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We headed South to Myrtle Beach SC last week to cure our cabin fever and enjoy a couple shows. Saw the Carolina Opry Thur and going to the Legends tonight. The surprise was the 55 acres of over 3500 pre 1985 cruisers, hot rods, and rat rods. Lots of 60s wagons and round and square body pick ups. This Woody was really well done.

I wish Bob. That beauty was in the parking lot of Drunken Jacks. We had dinner there last night. Oh, my cure for cabin fever. Take a dose 3X/day for a week.

Planed, bead blasted and painted the next Fireball 8 head with Duplicolor aluminum DE1615 RO Regal Red/ Chrystal Clear on the tins today.

While the jury’s still out on knowing exactly who invented the corn dog, one thing is certain: It’s about as American as food items get. Cornmeal was a staple of the Native American diet, and hot dogs are an American adaptation of a German classic. The marriage of these ingredients led to the creation of an item that dominated a fair share of 20th century grab-and-go food sales, and in the process, became a cultural icon. On March 15, we celebrate the corn dog’s iconic status with National Corn Dog Day!

Rustoleum can lay down a very nice finish as evident with my Suburban hood from a while back. But that dry time is nuts. Yesterday I rattle canned the Dino dash and I tried something @squonk suggested. After the final is sprayed immediate coat it with Rusty gloss clear. It works! The dry time was just a fraction of what it usually is. I've never had any luck with clear topcoats but I've always done it after the base coat is dry. As far as scratch resistance long term, I don't know. But the finish quality is great and if nothing else it will lessen the time bugs have to embed themselves on it. The main sheetmetal parts will be sprayed with a gun and Rusty with hardener.

So, After many delays & other projects getting priority etc.... I Finally Got Ol' Cyclops Running & Now that there is No Snow to speak of the blade is mounted & operational. I had to remove side plates & pull lots of stuff apart to get the rust & corrosion removed from the ends of the shaft that raises & lowers the deck & the blade. It was definitely worth the trouble, time & effort. put a dab of grease on the ends of the shaft for some lubricant & it really makes a huge difference in how easily the blade goes up n down now. I also cleaned up the rectifier as it had lots of white rust on it. Obviously it being the original, I want it to be able to disipate heat & last as long as possible. I am Not a fan of this Plastic fender that is for certain. So making the new 1 from diamond plate is on the priority list. I bought an entire New Ignition system for it but in my haste I tried it as soon as I replaced & set the points. Wouldn't ya know it, That Kohler took right off like it Never missed a beat. I didn't need to do Anything to the carburator at all. I did clean the fuel tank, add a couple filters, replaced the fuel line & the fuel pump. I stole the seat from the 257-H as it is in pieces for now but it works. I need to replace the transmission seals as they All Leak but for now I will just keep checking the oil so I do not run it dry. It needs several other things such as the engine isolators (motor mounts) they are super hard & no longer plyable so it needs some TLC yet. But I am Really Impressed with this thing. the blade will come in handy to level out some areas of the yard & where the sidewalk meets the grass & is over grown etc. here are some pics to enjoy. I am really Impressed with Kohler now. Gotta clean up that 48" deck, fill the holes, replace the belt Check all the bearings n spindles as We will soon be mowing weekly. New front tires are on the way & looking for better set for the rears as well. I get to get rid of the ol' Crapsman LT1000 now which makes me very happy.

Today's progress. Managed to get the engine sealed up, would have finished it but I didn't have the fan shroud lettered yet. Installing the steering arm into the frame without being able to remove the battery tray is a PITA. Another fun job was installing all new shaft seals in the tranny. This job is so much easier to do when the transmission is completely torn down. Which bring me to my stopping point on the assembly for today. But before I quit working for the day I grabbed a brush and lettered the fan shroud & hood.

Welp, didn’t pass the goal of March 4th. But over the last 2 weeks got some stuff done. Got the PTO engage rod and handle mounted. The friction engagement plate for the PTO installed. And this week doing some work with the hood. Filled some chipped and over today we got the hood primed. Have a couple more things to fix on the hood then will be able to paint it red. Also painted the underside red today and the hood mount angle plates.

Today on this finally 50 degree day, I fixed my driveway and with a mix of raking and plowing, put it back where it is supposed to be. The 312 and 308 got a workout. I also got the spare Kohler painted up, and put back together but still need to get the motor mount welded back on. It’s a bunch of random pics but it was a productive day.

Here's my contribution for this week.... the 312 and 308 at work.

That’s what every Sasquatch ever recorded is captured with

What's with the blurry pics Ed? Are you using one of those specialty cameras used for taking pics of UFOs

Clean shaft, penetrant & wooden wedges to drive it off.

@ebinmaine @953 nut and @Racinbob Lately I've been using ACE brand spray paint exclusively. It has a dry time of 2 hrs. I usually let it set for a few hours before touching it. It seems to be good so far. I bought a pistol grip handle for the spray cans I use which works excellent. The control you have where the paint will go, compared to just pressing the nozzle is confidence building.

If you knew it would take all the fun out of eating them.

The last stubborn one that I had. Removed the snap ring, sprayed lube on it, beat my brains out using wedges and..... nothing. Final resolution - I drilled 2 holes in the brake drum, tapped them to 5/16-18 thread. Now that I had these holes, I used a puller to remove the brake drum. Not sure why there were no jack holes drilled in these to begin with??

Maybe he got it from bankandgastationsecurity.com?

We can thank corn dogs for building us this nice new cardiology unit:

What sparked me initially were the commutative and distributive properties--the symmetry and universality. Geometric constructions and proofs were like catnip. But the real highlight was when an excellent teacher introduced the unit circle in trigonometry--THAT was a real revelation. Some old horse caught another horse taking oats away. A couple of years ago I spent a day on the Greek island of Samos, Pythagorus’ home. Amid all the typical beautiful scenes were many places where right triangles were used as a decorative motive.

And since, like twinkies, nobody really knows what hotdogs are made of... Beware, the Ides of March... Maybe Brutus and Cassius should have just fed Julius Caesar a corn dog...

Eastwood "Diamond Clear" is the most durable clear I have ever used, a bit pricy but you get what you pay for. https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-diamond-clear-dtm-and-painted-surfaces-aerosol.html

If the cleaning of the starter shaft is successful you you will want to use a dry graphite lubrication on the shaft, no oil. This manual should be helpful.

Another choice is this stuff. It’ll remove an entire plane!

Not quite finished, but did make a couple laps around the property.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1737876283441095

A real hero would have stainless tranny bolts ...

@Horse Newbie Well that to me makes no sense. In capable hands the proper extinguisher can produce amazing results. I fully understand that certain people are not comfortable attempting putting out a fire regardless of the size, and that’s fine. Sometimes the initial knock down of a fire can mean the difference between people being able to get out and it turning into a full blown conflagration. Thus buying a small amount of time until the FD arrives. Another thing I see in regards to ABC (dry chemical) extinguishers is them mounted on the latch side of doors. This is no good, as the slamming of the door over time causes the powder to settle down into a solid state. Then when the handle is squeezed, nothing will come out. The gauge will still read charged but won’t work. All ABC extinguishers should be turned upside down occasionally and tapped with a rubber mallet to prevent the powder from settling. While doing this if you put it up to your ear you can hear or feel the powder moving. Be safe out there!

Damn Ed, when I saw that first picture I thought that woody was yours, and you'd been hiding your alter-ego.

Usually when a brake shaft seal is leaking, the oil that seeps out will lubricate the shaft enough that the drum will slide off with ease. This is a dumb question, but did you remove the snap ring? It looks like you did, but with the dirt it's hard to see definitively. As others have said, use a good penetrating oil. Not WD40. That drum is pretty easy to get a gear puller behind it if need be. Edit: Pullers are available for free from Advanced Auto Parts and Auto Zone.

Although I have plenty round hoods with hitches I needed to use the 953 to move trailer load of stone last summer. Almost 2000lbs including trailer. Front end of tractor was very light especially when going uphill into back of yard. I was surprised how relatively easy 953 pulled that amount of weight

Fire extinguisher rules: P- Pull pin A- Aim S- Squeeze S- Sweep Sorry didn’t mean to take this off topic, just wanted to PASS along this easy acronym to remember. And now back to POPcorn 🍿!

Father, please forgive me for I have sinned. Though I thought I was doing the right thing in a moment of weakness I commitment the unforgivable sin of having my Wheel Horse multitask.

@bc_gold more than anything , to me it shows the WHAT IF ? trend of thought , never get stopped by what's there , like to break down original intended functional set up on anything . that regularly lets me improve , on its service , pete

Robins, Cardinals, Mockingbirds, Chickadees have ben around for a couple of weeks here. Waiting for the Tooky Tooky Birds ( Carolina Wrens) to show up in force. Only have heard a couple

Yeah, I started with Rustoleum, so I thought I would stick with it. Luckily it's not a special import for a change! It's readily available at my local Bunnings... (or Hammer Mart as the kids call it) I'm not overly pleased with it, as other have said it takes forever to cure, but that could also be my technique since I don't claim to be a spray painting guru. I'm sure in 6 months time I won't care so much. I do find plain old Dulux will go on smoother and cure in a fraction of the time, but it's a bit late now to change horse in the race.

As a kid I never saw the point of maths, why do you call it math? It's plural, mathematics, you wouldn't say I'm at college studying mathematic, would you. Small point but you chaps really do make a mess of your mother tongue you know. But as I grew older I saw the amazing power of numbers and what could be achieved by cunning calculations. A big part of my job as a crash detective involved using maths to calculate the speed of vehicles with a range of formulae, some involved Pi when dealing with non linear trajectory. Very basic maths compared to some calculations. It was that work that gave me an appreciation for the beauty of Pi. How did that old Greek guy come up with 3.14159..... did he look at his circular garden and think "that's odd, it takes me this long to walk round the edge of it and only this long to walk straight across from side to side. I wonder what the difference is? Oh I see, it 3.14159 times longer to go all the way round." Bloody marvellous! And pythagorus, what a guy! Coming up with the relationship of sides in a right angle triangle. Pure genius. Not forgetting that dude who triggered the nometry... SOH CAH TOA was it really silly old Harry who caught a herring trawling off America? Maths is wonderful and amazing and I can't believe not one teacher was able to enthuse me with the beauty of it until I needed to work out the speed of a car hitting a pedestrian, based solely on the distance they were thrown by the car and the coefficient of friction between a body and the road surface, with a bit of gravity thrown in.

And you know that's extra cuzz it's a K.

You can't do that Richard ... Not sorry but the rules are quite clear... and you of all people should know this. If a ball hitch is desirable one must obtain another horse dedicated with a permanently attached ball for such use. Preferably a round hood...

That was a test to see if you s were paying attension

Finally a nice day on the weekend and instead of doing some tractor tinkering, I had to change the damaged door on a van because some maroon couldn't see the big white van while backing up their huge overgrown pickup truck. Put a used and less damaged door on.

I don't have bookfaces either. Click the link then poke the "X" to close the first window. Should play then.

hyd spool valves do not use o rings internal. it is a precision fit.

Ah that's right. I forgot about that little detail after all these years since...

This morning I saw my first Robin of the year.. Which for me in Minnesota means it’s time to get the Tractors out…lol

For many years I used the 2"x1/2" bar stock in the slot hitch. I had an extra hole drilled in it and ran a bolt through it and the drawbar hitch. In addition to the usual smaller trailers I would pull a 30' travel trailer in and out of the pole barn. To keep the front end down I had to mount the snowblower. I always had the tongue jack fairly close to the ground just in case but surprisingly never broke the cable. That set-up has been retired since I latched on to two of Lowells receiver hitches.

When they came out in 1986 there was no other 20 horse engine. The largest available on a standard offering was a 418. 18 horse Kohler twin. That was a couple years before the 520 Hydro or 8-speed came out. The 400 Series have the Kohler engine. The 500 series had the Onan engine.

Always have both style hitches on the rear. Cheap and flexible. Then add a front mount for trailer moving!

@76c12091520h I put one of your seats on my 520-HC and it worked out great

Beautiful Wheel Horse Gary, I admire your attention to detail. I understand why it’s your sunshine tractor, if that were mine it definitely would never see rain.