Leaderboard

I've posted a few pics of Trina's latest woodstove restoration project. This'n is a Timberline. It's now located in the new basement apartment for her momma. Here's a before during and after pic set.

So Mrs. M and I took some much needed time off from the world and stood on a corner in Winslow, AZ

Never forget Our Nation is in mourning, for those lost for our freedoms. There will be hatred always, but the way we handle it seems odd to this country boy. ‘Nuff said. RIP Charlie Kirk, a man who would respectfully debate with anyone, no matter their beliefs.

I have been working on my little shed at home and remembered how Dad would always put Masonite(tempered hardboard) down for a nice work surface. The great thing about it is it cleans up nice and when it gets too messed up you just pull it up and put down a new piece!! The 1/4" 4'x8' sheet was less than $25 I am still organizing this shed at my house since I got it a couple of years ago. My shop is 9 miles away, so I have to have stuff here too!

I am going to have some new Schnacke Nuts made for Kohler K 90 and 91 motors! I acquired a Schnacke with my latest RJ purchase and the 1 1/2 inch HEX Nut was already rounded which explained why the Schnacke was off the motor and the rope pull was being used! McMaster Carr sells 7/8 HEX rod in different lengths. I bought 12 inches which should make 7 good ones 1 1/2 long. I am also going to have the 7/16 x 20 threads placed on each end so the Kohler HEX Nut can be reversed and used on the other end after wear

Neighborhood mowing entrepreneurs. They have a couple old riders to mow, push mower, & leaf blowers. They have about 20 accts in neighborhood. They stopped by to see if I could fix the trailer tire. Sometimes I fix their equipment for them. Glad to help them out. Besides the kids in neighborhood nicknamed me "tractor guy" Dont know how I got that name! Their trailer kinda raggedy. I had a trailer I only used 1x & didn't need so I gave it to them. They were so appreciative.

My son sent me a link to a recent Flash Mob performance in Paris that I thought was worth sharing with ya'll. A lot of time and talent went into this one time show. Hope you enjoy.

We are prevailed to live in a nation that was founded on freedom of speech and religious belief. The protection of these rights against discriminatory practices is a balancing act. My rights should only go to the point where they will not interfere with the rights of others. That was the philosophy of Charlie Kirk, freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Charlie Kirk was an amazing young man who inspired others through his "Turning Point USA" campaign encouraging young Americans to live a life of purpose, become involved and vote their conscience. In his thirty one short years Charley Kirk did more to unite and motivate high school and collage students than anyone I am aware of. He used the Constitution of the United States and the Bible as the basis of his debate points and would allow others to make their point in open debate. This is a sad time in our history Rest in piece Charlie Kirk.

No matter your beliefs, no matter what culture or lifestyle- No one deserves to die for what they say. We have alot to reflect upon at this time. Emotions are running high and the shock of horrible events doesn't ever really go away, whether 24 years ago or yesterday. I pray that God will be with us all. Regardless of your beliefs, it's clear more than ever that we need it.

Celebrated 62 years with Mrs. K. Sept. 8, 1963

While I had this blade here I made templates to replicate it using two 42” Craftsman snow blades. The snow blades were cut to height and welded together with both backing plates. Everything else was made with heavier material. When finished it was put on the back of my 1277.

If I could find the top of my bench I would probably do the same.

@Bar Nuthin @SylvanLakeWH the chickens and cats are so cross with me right now, they aren’t laughing. Cats haven’t been out since Monday, chickens have been cooped up for 3 weeks! No poopin’ or scratchin’ allowed on my new mud!

Owner of the local mower shop dropped off a Brinly box blade for me to redo. He didn’t have time to mess with it. He got it for nothing during a pickup/delivery. The P.O. had left it sitting out on its back. The blade was corroded and the pivot pin was froze up. A lot of liquid wrench and a BFH finally disassembled everything.Got it cleaned and repainted . This going to his 14 year old son to use so I wouldn’t charge him anything. He gives me a break at his shop so it’s payback.

The 520H runs and drives! The entire motion control system is worn and it's a two hand driver so no video... Seems reasonable. Engine is decent and smooth. Transmission operates correctly. I had the hood off already so I leaned up against a tree. Easily made two nice tire holes in the gravel. Now.... to rip it apart!

With a ton of other projects going on, I haven't been able to spend as much time as I would like to explore this forum or work on my 522xi or my recently-acquired GT18, but I'm trying to squeeze in some time here and there. In between other tasks, I'm 'rejuvenating' the mower deck that came with the GT18. One of the steps involved repairing the anti-scalp wheels and gage/adjusting plates. The axles for the anti-scalp wheels were both badly worn. Here's one of the old axles after grinding off the weld and popping it out of the plate: I ordered some high-strength shoulder bolts, which I welded onto the old gage/adjusting plates. Also some new wheels. The dimensions of the shoulder bolts worked out very well. I did had to shave about .020" off the hub of the plastic wheels to get a perfect fit without having to extend the shoulder of the bolts. The wheels spin freely with the lock nuts nice and tight against the shoulder. To lubricate the axles, I sprayed the axles and the inside of the wheel hubs with dry graphite lubricant. It's messy stuff to use, but after it dries it doesn't attract dust. Another little task was to clean up the GT18 headlights. I polished and waxed the lens, which was pretty dull and a bit yellow. I think it came out pretty good. The reflective plating of the headlight reflector was rather deteriorated in places, so I cleaned it up and sprayed it with Rust-Oleum "Cast Coat Aluminum" engine enamel...some kind of ceramic coating. It's quite reflective, seems to adhere well, and it appears to be quite tough, so I might not spray a clear coat over it...haven't decided yet. I also installed some very bright white LED bulbs. I might try some other LED bulbs later, as I have quite an assortment left over from experimenting with lights on another vehicle project. I just ordered more of the clips that secure the lens to the reflector, but they're on backorder, so I might not see them for a while. In the meantime, four clips will have to do. If they never show up, I guess I can make some new clips from strips of spring steel (anneal, bend, temper). Tomorrow I'll be busy programming our new standby generator and backfilling the trench I dug for the propane line, so won't be able to play with my toys tractors.

Just a thought for the mods... @Sparky @nylyon Maybe a "Free" section in classifieds that would facilitate keeping those low value parts in circulation? They ain't making decks, etc. anymore and perhaps another collector would like to have them... if they sit there a week or three with no takers, then make the scrap run...

Now that you clowns got properly ... EB would say it's all good... Casing down to 245 ft. with the screen. It was interesting that he put the screen down to the bottom then pulled the casing back up so the screen hangs out the bottom of the casing. Would have liked to see how he cut off the pipe and drive coupling to final grade but had a doctors appt. He said it not a great well but not a bad one. Water up in the casing to about 14 ft. from the top. Today I noticed water dripping out of the conduit power connection and at times a decent stream. Maybe they did hit a artesian ?? Gotta like their custom caps! Now to wait on the pump installers. Can't wait for seat time on the FEL to move the dirt he pulled out and put the lawn back together.

Well its 99.9% done a few little small things

Things went great yesterday! Rylee has been whooping me in the gym, and I’m sore… but we got work to do! A handful of years back now, @Achto had a wonderful string of luck on the plow fields. His wallet and phone were both plowed under, on separate occasions. It seems the joke was that he’d have to plow naked from now on to not loose anything. I told the boys via text yesterday that it was National get naked and pour concrete and take selfies day Sorry @SylvanLakeWH for the show…

Now don't go giving Kevin any ideas..... In a case like the modified mower, stupid usually fixes itself.

I’m currently doing some needed maintenance, adjustments, and repairs to my recently-acquired New Holland GT18 (the New Holland version of the Toro 518xi), which is the new companion to my 522xi. The old steering tie rod ends had a lot of play in them, and one of them even had a washer welded onto it to keep the ball from popping out. The OEM replacements I was able to find were very pricey, so I looked for some lower-cost general-purpose rod ends that looked like they matched the originals. I found some that had the same threads and external measurements as the ones that were on the tractor. However, when I pulled back the rubber dust boots to see if the innards were the same, I found that the old rod end had a larger ball and larger neck on the stud where it meets the ball. I won't speculate as to whether or not the low-cost replacement rod ends would be good enough, but I prefer replacement parts to be as strong or better than the originals, and I didn't have any load ratings to compare them. Thinking about it some more, I thought it might be nice to have greaseable rod ends, and Heim joints came to mind. I found some ½”-thread, stud-type Heim joints from McMaster-Carr that looked like they would do the job (the dimensions, thread sizes, swivel angle range, etc., looked OK to me). I wanted to install rubber dust boots on the joints, and I found some that I thought 'might' fit, although one of the holes was much smaller than the diameter of the female-thread shank of the joint, so it would have to stretch quite a bit…hopefully without tearing. If anyone knows about other dust boot options for these joints, let me know. In the meantime, I'm using these boots. Here’s a photo of one of the Heim joints and one of the boots that I ordered (the boots did not come with the cable ties). Trying to stretch the boot onto the joint with my fingers alone was not working very well. I noticed that some dust boot suppliers were selling four-prong stretching tools/pliers for that specific purpose. These tools appeared to me to be re-labelled ‘goat banding’ tools. Some of you with livestock would know that these tools are used for applying stiff rubber bands to a critter for the purpose of removing certain, shall we say, 'unwanted body parts.' Anyway, I found one at Tractor Supply for about 12 bucks that worked very well for stretching the dust boots. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much the small hole in the boot could be stretched without tearing. I purposely over-stretched one (even farther than shown in the photo) just to make sure it didn’t tear. So far, none of them have torn, but I guess time will tell. After I figured out the best way of using it to install the first boot, the rest were a snap to install. Here’s a joint with the boot installed (cable ties not installed yet): I thought I’d grease the joints before installing them on the tractor, as I wanted to make sure that the grease would go in OK without damaging the boots, and I also wanted to rotate the stud/ball while greasing it so that the initial charge or grease would completely surround the ball. I screwed a bolt (or the end of a tie rod) into the joints and pumped grease into them until it started to ooze out around the openings in the boots. After greasing the joints I squeezed the boots a bit to force out any air bubbles and excess grease, and then installed cable ties on the boots. I don’t know if the cable ties are really necessary, but they at least make the boots appear more secure. I figured it couldn’t hurt. Note: Before screwing the ends of the tie rods into the joints, I temporarily unscrewed the zerk fitting, which prevented air bubbles as well as the excess grease in the female-threaded part of the joint from being forced into the joint and boot. The residual grease in the threads should help prevent the joint from seizing up with rust over time. I had a #@*%! time getting a couple of the old rusted rod ends off. It took several long soaks in penetrating oil/solvent, applications of heat, and a barrage of unprintable language before they surrendered. For future lubrication, I would slowly add just enough grease to see the boot swell up a bit and perhaps have a little bit ooze out. Here are the completed tie rod ends: I installed the tie rods on the tractor, jacked it up by the frame, and checked for binding as I moved the axle tilt and steering through their full ranges of motion. Everything seemed fine to me. BTW, the nut is an all-metal distorted-thread lock nut. Coming up: A second steering issue to deal with.

Here is the one I built. With gator blades and the vacuum it pack the leafs so tight I just dump the box.

Picked up this marketplace barn find rescue today. This picture its getting ready for a pressure washer bath.After the bath I will need to decide what I am going to do with this tractor.

Landfill score, someone had discarded the cast iron frame from a Singer sewing machine. Brought it home then cut the trade mark logo from the casting. Gave one to a buddy his wife wants him to clean up the rough edges, she wants to use it in the kitchen to set a hot pot onto. I'm going to steal her idea, clean it up then gift it to a girl friend.

Picked up the Work Horse tonight. Runs great & everything works. Needs a good cleaning & definitely a seat. I'll go thru it & change fluids, etc. Time to find a complete 2stage blower now

But in Kevin's case it'll be chickens...

Game changer no good for menial tasks, but good for getting around the garden.... suffering from a lot of understeer

Started putting the tower together for the parts machine 512H. Really did not want to take it apart but it need rust removed and paint. Pro tip......leave all the bolts loose until all the pieces are in place then tighten.

Thanks you guys for all the well wishes. It's not easy to reach 76 years of age. The past few months have been a test to that. I think staying active is part of it. This site allows me to join with old and new friends by helping those that want to learn, by sharing relationships that are worth a million dollars, and remembering those friends that have passed before us. I treasure every minute that I have been a part of this Web Site and I thank Karl, Sparky and all the members that I have met thought the years. I could write a book with all the pictures and names of the Red Square Herd and the stories and memories that go with it. To those that have joined recently...go to the horse shows in your area and meet the members that you talk with on this site. It is a family and it will enrich your life. Thank you for the Happy Birthday!!!

1445 helping finish some sand work before forms and grade are set…

Ditched Facebook. Im free

National Chocolate Milkshake Day on September 12 is without a doubt a treat day. Simple, sweet, and delectable, chocolate milkshakes aren’t just one of the best treats of all time, they’re also a reminder of our innocence and a symbol of America’s past-time. A time when getting a milkshake and fries was the perfect date and drive-in movies were all the rage. So put a quarter in the jukebox, join us and say cheers to the best fusion since peanut butter and jelly.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... That's HOUSE wiring double wrapped around the 12V cable. The house wiring was also double wrapped onto the battery positive side bolt 🔩

@WHX?? Can you please have another well drilled? I was really enjoying this thread 😂

Made some good progress getting the 520H disassembled. The start of the evening fun: Pumped out 2 gallons of usable road gas. Some sheet metal removed. Engine OFF and headed to Jim's.

The image in the window is a painting. The one on the street is real.

I had this one many years ago picked it up from Rick. Had it shipped up from his house enjoy the picture.

Several folks named Kevin here... And I just had a thread trimming a deck back to 1/2 past the blade tips... BUT it's still covered and can't touch exterior obstacles. And in general I don't trim the skirt on my propane tank.

Since I retired, I started organizing hardware myself. The gray drawers are standard nuts and bolts. The tan drawers are all metric nuts and bolts with standard machine screws and nuts on the bottom. All are organized by diameter and thread pitch. I actually started organizing a few years before retiring but reorganized a little better afterwards.

Teddy Bear Day is celebrated on September 9 annually, a day set aside for everyone to bring out all their teddy bears to thank them for their companionship, the wonderful moments we’ve had with them, and all the days and nights they’ve comforted us. The teddy bear is one of the most popular toys for children, and it occupies a particular place in the hearts of many adults as well. Teddy Bear Day is a holiday dedicated to this adorable teddy animal. It allows people to take Teddy out of the closet and make them the focus of attention.

Happy Birthday @stevasaurus, we are all glad you were born.

Ed happy for you. We made it to 65. then she went to heaven. Love of my life. I still feel married. Marv

There fixed it!

Painted a hood.

Next thing will be to redo a snow blade for it.

A Haiku... I wanna iguana to roam about my back yard eating mosquitoes A limerick... There once was man with an iguana Who liked to take him in his sauna His wife who joined him disagreed Shrieked and almost peed As she ran quickly into the fauna

The only machine I own that lives in my house, in the basement to be exact (not my living room!) 2002 315-8

Can't speak for the specific brand, but a tractor-mounted vac system is a great addition if you have alot of leaves for sure. I built one for my FIL a few years ago, and he loves it. They are also great if rain puts you behind on mowing and you want to pick up excessive clippings. Now I gotta build one to clean my son's room...

Working on mowing decks. Rinse. Flip. Repeat. I'll pressure wash later and coat the bottoms with used oil. After that I took a few things off the parts 520H. Hood. Front mule. Rear part of the blower/bagger. Rear hitch. The hitch pin came RIGHT OUT!!