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I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone at Red Square a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, and "May all Your Christmas's be RED. Again, it has been a banner year, and all here are a large part of it.....Thank You.

S0....CRUEL...to us working folks. As my retired neighbor says somebody has got to work to pay his social Security!

My daughter got me 2 new Tractors, my favorite kind, for Christmas! Take a look!- Thanks- Al

HI EVERY ONE, EACH DAY IS A LITTLE BETTER. THE NECK BRACE IS VERY HEAVY. THEY TOOK OUT 7 STICHES TODAY SO THAT IS GOOD. I STILL HAVE TO WALK WITH A WALKER. NO CHRISTMASS FOR ME THIS YEAR, BUT THAT IS O.K. I MISSED CHRISTMASS AND NEW YEARS EVE IN 1952/1953 WHILE I WAS ON A TROOP SHIP. HANKS FOR ALL THE GOOD WISHES AND PRAYERS. RUSS

I'll give my $.02 cents from a fire fighters view. I'll begin by saying I'm all for solar power. Like you did it Duke is perfect. Either on an accessory building or free standing is fine. But I will never recommend putting it on the roof of your primary residence or any building you really care about. Generally most roofs are rated for a certain snow/weight load. They were never designed to carry excess loads especially the newer truss construction. These panels on roofs endanger the lives of Fire Fighters even more then the normal risks. They hamper and prevent us from performing vertical ventilation which is key in properly and quickly extinguishing structure fires. This slows down the effort causing the fire to gain speed and heat which can make all parts of the buildings fail even quicker thus either injuring or killing fire fighters. The solar companies have so called training for us where they tell us to through the disconnect and just smash out the panels. That's fine an dandy but you still have the excess weight factor and additional time. It's hard enough to properly ventilate a roof under fire conditions never mind adding in the solar panel concerns. This this is just my opinion but after 30 years as a Fire Fighter and probably the equivalent of a Masters Degree in education in fire, electrical, building construction etc. I can tell you this is fact. If you have another option for a location please choose it. It could save yours, mine and someone who you care about life one day!

Here's what i ended up with i'm pretty happy with it.

I bought my 1st wife a "Solar Clothes Dryer"!

Four years later, I was finally able to get my hands on this '59 Farm-ette Model 45 today. It needs a serious cleaning and repair to a drive hub, but I think it's so cool looking and it's a very rare machine.

Hello all, and Merry Christmas! My name is Luke, I am 21 years old, going to school for Industrial Technology Management and welding. I really enjoy restoring old items like boats, motorcycles, tools, etc. That hobby brought me down to an estate auction a few weeks ago where I was buying a few pieces of machinery. At the beginning of the auction one of the lots was an old wheel horse tractor with a plow and mower deck, it was pretty crusty, the motor was missing most of its parts and had thrown its rod. I sort of kept my eye on it and once the bidding came up, not a soul bid on her and the auctioneer dropped the price down to $5 and I threw out the bid... to my surprise nobody else bid. So I got it for a total of $5.98 after tax and the buyers premium! I didn't have my trailer with me at the time, and as it turns out the tractor, plow, mower deck, an outboard motor, a moped, and a rockwell radial arm saw will all fit into the back of a Pontiac Aztek! I got the tractor home and I was going over it and figured out it was a 1965 655 model with a serial number of 107102 Overall it seems to be in good shape and a great candidate for a quick restoration this spring. The transmission goes into each gear, the rear tires are good, fronts need to be replaced, needs a new motor, some paint and decals, and a few finishing touches and she should be good 2 go! PS I found a nice Snap On TM75 1/4 ratchet under the seat! Here is the tractor at the auction: Back at my shop getting ready for winter:

Greeting WHF, my name is Chris and I'm a long time listener first time caller. I own a '94 416-H with dual stage blower, grader blade, 48" snow blade, tiller, and mowing deck. The Onan has treated me well thus far. The previous owner had a [poor] auto mechanic do some work to the tractor and I've been ironing out some of those bugs since I've gotten the machine. I love it and can't wait to use it for the snow. I just purchased rear chains and 5-rib V61s from Miller Tire. I'm looking forward to getting to know this board better. I have been on many other forums for my other hobbies and I am always blown away by the wealth of knowledge on each board. Best regards, Chris

Here's a better pic with a decal installed. I really like how these little trailers pull and how low the sides are makes it easy for my little girl to get in for rides most of my trailer use is giving my 4 kids rides around the yard.

Thanks Guys! Don, no I am not going Battery The Inverters pump 240V directly into the grid. What I pump in gets used up first, what I don't burn up runs the meter backwards and adds me up a credit and I burn that credit up when the sun goes down. My system will start at 12 265w panels for a total of 3180 watts but I figure I will need double that at 24 panels or about 6,300 watts. Since I know what I average in KW usage per month The Inverters tell me how much I am saving per day, week, month, & year it should be able to tell pretty quickly after a few months how I am doing. ~Duke

I got do sum painting today the sun is shining but still kinda cold i tried out sum rubberized under coating that was on sale 3.99 vs 12.99 but it doesn't seem to be drying very well that's what i get for being cheap hopefully it will be fully cured in a couple days they also didn't have the color i use so i went with IH Red witch i know alot of members use. At least it isn't green anymore

Been wanting one for a long time. Came across this one on Craigslist not too far outta the way. Runs great. Good tires. I'm gonna add lights front and rear and get a back blade before snow flies (if it ever does!). Crappy pic through the screen of a test drive after getting it tuned up a bit:

Best Wishes to all from Ed and Mrs. K .... have a Merry Christmas and a Healthy Happy 2016.

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!!!!!

I go by " The Tim The Toolman " quote " More Power" . But get advise from the more senior members about running into installation problems that may happen with a larger motor. How about $6.25 for the tractor.

You better keep a low profile, as the cops are looking for a "horse thief"!

And we are sooo grateful Jim. Stay healthy and keep working my friend.

When I was a kid we had a small farm in Colorado that used an irrigation ditch for watering. We had a party line and sometimes at 3:00 am I would hear the 3 rings. That usually meant moving siphon tubes every 12 hours for two or three days because you never knew when your turn for water would be up next. The amount of tubes used was based on how much they would open the gate. The caller would say something like " You have a 3/4 gate for 72 hours."

Don`t take those chains off, you`ll cause it to snow.

Keep up the positive attitude Russ. I predict that you are going to defy the odds, make a full, quick recovery, and we will see you at the big show this year.

Looking at the long range forecast for Central N.Y., January will average in the mid 30's. Usually we're in the 20's and teens. Looks as tho this will be a mild winter.

Have a wonderful green Christmas everyone!!!! ( I took my tire chains off in case I decide to use the dethatcher )

Our weather forecast for Christmas day is a high of 75 and low of 55, I will not be complaining one bit! We live on a mountain side and when it snows hard it can be several days before a snow plow comes down our road. About five years ago we had a foot of snow on Christmas day, I plowed our driveway and four others as well as a quarter mile of the road with my 953, fellow down the road did the same with his Ford 8N; we could get around to see each other but it was three days before the snow plows opened the rest of the road. I for one will not miss having a white Christmas!

Yeah, WHA meetings. the A is for anonymous......

I have been up and down the east coast and a bit west too and haven't even seen a snowflake on the windshield yet. This will be my first year with anything other than a snow shovel. I have 2 blades at the ready and I swear this is the first time since I was a kid that I am dreaming of snow.. My daughter asked me if I was gonna spend my day off pretending to plow snow in the driveway again. What the heck is wrong with me? I really did that? Do you guys attend meetings or something because I am starting to scare myself.

I have been paying school taxes for years so that future generations can get good jobs and pay for my Social Security.

you did very very very very very very very very very well there. also good to see more young people joining the hobby

For $5.98... I'd say you got a smokin' deal.

Instead of "one ringy dingy...two ringy dingy...maybe one wheely horsey...two wheely horsey...?"

Of course, in the process... gaining a lean to for extra storage space is a win win too.

We gotta keep this thread going......Luv those party line stories.

I finished paint the trailer today but its still drying. I also painted my plow that came with the 633 i just need to order sum decals know i'm not sure witch style of decal i'm going to use yet. also mounted my front weights

I think solar is a great idea, and as usual your doing a nice job. Just not sure how cost effective it would be for me at 67. Besides, I figure the less prepared I am for the future, the longer I`ll live. LOL

In this thread I will give a little info on how Solar Panels operate, and what is some of the technology that has changed the Solar Game. A friend of mine down in Indianapolis started monkeying around with Solar about four years ago. He has kept me up to date with his system and what he has done and I decided a few months ago to do some research for myself. I have looked at hundreds of brands of equipment and there is very much to learn if you want to have an efficient long lasting system. Technology has come a long ways and I am shocked how far they have came in the past 10 years. The inherent problem with Solar Panels hooked up just like a Batteries they are as only as strong as their weakest link. If you have for D CELL BATTERIES in a flash light, which are in series’ For example say that 3 of them are 1.5 volts and one of them are 1.2 Volts then all 4 are now 1.2 v batteries. The same with Solar Panels if you have say an Array of 20 Solar Panels and 19 of them are in full sun and one is in the shade and only putting out 5V DC when the others are putting out 35V DC guess what? all of them are putting out 5V each. NOT ANY MORE....... Everyone knows the DC needs at some point be turned into A/C Voltage and this is usually done by a Large Inverter and depending on the size of your system Usually takes 6 to 10 KW System to do an average house That's between 24 to 40 Solar Panels Plus a couple Large Inverters These Inverters are Very Costly at about $5,000.00 to $8,000.00 each and The Panels are about $ 250.00 each plus the racking to mount them and all the wiring and Misc Items a whole system will cost easily between $12,000.00 to $24,000.00 depending how elaborate you want to go. Up until the past 4 years these panels and these BIG INVERTERS were inefficient because the technology wasn't there and Remember the weakest link lesson? One panel gets leaves on it, gets dirty, gets shaded, cloud goes over taking Ole Mr. Sunshine away there goes the efficiency on all of them right down in the CHITTER. Not anymore! They now have Micro-Inverters Like the Enphase M-250's Each Solar panel now has its own Micro-Inverter installed on the back of them they are all daisy chained together and each individual Panel and its own Micro-Inverter adjusts itself independently for maximum efficiency. Now for the neat part... Each one of these Panels and inverters reports to network computer through a Gateway and all this data is reported on an animated computer program. It tells you how many KW's your making, per hr, per day, per week, per month, per year, and since system was started. Tells how much each panel is putting out in real time, charts all kinds of data and history to help troubleshoot system problems. These micro-inverters have more than quadrupled the efficiency of these Solar Systems. Not only that but being since they run independently of each other if one gets weak or goes out it has no effect on the others so this means you don't loose efficiency due to the WEAKEST LINK rule. The other benefit is you can start out small say 2-3 panels and keep adding more as time goes on or as the budget permits and then daisy chaining them together until you get as big as you want to be, After you have a zero -0- electric bill and your pumping your surplus in to the grid the electric company can now pay you monthly. THE RACK & MOUNT - Depending on where you want to mount them Roof, Ground or a combination of the two there is more systems out there than you can shake a stick at. It can get awful confusing and Very Expensive. Luckily I am blessed in that I can fabricate and weld and have some equipment to it with. My system will be kinda roof and ground mounted as I am using the roof of my Yard Barn Shed and then sloping down to the ground. There is a company out there called IRON RIDGE and they make a neat Solar Mount System and they are pretty proud of the price at around $ 2500.00 What this company did was make a BIG MISTAKE by showing me or anyone else that goes to their website their videos on their system, provide drawings and assembly instructions and data and measurements on all their components they sell. I downloaded all this and saved to my puker. So what Ole Duke did was basically copy their system by using common materials available to the public or tradesman. There was already a 3” Pipe cemented in the ground for a large 10’ Sattelite dish that I just took out so I used that pole for my lower Solar Panel Grid Support. I installed two more lower 3” support poles and cemented them in the ground 4’ with 400 lbs of concrete. The poles have special fabricated caps that support a 2” Galv Pipe horizontally that in turn supports 1 5/8 12 ga Unistrut Framework. The upper unistrut framework rests on special support flashings that support the Upper Unistrut framework and elevate it above the shingles on each support rafter and on this 16’ yard barn I am using 4. The unistrut fastened to the bottom 2” Galv Pipe with 3/8” Stainless Steel U BOLTS. On top with 3/8” Stainless bolts on the unistrut spring nuts. I had to design and fabricate stainless steel fasteners to bolt the Solar Panel Modules down to the unistrut. That will be done with ¼” stainless hardware and ¼” spring nuts. I am using Qty 12 SolarWorld 265 W Panels with 12 Enphase M-250 Micro Inverter with and Envoy Gateway. Here is a Microsoft Paint rendition of somewhat how they will look installed. Then the Fabricated parts and ground mount rack assembled and wired. Basically at this point I am ready for the Panels and Inverters and I could be making electricity in an easy day. They are ordered and on the way and should receive them end of January. Here are some U Tube links to my equipment below. And some pictures. Future plans include 12 more panels and Inverters for a total of 24. This amount of Panels will get me with a credit bill each month. Solar World Solar Panel Modules >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rh4jcE6Pk0 Ground Rack Mount Iron Ridge >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYdi68lN7UE Enphase Micro-Inverters >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DelroRJsjpI Enphase Envoy Gateway >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-OLb8_macg ~Duke

Husky or Huskee (not sure) was a brand name for Tractor Supply Co (TSC)...lawn mower was made by MTD....My first job was in 1972 for TSC in Wichita KS...and I remember a white and green mower sold by TSC was named Lawn Chief??...heck, I've slept since then!

Spent some more time working on the 1045, more primer and spot filler for the rust pits, hoping to do some more painting on this week.

Russ, that is the best news I have had all day week! You do exactly what the doctors tell you and we will be seeing you in June at the "Big Show".

May everyone be safe in your travels. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I made a trip back to Chicago for the weekend and visited family. It was about 20 degrees colder than MD. Friday night we had flurries - and I needed to scrape the ice on the windows! The roads were icy. Back here we are going to be hitting 70 on Thursday though. There still is hope!

Translates like this... Hello everyone from Madrid (Spain) my name is Carlos... and I have acquired a horse wheel 702, I hope to learn a lot from you. Bienvenidos a nuestro pequeño Foro de tractor rojo Carlos

That is one unusual tractor , never seen anything like it , nice score. Please provide pictures of the cleaning and repairs.

Here's the first Wheel Horse I restored (finished earlier this year), a 1968 "500" Special.

'95 520H Bought new. Works year round for it's keep.