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I figured this is no longer a shop project, we’re down the road from that. We have 46 taps and 21 buckets collecting sap. The prime maple season is after a cold winter, when days are in the 40’s and nights are in the 20’s. Trees with the most sunlight or southern exposure seem to build the most pressure during this time and yes, the south side of the tree will produce more sap than the north. Once sap is collected, it’s time to simmer and evaporate the water content out. Syrup is 1/40th the volume of sap, so there is a lot of heat (wood fired in our instance) to make that happen. We’re looking at 2 weeks of syrup season, before buds start on the trees and the sap goes bitter. Some people continue to produce bitter syrup for cooking purposes. I on the other hand pull taps and make some flap jacks! There are many variations of evaporators. One thing is for sure; shallow water levels and the most surface area possible is the best way to go. This is my third evaporator and each one has increased in output, ergonomics and efficiency. Here’s to the 2019 maple season!

Enough of @Sparky's buzz kill! Anyone want to guess how many tries or toothpicks it took to get a steering wheel made? And I'm still not happy with it but it looks OK. Drilling the holes and getting them lined up in 3rds with the holes in the center piece was a pain! Didn't have a dime to show the scale but you'll get the idea with the quarter And here's where we're at now. Still need to finish sanding the tires and complete the inner rim but it's getting there.

If you like that body style (round hood), take a look at the 1960/1/2 suburbans. The engine is mounted towards the front, so it is safer to ride, it may also be cheaper then a RJ...and your K161 will fit. Attachments are more plentiful also. Here is my 702...7 hsp Kohler, electric start, 1962. Mine is not for sale...just eye candy.

This don't help either.....

Yesterday morning... ...noon... ...close of Business last night.

Still working on my 854 i did manage to get the overstay off the stickers on the hood I'm going to take some fine sand paper to it and give it a coat of wax. Sorry for the extra pix it was on a previous post and I can't figure out how to delete them. I

How about using it to tug one of these around! Imagine what a show display that would make

I finally added one of these rare birds to my collection. Not my first choice as this one was restored prior to my purchase. The number I have on the tag shows #47974.

Nice evaporator! It certainly is that time of year around here. I personally don't boil but I help tap and collect here on my property. A guy stopped one day and asked if he could tap our 4 maple trees right around our house. I said sure. The friendship blossomed and I turned him onto the fact that the bottom of our mountain has a bunch of maples. For a small operation who was averaging around 250 taps he doubled it plus some on our land. He pays us with the finished product. He does have a wood fired evaporator. My Assistant Fire Chief who is also a coworker and friend of mine has one of the bigger operations in our area. They have over 5000 taps out right now and still are putting some in he said they could have upwards of 10,000 if they had the time and man power. They also buy sap from other people. He is 5th generation in the Maple business. The family also runs a restaurant at the sugar house. This week he spoiled my kids with maple cream and maple candy. At work he brought in maple cream and donuts for us. We certainly don't mind.

The story behind this tractor is kinda sad. The father (original owner) purchased this new in 91, he passed away a few years later and it was up to his son to keep after the property. The son was about 17 at the time and being a young person he was not aware of the maintenance needed to keep this tractor running, ie checking oil. As a result the engine ran low on oil after repeated use and he eventually fried it. It was put in a shed until the family moved out of state. I was asked if I wanted to buy it for $50 because thats all they could get for it at the scrap yard. I knew it was going to cost a few hundred dollars to get back up and running, but with only a little over 200 hrs It was a no brainer. Today it has about 240 hrs on it and runs as smooth as glass, Looking back I think it was a good move, I know how to give it the care it deserves and hopefully it should last for several years into the future. Good luck to everyone out ther that owns a HORSE. Yea Baby !!!!

I put 26x12x12's on 8.5" wheels I don't think they bulge

We have a very large syrup producer at the top of the mountain here. I have a weird fancy for the darker syrups. Trina does as well which works out great for me. The fellow up the hill uses a large amount of rock or red or swamp Maple along with the sugar Maples. Makes for a very very flavorful Rich syrup. Lovely stuff.

While you have the fire raging, may as well toss some brauts on there, smoked sausage at the least.

I repaired an axle by welding carefully and slowly, as to not get it too hot. The keyway can be ground out with a Dremel tool with a cutting or grinding wheel

Hahahahahahahaha Yeah that's right mister man. You just keep quiet down there in your nearly 90° sunny weather.

Nobody sees me nobody knows where I am....

My wife just kept saying “What are you watching?” Over and over. I then explained the whole post, and she joined me in the laughing.

It was listed here in the classified section. That add is now closed.

I'd do it just because I had it apart. If you do it now, you'll probably never have to do it again in your lifetime!

Eric, The bearing is a 6203.

Total opposite of @WHX22 (You started the cartoon stuff Madge!)

So I currently own 0 wheel horses. I mainly joined this forum to try and find a kohler magnum, but dang, the RJ styling has grown on me, and now I kinda want one... I might buy one to throw my K161 in. I currently have two tractors, my John deere 317 and my Burns B-60 "Little tractor", and I'd love to have a second small tractor to put next to the Burns.

Another in the 'remove the balance gears' camp here. And, heres a thought on replacing them -- they can be a b*%$^ to get back in time. I've removed 2 sets of them and can literally tell NO difference in the engine -- cept I think they are a bit quieter. They had a .... clatter? instead of knock and its gone. Both were noticeably worn just from the obvious looseness to them.

I don't even know what to say anymore.

Yep, you can take out my frontal lobe, replace the missing cells and reassemble. Right after dinner before the Friday night parade works for me. I wanna be 100% for driving in the parade.

Really nice evaporator. Thanks for sharing this great project. Many don't appreciate he amount of effort required to produce a gallon of this liquid gold. I did this one time when I was about the age of your daughters. I collected about 100 gallon of sugar water in two 55 gallon drums, cut a cord of firewood, and boiled it down in two butcher kettles. It took about 30 hours to get it down to two gallons of syrup that was worth about $5.00/ gallon at that time. This was when I lived near Meyersdale, Pa., home of the annual Pa. Maple Festival. https://www.pamaplefestival.com/ At one time, my mother and step dad had one side of their Somerset Co. mountain tapped and piped carrying the sugar water to a 2000 gallon tank at the base of the mountain where, during the peak of the run,it was emptied daily by tanker truck. Pure Maple Syrup is like these red horses. It is addictive and I use about 2 gallon/ year on pancakes, waffles, ice cream, pan hause, puddin, cereal, and with brown sugar, it makes the best ever glaze for a baked ham.

Patti & I usually head North of us to an operation called Hilltop boilers in Newfield Maine, I prefer that just because they also use wood, the oil burners just don't give that old school feel, I also prefer the dark syrup. Good luck with your results. Jim

2 hours, starting to see some color! We put up a a temporary tarp shelter to rid the rain... and some water diversion projects are happening too!

Yap, Pancakes are a good idea, but no Eggs... Optical it can also be missinterpreted as Moonshine... 😂 Be aware, they don't wanna do a "test", otherwise You have the work and they have the Syrup..

I’m not saying a thing.....

A rubber mallet will knock it out. No need for a puller.

Might be better to make her the cleaning department and let her use her gentle side on it!

I'm usually really good about proofreading my stuff too. Because.... I use voice-to-text technology for almost everything I do and it comes out with some really interesting phrases once in a while as you could see. Ah well....

We have a couple of day with dry weather. Yesterday it got up to 74 degrees it's 64 degrees here now. It's turning green fast. Had to mow around the trees back in the field last week.

First time I attempted Hossenfeffer, it didn’t turn out too well. I was telling my mom about it and she interrupted me to quote this 😂

Fair weather again this morning.

Only the best for my crew!

Wow! This has definitely been an informative thread. I’ll have to come back to it several times and digest it post by post. Good luck @bcgold in your quest but never hesitate to “stop” back in for a visit. I understand the concept of focusing on the next best thing or another challenging adventure. However, this forum is made up of a core of great guys the likes of which I’ve not found elsewhere on the ‘net. You tend add something to that group and I hope that we add something to your life. Please don’t be a complete stranger. As Tom Bodett was so famous for saying, “We’ll leave the light on for you!”

For those that might want to try their hand at making a carbon print Bostick & Sullivan offer a free download describing the process. Carbon prints also have a very long archival rating and do not fade with time. To make a digital image most modern ink jet printers will print on a clear plastic substrate, this becomes your negative. While searching for a video came across this wax method which I think is brilliant. So this is the video I choose to show. The Bostick & Sullivan Book of Modern Carbon Printing written by Richard Sullivan. This is a free e-book which you can download here. The book goes over carbon printing methods in great detail and is good for anyone wanting to learn about carbon printing. It is a free download. Please do not add it to your cart.

When you clean it be gentle on the old insulation. There's a fine line between getting all the carbon & dirt off the insulation since it's conductive verses doing to harsh a cleaning and damaging the insulation. Also electrical safety solvents such as those available at the hardware store or electrical supply work well. But t.t.t.those modern solvents could also dissolve the insulating varnish on the coils. Spray some of the solvent in a container and dab a spot a few times with a brush to test. A small artist brush is a good cleaning tool. Working at the dams with 1940-50 vintage equipment, we routinely used water based solvents Windex (yes windex) , Simple Green, Precision Clean. Precision Clean was my favorite and actually had an electrical dielectric rating of quite a few thousand volts. After you use a water based solvent, rinse with clean water. We used distilled water on high voltage 15,000 volt equipment. After you clean it with a water based product (or any cleaner) set it in a warm dry place that has some ventilation for a few days (electric heater on low) I know your cringing as you think that water and electricity don;t mix....but modern electrical solvents could work great or they could soften/dissolve your insulation too. So test what ever you use on a small spot first! PS Take us along on your starter generator rebuild. I have one to rebuild one day also!

That's a great idea Eric! only problem is that these are the only kind of playing cards in my house these days

Norman at isavetractors.com has them, and he is even located in maine!!

That's cool, I have the last 754 to be produced in original condition.

No front tires eh?? Can I assume it’s an Air-Horse ! So you need to focus on this more, maybe put all those paying customers on hold while you get this sucker wrapped up....

con = No attach-a-matic, pro = looks like it might be a rear discharge deck

I couldn't resist, a classic!

Ok Cold engine around 30 deg and 30W in the engine spark plug wire off: 135 amps on initial engagement and it settle out at 115 amps .

Watch out Fellas, the GT Mafia will be out doing late night repo’s and chop shoppin’ at the Big Show!

If you scroll down the file page here... you'll see all the 754 serial #'s Garry has documented to date. Notice...your # has already made the list.