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Today in Lower Bavaria

I started my first week in 2025 by falling into a N.O.S brand new 315-8 60th anniversary. (Last year made ) Today picking up parts to another local dealer 15 minutes from work I walk in for parts and come out with nos Xi series 36” Tiller - 48” deck - grader —300/400/500 grader . Pure luck right in my own backyard. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the XI stuff as I’m not a Xi collector ….

just back from , dr x rays on hip replacement , gave me a spot on , for where I am in recovery , especially liked my daily walking / activity / naps . he said , unfortunately too many patients do very little , as they should , to stay with opportunity . then they come in here and complain , and critical early movement was never established , staying at it , my walks are much better , and daily stair climbs , much easier , also used a dense foam pad to side seat support / enhance iced gel pad , that by itself eliminated a pain pill , staying upright . pete

Static Electricity Day is every year on January 9. It is a day dedicated to the funny (and sometimes annoying) electric charge phenomenon and learning why and how it happens. Humans are no strangers to static electricity since we can see, feel, and hear its effects in most cases. Static electricity is around us in more forms than just static shock and is quite useful and harmless.

In one of my science classes, there was a student that frequently was late for class. The day the teacher had the Van de Grraff out, he closed the classroom door, wired it to the door know and turned it on. The late student got a supeise when he tried to open the door.

I used to order from v belt guys and they were always good quality belts but for some reason not quite right. Switched to tsc and never looked back. They do shed a little blue and some break in required.

My Wife Krista took these pictures of me posing with my newest baby.

One inch will make all the difference in the world

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. It was a good typical Wednesday for me. A couple hours at the local auction this morning spinning hunting and fishing tales with a half dozen old codgers. Then after a fried deer bologna sammy for lunch, I fired up the 520 and chewed out some mail boxes with the Ber Vac. I need to remove one of the two lift assist springs. She wants to float up and not scrape clean. Good on the stones but not so good on the pavement. But it did chew into the 3 feet of hard packed snow that PennDOT plowed into the mail boxes. The Mrs. K made me a couple of her great crab cakes with the lump back fin meat from the crabs we caught in September. A sea salted baked spud, broccoli/ cheddar salad, and a fresh home baked pie from the blackberries we raised this summer. Then Monday and Wednesday is double deck pinochle night with three more old codgers. Happy to be 81 and still on the green side.

Once it warms up a bit and I can run the engine and set the idle, max RPM speeds as well as setting neutral on the transmission then it can go for a drive on the driveway. It was around -20 with the wind chill today so while I was able to do other outside activities, setting up an engine and transmission wasn't one of them. Friday it warms up to -6 so maybe then.

A quick before and after pic.

The needle is probably damaged. That needle is the same as ones used in some Briggs carbs. On YouTube there a Taryl video where he uses a Briggs needle to fix an Onan carb. Both carbs are made by Nikki. Briggs number is 797410.

My 310, 312, and 520 are all inside. You do have to hold them out as you close the hood.

Set up to do front end alignment. Two straight edges set up at mid-point of front wheels extending almost back to rear wheels. Steering wheel set straight and two measuring tapes (verified to have the same measurements) set up on straight edges. Front end alignment complete at least for now. Steering wheel is straight, there is around 1/4" toe from front to rear of tires which should be close to 1/8" at wheels as the manual states. Also, straight edges are in about the same amount at the rear wheels. A test drive on a flat surface will verify tractor tracks straight and steering wheel is also straight. Tractor looks like this now.

Ya cain't be in a rush....

Six years later……😁

That poor girl [ the truck ] is gonna have a complex. It's okay to have 2 girlfriends as long as one lives in the garage.

He's got a sheet over Colossus. The Blue truck is next on the list first. And then the................, then the ..................... then the.........Well you guy's get my drift.

LOL. My lab partner in high school electrical class was always late. I wired the metal frame of his chair and the table edge to the variable power supply (he would grab the table and the chair to pull himself in). Never late again.

I normally do something like that as well. With this one I went a different route and glued a piece of rubber gasket material to the bottom of the hood.

Yes, especially the 520. The rubber latch seems to want to default to the inside if you don't hold it. However, they do give you something to hold onto to pull the hood down.

That's all I use on mine is tractor supply belts. They definitely do require a break in period where things will grind a little bit and don't get fussy about blue fuzz right off the bat. Once it's broke in, give it a good wash and your won't see much fuzz after that.

Sure did. We even had the only TV in town. I remember the living room was filled watching the 1952 world series on the 5" screen. Some of my heroes...Micky, Yogi, and Phil.

Go there and get the 83" and grab an 82" Return what you don't use. check the # on the belt against the sleeve before you leave. sometimes folks return belts in the wrong sleeve. I've had more trouble with WH belts than the aftermarket TSC ones

Wait... they had the 'lectricity when you was a youngun'?

This was taken quite a while back, but I just got around to editing a bit…

One rear wheel installed. Rear wheels both on the ground. Front end down. Tractor is officially a roller ! Front tires are sitting on pieces of Teflon to aid in front end alignment that is coming next.

Rear wheels ready to install. Rear hubs ready for wheels to be installed.

Plowing all day!

GT-1800 came with B&S horizontal 2 cylinder opposed engines.

That's why I sent it !! I want that Truck here at the next M & G. That's eight months from now. You can almost have a kid in that amount of time you can get that truck down here,

Note that the top carburetor is the newer "emissions" style having an accelerator pump under that dome held on with 3 screws and a hidden idle mixture screw under the smaller welch plug. The idle mixture screw on the bottom carburetor is clearly visable. No rebuild kits were ever produced for the "emissions" carburetors to meet the laws and the only fix was to replace the entire thing. onanparts.com may have the pumps if you want one. Most people try to replace those carburetors with older models. Any Nikki carburetor from any 20 horsepower P220 Onan will work, carburetors on the 16 and 18 horsepower engines will also work but jetting and bore size may be different. Just above the idle mixture is a 3/8" welch plug that hides some small passages, removing that plug is the only miserable job on a Nikki and often that area can be blown clean by spraying carb cleaner with a straw in all openings possible with the plug in place.

Hey Eric. Since I haven't been around lately, while I was here, just wanted to check on the status of Colossus. I think we are in a dead heat with my 856 for a completion date!

I bought an OEM carb many years ago to have a spare. Never had any re- build kits. I'm sure I have the slip for it in one my binders. Some pictures are all I can do.

Replacing the carb isn’t very easy since you need to pull the exhaust and intake. You will need new gaskets for the exhaust, intake and carb. Replacing just the needle and float is very easy, just take a photo and remove the linkage, then 4 screws. If you are very careful no parts or gaskets may be needed. The Onan Service Manual will guide you thru the carb. To answer your question, there will be a number on the side of your Nikki carb that is something like 6100-xxx. My guess is once you remove the carb top you will see the debris causing the actual problem. Get a spray can of carburetor cleaner and have at it.

Well.... Mystery solved! After doing all the obvious troubleshooting and triple checking and all proved just fine, I swapped out the brand new ignition module with another old one off a 312 I have and it shuts off as it should. I replaced the module I had because the insulation was mostly gone off the secondary wire to the plug. Bought one off Ebay so guess it's just another example of junk china replacement parts and seeing as its an electrical part, they wont refund my money..... Anybody know if there is a good new replacement out there? Maybe I should just buy a used one If I can find one and be better off!..... Jim

The 300/400 series use the same hood. On my machines I take a piece of old seat edge trim and install it on the upper dash so it cushions the hood when it closes.

They are a lot better then the sheet metal screws that they are using to hold the hold the junk tractors together that they are making now.

1" is a lot in this situation and I think might be too much. They do make 82.5". That idler isn't original. Maybe it's a fuzz too narrow?

I agree with the TSC comment above. I've tried using inexpensive online sources like that and had the same incorrect sizing issues like you. Personally I've stopped using anything but Oe Wheel Horse / Toro belts but I know others have good luck with tsc.

Yes

I'm assuming you had the belt guard on when you tried shifting?

I remember being the kid in middle school that volunteered to touch the Van de Graaff generator and have my hair stand up. Must have had a positive (no pun intended) effect on me as the following year I won first place in the science fair.

Thanks for the memories Richard. I built a Van de Graaff generator for my high school physics project in 1961.

Thanks Eric. It would not look this good without the steering shaft and tube that you provided.

That's what most guys use. I despise the smell of diesel fuel so I use Motor Metic Motor Flush. Since it was on the bench I spun it with a drill, let it sit overnight, spun again and drained. There was no water in this transmission and the oil was deep black. It came out pretty clean.

Yeah, smells nasty. I left mine propped up so it can drip all day. I want ALL of that water/gear oil combo out of it!

Probably a good thing you clarified that

Draining out the water and gear oil …after letting my heater blast the trans for 30 minutes. 1990, 520-8

Took a couple of pictures - tractor resting in garage, no more snow since plowing. Next time I'm out I plan to buy some 10w-30 synthetic and do a complete oil change in the trans. If that doesn't help, I guess I'll swap the trans. Maybe after it gets a bit warmer, going down into single digits this week.