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We got a few inches of the white stuff today, daytime temps in the 20's. Used all three of the seasoned "Snow Angels" - 1979 C81, 1964 854 8 Speed, and the 1976 Ariens 24" Snow-Thro. The Snow Shovel not shown has only 8 years on the job, gets an "Honorable Mention" ...

Team 4x4

Put a new brake pedal return spring on my '75 B100 Auto a couple weeks ago and when I was done the engine wouldn't crank with the ignition switch. No click, nothing, but I could turn the key to the run position, jump the solenoid and it would start right up and keep running. Switch tested good and I tried another known good one, same for the solenoid. The seat saftey switch was long gone when i got it. I replaced a sketchy looking splice in the lead to the solenoid and also put a new terminal on it. I did find that somewhere in all this the terminal for the battery negative cable had snapped off where it was fastened to the frame so I put a whole new cable on, still nothing. I had continuity across the switch but when I checked from the switch to the solenoid nada. I pulled the rectifier/ammeter mounting plate to take a look at the wiring to the switch from there. Ammeter had been bypassed years ago. I had juice from the switch to the rectifier but nothing to the feed running to the solenoid. I started to suspect the PTO safety switch...... That's when it hit me, I gave the PTO lever a pull and it moved backward, it had gotten bumped forward just enough to break the circuit..... put it all the way back, hit the key and it spun right over. Realizing I'm a moron never felt quite so good LOL. I did however take care of at least 3 future wiring problems so it wasn't a total loss. Thought I'd share that, always make sure everything is in the off position even if you "know" it is. All it took in this case was a few degrees of rotation and my total confidence it was an actual electrical issue..

Getting ready for first time plow use to turn up some grass to place in rills from recent rains that are cutting up newly laid drive to shop. Didn't get it all setup correctly but got enough to save culvert. All the plowed area was covered by new shop so no loss. Since I reviewed plowing directions in manuals I see my mistakes and not enough wheel weight either.

Got only 6.5” and the blower made quick work on clearing most of the driveway, followed it all up with the plow and viola, all clean! Definitely need the sun to come out

85 416-8.

From my trail/woods ride a couple days ago…

day after Christmas storm here in Hudson River Valley, NY - plus further upstate into Adirondacks ( and NYC ) -- and apparently moved into Connecticut, Mass. and moving through New England - fairly light snow - 6 inches from 6 pm to 10 pm with more expected overnight -- so more plowing will be needed in the morning ( C175h with 48 plow ) -- a storm of 5 inches couple weeks ago no chains needed --- but for this storm choose to add the chains

During the winter months, I take to playing with the model train layout I've got in the basement. It's "L" shaped and is 11 feet by 22 feet. It's a great way to while away time when there's no grass to mow. The assisted living where mom lives has asked me to bring a train set up and leave it for them for a few days. If it's successful I'd like to do a snow scene next year. So I practiced making a small diorama. It's probably 24" square. I got a little heavy handed with the fake snow but it's learning as I go. This diorama is made of drywall compound, paste board boxes cut in strips, assorted paint, paper mache run through blender, wire and rope for trees and/or cuttings from trees in back yard and glue and some hair spray. I've probably got 8 or ten hours in this project.

Picture from one of the Meet & Greets

Sacrilege or not I wanted some new wheels, tires, hubs, and lugs. Put old shoes on my L-156.

December twenty seventh is a day some dread, National Fruitcake Day! Indulge in variations of a classic cake from all over the world or compete to see who can fling this fruit-packed favorite the furthest. Fruitcakes— we’ve all seen them in the movies or grandma’s kitchen. The heavy and dark cake that looks like it went through seven stages of baking and sounds like a fist thumping against a wooden table when set down on a surface. Yet, there is a day made for it. That’s right, this day is called National Fruitcake Day and it’s made for the celebration of the cake that we all seem to find synonymous with a brick.

There really IS such a thing as "good fruitcake". I'll need to find my mother's old recipe...... Along the same lines, she used to make a "lemon Christmas cake" that was basically a nice pound cake with nuts and candied fruit, and dates, I think...... then soaked with as much brandy as it could possibly hold without puddling. What an awesome concoction! Could NOT bring it out if there was an open flame, though.

Now that's a pretty good segway to toss this in. Most of my tires don't have tubes. About 2 or 3 times a year something will poke through a tire. I have always plugged them with the common plug stuff but I found a much better way. Quicker, no mess and very reliable. These plugs simply screw in and form a 'permanent' repair in a tractor tire and they claim in a street tire as well. I wouldn't hesitate to use them to get me to where I can do a proper repair on a street vehicle. They are cheap. This kit on Ebay was under $6 delivered. 30 of both sizes. It even comes with a screwdriver............if you can call it that.

I'd take the drive belt off then run it briefly to see if the noise goes away. Could be the drive belt tensioner banging.

Liked hood on L-156 but didn't care care for ground clearance even though just a few inches. Started a "raising" project, and still working on it. Don't have a pic with new seat and later model fender that had to be slotted for shifter and so on. Used 655 front axels and some 1" 5 lug hubs with my old C-120 front and rear wheels. Still decicing on trans , maybe goin to 6 speed or bigger 4 speed if possible. My departed friend, SPECIALWHEELHORSE, Jimmy Rodgers gave me an engine, still awaiting install. 1st pic is as unloaded

@Ed Kennell, isn't that the rest of the story as you told it a few years ago?

Some have told me that this same no crank problem occurs when they run out of fuel while mowing.

My dad's office Christmas present to employees every year was a fruit cake, so I kind of grew up on them. The cake was about 10" diameter with a hole in the middle. Kept our family of 5 in deserts well into February. When I got married, a fruit cake showed up at one of the inlaw's Christmas Eve gatherings. Whoever got it snuck out and stashed it in somebody else's car. The next year, that fruit cake showed up again decorated as the 'ultimate Tacky Christmas gift'. It had a Chia Pet Christmas tree attached. For several years, that fruit cake kept showing up at various family gatherings decorated appropriately for whatever the occasion was - building on the existing decorations it already had. Over the years, it acquired a troll head, a grim reaper's scythe, a cape, a miniature mink stoll, it broke once, so it was duct taped together, it got varnished to 'preserve' it, and it was stuffed into the middle of a very inexpensive plastic wreath. Then all of a sudden it stopped showing up at gatherings. One of our nieces fessed up, saying that she had forgotten that the fruit cake was in the trunk of a car she had sold. We all got a good laugh imagining what the reaction of the new owner of the car had when they discovered the 'gift' in the trunk.

My wife would get a fruitcake every year form an older lady she helped. We hate it but she hated to throw it out. I told her I knew who to give it to. The place I worked at had a parts guy with a 65 Caddy. That car had more junk in it than most folks attic. I put that fruit cake in the back seat and buried it under a bunch of junk. I figured some rat would gnaw on it when that car finally made it's way to the junkyard. Well a couple of days later I hear him talking to somebody and saying that someone left a fruit cake in his car and he really enjoyed it!

Mrs. M does not like the Claxton these days. It's gotten to be very sparse on the fruit and nuts for the money. We also miss my late Aunt Helen. She would start making fruit cakes in October. She's wrap them in cheese cloth and store them in the root celler. She would periodically go down and pour a little rum, brandy, or bourbon on them. By the time the holidays got here they were perfect.

A spoonful of honey makes the fruitcake go down

Finally some real food. Diet restriction is over. Home fried taters and onions, Amish free range eggs, my venison sausage patty, rye toast, OJ, green tea with raw honey.

Well, I can't take a chance on that hose failing or kinking so I replaced it as per WHX??. New hose may look the wrong length in the picture but it is exactly the same as the original.

Good Lord no ... I cringe when I see Dan @Achto doing it. He says he know how to weld them back up. I ask him can I save the 60 year old drill shavings... Gotta tell ya Squirrelly sure does make a guy feel good when one sells a tractor to a guy that can take care of it.

I got the gift that will keep on giving all year long thanks to @ebinmaine and BB-Trina.

Painting a Wheel Horse GREEN would be a sacrilege, putting new shoes on a fine looking horse is a serious plus.

Dang! They were sure lined up well, like there was a snapped chalk line on the grass that we all pulled up to

Off the trailer and a quick hoon up and down the driveway. Forward, reverse, and now brakes! Starts after a few cranks, and cranks every time now. (Also stuck the tail sticker on)

I grew up about a block away from an old gentleman who was supposedly a model train legend. He had shelves and shelves of collectible engines, cars, miniatures, etc. They removed a wall between 2 upstairs bedrooms, where he had a fascinating layout. Us kids were allowed to look but NOT TOUCH. His name was Ed Crismore, from Uniondale, IN.

Stuck these lights on the 1257 today just to see what they look like. The holes are already there so dont know if I want to fill them in, leave them alone, or run these lights? They would be handy in the dark of night . What is everyone’s opinion?

Shucks yeah, Stater/Gen. long hood with that HY2 unit on there, I was hooked.

I am a bit bummed this year. In all of our haste to prepare for Christmas, we forgot to order a fruit cake. A good fruit cake is one of the best desserts of the season.

Hole were there when I got it so somebody must have had lights on it. Be handy for night plowing.

I did too. It's still sitting in my digestive tract...

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Excellent Carson bit. Obviously all true and not the least bit fabricated or exaggerated. I tried fruitcake. Once. Probably 40 years ago.

A simple compression check might be a good start.

I live RIGHT ON a state highway so lights on. Probably the most fun I had as a kid was plowing lake effect snow at night with a 604 with no lights! That was until the Tecky didn't want run anymore!

1986 417-8 Older pic out for a trail ride. Getting a hankering for a Winter trail ride, thanks Mike . Now I may have to put the Kwik-Way weight box back on. Usually don't need chains just need to keep the revs up and stay on the pipe.

When plowing driveways I'm crossing the state road a lot. I like lights on day and night.

Chilled, sliced thin, and a spoonful of honey.

Spare carb I had kicking around from a 416 I bought with a bad engine. This is the non-emissions carb that I use on all of my Onan engines. The 416H in this thread is a 1996 so it came with the emissions carb that I am not going to use. Carb is taken as far apart as I need to (I hope) for cleaning.

Only if you spray in a large amount quickly. All you need for testing is a quick spurt

Pull each plug wire to see if the noise is from a particular cylinder.

I like the lights. The older I get, the more I prefer doing yard work at night anyway. Adding good lights has become a thing for my machines. My son's Ranger and my 701 are the only ones I have with no lights.

Agreed. I prefer a wee bit of off-white to the bright color but those wheels n sneakers look goooood. Nice upgrade.

I see nary a problem here. Serious upgrade to the front with the trailer hubs (can't go wrong with the Firestones either), and studs on the back are an outstanding addition. Looks great to me!

Put new 24-12-12 tires on C160. They are Horseshoe brand will try and post more info on them in lets talk tire thread.