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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.

Hi, I recently acquired, a 875 which I’m very pleased with, when I got it it started hard but had an old battery. Put a brand new Napa battery in it and it still struggled but it did start. Ran really good, every time a ran it though it struggled more and more to start. Checked all the switches wires, bypassed the switch ect. It also charges like it should. Pulled the spark plug cranks nice. Put plug back in cranks than stops on compression stroke and wire heats up doesn’t want to get passed it. Any suggestions? Also I would like to start a thread on this tractor has some nice history. I’m the second owner. But I’ll start that on the tractor

Hey Eric, i Lived a couple of years in a RV instead of rooms. That was the only possibillity after divorce i had. My experience out of that Time here was: for a single person i realize, you can deal with less space for short times. first RV was just 4Squaremeters at all i had, but it‘s hard to loose all the Space and it’s much easier to get more space. In younger years you don‘t have the need of much space, that will change if you get older. One reason therefore is the litheness reduces and so you need a minimum set of space surrounding you. it is ok for a restricted timeline, to have very less space what you need to feel yourself comfortable, but after that timeline you need to increase your space to feel comfortable or you starting an internal fight with yourself in head. The real room size everybody needs to feel comfortable depends also on different things like Bodymass and so on. That is a real universal thing, and each person must define this for himself, to give an advice is impossible. One thing i had to clear for myself, everybody have a minimum requirements, depending on lifestyle Holiday‘s can not be compared with a real continouse life in small space. That was also my reason to change from a 4SQm RV to an 10SQm RV. While in Holiday‘s most peoples can reduce themself, in real life they need their sourrounding. Because i was self employed in that timeline, i also do a lot of travel keep all my things with me permanently. I also enjoy untouched space without neighbours, the other side of the Medal was if you need once help i. eg. In Health things, there is nobody who can help you. Some peoples love that, but you have to find yourself out if you one of them. To do that with a Partner is also a complete different situation. That is my reason to be back in Rooms, but in the outback of the Country far from cities. Here i do my restart, back in Comfort zone, but i will never forget the Time, i lived in just 10Squaremeters. Few Words about Comfort. Several people i talking with, had worse knowledge of living in an RV. it ain‘t heating or cooking food or Power what you main issues, The main troubles occurs just in Winter, when it’s hard to find a Source for collect clean Water and drain the RV. Here most of the Campgrounds in Winter are closed, they just starting the last 4 years with continousely opened dump stations. As redundant heater to the LPG Heater i reworked my RV with a Wood Stove, to be allway’s in Winter available to heat. It has a Window in the door, my favorite TV program each night. Wood is everywhere available and simply to get, LPG ain‘t. But a Wooden heater needs some storage for the Wood, what ain‘t was simple in a RV about Weight and space dependings. First solution was a Trailer, where i store my wood in and i used my LPG only to heat up Water for the Shower and cooking. I tried also a heatchanger on the Wooden Stove, but this was in my setup not really sensefuly usable. Once the water was to hot to store it in the Boiler or if the Boiler was complete heated, the heat generated an overpressure to Warmwater system, i must controlled remove. Additionally if the Warmwater in the Boiler was full, the Heatexchanger calcs extremly fast. with a bigger boiler this can also be used as additional heating source i. Eg for a small Shed. I had also a 17“TV in, but mostly unused or just raped as a Computer Monitor. In small surrounding, you can just use a smaller Stove, what make it uncomfortable on fireing, because you must keep it warm but not to hot, a thing i must also first learned. It was very tricky, to control it for a continousely room temps, it depends 2 Winter i had a very good setup learned.. First time it was a feeling between Grill or freeze until i found the right setup. But that was neither anytime an issue. Heating with external Powersource was just possible close to cities or on Camping grounds and in that case for me mostly impossible. My Powersetup at all was 2x210Ah Gel Batts and a set of all 340Wp Solar System with House Cell’s that works reduced now in my Shed. The biggest advance on House Cells instead of Camping Cell’s was the earlier begin of Charge and the later shutdown of charge and even good charging along the Wintermonths. I never had any issues with Electrical Power, just after snowfall, i must clean the Snow from the Solar cells. But even in Winter the Solarenergy brings enough Power for me, to be allway’s in positive charging status. With an 1500W Sinewave Inverter i was able to produce myself short time enough offshore Power if needed. Sure not the same as on a Powerline, but allway’s enough for my needs. Another thing was the Toilet. Here was my biggest issue the drain in Winter. Yes you can put it in nature and digg it as long as you don‘t use chemicals, but that‘s here illegal and if you catched, you got a lot of Troubles. On a Camping, each drain costs here about 4$ independently how Big you container is. Even trash you waste was a big issue here. On Camping you Pay similar to Toilets drain. Most community‘s have to pay for removing their Trash, that‘s a reason they lock their bin‘s. A official waste can also just be done on Camping grounds. But i.m.h.o this was also a good thing for me, so i learned to reduce and prevent dramatically my Trash. Just few experiences they maybe not comparable to you site, but maybe the did and help you a bit.

Yeah.... That one of my nicknames..

The 1600 sq ft shop combination was a hoot to build. A fellow with a back hoe on a trailer stopped in and needed some welding done on the trailer. He prepared the hole for the foundation, nice trade. Plywood used for the forms, a lot of missing 4 x 8 real estate signs. Pre-Inspection to pour concrete the inspector just smiled, any how the painted surfaces made it very easy to remove once the concrete had cured. Fill under the slab, limestone came from the horse track down the road from me, the horse pound the limestone into smaller bits and they scrape it off replacing it with new. Once I had the inside of the foundation full, filled it with water then used one of those vibrators used to settle fresh concrete in a form. This helped the quick sand find its natural level. Two by six reclaimed from roof trusses covering q very large pole barn that was scheduled to come down, paid $400.00, brought my Thomas Skid Steer over then dug one side of each supporting pole. The hooked a long chain to the building to pull it down. With the Thomas bucket picked the aluminum sheet off the roof, sold as scrap, aluminum roofing tends to react to hot and cold temperatures which elongates the nail holes. IMO not worth saving, sold as scrap $800.00 Rented a chainsaw then due to the span of these trusses was able to make my way through the downed building making selective cuts. Once all the 2x6 were at home, I set up a radial arm saw with 12 ft tables on each side to trim the rough cut saw ends off and cutting to length. Bought a sling of ranch ply, 5.8" then put the walls together once completed lifted and placed onto the foundation using an old Hiab that I had found for $900.00 and mounted this onto an older Ford forward cab that had been purchased with a blown 391 engine. Someone wanted an old school buss hauled away, a freebie. The buss had a good 391 these are the industrial version of the 390. Walls up, in the meantime I've found a stack of roofing tiles that had been removed, the contractor screwed up using trusses that would not support the weight the rood began to sage the insurance company picked up the tab and i go the used tiles for a couple hundred. I ordered engineered trusses then put them on then proceeded with the strapping then laying the tiles, probably wore out half a dozen pairs of levies The hot water boiler and water tank came from one of the houses being taken down so the property could be developed. Next the tubing for the floor heat had to be laid, then the floor. For the hydronic controls went with the European style, expansion bulb with capillary tube. No transformers or wires to mess with and these would reduce electrical needs living off grid. The one shown is just an example, there one made for every part of a new installation.. A neighbor needed an automatic transmission overhauled, he paid for the parts i did the overhaul in exchange for him to come and power trowel the floor. Once the floor was safe to walk on I sprayed it with a poly urethane, the floor retained that wet look for a couple of years. The slow cure. I really loved the heated floor, one large zone, with many loops. I made distribution manifold myself Check with your local ready mix let them know you'll accept hot loads, often the truck has more than need because of an overzealous order. The driver looking for a place to get rid of the excess. Pouring a footing does not have to be done in one shot, the driver will know how many yards he has on board just have a key ready made to place in the form. Drill a few holes in the key to insert cuts of rebar. They do not charge on these excess's just happy to get rid of it. One load I received had fiber mesh in it. I had also installed an I-Beam with a kito electric hoist. between the heated floor and the overhead hoist on scale 1.10 both come in on a ten. The whole shop came in under $6000.00

Absolutly. I think I mentioned this before too, if the snow is 4 foot deep I raise the blower, go in as far as I can and then lower it to finish. That was with a single stage too! Im still talking with the tracktor boys up in Stirling and also my parts supp;ier to keep an eye out for a worm gear and all the fixings....and Ill buuild a heavy duty but light weight that raises even higher specifically for those 4 n 5 foot drifts.

We've had enough bad experiences with ethanol filled non maintained garbage that we don't have a lot of desire to try that again. Part of a purchase is the value that you get from it. There's no value to trying to fix somebody else's lack of maintenance on a piece of equipment that I know I'm only going to keep for 6 or 8 years Max. I've found that when someone is trying to sell a snowblower they don't bother to tell you that it also needs $200 worth of repairs. It's one thing if it is a Wheelhorse and we plan on never selling it. Unfortunately a snow blower has turned into the disposable category such as most cars nowadays. Particularly because of the fact that we get quite a lot of snow every year and these things just plain wear out over time. @Herder I love the idea of having a snow thrower on the front of a tractor but there are parts of the yard that a tractor either won't fit or it's quite steep and we would get stuck. We need the maneuverability of a walk behind. Both walk behind and tractor mounted would be great but if I choose between the two it has to be a walk behind.

Hey Eric, back in 1973 my dad bought a new Ariens 7 HP 24'', yes the engine was a Tecky but never had an issue with the engine or blower, paid 400 00 for it and was used for 30 years and the dealer told me he would give 400.00 to have it back. I decided to sell it to a friend who also bought a 312 and 520 from me and still has all 3 of them.The WH dealer who is still in business sold Ariens for many years until I believe a change in that Company and to many issues with them and started selling Simplicity. I used a new Simplicity that a family member bought from this dealer and it was a powerfull machine just to complicated to operate in my opinion, nothing like the old days. I think she paid at least 2000.00 . I think I am just to old school to own something like that. If you could find a mint old Ariens that would be my personal choice. Good luck in your search my friend.

@Ed Kennell Ed, If you look at the 417 the front mounting bracket bolts behind the Attach A Matic, on the 312 if you look ahead of the Kohler at the left front on the side of the frame you will see a bracket that the lift lever goes into to hold it in the upright position. If you look at the last picture near the drawbar of the Super A in the top left corner the lift lever can be seen going off at an angle. This Tine rake works extremely well for something so simple and easy to carry etc. During operation when you need to back up I find it works best to leave the Rake in the down position for a few feet to take a little pressure of the tines before you lift it to put the transport lever into the transport hook. There is little weight when you manually lift this attachment and nothing like a dozer blade or blower which makes it enjoyable to use and makes a big difference on the outcome on the lawn once mowing begins.

I would like to find myself one of those even if was for a Craftsman ect I can modify to fit thanks for posting.

Jump a good battery directly to the starter post. If it spins, you have bad wiring and/or switch. If it doesn't spin, get the start/gen rebuilt.

That’s exactly what I have in mind! I have both of these Peco vacuum set ups to use it with