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Right then, time to show off this very rare beast of a Bolens tractor which has joined my collection. My thanks go to Iain who pointed out to me & I beat him to it on a deal then a long distance transport problem I had in getting it brought over from Co Down, Northan Ireland to Sussex I did in the end found an Irish machinery haulier who had room on a lorry which was heading for Oxford. I ended up meeting it at a engineers in Warwickshire who had a telehandler suitable to lift it out of the lorry trailer & onto my trailer. Its a very poorly HT20 c/w rare front loader & Brantley back hoe. Its been sat as a wreck for approx 20 years according the the guy I brought it from. Various parts missing inc rear fender & hydrostat unit for the back axle. The tractor engine is a mess & is stuck solid. Its going to be a massive project to under take as all hyraulic rams need overhauling due to rust & pipe work rotten & wont be cheap to replace. The plan will to be fit the loader/digger onto my other tractors & the tractor will be broken up for spares as its too far gone to restore in some areas in rear axle which is full of mud & rust. Now this has got to be rarer than a D200 wheel horse

well after quite a while in bits this is finally back together although not in bare polished look as i had initially intended due to pitting of the alloy, i dont think it would have looked as good as i would have liked so ive gone for original mountfield red and a bit of black and white here and there here are a few pics once the handles have been done i will update with finished pics

picked this up today for andrew (triumph66)

Found some photos of the one I had. Andrew with the finger mower, and a brochure

As the sun was shining today I thought I'd have a day on the patio. I've been walking round this tractor and pushing it to and fro for a while and can't make up my mind what to do with it. First thing was to bolt all the bits back on to see what was missing, and see if it would run, after a little work and plenty of tea it came together quite well. There's not much left of the wiring loom and it looks like someone has changed the engine, with a couple of bits of wire I got it to spin over and with a squirt of fuel in the carb it fired up. Big cloud of smoke but cleared and now runs nice ( I think the needle valve wants a clean ). The front n/s wheel was wrong so I changed that with one from stock. Next move was to dig into the spares department for a fender, not only found one but had the footrests with it. At the end of the day I've got an up and running tractor that needs a bit of wiring, what do I do now with it ?

A decent afternoon weather wise so I wheeled the three Jobbers outside and took some photos...

Hi All Next stage of my new plough another phase bought this of fleebay when it arrives I will see what can be done hope you like

No pressure then.

The front loader should not take mutch to remove Andrew. I do have 3 loader tractors which I look after at work just up the road, so may have to see if I can borrow one for the job to unload

Iain, Is the belt shield on the PTO 'different' than the standard tube frames? The 1978 G14 and G11 used a different shield that incorporated a PTO brake as opposed the shield used on previous years tube frames. Only one of my G11s has the proper PTO sheave, and it was missing the shield. Here are some pics of the PTO and a NOS shield that I found. The rod you see hanging down in the PTO pic is used to activate the brake when the PTO is disengaged. I'm also including a page from the tube frame service manual that discusses the adjustment of the PTO brake. BOLENS_TUBEFRAME_Service _Repair 85.pdf

Just love those early Bolens ride ons , where did that one come from ? What's its history? Here's a couple of pics

I have just bought another Bolens which I plan to collect over the weekend. I not sure how it happened really as I was not planning to buy any more tractors. It must be a very late G14 as it has a number of differences to my other G14's. It is in very good condition although it does require some work. It comes complete with a 42 inch cutting deck which is not in the greatest condition. The previous owner has done a very interesting modification to the PTO which overcomes some of the issues with rebuilding the original. It has has a home made tow hitch which is very similar to something I was thinking of making to tow my Ifor. Pictures to follow when I collect it. Iain

Here's some info I got about the RAM #11 Bolens Ride A Matic: post #11 gunstuff1000 OFFLINE Looks like a great buy and a nice complete tractor you got both belt guards and I see it had the rear trailer hitch as well. That was an option You got a nice tractor there! Honesty it's probably the best ride-a-matic if your going to actually use it because it has the geared rear end. Bolens800uk, on 27 Feb 2015 - 12:51 PM, said: There's some debate as to whether the original colour on 'my' RAM is cream? Was there a cream colour RAM available in the Dtates or for export? There are gold coloured ones in the UK and green ones too but cream?! No, never a cream color The metallic gold when it fades tends to get lighter and have a "cream" appearance sometimes. The pic I posted is the original color scheme.

Its been a good week for Bolens tractor purchases this week, looks like we have all been busy

3m clean and strip disks are the best product to use to remove the red paint, however it will be very time consuming. Many years ago I used these disks to remove a word that was hand painted on the door of someone's car which suggested his sexual preference was for working alone. It work well although it took a long time and a steady hand (no pun intended) and was better than repainting the panel on a car which had a difficult colour to match. Iain

Well done Chris for making this happen. I know it took an incredible amount of effort but worth it. It looks so much better in your pictures than the sale advert. I can't imagine another Bolens backhoe exists in the UK and I believe they are really rare in the US too. I am really looking forward to seeing this project progress.

I dont even know how I am going to get it off the trailer yet I do have some spare rear tyres, not mutch good when the wheels dont turn cos the back end is full of muck

Yep...

OB, I tried to pull it down it down but it won't budge! Bolens certainly knew how to make them! Chris, Lovely photos of your old RAM. I must confess that the aged red paint work look good on them. When did you sell it?

And looks like it has plenty of grip as well :D

Ideally I would like to get the Bolens 1254 to be my plough tractor. If not then either the 800 or the RAM to do the job. The 1254 is 12hp and has more torque to pull the plough.

Take it the auction tomorrow. Nigel might buy it.

the back mudgards look the same as what was put on the 800 tube frame bolans of 63

so i shot a couple pictures of my horse there ya go

I saw lot's of cream paint hiding under the blue today, so I'd say it was cream originally.

Seem to have acquired another Ransomes Marquis for £10.50 today! Good grass box but no engine however I do have one or two suitable suitable ones at the ready! Anyone got Amal 379 carb complete with oil bath air cleaner that they would like to cash in ?

nice to see someone else,s shed cluttered with mower bits

Great tractor Andrew, I love it. The decals on the side of the hood have coloured letters on a transparent background. It looks like they masked around the complete decal before painting so you can see the original colour around the letters. I can't tell from the pictures if that is gold or cream but that is probably my eyesight. Looks like it has all the belt guards and it is electric start too. Does not get any better. I love the deck and it looks easy to copy. Fantastic addition to your fleet although I think it would be better in my collection It does not look out of place in red, in fact it looks like the tractor that WH should have make Iain

Very nice, I can't wait to see it later this morning... Don't worry Andrew, I won't be measuring it up to see how big and engine could be made to fit

I like that alot Andrew Your wife is going to kill you But I know how that feels The guy in the overals looks like me from the side

axle is cream and looks origanl

Here are some photos from last weekend

The ammonium chloride, and zinc chloride are part of a kit I managed to buy. The bits separately were more expensive than paying for a packaged kit. The expensive bit that helps is a really good power supply. The hardest bit is the cleaning, everything has to be spotless, the plating then takes 30 mins If they are small enough and spotless, you are welcome to see the results! About £80, not including the power supply Neil

im affraid your wrong angus here is the spec plate for the emblem!!!!