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For your viewing pleasure here's how Nigel broke the steering

well we towed the landy back to the workshop with the holder, soon found the problem i had forgot to weld the steering shaft on properly it only had a tack weld anyway all sorted now

I thought I'd post up a couple of my latest projects. The first one is a 1946 Briggs NR6 military engine that was recently given to me by a friend. It was in rough shape, but it was free, and I didn't have an NR6 in my Model N collection yet. The NR6 has a 6:1 gear reduction that is cast directly into the block. Its almost done now, and it turned out quite nice. I'm still waiting on my decals, and new tag to arrive. The paint job isn't that great, but I have to use rattle can paint on my military enges, because if I use a good paint, and spray it with my gun, they always turn out waaay to shiny. High gloss, and military don't mix! The second engine, is a 1952 Sears tagged Briggs NP, with a 3:1 gear reduction designed for use on reel mowers. Its all original, and I won't be restoring this one. I did pull the head, and the base, to clean out the 60 year old carbon, and sludge from the engine. I cleaned the carburetor as well. These are rather strange looking engines with their long gear reduction hanging off the side. It smokes a bit, but being 63 years old, it has the right to. Here is a video, and pics of each of the engines.

As many of you know, we are meeting up at tractorfest at Ripon next weekend. As bendy is 90% complete and I'm at work all week, I though I'd best get bendy all shiny and ready. Here's The front lights finally wired. And bendy getting a good wash Loading up tomorrow

Today I got the head off, the engine looks in pretty good condition internally, just quite a bit of carbon. The valves have been reground and ive now decoked it. Also the exhaust studs have been soaked in freeing oil in the hope I can remove them intact.

hi all just to let you all know we are now moved and this is a view from our window going to Braemar this morning on holiday keep well everyone

Been busy fixing my steering wheel today, here are some pictures. I used some black epoxy putty which worked really well. After a polish you can barely tell it's there All painted and fitted back on ready for next week. I have added a temporary replacement grill to the front since the old one had completely rusted away and I painted a new number plate as the old one had been painted over. Ready to be loaded up tomorrow for Newby hall tractor fest

Finally managed to find a Turf Trac, typically I have been looking for a couple of years finally bought one from way down south only to find another for sale on Gumtree at Annan 30 miles away ( lot more money ). This one is fitted with a 4ft front mounted cutting deck. The reason I wanted one was that trying to move a dead crawler from one garage to the workshop was just too much for my ride on mower and using a live crawler just chews up the drive and the garage floor. 16.5hp Kubota three cylinder engine starts and runs well. Hydraulic lift front and rear , front and rear pto. four wheel hydrostatic drive with twin ratio axles 11 miles an hour top speed. Pulls like a train and turns in a 36inch inner circle. Needs a new seat some decals and a general tidy up. Typical it rained persistently after delivery so limited playing time.

Allthough unintentional, Ive now acquired a number of old power packs, so rather than the thread get mixed up I felt it is more appropriate to do a separate topic for each one. This is my Beaver II power pack that I collected yesterday morning. Basically the problem with the Beaver 1 was that the frame was just not up to the job, so after only 2 years in production in 1988 a much more substantial version was introduced. Having said that this one has suffered quite a bit in the frame department, with a few kinks and the axle is missing altogether. Also someone has dismantled the hydraulic side and lost some of the parts. I plan on getting at least 3 of my packs frames sorted so I can spray them all together.

For a change it wasn't me that made a shopping mistake, it was Nigel... It gave us something to laugh about yesterday For reasons I'm still not sure about Nigel bought a set of disk harrows from Fleabay not quite realizing how big they were!! Of course Nigel had not turned up at the workshop when "Time Team" Dave dropped the harrow off, so Nigel's face when he turned up and saw the size was priceless What you can't quite see from the above photo is the front of the harrow was through the doors of my workshop, so it had to be moved....Ah.. No wheels on it!! Only one thing for it, split it in two and borrow a forklift.. The rear discs went first.. Followed by the fronts. As fun as a forklift is they are not that good off road.. So the LandRover tug was called into action to finish the job.. So far so good.. Until suddenly no steering!! So the LR had to be abandoned where it was for the day. I'm not back at the workshop until Monday, so I will let Nigel finish the story once he has worked out what has busted steering wise..

Alain, I have PM you. Cheers

In another post and on other forums many questions surround Bolens and Montgomery Wards garden tractors, mainly what they they were, and when they were built. So lets start from the beginning. it seems everyone agrees that the date Bolens first built a Garden Tractor for Montgomery Wards was 1959, okay. In 1958 Bolens introduces the first Ride-A-Matic (not the first year for a Bolens rider though), the model 220, The RAM was powered by a Kohler K161-28118E and was rated at 6.6 hp. In 1959 Bolens introduces the Model 230 Ride-A-Matic with the same engine, but rated at 7 hp and being a manual start. The first Montgomery Wards Squire 7 was probably this one. In 1960 Bolens introduces two Ride-A-Matic models, the Model 230-01 and the Model 231-01, again with the same 7 hp Kohler engine, probably with electric start, and definitely a Montgomery Wards tractor Model Squire 7. In 1961 Bolens introduces the Model 233-01 and 234-01 Ride-A-Matic with the same 7 hp engine, the 233-01 having a manual start. Again definitely a Montgomery Wards Squire 7, but still not a Tube Frame or based on a Bolens 600. Before we go any further it must be noted that the early Ride-A-Matics utilized a variable-speed belt system for the transmission, a drive system that was first developed for the walk-behind models. Later Ride-A-Matics models were built with forward, neutral, and reverse gears. That said in 1962 Bolens built two Model 600 models, the 180-01 manual start that was powered by a Briggs and Stratton 142302-019801 and the Model 181-02 electric start with the Briggs and Stratton 142302-019701 6 hp engine. Both Models were 3 speed transmissions. However Bolens also built two Ride-A-Matics that year as well, the Model 235-01 manual start, and the Model 236-01 electric start, both were powered by the same 7 hp Kohler engines on the earlier Ride-A-Matics and employed the later type Ride-A-Matic drop and go transmission. I hope that clears things up and establishes that the first Montgomery Wards tractors were Bolens built RAMs and the last Bolens built was the model(s) 600, concluding that the Simplicity Squire 725 or 7-1/4 was introduced late in 1962 for the 1963 year. However the problem with that is that the Simplicity 725 which was what the Montgomery Wards Squire 7-1/4 was based on, was ONLY built in 1961 and 1962, so the 1963 Montgomery Wards Catalog showing a Simplicity built Squire 7-1/4 was showing a tractor that was out of production, at least it was for 1963. I welcome any input or corrections to this information. In the Bolens built Squire 6 ad it says in the first paragraph that this tractor is built with the SAME quality was as the larger 725, 7-1/4 hp tractor but with a Pow'rKraft 6 hp engine, a Briggs engine.

Wow, those manifold bolts are fused like Pompeii resident

Those are some really nice little engine, glad you saved them and got them up and running!!!! Alain

Sorry Andrew, I can't get the download from GT talk. At the end of my previous post I noted that in Montgomery Wards 1963 catalog they were selling the Simplicity 725 as the Squire 7-1/4, that tractor was produced in 1961 and 1962 only by Simplicity's own records. I know they also sold it in 1962 because it mentions it in the 1962 ad with the Squire 6 pictured. The yellow and white (sometimes blue and white or red and white), Gilson Brothers built Montgomery Wards came later, maybe 1965 or so. I'm not sure what tractor Montgomery Wards sold in 1964. And this from Brian (AKA) Texas Deere and Horse, seems to solve the 1964/1966 mystery: 1964 still saw even more changes for Montgomery Wards. Gone from the lineup was the Bolens built tractor. Simplicity supplied their new LandLord based “Squire 9†Garden Tractor and also the “Squire 6†Lawn Tractor based on the Simplicity Broadmoor. M/W also offered a Garden Tractor called the “Squire 7 ¼HPâ€, built by Quick Manufacturing using a Springfield Garden Tractor, but having a Cast Iron grill and different hood. Quick Man. Also provide M/W with a full line of attachments they built for their tractor. The 1965 M/W lineup was basically the same as 1964. 1966 brought more changes to the M/W Garden Tractor lineup. Simplicity built the "Squire 10 Deluxe" Garden Tractor. Quick Manufacturing provided 2 Garden Tractors, the “Garden Mark 10†and the “Garden Mark 8â€. Both tractors were based on the Springfield Tractors with grill and sheet metal changes only. Simplicity still offered the Power-Trac 2 wheel tractors thru M/W.(GTTalk, 2013) It would then appear that the Gilson Brothers yellow and white Squire 10's and 12s of 1967 were next on Montgomery Wards evolutionary ladder. It is after this that we get a better picture of Wards tractors up into the mid 1980s, but the early years are quite confusing as I have heard the name MotoMower as a builder of some M/W and they may have been a product of Quick MFG too.

Really nice Mark , I'm sure the public are gonna be all over that .

As much as I like the idea Mark the internet at the workshop ranges from rubbish all the way down to nowt.. and that's hooked up to the garden centers internet!

It's called karma Ian for nudging the camera mans vantage point

I came across this old caravan/trailer hitch lock at the back of the shed, its no use to me nor my dad as we already have wheel clamps etc, heavy duty all working well, tried it on the trailer this afternoon, if its of use to anyone, send me a PM I'm sure we can work something out

Good Post over in GTTalk, hopefully there will be some pictures come forward. I believe WilberJ is wrong in saying "The only one bolens made was based off the 600" (GTTalk.com, 2015). Because according to Montgomery Wards, Bolens built tractors for Montgomery Wards from 1959-1961, Those dates are problematic, because most companies started production 3-6 months before the model year just like cars, so it was possible to buy a 1962 model in late 1961. If you see a Bolens built Montgomery Wards tractor from late of 1958 to early 1961 you will notice that they do not have a tube frame, but rather have a buckboard frame as all Ride-A-Matics did, which is what I believe Montgomery Wards tractors were in 1959-1961, In late 1961 for the 1962 model year Bolens built the last tractor for Montgomery Wards, the Squire 6 and it was a Tube Frame and based off the 1962 Bolens 600 that debut in late of 1961 as a 1962 model. Along with the Bolens built Squire 6 a larger tractor was also available, one built by Simplicity the 7.25 or 7-1/4, and I believe was also called a Squire, as picture in my previous posting. If you look closely at the bottom of the first ad there is a notation that the optional trailer would not be available until after January 1 of 1963, that means that both the Bolens built Squire 6 and the Simplicity 7-1/4 were being offered in the same model year, however the Bolens built Tube Frame Squire 6 was not the same as the earlier tractors Bolens built for Montgomery Wards; not a tube frame. Also in his restoration of a 1962 Squire 6, Brian, AKA, Texas Deere and Horse uses his 1963 Montgomery Wards catalog to suppose that the Bolens built Squire 6 (Bolens 600) is a 1963. I believe that the Montgomery Wards 1963 catalog came out in the late summer/fall of 1962, that being said, there were obvious differences between the 1962 and 1963 Bolens 600's, and this might be a clue, but even then not definitive that the Bolens and Simplicity tractors were or were not not offered in the same year, and none of this brings up the 1959 and 1960 Montgomery Wards Tractors that Bolens built. There are some out there that believe them be Tube Frames, but that seems incredulous that Bolens would build Tube Frames for Montgomery Wards, but not themselves. this is from Brian(AKA Texas Deere and Horse's own mouth and from a page he posted on GTTalk: The first fully engineered with the engine and steering axle in the front 4 wheel Garden Tractor was the 7 horsepower “Squire 7", introduced in 1959 and stayed the same for 1960-61. In 1962 a slightly more powerful engine was installed and it became the 7.25 horsepower “Squire 7 ¼â€(GTTalk.com, 2013 This statement is somewhat problematic as Brian appears to lose fact that the first Bolens Tube Frame, according to Bolens History, was built late in 1961 for the 1962 model year and the Simplicity built Squire 725 was built late in 1962 for the 1963 model year. There is a hint in his statement that points to Bolens built RAMs being used prior to 1962 by stating, "The first fully engineered and steering axle in the front 4 wheel Garden Tractor was 7 horsepower "Squire 7", introduced in 1959, that was the same year that Bolens increased the RAM's to 7 hp as well and none of the Bolens built tube frames were 7 hp during this time and the RAMS were made up to a 1961 model year.

Still Andrew, if we can't find the actual tractors it would be great to find original ads and brochures about them just for posterity.

Thanks, it's the shipping that kills it, $14 shipping, I'll wait till I start restoring it properly and I might consider it, I used this epoxy,

I would have this on my trailer as well as a wheel clamp Too many out there wanting to steal trailers

Looking good, Cadet 81 all ready for the trip tomorrow so there will be at least two Cub Cadets there !!

Same here that looks the mutts nuts

Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh Mark

Today is the first day in a few weeks that ive felt well enough to carry on with this project. Ive stripped the engine down and got as far as the head,now ive got to find out my special spanner that I adapted years ago to enable the head to be removed without taking the exhaust off because the nuts are blocked in by the oil tank/fan housing on most power packs. Somebody has already moved the fan along the crank and because it has been exposed to the elements for so long its again fused itself together. For some reason this fan doesn't have any threaded holes(as every other one ive seen does) to attach the puller to so may be intresting to get it to move again! Now the engine is out of its frame I can see just how much work there is going to be returning this machine to factory. The axle support hole has gone on the one side, theres also some bad bends in the chasis that will take quite a bit of straightening. Plus the engine support bar has been crudely beefed up with some angle iron, even on the latest models this part is very prone to distorting. Ive sourced a piece of 20mm bar and a new set of 5" wheels to sort the axle out, and ive also turned up a couple more manuals for my collection.

That is one sweet machine. If it serves no purpose but to feed the soul, it amply does that.

Spent some time on the 'No Cut' Mower to sort the final bits on the Motor etc. Now got a good bright Spark after a few healthy Pulls. Did a final Tank Flush with neat petrol (shiny clean inside). I put a mesh filter on the Tap in the end, same as the others shown in post on page 4. Hope there are no issues using Apsen4 fuel on these old engines?, but to compensate, I thought I'd treat it to some good ole' original spec Castrol XXL as listed in the Mower's User Manual. Maybe I should check the wind direction when I'm ready to start it up initially, as I suspect it will produce a nice white smoke screen briefly .

Must have been the American average size

I did the same thing. I bought a 10hp motor for my air compressor off ebay, when I arrived at the dock it was on a pallet, all 345lbs and at 22" long and 12" wide it wasn't going to set on my air tank very well, It looked smaller in the picture, I learned the same lesson after a few internet dates with "average" size ladies, not sure which was bigger.