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I have a thing for old barns and finally have one (16th century) part of which will be used for my wheel horses. I'm clearing out an area in prep for storage but following spinal surgery will need a table lift or similar to continue maintaining them in the future as I refuse to simply give in and let someone else do it. I'd like to see your maintenance lift set up if you use one for ideas going forward any pics would be much appreciated. I only have four at the moment C161, D512, 416-8 and a 704 but plan to expand, that is, when the good lady isn't looking 😉

Ok @ebinmaine I have been holding out on you only because I don't want you to drool on your phone when you see this. These 3 buildings are on a 25 acre lot and are as follows, 1 a super barn/ workshop, heated and water of course, 2 a wood shed with addition because it wasn't big enough, and 3 a chicken coop with 3 additions because that wasn't big enough. Garage is about 23 years old the other 2 are about 15 to 20, additions are a little newer. These are owned by one of my best customers ever and where my 417-8 came from. I did not include the house for personal reasons, but you would not believe it if you saw it, inside or out. Almost forgot, the back side of the coop is larger than the front. This house is equipped with a heating system like those I have posted on here but have no pics. Wonderful people.

So are you being kicked out of the big house and into the dog house? 

So my friend Mickey died recently, and his estate is suing his landlord over it. He recently moved into a new apartment, the place was listed at "Move in ready, with in unit exercise equipment". Mickey thought that was great since he was kind of a fitness buff, but the treadmill the landlord had supplied in the apartment didn't have any safety stuff, no pull cord with a key, no hand rails, not even the things on the side you can put your feet on to stop running. The ME said that he died when the treadmill got going too fast and he just couldn't manage get off safely. Services will be held January 18th at 2:00 in Carlisle PA.

When painting or anything else that has toxic fumes or chemicals you should use one of these. Your eyes can absorb airborne chemicals as well as your lungs. Benefit is it also acts as safety glasses and does not fog up.

What l want to know what happens when you brake wind ?!

New throttle cable to replace broken one. Snapped mid cable... Only 38 years out of that cable... just can’t get good stuff these days... Cleaned air filter and carb. Gassed up and oiled, ready for the wee bit of snow that is reported on the SNOWMAGEDDON weather forecasts tonight and tomorrow... 5-7” forecast and you can rest assured from news reports that the end is near... At least I can go out riding in style...!

Soaking time. I do not want to chance something getting broken in the 20 ton press..the hub, the axle, the press or me.... I did try pounding some to push the hub in...nada.... Somebody left a couple qts of Mercon here a long time ago. no Fords in my future so that some acetone and we shall see what happens

Here's the solution, Just saying.

Turn your current living room into a shop! Wa La, less living space and more shop room!

A while back I started a topic Daytona 200 Winner with my friend Don B. I found some pics of him when he came up from Mass to go on a Dual-Sport ride on and off road and didn't know if there were any riders that have seen one of these trailers. I believe it is 1970's vintage and made of fiberglass and is truly in mint condition. Don had 2 of these and still owns this one. Would make a nice WH hauler or a nice rig to camp with when properly set up.

I need to trim some of the wall creeping plants and clear the roof, flower beds late winter early spring.. Thankfully its not evasive like ivy so easily done without damage to the walls..

I know I could live in any one of those, just need a woodstove and a privy.

My suggestion would be to build a large pole barn and make a small living quarters in one end of it. That way you wouldn't even have to go outside to go to the shop. We've built some really nice living quarters in pole barns. There are some extra steps and little tricks to make it right but it's worth the effort

Scuba divers spit on their goggles to keep them from fogging? There's some science behind why it works. Or you can buy spit. LoL https://www.amazon.com/Just-Add-Water-JAW1795-Antifog/dp/B000GGCLIC/ref=pd_sbs_200_t_2/134-5562520-8220452?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000GGCLIC&pd_rd_r=361adf54-85f2-4f39-8da7-67fd06c1ee02&pd_rd_w=EYccm&pd_rd_wg=UDbPW&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=692RGPETJKNPZBKXJ4FA&psc=1&refRID=692RGPETJKNPZBKXJ4FA

Everyone I know that has an Ariens walk behind snowblower absolutely loves it. You can get a brand new 28" for about $1100 plus taxes (at least that's what they're listed at in Minnesota). Are you looking for new or used?

No no no. All is well. We are hoping to make a move to a less populated area sometime in the next 3 to 5 years. Sooner would be better but that's what makes the most financial sense at this point. Our current living space is 24 x 40. We could easily and happily live in a space half that size by changing our living layout a little. Combine kitchen and dining area. Shrink and rearrange bedroom a little. This might sound a bit odd to most of you but we don't even use our living room at all except on the rare occasion of watching a DVD movie or sitting to read. My recliner is in that room but just as easily could be somewhere else like a slightly larger kitchen, dining room, off to the side. Our "leisure time" is basically spent in the shop or outdoors. So for efficiency of use of space and also for heating and cooling we are thinking of going to a small living space and a very large shop space or multiple small shop spaces.

I use the 3-M masks with a built in check valve which directs your exhale downward. Any industrial supply house will have then for about $ 1,00 each when you buy the box of ten.

Nice resto popped up, what is it?

I have had my Ariens 28 Deluxe for about 4yrs now & have no complaints. Most walk behind blowers now have some kind of imported Honda knock off engine on them, so i decided to take that factor for what it is. Any 2 stage blower will chuck snow a long distance, so I started looking at other construction factors. One thing that I liked about the Ariens is that there are no plastic parts on the shoot. In fact the only plastic on the machine is the dash & the belt cover. It also has what they call auto steer, turning is quite effortless. Another thing that I like is that there is no difference between an Ariens bought at a box store and an Ariens bought at a dealership. Some companies like JD for example, offer equipment of lower quality at stores like Lowes. I would recommend an Ariens walk behind to any one.

Historically gorgeous...

Built a shop with living quarters, open floor plan, the bathroom had access from both the living and shop side, laundry, hot water and NG fired hydronic boiler all on the shop side. Installed three way light switches. Twelve foot ceiling finished in yellow cedar T & G. The large shop door operated as guillotine hoisted with an old elevator winch. The garage door was a large commercial aluminum frame with a lot of glass, originally a folding door made into a solid panel, facing south to take advantage of natural light. Neighborhood got too crowded, sold. Eric the timing of this thread is spot on to a new adventure that is currently unfolding in my life, as you with your Tina. I have connected with Ann. My sister went the other direction, she had this monster built and she is the only occupant. IMO it's a disgusting display but I do approve of the landscaping.

I like that pole barn idea and in fact that's one of the options we are looking at. It would be super handy not to have to leave the building to go from living to shop area. @ZXT I'm with you on that tiny home on wheels stuff. The most likely consideration that we are having right now would actually be to buy a prefab shed and turn that into a living space. Done carefully and DIY, in this area you can have a 14 x 40 setup and livable for less than $25,000, not including septic system or water well. We are both frugal people. Trina even more so than me. There certainly would not be any glorified RV stuff going on in her life....

Though everyone likes different, I've never seen the point of a "tiny home" that is on wheels. They're cumbersome and expensive to build. They're basically a glorified RV that is less suited for going down the road. Plus, there isn't any more room inside of them than an RV. A living quarters inside of a barn, or a "barndomenium" is an excellent idea. I have family members who do or have lived in a Barndo, and they loved it. I've also wired more than a few at work. When I find myself some land, this is likely what I will wind up building. My uncle has one that he built roughly 25 years ago. 2 bedroom, 1 bath, a good sized living room and nice kitchen. It is insulated well so it is easy to heat and cool. When he bought the land he was single, and when he got married to my aunt they lived in it while they built their new house on the same piece of land. After the new house was built, it served as a mother-in-law quarters until she passed away. Now it serves as a guest house. I certainly wouldn't mind living in it.

Hahjahahah your like me Eric.......I wanna wake up in the morn with my coffee n cig and be able to sit in the back yard with my gaunchies on enjoying the morning sun. I think Id get arrested if I did that here hehehehe and I wouldnt blame them either, an old fart in his gaunchies would curdle anyones brain hahahahah!

What? I wouldn't recommend a walk behind snowblower to anyone!! EB get a snowthrower for the Cinnamon Horse. The last tractor in the pic is my C-160. Once you have used a snowthrower you will never have no desire to use a snowblower. Ever again.

What a nice picture, love the old Ford truck.

I use a 3m 7500 series respirator. Seals to your face and has filters that you can change for whatever you're doing. Plus parts are available at Menards (if you have one near you). No issues with glasses fogging with that one.

Always start with the simple stuff first. As Ed said, using jumper cables and a known good battery, bypass everything and go directly to the starter. If it starts properly, it is probably the cables or weak battery. After that, check the timing. If that's okay, it's probably a weak starter. Easier to rebuild a starter than to replace an ACR. Don't overthink it. I have an 857 with a broken ACR, and it starts fine without it.

I had the same issue on mine as well . I had it rebuilt. They turned and cleaned all the contact points in the starter generator. It was full of carbon dust as well haven't had a issue since then. Rebuild was around 25 bucks.

Twmy Tw Grandsons were part of the Tech Fie 225 team when they competed in several national meets. Amazing stuff.

Training set for civil engineers...

Like @ebinmaine said, when a wire heats up it is telling you that it needs to be replaced. Another consideration is your ignition timing may not be correct. If the spark is occurring too soon on the compression stroke it will make cranking difficult. Your ignition points can be adjusted to set the timing. If you have a timing light you can check the timing with the engine running, the site hole is in the back of the engine bearing plate just below the S/G mount. Without a timing light you can use static timing as found in the Kohler Service Manual. Gapping the ignition points at .020 has always been the standard answer to how points should be set. That probably will get you into the ballpark where the engine will run, but with a bit of additional effort you can improve the engine’s power and performance. The Kohler engine manual in the Red Square files section covers two methods for setting the ignition timing, Static Timing and using a Timing Light. This manual is a relatively new manual and it overlooks the fact that many of our engines were built prior to the ACR (automatic compression release) camshaft. Earlier engines (mostly 1965 and earlier) had a Spark Advance camshaft that can not be timed using Static timing. At rest (and very low RPMs) the timing is retarded to fire slightly after TDC. The timing mark (SP) on your flywheel is at twenty degrees before top dead center but at rest the points on these engines break about ten degrees after top dead center. The only reliable way to check or set the timing on these engines is with a timing light. There are a couple ways to determine what camshaft you have. Presuming the camshaft in your engine is the one it was born with the data plate on the engine has a suffix that can tell you what camshaft was used. The table below will tell you the suffix applicable to your engine. The other way to determine what camshaft you have is to remove the cam gear cover and take a look. If you see a mechanism attached to the cam gear it is the ACR cam. The following engines have the spark advance camshaft; K-141, Suffix prior to “C” K-161, Suffix prior to “J” K-181, Suffix prior to “D” K-241, Suffix prior to “D”

I guess we were all lucky. My Dad couldn't put a 3 piece hat rack together so didn't think I could. All his tools were my grandfather's. Lucky for me, they were building nearby so, of course, we all explored new homes and got nails off the floor and wood from the scrap piles. Saved for cheap wheels at the hardware store and go carts were created, raced and crashed. Later, Tekky engines were added. Remarkable how fast a wood cart can go with 6 HP and a belt drive you worked like a clutch with a wooden lever. Who said above, "Craftsman, Wheel Horses and Fords" - yup.

I was the 4th child. In some ways, I had lots of toys, All hand me downs, missing parts. I did a lot of improvising combing the Erector set, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys some Plastic Girder building set parts that came in cereal boxes, etc. My basic wood blocks had holes drilled in them to work with the tinker toys. The Erector set motor was shot by the time it got to me, but my Dad rigged another junk little motor on it and it really made those gears sing. The chemistry set has instructions how to make Gun Power, and we would go down to the feed store and get the stuff to make it and blow up army men in the dirt/sand pile. We had a pile of old lumber in a shed and I spent a lot of time building tree houses, draw bridges, forts, etc with a hammer, hand saw and a brace and bit.. Pulled old nails, straightened them and used them again. A treat was to get to go to the Lumber yard with my Dad when he needed farm supplies. He would buy me a pound or two of mixed nails that were floor sweepings from around the nail bins.

Took a front valance and a couple of other small parts down today. Car has been stripped back to bare metal and he has put the etching primer on it. High build primer on it and the dings and imperfections fixed. Looks like things are lining up pretty good. There are three other cars there ahead of this one so i am surprised at where it is right now. Looks like in a little while can bring frame back here and put engine, transmission, exhaust and all that on it. Did not take any pictures today.

N875ED - oooo, that's a fancy Girder & Panel set. I never realized they came in motorized versions. Ed - Mid Atlantic Regional winners - they must have gone to the World Finals in Detroit? I'll look them up on The Blue Alliance and watch some of their matches. I'm involved with Team SCREAM 4522. In the 2019 season, we made it to the other World Finals held in Huston (First Robotics is now big enough that they hold 2 'World Final' events). We were knocked out of competition by the alliance that eventually ended up being the runner up of the event.

@Bertie great old barn, we'd all appreciate many more pictures of that barn

I am sort of with Ed on this one... Two S/Gs fail the same way. Yet one worked fine on a similar engine. No strange noises cranking with plug out and you said in the first video the slapping was the drive belt. Think you have inadequate amperage to the S/G. Weaker battery, too much resistance in the circuit, or bad ground....Heavy cabel direct to A terminal on the genny and a good ground jumper from engine to battery.... "You can trust your Mother but not your ground"

Hahaha. No worries. I'm still wearing them.

Also as a side note this tractor was yearly serviced until being put away in 2008. I have all the receipts. Like this Kohler belt for the gen in 2005

Scrape drifting, from last nights high winds, with 1995 Toro 520H. Snowblow banks with 1996 520H. 1 gallon gas for both 520H. 65 degrees in cab, very windy, clear blue sky.

I have a Craftsman 30" with electric start (120 volt plug-in) and a Tecumseh engine. It's probably made by MTD. Tecumseh made decent engines for snowblowers, better than the ones used on small WHs. I bought it because I figured that I could always get parts for it from Sears. But with Sears being in trouble now, I'm not sure how long that will work. If I had to choose today, I would probably go with an Ariens because they have an excellent reputation for snowblowers, and I like Ariens/Gravely as an American company. Whatever brand you choose, make sure you get an electric start. No engine likes to start in extremely cold weather, and you could pull your shoulder out, regardless of which engine is on it. Save your shoulders for shoveling the snow. The 120 volt plug-in starter has been a blessing. Good luck, Jim

Remember this is Maine. All 3 of us are very familiar with Mass, couldn't get away with that there, probably a law against it.

Replace the cables. It may not fix it but after 55 years, they are shot!

Yepp. TE20. European production. Imported to USA. Engine runs excellent and doesn't smoke much. It needs...... Pretty much everything else... It runs and moves but it's super worn at alot of places. No worries.... Trina will get her little hands on it in spring after Colossus is done and some other things....

8n, Eric and definitely a Meyer plow on the loader frame. Just an educated guess.

Life keeps on getting in the way. I cut out the rust holes and welded in replacement pieces then took a little time out to refurbish a newly acquired 418-C followed by a transmission rebuild and building a narrowed front end for one of my other 953s followed by having to do a rebuild of my GT-14 due to a broken right rear axle followed by surgery on both of my hands followed by my wife's fractured shoulder and associated visits to Doctors as well as doing all the household chores and so on. You get the picture, I've been distracted, got to be more focussed on this restoration. BUT, I do plan to get back at it soon; VERY SOON!