Ian

I was just looking through my pc for a photo and found this potatoshop chop and channel I did years a go.   a Mk3 Ford Cortina..

Before.

After

That's a great machine Matt, the size of the rear tires give it a GT-14 sort of feel

I like the full hydraulics and 3 point. It has all you could need on a small tractor

I had the pleasure of driving Nigel's Bolens around the arena at Ardingly 2012, a fine machine it was to drive

It must of been a great sight to see it in action, thanks for posting it up

A great build Nigel, I love the way it looks so old.. I hope to get over sometime this week and see the beast in person

I was just looking at the Environmental Agency's "flood risk" map and decided to have a close look at my area..

And was shocked to see these strange patterns in the field!

A close up!!

I wonder how they got there!!!!!!!       

With the GT finally running right and driving real nice, the time had come to treat it a bit more..

Last year Mark (Meadowfield) gave me a decal to replace the shrunk and warped shifter plate..

Making an ally plate to stick the new decal onto.

Fitted... Thanks Mark the decal looks great

Almost up to date with the GT saga now

The only battery I had spare to use was a rather big one that would not fit under the GT's bonnet, the battery's normal place.

So I welded this big box to the roll bar to hold the battery..

I plan to fit a 3 point linkage to the back of the GT so I made a start by moving the box to the front.

The battery and box used to live on the front of my Wheel Horse 312-8, so I had this handy mounting bracket I had made kicking about the place.

As the GT's chassis is wider than the 312's I had to chop.

Lengthen..

And notch the bracket..

Until it all fitted.

The next job which I've yet to really start is to sort out this rat's nest of wiring to stop the battery being drained when the GT is not in use..

So there you are, the GT story up to date...

More to come as it happens

 While not quite the beast the 6x6 is, thats still one tuff looking Wheel Horse! I always liked the look of the tall rear tires, and with 16hp now resting under the hood, I'll bet its a very capable machine.

 

Matt

Thanks Matt, I think it was partly the size of the rear tyres that attracted me to the GT, and partly the size of the GT over all.. A real mini tractor size..

Don't worry, my 6x6 will be making more of an appearance here at MOM 

What Neil is saying (I think) is that you've got a 'Celebrity Horse' there Ian. You may recall that I have one in my stable also.

 

Andy

I think your thinking may be right Andy    I really should try and make contact with Mr Hemmingway and find out if he could give me a bit more history of my GT.

Yes I vaguely remember you also have a "Celebrity Horse". I can't remember which celebrity though, but as you may of noticed I'm not that good at remembering celebs

And so the GT story continues....

With winter rapidly closing in I thought it would be a good idea to get my snowplow which was custom built to fit my Wheel Horse 312-8, fitted to the GT

As it turned out the GT was so different from the 312-8 that it became clear that it would be easier to make a new A-Frame to fit the GT rather than modify the existing A-Frame to fit..

The existing A-Frame would not give me enough "lift" and it was too short for the blade to turn full angle each way without it hitting the tyres.

In the end I gave up with trying to fit the snowplow to the GT, somehow with the weather as it has been I don't think there will be any snow to plow this winter!

So instead I treated the GT to a "closer to original" size engine pulley. I bought this pulley knowing it was 5mm oversize hoping I could turn it down on the lathe.. Unfortunately when I went to try and turn it down to size I found that I could turn the extra 5mm off, but I couldn't widen the groove!

As 5mm oversize isn't too much I fitted the pulley anyway..

This is when I found out the GT's belt guard wouldn't quite fit due to the size off the pulley!

Rather than cut and shut the GT's belt guard I made my own..... From an Ironing board no less

It was about this time the GT's 16hp engine started playing up.. It's never really ran 100%, bogging a little under load and a little smoke.. Only now it would bog down with no load..

And produce lot's of smoke!

After lot's a faffing about including pulling the carb apart to check for anything nasty going on..

In the end it turned out the 16hp engine had the wrong main needle in it!

The right needle being the same part number as the main needle in the original 14hp's engine.. Which was handy as I had one

This stopped the smoke, swapping the spark plug with the one from my 312's engine got the GT's 16hp engine running sweetly once again

What a great video.. Who needs health and safety eh  

Fascinating photo's Nigel, thanks for posting them.

It's a shame to think of all that machinery buried and left to rot underground..

The garden does not need watering!!! It's a sea of mud

Well, if you will insist on driving your 4 wheel drive beast about the garden, that's going to happen

Good to see a roof on your shed, fingers crossed the wind won't be nasty for you tonight.

Good to see the story on here Ian!

Thanks Mark, there is more of the story to come, just not tonight.. Maybe something to do with drinking half a bottle of red wine

Ian , It may be a bit of useless information , however it is still part of the History of your tractor  . The previuos owner before me was a guy named  Wayne Hemingway

Take a look at the video to meet him .

This guy built his own house using your tractor to transport materials around the building site .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi6lDffIzIo&feature=player_detailpage#t=1

Thanks for that Neil, I did want to add it to the story but I just couldn't remember the chaps name  

I have had a look around the net for pictures of my GT being used for Wayne's house construction but I haven't found anything yet..

Wow the Big Breakfast.. That's a blast from the past.. I'd totally forgotten about that show!

I miss my old E-tank..

Big enough to fit a bonnet in..

Or even a body

My current E-Tank.. A bit smaller than my old one but still a handy size..  The wheel had only just been put in..

When the wheel came out a few days later you could brush the paint off with your finger.

With the original engine pulley being very firmly stuck on the original engine I had to find another pulley..

The closest I had was on a very dead Kohler KT-17 engine.. Slightly smaller in size but not by much.

This pulley was also firmly stuck on the crankshaft but as the engine was already dead (dead in a busted con rod that punched three holes in the engine case kind of way) I had no problems being a little less gentle with it

Pulley off.

The exhaust that came with the engine needed a little tweak to make it fit..

I've no idea what the exhaust originally came from, but I think it looks good.

The original pulley on the trans was found to be very loose due to wear and a badly done bodge with a previous owner, so it was replaced with a pulley of the correct size from a Raider 10 with the added bonus of a built in cooling fan.

Quite often you will see GT-14's with non original fuel tanks where heat from the exhaust has melted the plastic tank away!

I didn't want this to happen to my fuel tank so I made this ally heat shield.. Very well it works too

My Wheel Horse 312-8 was used for many years as a my main work horse, fitted with big and wide rear tyres and a home made roll bar.

But this year it has been put on gentler grass cutting duties only. so the roll bar was removed and bolted onto the GT

I think the grin on Pete's face says it all

As well as being the star of a few videos (see my YouTube channel link at the bottom of my posts) the GT has been put to work moving logs..

And moving pallets.

That will do for now, more of the GT story coming later.

Howdo all, I thought it was about time I posted up something about my small herd of Wheel Horses, so let's start with my GT-14+2

I bought this beast from Neil as a non runner last year back in the days of warmth, blue sky's and some green on the trees.

Here she is shortly after delivery..

No she wasn't delivered by Wheel Horse, but it was a handy way of getting the non running GT from the van around to my shack.

A big thank you to this chap Paul for collecting the GT from Neils place and bringing it all the way to Kent.

The GT at home in the shack.

The first job on the list was to get the GT's engine running. As it was producing no spark my first port of call was the points.. I got a bit of a shock to find new points that hadn't been set up!

I should point out that Neil had bought it for spares for his other GT and other than unloading it at his place hadn't touched it at all. I'm just so Glad Neil offered to sell it to me.. I love the GT

With the engine now running she could be driven about and tested out.. The hydro trans works well as did the hydraulic side of things.

Here's Mark (Meadowfield) a fellow GT owner giving my GT a test drive round the garden.

Although the GT's engine ran it was showing signs of it's age which after almost 43 years it has every right to..  Burning oil was one problem but the one that worried me the most was the engine was getting very hot very fast!

It was getting so hot that my 1st planned long drive only lasted about 3 min's before I decided to turn back.. At least it was a nice day for it

Some quick thinking was needed to get the GT in usable condition again, which resulted in a bid on Fleabay and I became the proud owner of this Wheel Horse Raider 10 that had been fitted with a big Kohler Magnum 16hp engine

So out came the GT's original 14hp engine..

And and in went the 16hp Kohler Magnum lump.

One slight problem as you can see was the bonnet wouldn't close due the size of the engine..

Not a problem

Filling the hole.

Now the bonnet closes

Not my oldest tools, but still quite old.

No idea on the make, but something tells me it was not made in the UK

A King Dick sporting a "war finish" as it says.

Those were the days, when tools were made out of strong materials and not plastic like these days..

A very nice collection indeed

It looks very nice after the repaint Andy, the dog certainly seems to like it

What I can't work out Kev is, how you still have a lawn in your garden!!   I'd be wanting to try out your machines as much as possible

This is mine. Not set up yet. It's a ZYTO.

 

001.JPG

Now that is a thing of beauty.. I love the rugged looks..   Nice lathe Norm.

All three tractors are cool, but I'd love to play with the crane in the background!

The Mick Gould fleet live close-ish to Nigel and I.. You can always hear them coming from a mile or so away.. I love the sound of the American rigs he has

Ouch Neil, that's not good at all!  You have had quite a bad few months with the weather!

Let's hope the weather makes a turn around real soon and spring get's here..

  I agree with the comments about the Environment  Agency. They have stopped cleaning out the some of drainage channels here. There are also pumping stations that they are threatening to turn off to save THEM money. If a farmer wants to clean out channels on HIS property, he must first get permission from the E.A. That can take three months to get. Also you can only do it at certain times of the year. Before the E.A. was set up, drains were cleaned all year round. Get rid of the environmentalists, along with DEFRA, and bring back the local water authorities and let them and the farmers  do the job properly.

 

 Stay safe Neil.

Up to 3 months to get permission from the EA to clear out your own drainage ditches!   That's mad!     A blocked drainage ditch is the reason my lane has been flooded so many times over the past month odd!

Click on the image to see the video.

Seen a few of those before, always good to see them again.. The damage to the exploding engine is amazing!!  I guess he wasn't taking it easy

Is there anything you can't do Mark?     Great craftsmanship

I think you have built more projects than I've had coffee's Nigel

I did try and look up your place on Google sneak View.. When I got close my computer blue screened.. I guess it was scared about what it might see in your front garden