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May is truck maintenance month with the big trip to PA in June. I knew I had a rear axle seal starting to leak on my 2013 GMC so I had it in the shop for the state inspection and got the seals done. I have been seeing posts on FB of burned up belt idler and tension pulleys. Plastic pulleys all melted. I remember from my Napa days of Ford Taurus' being towed off the Thruway with blown idlers. I decided to check mine. The metal idler pulley was fine but the plastic tensioner pulley rattled like a cold Detroit Diesel. So I installed a new Napa Gates tensioner with a metal pulley and a new belt. Popped the seal out of the old pulley and lets just say the grease had left the building!

Why not a Kohler 16? We attended the local high school's robotics team season end banquet last night. Was a potluck event that filled the school cafeteria. Bunch of good food. Awards and varsity letters were passed out to the students. A couple years ago, a non profit company was formed to raise funds to support the team. Well, this year, the board of directors decided to start a mentor of the year award. I had the honor of receiving the first one. My thought at the time was, aw shucks, folks, I've just been being me. A few of the other mentors were students that I had mentored years ago. A couple of them congratulated me and explained how I had influenced them. I was presented with a suite of Milwaukee M18 battery powered tools. Drill, impact driver, multi tool, angle grinder, circular saw, flashlight, and a carrying satchel. I would have been happy with a nice placue.

Nice little show put on by the North Woods Club. Couple dozen big tractors and a good hand full of GTs on display. Was somewhat on the way to my cabin and had to run the closed to move some furniture and had some extra room for the 1054 mule so what the heck. Not a lot of plowing but most big tractors were pulling three or more bottoms so some ground was covered. Only myself and a youngun on a JD were the only GTs plowing! @Streetrodchev says he plowed here one year and lots of field trash. Same thing this year. Picked corn with extra long stalks that should have been chopped. Some old shool trip plows were having lots of issues plugging. No coulters mounted here that would have been asking for it. Lots of ROCKS were my issues. Lots of big softball sized, many melon sized and a few bowling balls. Another problem was being in the same furrow as the big tractors. Those guys were turning a foot deep furrow. I swear one run I saw a chinaman looking up at me. Tilting at a 45 and scraping the tranny on the land side was common. A tractor running 23s would have been hanging up. I shoulda started my own rows.

I went with @AMC RULES on a 1200-mile journey on backroads through five states led us to vintage wheel horse dealers, both closed and open. We learned about their history and met incredible people, solidifying this trip as one of my favorites. We even returned home with a never-sold 1986 420-LSE #100-200 built . The machine had been at Eckert Bros inc since 1986 until they closed in 2018.

At the Zagray Farms show today..luckily the paint on my hood ain’t great ! @wallfish bought a set of tires/wheels and we weren’t gonna carry em back to headquarters

Today’s tractor brand is a “B” and is somewhat of a bewilderment. Blumberg Tractor The Blumberg Steady Pull tractor is somewhat of a mystery. Very little reliable data can be found but it is a bit intriguing that company founder Hamilton Blumberg and the company he formed are an enigma. Old newspaper articles are the primary source of information for this post. Only one picture could be found as a part of parade coverage. “Tractor Co. For Orange Planned” read the headline of the July 2, 1918, Orange Daily. “Through the influence of the chamber of commerce the Blumberg Motor Manufacturing Company of San Antonio has been practically induced to open a plant in Orange.” W.A. Barry of the company’s San Antonio headquarters was in Orange looking for investors. He said the town was perfect for manufacturing because of its railroad lines and port. The company was also looking for investors. At that time, Orange would have been a good place to look for capital. The period was still during the heyday of the timber industries and the lumber barons looked for new opportunities to invest their new-found wealth. On July 10, 1918, the Orange Daily newspaper had a half-page ad for Blumberg Motor which was seeking investors. The top of the ad had the words “Orange Chamber of Commerce Endorses Proposition.” The ad touted how farmers would soon be relying on tractors and investors could buy a share for $100,00. The paper on December 8, 1918, reported “A.D. Fisher and son of San Antonio are now unloading a railroad car of machinery at the Blumberg Motor Company. We have authority to state that the new motor company will begin active business by January 1.” The founder of the company came to Orange and apparently had a house here. The newspaper in December 1918 reported “Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Blumberg and little daughter Minnie Francis returned from a trip to San Antonino last week accompanied by Miss Erin McGowan. The party spent several days at the New Holland Hotel but are now at their home on Ninth Street.” The Texas transportation museum reports Blumberg was in operations from 1915-1922. The October 1920 edition of the publication Tractor Word says “The Blumberg Motor Manufacturing Company San Antonio is now in production on its Blumberg SteadyPull tractor, which is of the four-wheel type, 12-24 horsepower.” The San Antonio Express in an article for an industrial show on May 22, 1920, wrote “The Blumberg Motor Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of the famous Blumberg Tractors, is a San Antonio company and has a branch plant at Orange, Texas.” “The four years’ business career of the company has demonstrated its tractors to be the most popular on the market and to have features possess by no other tractors. Among these are: A perfected non-heating motor, a four-wheel drive tractor, especially adapted to rice fields and boggy ground, and a steady-pull tractor, which meets the needs of the farmers of Texas. “The company is a going concern and has as officers and among its directorate some of the best known business men and bankers of this city.’ “The Blumberg Motor Company has at its door, so to speak, the greatest potential market for tractors in the United States and has orders booked to keep a factory twice the size of the present one busy for the next five years. “The motor, which is shown in the Industrial Exhibit, is manufactured by the Blumberg Company, which also manufactures all working parts in its tractors and is not an assembly proposition as is the case with so many tractor companies.” Blumberg produced its own engines and had two models, the 9/18 which was a four-cylinder 166 cubic inch displacement engine and the 12/24 with a displacement of 251 CID. They may have had a good product but the agricultural depression following the end of World War One seems to have been the end for Blumberg Motor Company. Where was the Blumberg Motor Manufacturing Company? Did it ever get off the ground here? Did anyone work there? These questions and more remain unanswered.

Great day hanging with @wallfish @Retired Wrencher @stevebo @Chris T @Ken B and many others!

As Eric said, Heim Joints are the way to go. The rod is 1/2" diameter, about 36" long. No need to bend it if you use the spherical joints. Used with hexbolts, Nylock nuts and washers as spacers to prevent binding.

Lots of Cockshutts there @Achto including this cool color coordinated hauler. Fine pair of Hs...

Just have to write this, since noone else has. May the forth be with you.

You got enough room in that half ton for all the crap you sold me?

Watched grandson Clayton graduate from Penn State this AM. Two down and two to go.

Loaded up!!

The original Carlisle 23x8.50-12 Turf savers on the C81 for winter use were pretty shot. I already had a nice pair of Armstrong 22x9.00-12 turf tires for summer use and the chains fit perfectly. Those will be the next winter's tires. Bought a new pair of 23x9.50-12 summer tires - all set. A side note - not all C series rear rims are the same. The 75 pound weights I bought from @stevebo fit in my C81 rims, but not the others I have - the ID is about a quarter inch smaller.....

He's lucky to have it as most of the old Hardware Stores are gone.

No pics yet, but will be selling the following: C195 - $800 with wheelhorse factory wheel weights or $500 without Suburban 551 - $500 (comes with extra parts) 4-Wheel Wagon - $850. We will have other items for sale, and can take pics soon as these items are 5.5 feet up on a platform in the garage.

Only pic I could manage and those are some ugly mugs!

The Tojo would have had close to 300,000 miles by now if I kept it. Would have been time to change the air filter. But I doubt my back would have been able make the trip. Those rice burner seats were killers. GMC has a Barcalounger!

You should of keep the Yota, but nooooo you had to have a GMC vehicle.

It can and works fine. I think the rod is 42" center to center. Just to make sure, you can put your blade straight and the handle straight and measure. One small tip I have found helpful, some over tighten the center pivot bolt. There needs to be a little play there to allow the blade to float a bit. Makes it much easier to turn and contacts the ground better when angled and used on uneven surfaces.

@ri702bill Good pics! It's fine as long you're prepared to adjust the lift when needed. Depending on driveway surface that could be next to never, or constant. Ours is pretty rough so I wouldn't consider a solid link viable on a hydro lift. On a smooth concrete drive it would likely be helpful. In my particular case the 60" blade with the super heavy duty cutting edge is so heavy I don't need down pressure.

One thing I do when building doors with T&G boards is try to alternate graining. I know the T&G forces you to install them in a certain direction but you still will have the variances in the graining. I agree that the way you stored the boards will help a lot but you still will have some warpage over time. I would think minimal is this case. You know that the best of the commercially built thermopane windows still have a pretty low R value as compared to an insulated wall. I have built countless doors for projects like this. Some with windows, some without. Trying to build a thermopane window in the shop just doesn't work. I won't even say sooner or later. Much sooner than you expect you will have moisture between the panes. It's inevitable. Now how do you get to it? The best method I've found is not to worry much about the U or R since this isn't a house is to use a single pane of tempered glass. I have used double panes a few times but don't try to seal them. Trying to seal it won't work for long and I want one easily removable for cleaning. Silica desiccant between the panels won't work either. It would require replacement since it absorbs just so much. You can dry it and reuse but you have to be able to get to it. I've never tried it for these reasons. Personally I wouldn't take any structural integrity from the window into consideration. The door should be built to handle the window. Just my ¢¢ with a penny change.

Looks good Eric. One little thing though. I know it's just a picture with magic marker hinges but if you build the real mccoy just like that the diagonal member would be more effective if it went from the bottom hinge corner to the latch area. If you want an X pattern put the two pieces in from the bottom left to the center hinge. Better yet dado the area where they cross by half the thickness of the boards and tie them together. I'm enjoying this build thread and Trinas thought process along the way. Looks great!

All loaded up

I saw Secretariat win in 1973 at the 99th Kentucky Derby from the 4th turn infield! I was at the 100th running in 1974 in the same location! Now I am at home watching the 150th! Always a great event! 2024 Kentucky Derby Odds Last updated p.m. ET Dornoch, 21-1 Sierra Leone, 5-1 Mystik Dan, 16-1 Catching Freedom, 8-1 Catalytic, 32-1 Just Steel, 22-1 Honor Marie, 13-1 Just a Touch, 10-1 Encino (scratched) T O Password, 46-1 Forever Young, 6-1 Track Phantom, 41-1 West Saratoga, 23-1 Endlessly, 47-1 Domestic Product, 28-1 Grand Mo the First, 45-1 Fierceness, 7/2 Stronghold, 36-1 Resilience, 29-1 Society Man, 46-1 Epic Ride, 44-1

It was John and I at the same show as todays…great memory!

Excellent. I'm very lucky here as well. Several good old hardware stores around.

Yes sir… Monroe Hardware and they still have LOTS of those little hardware drawers.

Me and Vinsrj

Gonna have some stuff of Randy's as well. May have to utilize the glove box and center console!

The 312A with manual lift has the Eaton 700 hydro. There is no tow release valve on the Eatons and the 700 is nearly impossible to move. Best to put it on a dolly till you can get the engine running. You may be able to hand push it by jiggling the motion control lever around the nuetral position. Do not tow or push with power.

Here ya go. Front Blade Lift Links - Misc. Items - RedSquare Wheel Horse Forum I didn't really think about the tranny difference Eric. I've always like the longer rod for a solid connection (downforce) but that's been on manuals. I was thinking about using the blade on my latest acquisition since it's a hydro. I need to rethink that.

IMHO you're FAR better off building one from two heim joints and some threaded rod or threading the ends of a 1/2 rod. That will greatly reduce the looseness of the connection between handle and blade. Solid link? Are you using the plow on a hydro lift or manual lift?

Unless the two window panes are completely sealed, you should make one pane easily removable for cleaning. Bugs, dust, algae and mold WILL find their way in there. A beefy X in the bottom half is necessary with the top being mostly a window, I have a factory built wood door in a garage, it is unbelievable how much it sags and needs refitting over the years.

My 2 cents - concerns are warpage and security. I would seal ALL surfaces, sides and edges before assembly. Is the framed glass to be retained by clips from the inside, like in a storm door?? The glass does not add to the integrity of the door.

The lights were turned from 1/8th brass rod. I made a form to to produce a slightly domed recess in the centre. Then painted them with Tamiya clear lens paint for model cars. Came out looking good I think

I used 3/8" cold roll a cross the front clamp it with vice grips weld the end. then pull it tight clamp it and weld another spot. I welded about every 4" then I turned it over welded the same spots on the bottom. I was bending the deck from hitting roots avove the ground, haven't bent it since. Across the closed end I used 1/8 x 1" flat. This is a 47 year old deck.

Primer. It manually works the diaphragm.

How good does that look? Insurance is £80 for the year. No tax or MOT test to deal with. I'm on the road folks.

Got a little more done today. Finished the frame up, and mounted up all the pivot parts. Still got to make the adjustment stuff for the pivot. I really went overboard on this thing. It's much beefier than it needs to be, but I was going for mass so it won't need any down pressure. The blade and attachment bar alone have got to be 75+ lbs already.

It might help to conceptualize it not as a setscrew, but as a pivot screw.

Who’s the brake pad man on Redsquare… would rather support a member…

Looking good there bud

That flange /switch is probable from a 1961 suburban 551

Needs a Kohler 12 HP

Magnums came on tractors after 1987. Depending on the year, there were several safety switches added. For one, the plutch pedal had to be depressed to start. Depending on the PTO safety switches, the seat switch may come into play as well. May take a while to figure it out, but knowing the model number will make it easier.