much the reverse of disassembly but here are a few points: Grease the splines and wipe off any excess. Remember to install the rear pad before putting on the disc. Remember the metal plate that sits behind the outer pad in the calliper housing. Remember also that the bolts securing the calliper casting go into ally – don’t over tighten! Some Peerless diagrams show a coil spring that sits on the adjuster thread before the lever is installed but I didn’t find one of these on either tractor. I think it must have been an anti-rattle device so I’ve added one to each tractor but I guess it’s not that important. I greased the surface of the lever that actuates the plungers and the reverse face that moves against the washer. Now it’s time to adjust the brake calliper by tightening the lock nut. I’m not sure what the OEM guide for this is but I tightened it till there was just a little forwards / backwards movement left i.e. in the ‘off’ position the lever isn’t touching the ‘plungers’ but starts exerting pressure through to the pads as soon as it is pulled forward slightly. Having reconnected the brake rod to the lever and also attached the return spring to it one can check the operation of the brake and the parking brake ratchet – they both worked well. I’m sure someone will chip in and correct me if I’ve done something drastically wrong here but it seems to have worked ok on both tractors now. I've used tags for this post and images uploaded to the forum gallery! As I said, hope this is useful to someone out there. Andy

I think it's official. I have had the C-175 hooked to or alternating with my snowblower for the better part of 7 years. I have used the blower more this year than I have in all the previous years combined. I believe I have moved snow with it 8 times so far this year. There were two years since 2008 that I never fired it up during a winter. Made me begin to wonder why I took it off and put it on each year and it's why it stays on that tractor now. Looks like it may be back out again on Tuesday morning before we get an inch of rain and mid-50's later in the week. (Followed by frogs and locusts).

Been there, done that with the thought of duals. Sounds great, would look cool but not sure if I could see the functionality behind that. Tires weren't cheap if somebody wants to I'll buy the wheels. Like I say it would be awesome.

I could see you with a cab. You would have to sit on the tractor and have some one lower the cab over you and bolt it on !!

I'll throw my guess in..... 1968 Commando 6. (1-4631) @Steve - the right foot pedal is the PTO. edited to add: It could also be a '68 500 Special. (1-3631) The reasons behind my "guess": It has the wider rear fender, headlight opening in the hood, three spoke steering wheel, and the drive belt guard has a Tecumseh tab configuration and no decal indentation.

Will you be putting her carcass on ice for a reanimation in the future?

No socks...

Van...would that tool box hold a bottle of Rock & Rye???

I want a video of guys getting in and out of the CABS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BURGER KING !!!!!! BURGER KING!!!!!! Did someone say BURGER KING ???? Grab me a Double dollar cheese burger, onion rings( don't forget the sauce) & a Hersey Pie. I have Oh yea I know it's , we got snow too, But it's BURGER KING ????

'88...first year for the model 520-H. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX4qUILtQ1Y&feature=youtu.be

Invite him on down. He can ride shotgun for ballast!!

Awesome work Bob... And John! Looks like great fun, you are making me want to runout to the workshop... Expect updates on my 4x4 Raider 16 anytime soon

Yes, guys it will be at the show. It will also have a New coat if Red paint along with the New Decals that Yes, (wait for it) Terry Dennis has already produced for us. I'm hoping to bring the newly painted GT16 tricycle along with it.

I love all of Bobs creations, but I gotta say that that one (with the big wheels) gets me all hot and bothered,,,

Screw the furnace... tractors occupy that space now.

Hey Bill, I enjoyed your story. For me here in Orange County NC, we got about 7-8 inches of mostly snow mixed with a little ice that really caught most folks here off guard. There were more cars and trucks and buses (both school and city) stranded and stuck and down embankments than I could count. Out in the county where I live it was more of the same. There were three cars stuck at the 3-way intersection right in front of my house, another SUV nose first in the ditch just within sight of my driveway, and a full size school bus off in the ditch no more than a half mile from the end of my driveway. Right away this morning I made the decision that clearing my driveway and my daughters driveway and my son's driveway, and the intersection, and pulling two of the cars back on the road was more than I wanted to hit head on with a Wheel Horse. The logical choice was the Mahindra 4025 diesel with a 6foot scrape blade on the rear of the 3point hitch. It took about three hours to clean up most of this mess, then I stopped and went to Burger King with my Son (who had helped me pull the two vehicles back up on the road). After getting back from Burger King I loaded up the Mahindra tool box with BK chicken strips (no need for tools in the tool box as red tractors don't break down) and resumed moving more snow. About two hours later all the snow was moved and it was time to call it a day. It was fun, but now I'm ready for Spring. Happy Valentines Day Everybody! I'll add in some pics next week.

They are pretty good cheap tires, are they Duro brand ?? going by the colored strips on them, these tires were about like yours when I got them. they turned out ok.

Guess I should add the two youtube videos I made with my new snow blower here also... Part 1 Part 2 RJMcEachern

This tractor has never let me down. It ran for days straight turning a generator during last weeks power outage and these last two days it has been on snow duty. We have received 20 inches of snow within the last 48 hours and while I regularly maintain this machine, I'm not afraid to work it and sometimes test its limits. What you see behind the tractor is a snow pile that is 6' high, 20' wide and 10' thick. I'm not afraid to ram the piles a little because I have virtually any part for this machine. This winter has already claimed a drive belt and battery on the thing but I can't complain since it has been on full work duty since I restored it 4 years ago... The tractor as ag tires at 2 PSI, 75lbs each wheel weights and 100lbs of barbells off the hitch. The grunt power this machine has is quite incredible! This snow pile will probably hang around until april. It is hard as ice! Charlie

Forward-swept axle or not, the tractor frame length and the distance between the PTO pulley and the thrower jackshaft remains the same. I believe the difference in the lift tube is that it has a "kink" so it clears the larger tie rod attachment plate on the lower steering shaft when the thrower is fully raised.

It has to be an automatic. I have never figured out why, but there was no 1973 16 / 8 speed.

You should get a lot of miles out of those horses...shouldn't those shoes be red???

It looks like you are introducing the parts horse to the recipient. The build looks great Martin. I have always like the way those plated parts look with the red and black. WOW!!!

My C's all have the rubber bumpers. They were all dry rotted and I replaced them with a flanged rubber insert from ACE hardware. The flanged part is a lot thicker than the original bushing and really takes all the vibration out of the hood. May be these brackets and bumpers could be added to a 314.

Chas, with me being a Southerner the one thing thats a must in the tractor toolbox for a days work is some fried chicken. Unfortunatly it can't always be home cooked. KFC and BoJangles was too far from the house but BK was only 4 miles away so I had to settle for BK chicken strips. That was better than an empty tool box though.

Well i cleaned and reset the points. This time i set them at .015 and sure enough the knock went away. Double checked the setting with a timing light and its spot on. now its time to find a replacement hose for that leak.

Looks awesome John and Bob!

You're going to need a bigger truck!!!

9cbbd220796b2299930a6a3971b38b76

?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent> ?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent> Pic of my 1277 it to had a noise in the motor so i put a 12 HP in it and a set of 26x12x12 tires on the back had to lift the seat pan up a couple on inches

I THINK THE GT-14 IS BEING PUSHED AT THE END OF A STIFF ROPE.......

A couple of videos of the tractor clearing snow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58ZHCjooEww http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLD3i50lwg8 Hopefully there will be Wheelhorse video's next year. Cleat

Gonna need that big ol' Cat if it keeps this up... put down a measured 20" overnight here.

Just waiting for the tail of the storm with a few more inches to fall. I used the Ariens to clear most of it and cleaned up with the 518xi. I even had the C-105 out for a little exercise as well. Notice the sidewalk superintendent checking my work.

I was collecting a lot of die cast in the 90's I didn't get into the old ones but got a lot of new in package ones that I never opened I probably have over 1,000 die cast muscle cars from 1/64 to 1/18.

Finally figured it out. It's a magic carpet.

What is over paying? If you want a tractor then you pay for it. I don't know if there are any "blue book" values for these tractors. I think that the amount that is paid for a tractor is dependent on a few factors: the amount of cash in the budget, I think that this is the biggest factor condition of the tractor for sale the price of the tractor for sale The bigger the budget the less I pay attention to price. I think that it is human nature to try to get things "cheaper" but not getting the tractor cheaper doesn't really define over paying does it? If there is a tractor out there that you want and it's $800 and you are only willing to spend $500 but buy it for the $800 does that mean you over paid? If I had the money, cost would be no object. But because I don't have the money cost IS the object. That being said, what I pay for a tractor has limits but the fact that I go over my limit sometimes doesn't necessarily mean that I over paid does it? I really hope that this made some sense!!!

Thanks for the commercials Craig. They bring back some fond memories. Just a note about the cars they used in those commercials. They were specially made cars that were chromed,and then painted, giving them a gleaming appearance. Some of these cars are still out there,and demand big $$. One collector found some with the family of the director of the commericals. Others have been found with Mattel employees. Similar cars were given to salesman who went to the department stores, using these little jewels to try and obtain orders for this new and exciting die cast toy line. A few over chrome salesman sample cars...(not mine..I wish.. ) The story of the spun aluminum cups. Yes! Harry Bently Bradley, the gentleman I refered to earlier,as the 1st HW designer, drove a customized 1964 El Camino, and he added some shortened aluminum cups to the center of the hood, to give it that halibrand injector look. His boss, Elliot Handler asked Harry, to design the cars with that kind of a look to them. California Custom style. 5 spoke mag wheels. Wide oval tires. Bright Candy colors. So his El Camino, then became one of the original 16 cars, the Custom Fleetside. F.

Thanks for the comments crew. Hey Ken, Yeah, it can get pretty expensive depending on how you go about your collecting. You can run the gamut from $5 beaters, to HTFs,and protos worth well into the thousands. The legend goes, that one VW bus as a pink proto sold for $70,000 Yep, that's seventy THOUSAND, for one car. As you say, you can still find redlines on BP, I have some shown below. Or you can just find some kid loved pieces, that are well worn,and well loved..lol. I found that the cleaner the cars were, the easier it was to resell, if you ever had to. Hey Neil, the track was what made it all fun. I still have my old childhood sets here,and I used to run newer cars on the track with them when they were younger. It really takes you back. Hey Craig, Love those AMXs. I have a Custom AMX Bow here myself. No Shaver though..lol. The Shaver I'm referring to is the blue AMX Craig has in his picture. It was a very rare AMX only sold in Europe( or so we believe) and was done up with the billboard stickers like the Mongoose/Snake cars,and was driven by Ed Shaver. Very Rare car, especially in BP. Worth thousands,and it's basically just because of the stickers, or if you still have it in BP. Hey Mike, Great to still have one of your childhood cars. I still have most of mine here yet too. I believe you are referring to the Rod runner,which used to be an elastic powered contraption. You would push down a lever,and that would reset it. When the care came through, it would somehow trigger a push bar,and give the car a big push from behind. Those were great sets too. So your Heavy Chevy came with the Club Kit? Those were always fun. With the big glossy HWs annual magazine,and and iron on, some stickers, a little cardboard certificate. Those club kits still go for a good buck these days. Hey Mike, The values are all over the map. Cars like the Custom Camaro, or Barracuda, or VW, are desirable, Whether HK or US, and some colors are very common, and some colors are more rare. Then a lot of collectors like US cars because they have a thicker, nicer paint job. But the HKs seem to have better detail. I like a clean HK car myself, but they are hard to find in clean shape. And of course condition rules. The better the condition, the higher the value. We look at paint chips, toning, or darkening under the paint, Wheel condition, base condition, glass condition. And some have decals, so the condition of the decals, or exposed engines. Very hard to find a true mint car, no matter what they say on Ebay..lol. My AMX Bow. And some BPs, Red Heavy Chevy. Very rare Pink Boss Hoss. Oh,and sometime we LIBERATE a car from the package. Just for the fun of it. Takes you back to when you were a kid ,and couldn't wait to get in the house before you ripped that sucker from the packaging..lol. Thanks again. Frank