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"Police, of course, want to nail the thieves."

And so it begins. Took some basic measurements last night and started laying the frame out on the computer this morning. Making it somewhat modular and completely bolt in. Haven't decided on the rear hitch design yet. 3 x 4 cross tube with 3 x 3 verticals. Those weld together and will be capped forming the oil tank. I'll position the valves on the left, pump on the right off the PTO, should get good oil cross flow that way, and I like having my right hand for steering and gear selection while my left operates the bucket. Lower frame will be 2 x 2 tube, 2 x 2 angle for mounting.

Yup - I bet they are pounding the pavement looking for it...clawing away at every clue...beating down doors... smashing obstacles in their way... Ok - enough...

Just have to hit the nail once and it is done.

Well that's all the damage I can do until I get some more measurements, but the basic design is there.

Some of the younger members may not know what you are talking about.

I could use that right now trying to get a steering wheel off the shaft!!!

You guys see the story that someone stole the BFH? https://nypost.com/2018/10/10/someone-seriously-stole-this-800-pound-hammer-sculpture/

An Amish family bought the farm behind me last fall. They drilled a few wells last winter. They left the previous farmer continue to lease the ground until they were ready to farm themselves. Last month the construction of the house, barn, and greenhouse began and was soon visible above the corn. After living here 51 years, my view is changing.

Hate to see the size of the guy that walked off with that BFH.

I wasn't familiar with them either. It's got a 50" deck made out of thicker stamped steel than I've seen on any other tractor in its class. Shaft driven mower deck, hydrostatic drive and hydraulic lift with a three point hitch. Front PTO for powering a snowblower. 18 HP Twin-V Briggs Vanguard engine. Always kept in the barn. Runs like a champ. Too big for my friend who wanted the conveniences of a modern mower with electric assisted power steering. A 1/2 gallon of Crown Reserve brought it home for me.

854 steering wheel and shaft. All I got decent for it

For now I've been using that big rod to push or pull the tractor and steer it. Seems like a few people wanted some more pictures, so here they are. Keep in mind, nothing is final at this point. All of the welds need to be redone and a bunch of other stuff,but it's the basic idea of how it will look. Clearance between front tire and deck pulley location The gaps in the front will be welded solid, this is all just a designing to see if it'll work and fit together and function. Yes, that really is a K341 with a short pan that fits under the hood of a short frame tractor without cutting anything on the tractor.

Got the 552 torn down. Found cracks hidden in all that grease. So I pulled trans and welded it up properly. So trans is back in now working on other areas. They got one steering peice on backwards lol

I spent the day with Mark today while he received his second of now 4 scheduled chemo treatments. He is in good spirits and is convinced he can beat this. I told him the Red Square family is sending prayers and good wishes. We all thank you for your help in fighting this battle.

Here are a couple hit and miss powered from the Big Show. Photo complements of @Mike'sHorseBarn.

I like to keep them original if possible.

There must be a big honking nail somewhere that needed walloped! Cheers! Dave

So, today i did some few finetunings on it. Firstly i check, if it fits even everything i cooled down. Yes, it fit's, but then i found, the Angles of moving are bit to weak. So i improve it, to get a better handling on the Shovel, with an additional Link. Now i think i must Change the Lift Cylinder from only 10cm Range up to 20cm Range. but this will be made after Winter, if the Shovel does not work as expected. i dig a bit with it, and hey, everything lasts. I'm Happy about. ok, some small issues must be Tested an reinforced, but the Result itself is a Success to me. Especially it was just a Proof of Concept, if i can handle Myself things, i just Simulated on Computer before. I normally just make small but complex things for and with my 3D Printer, the actual i have was completely selfmade but i never build a huge Thing before, just by Planing and simulating Things ahead on Computer. Only on the Size of the Shovel i quarrel a bit to myself. Shall it be 1 m or shall it be 80cm... - hmm. But the decition to build it just 80cm was absolutely right. I don't imagine, that this small parts of Hydraulics have that brutal Force that i must tear down the Pressure. i doubt i will maybe work as expected, but all doubts are gone, because i have enough spare. I also painted it a bit in "used Style" and i love the Look now.

You'll probably see fewer deer also. The Amish tend to shoot any critter that moves, in season or out, claiming it's crop protection. I guess there could be worse things to spoil your view, like a large development of houses that all look the same. And the Amish won't have any bright lights to shine in your windows late at night. Jim

Them thar under educated hillbillies must be brothers from another mother, and I'll leave it at that.

Finally got back around to working on this... I forgot to take a picture before I started taking it all apart again for some additional changes.

Started a new project I've been day dreaming about for awhile now. I've always been a fan of square hood and more recently round fenders. Figured I couldn't go wrong with a big block kohler either. Started with an 857 that had no engine. So for now and until more parts arrive I have a short frame, big block kohler with round fenders and no cutting of the hood to make it all fit. There's still lots to do but thought I'd share the progress so far.

@RandyLittrell Randy I had to take disability in 2006 due to a fractured vertebrate . Based on my experience here is what I know . You can not be working at any job. A doctor has to write a boat load of stuff explaining you can not work at your profession and may have to include why you can't be trained to do something else. Get all of this done and go to a law firm that specializes in Social Security Disability Claims. I about drove my self nuts trying to do the work myself. I was turned down the first time. Lawyer got me disability in about 4 weeks. There is a set amount of money that a lawyer can charge for handling your claim. Social Security will back pay you. Say for example you quit working Nov.1 of this year and it takes 6 months for Social Security to say ok you are disabled. They will back pay you for the entire time. After 2 years of disability you are eligible for Medicare no matter what your age. Are your a veteran ? If so try to get health benefits from the VA.

Vern's Ag for a couple of pipe crops, these are made from AR ( abrasive resistant ) plate and will be used to make a couple of centrifuges, one for cleaning waste veggie oil. To make clean fuel for the Lister generator. A second one for prospecting. The spindles that these completed bowels will be mounted on came from a commercial grade mower.

Ànother episode of them crazy Mennonite girls gone wild... live from Waterloo.

Sorry for loss of your view , but it sure beats a Walmart or a huge subdivision in your back yard.

"If I Had a Hammer"

Gauge Blocks for entertainment.

That is exactly why I have the 4 GTs that I have now: The newest one, the Craftsman PGT9000, is mainly my mowing machine with it's 54" deck....... the Speedex 1631 is my ploughing machine (mainly)...... the Craftsman GT6000 is my cultivator (with an Agri-Fab cultivator on the sleeve hitch (and my snow pusher occasionally with the 48" front blade)....... and the 1966 Cub Cadet is my tiller. That pretty much fills up my shed (along with 2 push mowers and a high-wheel Yazoo) Oh, and a 1974 Troy-Bilt Horse. I figure that I can keep all but the Cub and the GT6000 once I get this WH home, and definitely come out on the better side. This might get me back in the mood to garden next year. Here's the story: I started gardening back in the early 2000's. Began with a 10'x10' spot that I dug up with my dad's Mantis tiller. Over the course of the next 3 years and the addition of some equipment, that spot grew to 50'x150'. I grew a TON of stuff every year, and got to where we canned as much as we could. Then October 2013 happened....... Took a trip to Hancock, MI to pick up a 1987 Avion travel trailer. Thus started our "going places and doing things". For 2014, 2015, and 2016 the garden really took a hit..... You have to stay HOME to take care of a garden! I told my wife, "You know there's a problem when you have to MOW the garden!" So, In 2017 and this year, I had absolutely NO garden. Partly because of the decision process of, "Do I want to go out in the garden and sweat my tail off, or take the trailer and GO somewhere?", partly because of garden burn-out. You know where it says in the Bible to let the land rest every seven years? Up until now, I have been in the mode of, "Let the land rest SEVEN years!" Maybe it's time to get the Speedex out and turn some furrows in anticipation of next year?

Nice work on this one Reid! I’ll be following along to see how this one ends. My Local Circle buddy @Rp.wh would find that narrow front especially interesting. I like the look of the whole project and the functional purpose for which you are building it...

$20 per wheel is way too high Do you have other places you can go? I'll tell you what I would do. go to Harbor Freight and buy one each of the regular manual changer and the small Tire manual changer. you will have spent that same $80 and you will have the tools the next time you need them. Trina bought us the full-sized manual changer a few months ago and it was one of the best investments in tools we've ever made.

Glad to see that a good buffer was left between your house and theirs. They probably will maintain the land in agriculture and chances are they won't be playing loud music at all hours of the night.

I like the Amish very much. Usually very nice people.

See the green Mackissic shredder is also set up for this tractor. Garry

This is the pump assembly it looks identical to the motor assembly do not mix them up, they both have a spring in the center to keep the piston slippers preloaded against the valve plate. Also there's two valve plates that look identical, the one shown below is from the pump. This valve plate has some damage and needs lapped, hopefully I can get that score lapped out and stay within OEM specs.

Good news! The real culprit was at the PTO lever safety switch. First, I used a bungee cord to keep the clutch pedal down (knew from last night that the clutch pedal switch was good and working properly with the pedal). I used my meter to check continuity from the red wire at the starter switch to the other end of that circuit at the starter relay. No continuity. The tab on the PTO lever that is supposed to depress the switch..... wasn’t (reliably), but if I depressed that switch myself, got a good circuit every time. Noticed there was a bit of slop left to right on the shaft that goes through to the other side of the frame. Removed the c-clip on that side, removed the washer that was under it, noticed it was kind of thin. Found a stash of washers here in the garage and selected one that was about twice as thick as the one I removed. C-clip would still go on nicely. Metered the circuit as I moved the PTO lever and it all worked properly! I still don’t have a good battery for this tractor, so I stuck my jump box on it, turned the key....... music to my ears!!!!!!! I like progress!!!

Including my 400 for reference here... ...to show the potential your original paint still retains.

pumps push better than they suck. Mount it back near the tank. I haven't put am e;electric on my D200 but i have on several other WHs I run it off the A terminal of the switch.. Doesn't pump while cranking but when i turn the switch on and i wait a couple seconds for the pump to build up pressure (you can hear the change) and then they start right up.

Here's more pics

Finally done!

I have some ideas in my head of a way to run a saw mill to cut logs into lumber using one of these tractors. Maybe they’re already is and I don’t know it yet but if there is Please share some pics or vids.

With regard to health insurance, I did have an experience that may help you at some point Randy. Due to a dispute over vacation, I retired at 62 , took my pension, and began working as a contractor for the same company without any benefits. Under the COBRA law, I was able to keep my company group policy for two years. Of course I had to pay the full amount, but it was about two times what I was paying while I was an employee, around $300/month for pretty good health insurance for Mrs. K and myself. That ended when I was 64, so I had to buy insurance for another year. That cost me $1100, month and that was for a lousy $7500 deductible policy. I was then 65 and eligible for Medicare. My wife was 6 months from being 65, and that is when I learned there is a "short term health insurance available. The cost for this was $100/month. Just some info if you end up in this situation. OH, like Jim said, good luck with the SS system. I made the mistake of taking their suggestion and enrolled for SS and Medicare on line three months before my 65th birthday. Someone dropped the ball and it took me many hours waiting in line at the SS office to get it resolved.

Wow, Thank you for the very quick reply Paul. I'll try to grab them this weekend.

Here's that cover plate... not bent or beat up... I'll let YOU make it PRETTY...

Leesburg, Indiana. That's my 64 Ford in the picture. He had those shows for more then a few years. I don't think I missed one of them.

Thanks for sharing that. I'm in on the other thread now.

Arkansas is a great place, and I have heard comments like yours from several people! Glad to know we have such a nice reputation (to counteract all the others!). I love the area of northern and northwest Arkansas and into Missouri. This is a well-kept secret.... not so secret any longer with the growth of Walmart, JB Hunt trucking, Tyson Foods, and others. This is one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation. When I hear people refer to this as “fly-over country”, I just say, “Keep on flying over!” To all the others..... come see us! It’s not called “The Natural State” for nuthin’!

!!!