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Over the weekend we flew down to see my daughter in Charleston,S.C. and decided to go check out this museum. I must say that I was super impressed by the quality of the restorations of these trucks. Figured I would take a few pictures for you guys, I know how much you love pictures!!

Just returned from our first trip to England and most likely the only one. Friends who have been to London about twenty times said let's visit there so off we went for ten days. Did many of the newbie London tourist stuff. Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, theater, Churchill War Rooms, Bletchley Park, British Museum, Highclere Castle where Downton Abbey was filmed. Also a neighborhood pub with the son of another friend. We only scratched the surface. One could spend ten days in the British Museum alone. Our friends knew how to use the Underground (subway) and we traveled all about using it.

The 42" mower deck wouldn't clear the 10.50's on Dino so I put the 8.50's from the Reborn B-80 on it. Put a pair of 16-6.50's on the front of the 854 sickle tractor. No real reason other than I thought they looked cool. Took a ride through the woods to check them out. Put the 10.50's on the Reborn B-80. Rather than buy another set of rubber chains in the correct size I decided to modify the set of 8.50's that I had. A handful of additional chain links and two additional cross rubbers per side did the trick. It took a bit to get them just right cuz I never like to use chain tensioners. Mounted the heavier set of weights.

World Octopus Day is annually marked on October 8 and we are drawing up plans to celebrate the existence of one of nature’s most iconic sea creatures. Octopuses are remarkably intelligent and adaptable. With some Octopus fossils predating the era of dinosaurs, they are known to be older than most creatures currently existing today. One thing you can be sure of is that there’s more to this amazing sea creature than a bulbous head and eight legs with suction cups.

I got hooked on these tractors mowing with my dad’s (now mine) 12 automatic when I was a kid. He stored it for me in his garage when I moved into an apartment. The day I moved into my house the brought me the 12 auto. After fighting with it cause it sat for at least 10 years (I had zero mechanical skills then) my grandfather gave me his Bronco 14. When gramps passed away a few years later I found a c-120 in his shed under a pile of stuff. I got all his spare parts too. It snowballed from there. All of my kids have driven and mowed and even plowed snow with them. I spend hours in the garage first teaching and now watching my son @WheelHorse_Kid work on these tractors. They have brought us closer than ever. They are simple to work on but I’m always learning something new with them and boy they can do anything you ask of them. They were built to last. The community here is always willing to help out too. It doesn’t matter if you have a mundane question or a major problem, someone is always willing to help. And they are also willing to drool over your latest find or next restoration with you. It’s a great group of people. We all have the same common goal… to save these incredible tractors. We each have our own way of doing it from the purest’s to the people looking to just make it functional again. But they are all here willing to help. Not many groups like that now adays.

We are in our Ky. location for a few days. Major goal is repairing the brakes on EJ the 8n. So, Welcome to Deep Woods Tractor Repair: I was expecting to find maybe worn splines on the hubs and bad axle seals. The splines don't seem to be too bad, and the axle seals appear to be in fine shape and to be relatively new. The source of the puddles of gear lube in the brake drums appears to be that the last guy who assembled this thing failed to put the cork gaskets behind the axle seal retaining plates! This let the 90 weight drip out between the axle flange and the seal retaining plate. The brake shoes look to be relatively new as well - ought to, they have been well coated with oil. The brake drums didn't want to come off until I backed off the adjusters A LOT. Both drums have a shoe track worn in them about .040 to .060" deep. Might as well replace the drums while I'm at it. Got to source some, though. One big oopsie, though - the box of brake parts didn't get packed into the truck for this trip. Worst case, I'll replace the missing axle seal retaining plate gaskets with some Form A Gasket, and clean the gear lube off of everything as good as I can get it, then put it all back together. That ought to get me some brakes - for a little while, anyhow.

Yep, again on Sunday. I'm too old to drag-em.

I have these on my 953. https://www.millertire.com/6-70-15-goodyear-sure-grip-traction-4-ply/

Are these ones holding air? Decent shape? Miller Tire Paint seems to be a pretty popular product to breathe life into an old tire.

I mowed with my modified 48 today. Distributes clippings so much better. Definitely worth all the work that went into it! You can see the tip of the blade at the chute. Only 1/2 inch to the edge now. No height adjuster. I always cut the same height anyway...

Photos from my trip

It is a great place to visit, which I did a lot in the 1970s, as I was shipped off there for a few summers, as I have family in the UK. Nice place to visit, but you couldn't pay me to live there, as they don't have many of the freedoms we have in the USA. Many of my cousins plan to retire to the US, specifically Florida. Glad you had a nice trip to England

Nice Don. Looks like Groucho Marx answering the call with one of his usual remarks. I got a good mind to join a club and hit you over the head with it.

Since selling my dxi and trading my Kubota side by side set up for plow duties a few weeks ago I decided to set up the new to me Polaris XP900 for plow duty. Local dealer had a Polaris plow built for another model. A few mods and here she is ready for plow duties…

Just returned home from the family farm. Spent couple of days getting farm ready for winter. The corn has been harvested. So we brush hogged the waterways, sprayed brush that invaded the cropland and started brush hogging the corn stubble. I had a picture of my brother kicking up dust behind the brush hog but thought our granddaughter driving was more entertaining. She wasn't actually in control, as my brother was trying to make himself invisible. That girl would be just fine living on a farm. Something she'll never likely be able (afford) to do. At one time 180 acres was a sizeable farm. Now, the man who plants and harvests our crops tills 2,500 of his own acres.

Today I got some quality seat time getting the leaf situation under control until another ton or so hit the ground. I used the 310-8 with 42" rear discharge deck to GRIND the first accumulation of leaves to a powder. About 90% of the leaves from the Poplar trees have come down so this is just the first of many such operations. Weather has been dry so the leaves chopped up so finely that the leaf sweeper wasn't even needed. They will just compost in place.

Thanks for sharing the pictures. If I get down that way I’ll try to remember to make time of visit. There is, a LOT closer to my home, another terrific museum in Hudson, NY co-located with a home for retired firefighters. Many of these men and women volunteer at the museum as restorers and docents. https://fasnyfiremuseum.com

From top down 1 Highclere castle 2 walking path to old Amersham where 3 Midsummer Murders was filmed 4 Rosetta stone 5 Main hall in Parliament where Queen Elizabeth lay in state 6 Big Ben in the Elizabeth Tower 7 Pub rebuilt in 1667 where “Charles Dickens frquented” 8 Beef Eater at Tower of London 9 Tower Bridge viewed from the Tower of London 10 Church where Anne Boylen is now buried. 11 The 1225 Magna Carta

If you blink you would miss it. No OSHA in this picture either.

Funny but not correct ... I travel that road on my way to Spike Camp and there is no OSHA there! I like that out building Kev. Screw the pool crap tho I could get 10 in there plus the loft for the hood collection! Why on earth did you not pitch the roof to the back? Would have no runoff to the pool area. No ice build ups no drip lines. No doors freezing up.

Agreed. They don't plow with their vehicles though. Just for Street driving. We've been getting more and more icy roads every year. Less snow. Studs make a huge difference on the ice.

That's the way to do a museum my friends

That's a pretty good idea with the cut tires EVERY year the first accumulated snow fall on the roads always weeds out the procrastinators that run their bald tires as long as possible. The tire shops get slammed with work on that day. It always gets the New to 4 wheel drive drivers to wake up too because they go too fast and 4 wheel drive does absolutely nothing to help them stop on the slick roads. I used to live on a hill with a not so steep incline. But still, the bald tire people would fishtail up it spinning those bologna skins and making slick packed ice trails creating a much more dangerous situation for everyone else than it needed to be. By the end of winter it was rare to see any problems. They do treat the roads much better these days than they did back then.

This one is a Wheel Horse 48, with spindles and pullies from a 42. The spindle shaft speed is the same, but the blade tip speed is definitely higher. No added baffling on this one, but it works very well.

Installed some steps and side covers on the 418-A that I had cleaned up and painted over the summer. The removed set will eventually get cleaned up and painted and put on the 520-H. Before: After:

Nice! No taxidermy spotted dog to help find the hydrants??!!

Test fit some vredstiens on the C-160 (still need paint) and promoted the tri rib Deestones to the 856. Made a 3/4” wrench ( forgot pic) to adjust governor speed on the 857.

Fire engines live in a special place in my heart. During my tour in the Navy, stationed in Maine, we had to stand duty sometimes in the Fire Barn. It was a 24 hour shift, and during the day, we got to take out the Fire Truck, hook it up and use it for what it was meant for. It was excellent training. I remember it was hard to be the 1st hoser. The hose, opened up, could move you around. The 2nd hoser was the place to be. Driving that truck around was pretty special also. Nice pictures Don, thank you for bringing back some of the past.

Thanks for taking us along. My first trip to a left lane driving country was a challenge. Staying in the correct lane when making right turns. Remembering to look right BEFORE stepping off the curb.

That's purdy near @Achto and @WHX??... just down the street from the World's Biggest Cheese Curd.

This past Saturday was our yearly show at Temple Tx. Typically biggest show in the State. 5 of the grandkids and 2 songs came for the day. Looks like I only took grandkids/tractor pictures. The shelling and grinding area is always a big hit with the kids I let my oldest grandson drive my C160 in the parade while I walked next to him. (Club rules). He was very proud to get to drive it. They sure wore grandpa out.

A hydro will work, but wouldn't be a first choice for use with a tiller. You have to constantly adjust "back" to prevent the tiller from pushing the hydro. Low range on a 6/ 8 speed is ideal. And yes 10hp is plenty for a tiller.

Also a common practice in my shop is to see how far into the woods I can throw that little brake pad. They fly surprisingly well... The only time it does anything remotely beneficial is if you have no belt on the PTO it will slow the bell down when disengaged, and it won't freewheel when you shut down the engine. It also makes changing implements or replacing a drive belt no longer "tool free".

Oh BTW. I am one of the few with only one tractor and it is a Wheelhorse. Love the little beast. It was my father's who bought it new in 1988 and only last winter did I replace the engine. Except rear tires, brake lining, axel shaft seal and engine all parts are original. Always being stored indoors helped tremendously.

Everyone meet Jerry, Jerry meet everyone. my 5 year old stepson wanted to have a skeleton on a tractor. He went with his mom to go see his sister at her college this weekend. Can’t wait til he sees it. I’m going to get a different skeleton for the one who’s getting mowed up. Now the wheels are turning on getting Jerry some friends doing other crazy things. He’s temporarily mowing with my 12auto until I get the rusty 14-8 up from out back.

Im procrastinating! New head gasket, chinese carb, gas line, filter, electric fuel pump, battery, choke cable. Then I poured alcohol into the tank. Let is sit for a day. When I poured it out it looked like maple syrup! So, I repeted the process. I don't know why I'm so hesitant to try starting it. I could have tried a couple of weeks ago if I had used an external fuel tank, hadn't bothered with the battery, or the choke cable. But, I'm running out of excuses!

I learned from my Dad how useful downshifting could be at low speeds in crappy conditions. I still do it occasionally using the “manual” mode of my car’s 10-speed automatic. One must be careful, though, so as not to cause a break in traction in front wheel drive vehicles.

Cool is coming. Frost warnings a little bit north of me.

I built it with the “backwards” roof in mind for a couple reasons. First, south facing pane means I can build me a massive solar heat collector for the pool plumbing. Second, I have room for a lean to off the back Third, I have no need for winter access, so frozen doors is not an issue. Additionally, the pool is sloped like a trough between the pool shed and the pool itself. Water runs to the center of the two, then sideways away from the diving board.

I suspect that your magneto has been replaced Traveler. The ones I have worked on the coil looked like the one in Sqounkys pic.

Found yet another use for the Horse. First year I didn't have to drag a deer over 100 yards uphill with a rope!

What an outstanding display, I wonder how many of the old hand pump units still exist? First one I have seen other than in pre 1900 photos.

Learned something new! My Grandmother used to say, " Don't stop learning till you're dead!" I recently acquired a brand new K181 CC short block that came with a mag coil installed. It also had the flywheel on and when I removed it, I saw no magnets and thought someone installed the wrong flywheel.

Happy Anniversary!

Started pulling apart this afternoon. I started with the carb. It was welded to the block. At least it seemed that way. It took a chisel and several blows from a jammer to break it loose. When I took the bowl off I was shocked at how clean it was. I don't remember when Ethanol was put in gas but I'm willing to bet that this one has never seen it