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Enjoying a beautiful evening in the double tub, my son Max(4) asked if he could drive tractor tonight were both enjoying every minute of it.

The culprit was located as I was setting up the deck for Cindy’s tractor. I was trying to figure out why that belt got rusted to the PTO in the first place... suddenly it all made sense! The bearing on the V-idler pulley gave out and seized up and choked out the system. The PO, didn’t know what had happened and assumed it was the PTO bearing. So, I set up Cindy’s tractor with a different mule that I had which has good bearings. I changed the engine oil and greased everything up good. Then I was able to do a test run on it...it worked great! So, a little more cleaning and a fresh PTO belt were all that was needed before delivery. Cindy was overjoyed to take possession of her new “horse”. She is a horse lover by nature and at one time years ago had over 20 horses that she boarded at her farmette. She still has two horses and now a third! She loved the fact that it was automatic and has hydraulic lift. I spent about 30 minutes explaining it to her and then let her play with it a little. Dale was having a good day and even though he didn’t remember me, was very interested in the machine and especially in my old Chevy truck! He’s a fan of Chevy trucks! It was so good to see him up and around because a few months ago he was bed ridden. Cindy had tears in her eyes as she gave me a HUGE hug thanking me for getting this tractor for her. It was so worth it!

Here are a few pics as of now.

" So Kahlil what's it like living in Chicago? "Not bad Aaron, but there is one guy driving me nuts. He drives a red tractor around the block all the time!"

MY 1054 WITH 15 INCH WHEELS HAS A DIESEL MOTOR THAT I INSTALLED.

I ABSOLUTELY love that picture! First of all—my dad wore those hats every fall and winter while I was a kid. I don’t think he even owns one anymore but that brings back memories. Next—that old Bolens Sod bottom Plow. They had taken a Bolens walk behind in on a trade at the dealership where dad worked. I think they either have that to him or he got it really cheap (think $5). He then cut off the large frame and welded on his own tongue style hitch. The only negative with his design is that it doesn’t allow for any duck point adjustment. He did a pretty good job welding it up though because the plow works really well once you have a furrow cut to about 4” deep. Next—I love the ingenuity behind using what he had to make it work. The chains for the tires when he couldn’t afford AG’s, the weight plates that used to be machinery parts, whatever it took to get the job done on a budget! Lastly—I love that old wheel horse. That is when it was still powered by the K181 and yet that hydro drive 8hp is plowing that HARD ground food plot like nobody’s business. I still get chills when I drive that tractor to this day. Those horses were built in a time “when pride still mattered”! Thanks for digging that one up Kevin! Good memories there...

Many of us are picking up new horses throughout the course of a given calendar year. Ironically, we get some of our best deals when an uneducated PO says something like, “I don’t know what happened with this but it just doesn’t work like it should” or “last fall it was running fine but this spring it wouldn’t start!” While I will concede that SOME tractors possess a truly broken engine, transmission, or other massive failure item, MOST just need some TLC to get them running good again. I purchased a 418-A last week Friday for a friend of mine named Cindy. Her husband Dale is dying from heart disease and she approached me about getting her old JD 185 going. It has a bunch of stuff wrong with it and because it is a lawn mower tractor, it seems useless to me to spend time, money, and effort on it. I asked her if she minded giving me some time to look around and find her a tractor. Last week @19richie66 came through with a tip about a nice looking 400 series machine in southern WI. A little too far for him to swing by and check it out!😉. I contacted the owner and he said it works great except the PTO bearing is seized. When I arrived, I was less than impressed with the whole operation. The battery was dead, which isn’t uncommon but he had to literally kick the brake lever to get it to move far enough to engage the safety switch. Once he got the tractor running, the idle was all over the place and he had to kick the brake pedal back in order for me to take it for a test drive. I could get maybe 2mph forward but about normal speed in reverse. Hydraulics worked fine but, sure enough, try to engage the PTO and it would kill the engine dead! The voltmeter said that the battery was at least receiving a 14 volt charge. There was decent looking engine oil on the dipstick but the hydro looked low on fluid. In spite of it problems, I still saw the potential in this diamond in the rough. It also helped that he had offered me a package deal if I took a pair of Big Wheels (953 and 1054A) off his hands. I told the boys that that we were going to use this Labor Day to get that tractor running like it should be for Cindy. After pulling the tunnel cover we found it full to the top with debris and crud. Upon cleaning that out, and pulling the fender pan we noticed that lots of moving points were just plain rusty. The gas cap on the fuel tank was broken and while dumping out the fuel, I noticed that there was some water in it. While the boys boys were cleaning the fender pan and fuel tank, I worked on finding the problem to the brake pedal. I was convinced it was the pedal but it turned out to be the bolt that holds the return to neutral plate. Lots of deep creep and changing out some hardware and we had that thing working like a song. In the above pic you can see how far the plate was capable of moving with the speed control arm because the return to neutral was somewhat “seized” and not allowing full travel. After freeing that up we had normal brake, e-brake, and speed control lever operation! This was just some of the junk that we cleaned off of the hydro, tunnel area, and underside! The next thing that is typically wrong when these older tractors don’t like to run well is the carb. Caleb pulled that off and we noted by the condition of the air filter that this thing was getting some LONG OVERDUE tune up parts. While he was dismantling the carb for cleaning, I pulled the spark plugs. They were the wrong plug and they had two different plug gaps. The one that was close to the recommended .035” looked like it was burning wheel. The one that was squished to about .10”—NOT SO MUCH! It was sooty and black looking. Caleb then said to me, “Dad, check this out!” There was water floating in the float bowl! I showed Caleb how to lightly bottom the idle air mixture screw and pay attention to where it was set (this one was less than 3/4 of a turn when the recommended start point is 1 1/4 turns from bottom. Meanwhile I had Judge and Zach polishing the chrome hubcaps and sheet metal. Doesn’t help it run better but it sure looks better running when clean! Next up was a run to town to pick up the tune up supplies and lunch. After lunch we dumped the rear end oil which was nasty and likely in there for decades. Changed filter and put in fresh oil after lifting the front of the tractor up with the chain hoist. The boys thought that was pretty cool. Looked like Dan @Achto doing a wheelie. By now the carb was ready to go back on after being cleaned out really well and new fuel line installed. Correct plugs with .035” gap were installed and all shear metal put back in place. The battery was on the charger and this thing was ready to start. Once we got fuel pumped through the system it started right up and ran really good. Needed a little tweaking but it drove around like a champ! It is amazing how the little things can make such a big difference in how something runs or doesn’t! It turned out that the PTO wasn’t seized by the bearing but rather a belt rusted tight to the pulley! Once that was removed, the pulley seemed to work just fine! Tomorrow I’ll hook up the deck and test it mowing some lawn! A great days work on a fine little machine. I’ll be sure to add pictures soon of the finished product.

I never set out to have all these 15” rear rim tractors but it ended up working out that way. Thought it would be fun to line them up and snap a few pics... COOL!

Hey Brennan, you can get steel pulleys at tractor supply that go pretty small. The ID is 5/8". Or get a cast pulley here https://www.surpluscenter.com/Power-Transmission/Pulleys/Finished-Bore-Pulleys/2-45-OD-5-8-Bore-1-Groove-Pulley-1-BK24-B.axd Do not use any pot metal pulleys. Just send me your dad's credit card # and I'll order them for you Funny. As much as possible would need the use of a jack shaft between the engine and transmission. Basically the jack shaft will need 2 pulleys, One is a smaller pulley which comes from the engine, the other is large and goes to the trans and the trans pulley is still smaller. You can get the pillow block bearings at the link posted above along with V belts and more. When speeding up the trans that much use motor oil instead of gear oil in the trans. Adding a idler pulley near the trans pulley to force the belt to go around the drive pulley as much as possible helps keep belt slipping to a minimum. Let me know if you want a drawing. Don't forget to modify the steering and certainly do not use WH tie rods.

And without socks besides

I'm thinkin we need a table like that for our high level meetings at tractor shows!

NOW!!! About that green thing???

Ah yes....another guru comes to the sudden realization that the Black Hoods are simply better... Should you use the Black Hood Hood, which I highly recommend, you could of course apply to become a member of the exclusive “Black Hood” Club...see catchy label below... Coming along nicely! Very cool!

I’ve sold many tractors and only a few made my personal “sellers regret list”, my 1054 is on that list. Nice line up of Big Whees!

1944 75 year young M and a mid 50s Bush Hog

I have used a Craftsman "Click Style"since the late 1960s and it has served me well. I have no idea how accurate it is, but when torquing a cylinder head or differential assembly I think repeat-ability is the most important thing. If all of the bolts are torqued to 38 ft/lb rather than 35 the torque is off by ten percent but are uniform. I would rather trust a mechanical torque wrench than a digital electronic one any day.

52 to 12. Let's go and play English rugby. They don't have wear all this clobber. A real mans game.

There have been a couple question recently about how to test the trigger in a Breakerless iginiton system. Working triggesr are worth money so it is best to test before you discard. Manual calls for a flashlight tester which I doubt many of us have. Here are a couple of pictures to show how you can easily make one up. All you need is a couple batteries and old incandescent flashlight bulb (I use a PR2) and some alligator clip jumper wires. First picture show hook up to test the diodes second the switch.

A refreshing site. Souvenir shops without any Chinese goods.

My folding plastic junk holds cobbler just fine...

Kings palace ( one of many) in city of Sintra from the 17th Century.

Adding ???

I’d say we nailed the scale model!

Craig...maybe you could find one of those pics of a warning label that states something like, “please dispose of properly”

I am with you on that Mike. Ones we never will find again.

Not shown is the old hay elevator that Terry has converted to hydraulic power, this feeds the log to the saw as needed - operator controlled. The saw rig is run from an old truck differential that is driven off the tractor pto, the emergency brakes are now independent, when the left drum is locked the saw blade runs, when the right drum is locked the splitter becomes operational. Apparently it's safe to use, Terry's been using this thing for years.

I think my outboard maybe slightly older as the throttle is adjusted at the carburetor. The serial number will tell the story. http://www.mercguy.com/1936_Johnson_P80.htm 22 hp @ 4000 rpm Serial number 250344 This is the largest and most expensive motor Johnson offered at the time. It would have been beyond the reach of all but the wealthy during the great depression. I purchased this motor about 1990 from a local person I had done business with. I just did some cleanup, lubing, and cleaned the points and ran this original motor for the first time in 1993. I have continued to use it occasionally since.

Is the trip lever still functional?

Genuine Kohler kits are only about $12 on eBay. I buy aftermarket on some things but not on a $12 item...

Can you believe there is a guy in Elgin who plows snow on a wheel horse with no socks!

Yes it is!

I have a number or torque wrenches from 1/4” to 3/4” and both click and needle in some sizes. There has been tests of the Harbor Freight torque wrenches and they showed good accuracy. I have tested my HF against my other wrenches and they showed exactly the same readings. The most used size for your tractor would be 3/8”. At the price, buy 1/4” & 1/2” as well. A HF wrench is cheap, and of course not a high quality tool, but I think you would be fine with using one.

@stevebo @Brennanbo we’ll need pictures of this Rat Horse!

I’m too far away or I would be jumping on it. Shhhh

Yeah, Bears s#@t in the woods.....or any place we want to.

Hey!! Why are you wearing those silly john deere colors!!

52 to 12... hey do I have any curds stuck in my teeth?

Jeepers cats Sparkeye you let that one go? Whatddayanuts!?!? I asked you in the other thread Jack what ya think you gonna do with them...I know you ain't exactly got an empty barn now! Speaking of sticking them in the dirt I picked up a real nice pair of big wheel ags at a show flea market this summer (guy dang near give them to me) so will have a pair to throw on for plowing should the need arise at plow daze. Will peel a set of turfs off a parts 953 rims and put them on.

mine aren’t going anywhere....... hopefully.

Well..... it is being replaced and hauled away

Boy...that looks vaguely familiar. Where have I seen that before? Oh about 40 years ago from the drivers seat... Way to start your kids early Mike in quality parent/kid time based in reality—not a virtual gaming experience!

Kids and tractors they just go together.

Stay tuned for pictures in November or December after the first snow. The weather service is calling for a “Polar-Coaster” here in Ohio this Winter. We’ll see what that means. Right now is sounds like a fancy marketing phrase to keep us tuned to The Weather Channel. Still looking for that piece of rubber for the bottom of the blade. Thanks to everyone for helping to made this better.

Dude! I wanna ride!

I happen to be a member of PETA. People Eating Tasty Animals that is. My favorite motto being "There's plenty of room for all of gods creatures, right next to the mashed potatoes"

That's why they have usps flat rate up to 50lbs. they love me at post office shipping a wheel weight in medium flat rate box!

AWESOME! What a great story and great ending.

Absolutely! It is my sincere desire that she will not only like this tractor and that she will feel comfortable operating it but that it will serve her well for years to come. It is definitely more blessed to give than to receive!

Yes in every aspect... the height, length, and the width too Eric.