Barn Spring Cleaning

[top_cat 41]

With the excess time these days I did a clean sweep or the barn. There is a tint of green starting to develop so I figured it was a good time to put the herd out to pasture for the day. Being self employed electrician I don't have to much time to sit down at the computer but I do enjoy reading the posts on Red Square in the evening on my Kindle while watching the boob tube. I feel like I know a lot of you by reading your posts. Here in the "Last Green Valley" we're kind of stuck in the middle of all the big cities of southern New England. 

 

I know most everybody enjoys pictures, especially of a cool rainy Sunday so I'll throw a couple out there with a short description.

 

1963 - 753               Restored about 15 years ago

1978 - C101             My father bought new. Just did a mechanical restore this winter. I had the Kohler rebuilt with all Kohler parts $$

1993 - 310-8            Bought this new. Snow blower winter machine and 36 inch deck for summer.

1997 - 312-8            Just picked this up in late fall with 250 hours, 37 inch deck & almost new grader blade for $1000

1997 - 520H            Have had this for 10 years. 300 hours with my Kwik Way loader & Matt's foot pedal conversion (best mod I've made) 

2003 - 315-8            I went to my local dealers open house about 5 years ago to look at new Mahinda's. He said "your a Wheelhorse guy, I've got one for you" . 2 hours on the meter with a 48 inch deck $3000. Loaded it right on the trailer. It cuts about 4 acres a week with 450 hours on it now. 

                                 It is also used with my DR lawn & leaf vac in the fall. Great combination. 

 

Thanks for all the info and knowledge I've gained from you guys.

 

STAY SAFE !

 

 

[ebinmaine 63,133]

Great post.

Beautiful barn.

 

[tom2p 2,393]

10 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Great post.

Beautiful barn.

 

yeah - what he said 

 

super duper outstanding !

 

 

[ZXT 2,394]

Excellent looking tractors, and that CJ doesn't look bad either! 

 

Don't be a stranger! We love reading posts about peoples tractors and the process of the work being done to them. 

 

Welcome back from another sparky!

[JCM 8,649]

NICE , barn, yard and tractors. In 1989 I bought a new 312-8 with a 42'' SD  deck , chrome wheel covers and a tractor cover for $ 3400.00 , I think I got taken .Still runs like the day I bought it.      Very nice collection.

[Pullstart 59,713]

@top_cat beautiful collection!  Feel free to come isolate yourself in my barn and give a good cleaning 

[c-series don 7,809]

Wow that whole show is really, really nice! Looks like a nice place for a meet and greet! Only 50 minutes off the New London ferry for me! 

Edited March 29, 2020 by c-series don

[top_cat 41]

Thanks for the comments on the barn. My 250 year old barn didn't survive the snows in 2011. Luckily I had most everything out before it collapsed. A friend of mine has a sawmill so in the fall of 2011 we had a barn raising. To me it feels like being in northern Maine, it's a great place to hide.

 

My Jeep's a 1981 CJ-5, I've had it for about 25 years. Got carried away and put a Chevy fuel injected 5.3 with a Muncie SM465 a few years ago. Scary power for a 2500 pound vehicle.

 

Hey JCM, I bought my 1993 310-8 new for $3000 with a 37 SD, and bagger. The hour meter stopped working about 20 years ago with 480 hrs. My cousin went with me to pick it, to expensive he said. He bought a big box green machine for $1800. He just bought his 5th "tractor" last spring. Over the years I've put 4 new tires, fuel pump, seat, axle seals, brake band, couple belts, plugs and lots of oil changes. I just finished replacing the hood stand. The raised ring that hold the lift arm bushing broke off. I did find a used hood stand online cheap but basically had only the wheels and engine on the frame to replace it, lots of work. I guess 27 years of lifting the snow blower took it's toll. Has anyone else had this problem ?

 

Not a bad return for my investment. You used to get what you paid for.

[tom2p 2,393]

wow that Jeep would be scary fast 

recall the Jeep CJ's factory equipped with a V8 ... 304 or something like that ?  ... they ran well 

 

heck the V6 CJs ran well ... Buick V6 ? ... (aluminum ?) ... 

 

 

[tom2p 2,393]

1 hour ago, JCM said:

NICE , barn, yard and tractors. In 1989 I bought a new 312-8 with a 42'' SD  deck , chrome wheel covers and a tractor cover for $ 3400.00 , I think I got taken .Still runs like the day I bought it.      Very nice collection.

lol you got taken for sure 

 

don't we all aspire to be taken like this more in the future !

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by tom2p

[ebinmaine 63,133]

22 minutes ago, top_cat said:

He just bought his 5th "tractor" last spring. Over the years I've put 4 new tires, fuel pump, seat, axle seals, brake band, couple belts, plugs and lots of oil changes. I just finished replacing the hood stand

Well let's add this up....

 

 

 

Nope nevermind....

You clearly won that round....

 

[SylvanLakeWH 24,130]

Nice everything!

 

[The Tuul Crib 7,332]

1 hour ago, top_cat said:

Thanks for the comments on the barn. My 250 year old barn didn't survive the snows in 2011. Luckily I had most everything out before it collapsed. A friend of mine has a sawmill so in the fall of 2011 we had a barn raising. To me it feels like being in northern Maine, it's a great place to hide.

 

My Jeep's a 1981 CJ-5, I've had it for about 25 years. Got carried away and put a Chevy fuel injected 5.3 with a Muncie SM465 a few years ago. Scary power for a 2500 pound vehicle.

 

Hey JCM, I bought my 1993 310-8 new for $3000 with a 37 SD, and bagger. The hour meter stopped working about 20 years ago with 480 hrs. My cousin went with me to pick it, to expensive he said. He bought a big box green machine for $1800. He just bought his 5th "tractor" last spring. Over the years I've put 4 new tires, fuel pump, seat, axle seals, brake band, couple belts, plugs and lots of oil changes. I just finished replacing the hood stand. The raised ring that hold the lift arm bushing broke off. I did find a used hood stand online cheap but basically had only the wheels and engine on the frame to replace it, lots of work. I guess 27 years of lifting the snow blower took it's toll. Has anyone else had this problem ?

 

Not a bad return for my investment. You used to get what you paid for.

Did you save the Cupolla and put it on the new barn? Super sweet!

[top_cat 41]

The cupola was about the only thing in one piece. I did try,  but the 250 year old wood kind of just disintegrated. The copper top hat though has a place of honor along with some other hardware inside the new barn. Some of the old chestnut beams were use by a friend to fix an old shed, not much else was salvageable.

[top_cat 41]

My addiction was off, the barn was built in the 1820s. I wonder if the new one will be around in 200 years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sparky-(Admin) 19,542]

  Sorry to hear ya have “excess time  off”, but catching up on home projects is a good way to use the time. 
  Nice collection and barn!
 Good to have another Connecticut sparky posting here 

 

[JCM 8,649]

@top_cat  I had a customer of mine that purchased homes built in the 1600's    1700's   &   1800's   and brought them back to their original state sparing no expense and would live in them for 3 4 5 years and then sell them and go on to the next one. I did these for 20 years and after the last one which was roughly 4 years ago and after 7 of these I   decided I had enough and moved on to other types of Plumbing & Heating work. It was amazing to see homes that old still be able to be fully restored to their original condition to allow someone else to  live in that type of home as the original owners once did. Moral of the story, if your beautiful barn was built by someone who really cares  and used top quality materials and will be carefully maintained I think that barn will be around for a long time after we depart this earth.