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Went shopping at Lowes for Mothers Day. My wife loves tools and her cordless drill has seen better days. Whilst wandering around I found this cool socket fan light. 3 speeds and 3 light settings with remote. $50 So I unscrewed one of my LED's and tried it out. Pretty neat! I had 2 LED lights on each end of the bench. So I'm going to get 2 more electrical boxes and another fan. Put my LED light back up and add 2 more sockets and have dual fans over the bench.

Planted 3 rhubarb plants 3 years ago. All 3 are really big and full this year. Will definitely have plenty to put in the freezer this year. First rhubarb/strawberry pie of the year.

While @wallfish is sitting around in his PJ’s talking about what he “might do” I’m here gettin it done!!

Found this generator at my uncles farm tucked into an old machinery shed. My uncle has dementia and is in a home & has not been home for a long time. It is a Winpower 50/30 PTCD It has a max output of 50,000 watts intermittent and 30,000 watts continuous (with a big enough tractor) There is a standard 110 volt plug on a 15A breaker, a 50A 220V plug on a 50A breaker and the big plug on the back fed by a 125A 220V breaker. This is how the poor thing looked at the farm. Here I am winching it onto my trailer. Generator hauled home and unloaded. Generator hooked up to a Wheel horse. Generator in my shop to begin it's cleanup. I unbolted generator from it's badly bent and broken cart then lifted it off using the front end loader. Cart was straightened and tongue repaired. It then got sanded and repainted. Wheel bearings checked and greased. Generator gearbox oil changed and PTO shaft cleaned and greased. Generator lifted back onto cart and bolted down. Hitched generator to tractor and hooked up PTO shaft. Ran generator up to speed and it came into the green on the volt gauge. Yay, it works. Changed out the 3 conductor 50A plug with a 4 conductor 50A plug because the three conductor plug was corroded and I just feel safer with a double neutral. Hooked generator to the shop and ran it up to speed. I used the 50A plug because my 25HP tractor couldn't do much more anyways It easily ran my 5HP air compressor that my small 6,300 watt generator has trouble with. While the generator was running the air compressor I hooked up my scope to check the waveform. It has some noise on it but for a portable generator it is the cleanest I have witnessed. When the compressor shut off, the waveform looked exactly the same. Here is how it looks on my AC mains from the utilities.

We booked an air BNB a few months ago, and luckily it’s only 10-15 minutes from the show. This year it’ll be me, my wife, daughter, granddaughter, son in law, brother and his girlfriend! Two trucks and trailers and probably eight tractors. I’m really looking forward to this, as I do every year. It’s become my annual pilgrimage. This year I have the featured tractor and it’s on my birthday!

Not sure how much time this is going to take but the bones are already there for truck project. Obviously won't be all WH parts like every other build but oh well. Lots of time saved and still a cool project. Bought this at the Zag show yesterday. @Sparky and @Docwheelhorse were kind enough to go grab it for me since there was no room to haul it home but the seller is close by to them. Anyone familiar with that type of trans? What's this handle for?

Give the rockshaft to @wallfish. He can bring it to the show ( If there's room in the van) Then he can give it to @Pullstart. Then he can hook 2 tractors to it and try to pull it apart. Should be some fine entertainment!

After a long winter's rehabilitation.

Yup the sun and changing temps do a number on them! Also Lady drivers! I found a pristine 300 series JD hood at a scrap yard and paid like $20 for it about 10 years ago. Waxed it up and put it on Craigslist for $200. I'm at work the next day and I get a phone call and this lady wants the hood like right now. I tell her I get home at 4 and she's in the driveway waiting. Seems she was mowing the lawn and plowed into a tree and smashed the hood. She wanted to get it swapped out before her husband got home!

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU

Managed to get a few things done this weekend. Got the fender pan out of the e-tank, primed, wet sanded and coated with two coats of Regal Red. Had to fashion a pair of taller brackets so it clears the hood stand since it's from a 310 going on a c-160. I'll probably weld those once everything is fitted and correct. Got the axle replaced in a spare uni-drive and ordered the bearings and seals so that can be buttoned up.

This one is one of 3 that I have and getting ready for it's first show in a couple weeks

Dave Brubeck Day is celebrated on May 4 in the honor of America’s most proficient and accomplished jazz pianist and composer. With a career spanning over eight decades, Brubeck is best known for his experimentations with jazz, civil rights activism, and divine compositions. Brubeck popularized cool jazz, refined bombastic melodies, and merged his mother’s classical piano training with his own improvisations to create generation-defining tunes during his heyday. May 4, also known as “5/4,” is an ode to Brubeck’s signature song, “Take Five.” “Take Five,” was featured in the 1995 film “Mighty Aphrodite” and has since been used in numerous other movies and television shows. It was originally part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet's 1958 tour of Eurasia and the album Time Out. Paul Desmond, an alto saxophonist in the quartet, composed the song.

Just an update. James had his first skin graft. They will monitor it for a couple of weeks and if it takes they will remove it and take a graft from his thigh and give him the permanent graft. It has slowed him down some but is far from stopping him. He has to keep his foot propped up most of the time but he manages to get a some work done as well.

I thought about hanging an RJ from it!

@wallfish think you will get this done before @ebinmaine finishes his Colossus project?

Sometimes there just isn't a better way than what's been done for decades. I had to split a nut that had been tacked in place on a weld-repaired bracket. Time to break out the hammer and chisel like I learned to do 50 years ago

The top of the bed sides were bowed, bent, and the angle was not consistent so I spent a few hours getting them straightened out. I bought the metal for the bottom frame and ordered the sheet metal to replace the bad ends I had to cut out. I'm not ready for days of this type of work yet so I just do a little at a time. Hopefully I have some progress pictures in the next week or so.

I went and picked up the Tomali tractor for spring maintenance. We have quite a list of tasks to accomplish. No particular time frame.

Put one one your Big Show hat! You could be Tweedle Dum!

That extra handle on the “truck” is attached to a band brake on the final-drive end of the transmission. So there are: - separate levers activating the “parking brakes” on each rear wheel, - a single brake pedal activating the rear drum brakes on both rear wheels, and - that lever for the band brake. Plenty of “stop”. Need to explore the “go”. There was no diagram covering the shift pattern so it’ll be fun exploring the trans--I suspect you’ll find a 3- or 4-speed and reverse.

Get some white paint and call it the " Popemobile! "

I'm in, but only if I can drive one of the tractors to pull it apart

M / M 1964-65

I have a bunch of leftover self drilling sheet metal screws from garage door installations that will make any seat fit just right. You don't have to worry about going too deep with them.

My neighbor stopped to tell me his Mrs. had some tomato plants ready for me. I noticed this on Barney, the 1800 lb Belgian. He must be the deluxe model, comes with a tool kit. Please remember....this is a family show.

Why I am glad my WHs are all steel.... The JD GT235 is now 23 years old and it has been a good unit. However, plastic doesn't age well.. Broke the hood opening it to get fired up for this mowing season. Waiting on the fiber glass repair kit to finish the job. This plastic welder seems to work OK.

That was the ticket back in the day but the '51 Chevy might be easier to find than a metal bed spring these days

I surrendered my strawberry plants to the rabbits and robins. I have plenty of blackberries and red and wild black raspberries. Do the rabbits eat rhubarb ? Anyway, that would be easy to fence in. Raspberry/rhubarb pie...

These were one of my mom’s signature dishes. Yum!

The handle in question is connected right into the trans. There's a regular flywheel and clutch assembly operated by a pedal but it's likely/possible the trans is older than that setup is. Could be a trans brake used for a parking brake maybe??? This stuff is out of my wheelhouse and it's not here yet to play with. Those 2 homemade levers in the pic are connected to the E brake cables for steering brakes. The rear drum brakes are plumbed to an auto style master cylinder with front and rear lines Tee'd together. The hydraulics are old and need replacement of lines, no pump, no valve. I have an old style Jeep hydraulic setup that runs off 12v starter so that might be cool. Planning to power it with an old twin cylinder Onan CCK 6v engine. Think it's 13.5 Hp but...

That transmission may have more ranges than Julia Child!

Either the ejection seat or it lets out the emergency brake (boat anchor)

Once it is hooked up and the tractors are digging in someone can begin heating the rock-shaft. We can all buy chances on how long it will take before the chains break while the brown-welded pieces are still firmly joined. But do this outdoors, the paraffin puts off a lot of smoke.

It's keyed don't think it's going to twist. Being an auto you should be able to get it into a hydraulic press. Should be able to find one near by.

Open an account with Maineoxy. Easy peesy. If you buy their tank, and refill it there, you'll never have to have it re-certified. I did that with Arcsource. Works out great for my MIG tank too.

I got used to the little tanks when I had to rope them up to the roof all the time or when needed the torch in a kitchen to repair refrigeration equipment. Had spare bottles on the truck. Nitrogen was the worst. We went through that stuff like water

In Florida and North Carolina you can exchange oxygen, acetylene or the CO2/Argon cylinders without any paperwork other than cash or credit card. I got rid of the 20CF oxygen/10CF acetylene tanks years ago. The cost to fill them was too high for what you were getting. I now have the 80/40 sizes, the cost per exchange has gone up quite a bit but is much less than the cost per CF of the little ones. Those little tanks always seemed to run out at the worst time.

No digital enhancement, the days of the real deal! Talent and hard work.

So become one. "Eric and BBT's Tractor and Stove Restoration" I had commercial accounts even before I got my DBA years ago. Pretty easy. Or does Maine really restrict such activity? Here I walk into Air Gas with an empty tank and they give me a full one. all they need is a name on the ticket.

I bought a small Oxy /Acetylene torch set from Horror Fright about 4 years ago. About $350 and have only used it a few times but enough to need to get the tanks refilled. YES they are cheaply made. YES the tanks are expensive to refill. BUT the time and aggravation they have saved me getting something apart, bending some thing or brazing some tinwork together has been worth the cost.

I don't think either portion of the rock shaft is cast iron, they are both mild steel.

Finally got my spring plow day! A little wet, but had no issues with traction.

Big penetrating juice Bigger hammer Biggest heat Repeat... (I know, it's not a haiku )

We had a good show of Wheel Horses, but this show has become an all day auction and garden tractor pulling event. The pullers Auction

Always good to hang out with you guys for the day! There was a really good amount of WH tractors there today too. Think everyone found at least one score. I got the dump truck frame thingy for a fair price.

Waiting on a new idler pulley, slide bar bushings and spring and blade spindle nuts but all done! And it’s going to rain for the next couple days so all covered up. Going to let the paint finish curing, it’s still very soft so I I don’t want to scrape it all away.