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First week in December 2024 the Burnham Boiler SCG decided after 15 years to give up. In the last house I installed 2 Burnham 's both Natural Gas / Chimney vented. One in 1984 and the other in 2009 Both still in operation. That house has been transferred to another family member that my parents purchased in 1952. I would have hoped the one here in Maine would have lasted at least 20 years, no such luck. A '' newer technology type unit '' I should have known better , oh well. So the replacement boiler was ordered and delivered, all 435 lbs of it in 10 degree weather with a 12'' rise from ground level to the top of the basement entry threshold. Nothing I 'm not used to, seen it all at this stage of life in the trade, you guy's know what I;m talking about. It took 10 day's without heat and hot water to make this all happen because of the time of year, finding bodies to help etc, etc. Thank God for the 2 wood stoves CRANKED up for 1 full week keeping the house from freezing up and having a Cabin in the woods in the back of my mind as a last resort. Life is fun isn't it. I have shown the old boiler being disconnected and the new installed. There are other pics under the Plumbing & Heating thread, Non- Tractor Related. Check out the melted tape measure that an assembler must have forgot on top of the cast iron boiler, classic. The new boiler requires a slightly different near boiler piping. Jim , your not missing a tape measure are you ? @WHX??

Today we processed the lesser quality parts that were left from around 20 deer that we harvested this year. These bones are frozen until deer season is over then the bones are boiled and the meat is separated and ground for scrapple. The raw meat is ground for bologna. We made around 200lb each of scrapple and bologna. Scrapple boiling Dipped out and cooling Bologna Grinding Mixing spices Stuffing Then to the smoke house Then a lunch featuring a fish fry of perch, walleye, and striper

This is a long story so bear with; Dad was a Wheel Horse dealer. My moms uncle was also a Wheel Horse dealer from the 60's thru the 90's. My dad has only owned 3 Horses all these years: a 701 , a C141, and his only new Horse- a 416H. In 1978 moms uncle sold a new C141 to my grandparents neighbor. He stored it in my grandfathers barn but he died in 1980. My father sold our 701 and purchased the like new C141 for our own personal use. I had the majority of the seat time as mowing the grass was my job. We kept the C141 until 1993 when it was sold and dad took a new 416 for his own use. The C141 was sold somewhat locally and dad took a really ragged C120 on trade for it. Dad gave me the C120 which I totally restored and has been my everyday tractor since 1996. Fast forward to this week. I scroll the local Facebook marketplace listings several times a day and saw a C141 listed about an hour away and gave it no thought whatsoever because I am not looking for anything other than parts tractors. Looked at the listing another day or so later and for some reason looked closer: there were 2 things that gave it away : when we got it back in 1980 there were holes punched in the muffler ( God only knows why ) which Dad brazed shut, and there was a faded, worn decal on the left rear top of the hood. A few carefully asked questions and a rode trip was in order. It's had a rough life and multiple owners ,but our old C141 came home today after 33 years. Sold new by moms uncle, dads tractor for most of my life that was spent at home, and I own the tractor that was traded in on it. Needless to say it's going to get a full restoration and it's not going anywhere again.

I love my Bronco 14. That being said it tries my patience more than most of the others. It has alot of hydraulics mods and it has always had leaks to fix. But this latest was my fault. Or at least I thought so... I removed the balance gears last year and had no correct oil pan gasket. So I made one up, and as soon as I cranked it up it started leaking oil. So last week I changed out the oil pan gasket with a correct part. After driving it around, I see oil around the base of the engine again. Turns out the oil was coming from behind the fuel pump. It didn't contaminate my oil but it sure spit pretty bad. So today I made a steel plate cover for the fuel pump hole and added a low pressure (2-3psi) electric pump. This makes 3 tractors now using them and I've been very happy so far. When all back together she fired right up and ran like a champ. Absolutely zero oil leaking now and everything seems good. Even with the pump pulling on the rectifier it is still charging strong. It settles down to 12.6VDC after a few minutes.

With all this snow this year and no 44'' 2 stage set up on the 520 - H I installed the 48'' Dozer blade. I really can't believe the oomph this thing has. I'm sure the extra weight of the twin cylinder helps. I only put the trac weights on and not the heavier steel weights along with a nice set of 2 link chains. I was pushing at least a foot and a half of crusty snow with it. Very impressed. This is my main mower but I may have to think about using another WH for mower duties ?

@JCM The first word that comes to mind is Artwork! Then look at those solder joints! My gosh Jim, you are a true Master of the Trade👍🏻 Now let’s talk about this. You know how you always wanted to see how beautiful Eastern Long Island is in the summer? And how much you’ve wanted to check out my Wheel Horse collection? I have two bedrooms no longer being used since my kids moved out, so you’d have a place to stay. Ohhh and by the way, my Burnham burner is 29 years old and starting to leak a little. It’s time to replace it. You can see it in this picture. A nice clear path to get it out and put the new one in. C’mon ole’ buddy ole’ pal, fishing, boating, golf if you’d like and a simple little boiler installation 😂😂 What a better way to spend a vacation? 🤣🤣 All the tools are here along with this great helper guy named Don!

The Workhorse needed front wheel bearings so I found some on fleabay for cheap. I figured how bad could they be. Gave them the "Greasy Pete" treatment and installed them. Swapped them out 6 months later and this is all 4 of them! I have never seen such destruction. I think I found 5 balls left in the mess. Don't buy cheap bearings, people!

Kinda hard to see.

A big shout out thank you to @Handy Don for helping me! I met him a few times at the Big Show, and you know when you talk to someone for a while and you can just tell they are smart? Well that’s Don!! My C-141 was not charging so after doing some basic testing I decided I needed help. I was going to post this here, but I kinda wanted some instant gratification. So I decided to call Don and pick his brain. After talking for a while we switched to FaceTime which enabled him to guide me step by step. His knowledge and ability to explain how things work is remarkable. Using my multi meter we were able to determine that the voltage regulator was not working properly. We probably chatted for an hour in total covering an array of topics! Afterwards I called Brian @76c12091520h at K+B Wheel Horse Parts and he informed me that he has one in stock and would send it to me. So I wanted to say thank you Don, Brian and everyone here at Red Square for helping keep my (our) hobby going strong! God Bless ❤️

I 'm lucky I can even post pics on here. I've had too many head injuries in my lifetime and very lucky to still function properly.

Any chance you could photoshop out that green thing in the background of the last picture? It really diminishes the feng shui...

Adjusting the Eaton 1100 to stop the creaping late last Summer on the 420 - LSE.

Yes I do. I've had one on one of my tractors for 3 years now and it works fine. Given they can be had for about $6 each, I'll buy them in bulk if I have to. I have them on 4 tractors so far.

It was always hard for me to buy tools because I would not buy cheap.

Yup - cold beer is the "motivational fluid" of the younger generation. Now at my age, prune juice is.

Pull the trunnion already!

Lots of build up there. Can't say where its from, need to clean it up and watch. Most likely candidate is the swivel fitting . Either the O ring had failed or the swivel itself is leaking.

I lived in Minnesota for six years and did some work in Appleton, WI on and off for a couple of years, and while not as rocky overall as Maine, there are definitely a number of very scenic rocky areas, such as the Baraboo Range in WI and the rocky coast and cliffs along the North Shore of Lake Superior in MN, to name just a couple. As to the use of local rocks here in Maine, the basement of the antique Federal Period house that we restored and sold a couple of years ago had some pretty hefty stones in its foundation, and these weren't the largest ones. Unlike our current residence, which was built directly on bedrock/ledge, the antique house was built on sandy glacial till, and these stones would have been hauled in from some distance away. "Power equipment" in those days would have been a team of oxen. We didn't want to cover up the beautiful stonework in the foundation, especially after going to so much work to clean, grout, and re-point it all, so we insulated the outside of the foundation walls below grade instead of the inside, which also provided an opportunity to install a perimeter drain system. Unlike many basements in old Maine houses, this one is now dry.

Changed something else today. The hydro pedal that I was using just wasn't working as well as I wanted. Forward was great, but rocking it back for reverse was difficult. The lower part of the Kubota pedal just is too small. So I had another pedal, I think from a Toro mower. It has a longer lower section and it has a more natural lean towards the outside of the footrest. I'll give her a test drive tomorrow, but at least now just pushing down with my heel does the trick. It doesn't look as good as the Kubota pedal but definitely fits my hoof better.

Happy Valentine's Day !! Being as such, it seemed like a good day to spray some red paint. The outside temp in the low 50's also made the shop easy to heat. A big THANK YOU to Jim for helping me wet sand this morning.

Good progress on this Pete today. Small things left.

You should see a 1.6 increase in speed.

I was going to go that route too, even bought the bearings on the bay. Ended up not installing them because the OD of the bearing was too small for my rims. And honestly the original bearings seemed just as tight if not more as the new ones.

China strikes again! You get what you pay for. Bob

Some areas there are. The glaciers did some pretty cool things here. Got a trail at the cabin looks like your mountain. I call it rocky road & huge bolders & rocks. A very cool trail on the SxS.

What a nice job, our Weil-McLain we had installed in 1986. I've had my fingers x for years now. We have a contract with a local oil company that cleans it once a year. We had some work done to it over the years and it's performed very well this year with the terrible cold we have had in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. We do have a pellet stove also and for years when I was able to I burned wood. We had to replace the water heater a few years ago and luckily the small company my wife works for did it. My home was built in1830 and over the years I've insulated it up good, that has made a big difference in fuel use. I'm hoping to get enough time out of the old girl so I only have to do one more replacement. My wife keeps reminding me that the new stuff doesn't last and the mini splits we put in for air conditioning also have heat but in the cold we have had this winter aren't very effective or efficient. Keeping our fingers crossed and saving for the inevitable.

E mail sent

@JCM, that's quite impressive! Meets my anal retentive behaviors! As @c-series don stated, artwork! The key to a sound solder joint is cleanliness, the proper amount of heat and flux! And yes, I would have thought a Burnham boiler would have lasted more than 15 years. Don't get me started on the life cycle of today's dehumidifiers...

Missing a bunch over the years! I used to tell the guys the next thing you do after kissing your wife goodbye for the day was put on your tape measure. There fixed that for ya Plunger. I sold very few Burhams but sure did wrench on few. Mostly 40 year old ones that were made right and uncomplicated. Lasted forever. Was a Weil Mcclain dealer for a few years back in the early 80's. Got fed up with their seemingly non existent dealer support. Switched to Thermoflos and never looked back.

Dave, All great advice from @ebinmaine, but I'd get photographic verification of this mostly mythical creation... there have been sightings in the past, but few that are not grainy and of the "big foot sightings" genre...

I have a 1/2" threaded rod about 2 feet long. I take out one bolt positioned at 12 o clock and insert the threaded rod. This holds the weight when you take the bottom bolt out. If the weight is stuck, you can use the rod like a handle to hold the weight whilst you work it free. The rod also doubles as a lever to install the weight. Insert the rod thu the weight. and slide it into the 12 o clock hole. Then use what's sticking out of the weight as a lever to lift the weight into position and hold it there whilst you in stall the lower bolt.

Absolutely agreed. @Handy Don has a way with words that most folks don't possess.

Yep upon further review we'll call it "custom"

Just sayin ...

It has returned to where it belongs. Glad to hear that you got it and are going to restore it back to original.

What the hell it's tradition now! I didn't do a damn thing. Looks like them hood hangers worked purty good. Thank you for the P clamps ... ended all my misery. I got nice ... well decent ... throttle range without having to add that little tab.

Left cold snowy CT for much warmer Katy, TX to watch our granddaughter ride in her first rodeo with the Katy Cowgirls in the Katy Rodeo and parade.

Likewise, where we are, it wouldn't be easy to dig very far into the ground, as ledge is protruding from many places in our back yard. Relating to the thread topic, the type of subsurface under a shop/garage/home can have an effect on one's heating and cooling costs. We've pulled some big boulders out here and there, but for the most part, our land is solid ledge, with areas of shallow soil and clay. Our current house was built directly on solid ledge, and the floor of the basement is the ledge itself. Even though the basement is not heated, and there is an open vent to the outside (our rather old boiler draws its air from the basement, which draws outside air into the basement), the ledge acts as a massive, high-density heat sink that helps keep the basement much cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than if the floor was just typical concrete over gravel and deep soil. If/when we replace the boiler with a more efficient one that uses outside air for combustion, the basement will be even cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than it is now. Likewise, the foundation of our new garage was poured directly on ledge, which made it a challenge to fit the forms to the rock. As an aside (pardon any interruption), I made a custom scribing tool to mark the forms accurately. Here are a few photos of the forms for the footings that went under the foundation walls of the new garage. Examples of footing forms scribed to fit the convolutions in the rock: Edit: I should add that when we poured the footings on the ledge, the surface of ledge had been thoroughly pressure washed and vacuumed to prepare it for pouring to assure a solid bond. Here's the garage foundation after pouring the foundation walls on top of the concrete footings, installing interior and exterior perimeter drains, backfilling, insulating the inside of the foundation walls, and filling with compacted crushed stone: Ledge/bedrock extends all the way down to our shore on the river (photo taken about mid-tide).

Amazing America: Studebaker Museum houses special collection of US presidential carriages This report and videos were on the local news last evening. Some of you who come to South Bend for whatever reason I'd suggest, if you have the time, a visit to the Studebaker Museum won't disappoint you. This is just on the presidential carriages commemorating 250 years but you find a very impressive display of all the vehicles Studebaker had a part in as well as other items about South Bends history. I knew the museum had some or all of the Wheel Horses that were on display in their factory when they were still here. They were kinda tucked away in a basement area and the display tags had some incorrect information. I also know that they had more because I saw them when they were still in storage at the museum's old location downtown. I got in touch with the museums curator and he said the Wheel Horse display was in his sights as one of many displays to update. I offered my assistance with the Wheel Horses and he said he will be taking me up on that. His timeline is this summer.

I did the same but used a second hitch pin in 1/8 inch diameter in the hole that the roll pin used.

Don't know if it matters, but the larger pulleys would have more belt/pulley contact reducing the chance for slippage.

Great story

That is a major problem in our old home also, very steep stairs and little head room. I had to remove a one hundred gallon stone lined hot water heater that the previous owner rented from the electric company, before I could have the new system installed back in 87. The contractor put on the contract, owner responsible for removal of hot water heater. I was 23 and a few friends and a few cases of beer, that bad boy was out of the basement and in the bed of my truck. I don't think some beers would get the same results in 2026.

I am a huge fan of 1/4 turn ball valves, one installed on either side of a Circulator.... and ProPress fittings. Funny? how buying a whole new Circulator is more cost effective than buying the pump rebuild kit... Taco Circulators are made in the next city over from me, they seem to have a strangle hold on the N.E. market. Their pricing strategy?? Excellent spacing layout and craftsmanship.

Great full circle story!

Snow plowing with a garden tractor is nearly all about traction. Apparently you've nailed the combo that suits your needs. Very nice!

Not an issue here. I've seen enough non-electrician homeowner wired houses to know that it's a good idea to go through every connection in the house. In this case he even had a couple dozen+ junction boxes in the attic. There were several potential problems with a few that I would call serious. Still, it wasn't the worse I've seen. All the receps and switches have been checked or replaced to get rid of the back stabbed nonsense and verify solid connections. Heavily used receps have been upgraded to 5362's. My main concern was that the often changing landscape in the garage made it a bit of a challenge to make sure one of them wasn't near something combustible.

That's the "En-gin-eer" thing coming thru...

I don't know Unit ... @Sparky s neck of the woods there are many old stone fences ... many dating back to colonial days. Plunge's code required here on a new build. Floor no tho. Things really sound messed up there ... as much as I would enjoy living in the woods of Maine I would be mowing a lot in the dark & The @Pullstart would be on speed dial. ..