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Here's a few more. One for Nigel to race against Ian on "Why Not". :D

It's been a busy but very enjoyable few days helping Nigel out with a Yanmar 1300d. It came into Nigel's workshop to have a roll bar fitted and a harrow made to fit.. We soon found out during harrow testing just how rubbish the Yanmar was, it felt like a cheap Tonka toy with no weight behind it! Even though the Yanmar is 4 wheel drive as soon as the harrow was dropped into the ground the problems started with the front right and rear left wheels just spinning! With the diff lock on all 4 wheels span but it couldn't pull the harrow which at best was only a couple of inches underground!!! The said harrow.. The solution.. Add some weight Brackets were made to bolt on Gutbrod wheel weights and a Gutbrod front weight.. The price of buying a Yanmar roll bar was stupidly high, so we made one out of nice thick box section.. Making the mounting plate that bolts to the back of the gearbox was interesting! So a busy but enjoyable few days, it was good to get away from WN and do something different Oh.. The extra weight we added made it a different machine.. It now harrows happily

Got home last night and Ewan has cracked on with the building. Then we spent a few hours on the front

Just like implements many rear hitches are also proprietary to specific tractor brands. There are a few that can utilize each others rear hitches, but it seems that there are several types of rear sleeve hitch. I bring this up because availability of rear hitches is extremely limited overseas and hitches used on European tractors and riders are substantially different in design than most U.S. hitches. This confusion can cause issues when implements are located in how to attach them, especially if a European style hitch has already been fabricated or designed. Most US hitches were made by Brinly or Ohio Steel, a few were made by the manufacturer, but not many. First, I'll start with Wheel Horse as its hitch was so obviously different. The Wheel Horse sleeve hitch was shaped like a mushroom and had a very narrow width to accommodate the narrow Wheel Horse Channel frame, But its 5/8" pin and two locking bolts were similar to most other hitches. Next I'll go into the Simplicity Allis hitches as they were narrow as well, but not quite as narrow. The Simplicity Allis hitch started out both narrow and shallow with no bolts to secure a plow and generally used a chain to lift the hitch and secure an implement like a plow, In the Latter 60's and early 70's Simplicity Allis went to a narrow square rear hitch that contained a T support brace inside the outside perimeter. Widths of these hitches averaged around 7 inches, but that could vary 1/2" depending on year or brand, Simplicity or Allis. I did not intentionally leave out the International Cub Cadet or John Deere, but as both Cub Cadet and John Deere were johnny-come-lately's in the garden tractor/riding mower genre, Its where they fall, Cub and Deere also used a fairly wide hitch, Cub lifting from the middle via straps and Deere from the side via lift bar, both utilizing the later two bolt design to secure plows, In the beginning the Cub Originals and maybe later 70/100's did not have these two bolts that secured some implements, but I believe the Deere did as the first real production of John Deere GT/riders was 1964 and later, by this time many other manufactures had been in the game for a decade or more. Montgomery Wards used the sleeve hitch of whoever was manufacturing their tractors as did many other manufacturers that did not build their own tractors to include the likes of Massey Ferguson and Ford. As far as I know Montgomery Wards sleeve hitch never utilized the two stabilizer bolts, and I believe that Massey's were different depending on one of the three size tractors built and Ford used a standard Brinly hitch. Bolens initially built their own sleeve hitch but in the mid 60's subcontracted hitches and many implements building to Brinly or Ohio Steel, The Brinly rear sleeve hitch is easily differentiated from the basic Brinly hitch by the round 1 inch stabilizer rod between the flat stock which was also a 1'4" wider than stock Brinly hitch. The Bolens lift rod was also beefier at 3/4" instead of 1/2" inch round or 3/16" for flat standard lift bars. By the later 60's most manufacturer were having companies like Brinly, Haban, and Ohio, Steel build hitches, carts, and implements. Manufacturers called these implements Allied Attachments (allied to them, but others as well) as they were basically the same except in how they hooked up or how they got power. The Cub Cadet, John Deere, Massey and Ariens tillers were made by the same company and only differed in hook up and PTO location/type. Simplicity/Allis had their own tiller design as did CASE (hydraulic), but Fords were similar to the MTDs and Bolens as they all used tillers with big differential shaft drive gear cases. The changes by year and different manufacturers building brand name tractors, makes out hobby one of the most confusing hobbies on planet earth. I can only commiserate with the collector of American Motors automobiles to fairly describe the situation. Ford was made by Jacobson, later by Gilson, Montgomery Wards was made by Bolens and Simplicity early on (sometimes at the same time) then Gilson. MTD made Farm King, Dayton, UNICO, White and a host of other store brand machines. Massey never made a machine, The Duro Corporation that made Moto-Mower made their first tractors (except for the ELF), Then Beaver MFG started the MF line which was taken over by AMF (who for a time owned Harley Davidson and Brunswick) who also produced the same tractor with different colors and tin and made the crappiest bicycles ever produced. Later Snapper made Massey's tas well as Power King. Then Ingersoll made Massey's and finally Simplicity, then Simplicity and Snapper merged, Wheel horse was made by one Pond brother while Speedex was made another, both started with the Shaw Du-All company from Galesburg Kansas. This is just a snippet of information we are required or expected to know or obtain as enthusiasts, it boggles the mind and we haven't even addressed stationary engines, walk behinds, or rotary mowing equipment. Neither have we even touched on the zero turn which predates WW2 and was inspired by the tail dragger airplanes of the day and were built by many out of work airplane mechanics. BTW, the first picture is of a standard Brinly hitch and a Brinly made Bolens hitch, because the basic Brinly hitch is in the foreground it appears larger, but the widths are the same and the Bolens is almost 2 inches longer as well as wider flat sock material and thicker rod

A few photos from last weekend. .

Your eye's were working Norm, you did see a milling machine in Nigels workshop... We did think of a slitting saw on the mill, but Nigel does not have one, so I opted for the "cheaper than buying a slitting saw" way and started turning the width off.. It's taking a while as I don't have coolent rigged up on the Mono turn lathe so I have to wait for things to cool back down every once in a while..

Thanks for the info. So he's not too far from Milton Keynes......... I will have to track him down!

Stuck the box on the front and pushed it outside today for the final pictures......... Have a new project to collect tomorrow!

Here is what the 'id' tag looks like on my 1949 14" Villiers 79cc 2 stroke. The 14 refers to the cutting width and the 49 to the year of production.

Thank you Andrew, The information is far from complete, but I thought I would try and cover the large stones and if anyone wanted further info or on other brands, I could try to research those items at a later date. I'm going to add another couple of hitches, especially the latter Allis/Simplicity hitch

These are the boards that were with the tractor.

Alain, this is a fascinating and extremely useful thread. I have actually filed this onto my files for future reference. Thanks for taking the trouble to write this. Cheers

Just to let you know I found a disc on line. Its been a marathon setting it all up but Ive got it cutting great now. Just in time to pack it away for winter.[emoji37] Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk

As Darren says re the Tag. The 147cc Villiers (mk15) was introduced after Dec 1953, there is also an HS version that produced 2.5bhp and had a conversion kit available for running on Paraffin (Kerosene). If the Grass Box is original to that Mower, the 'By Appointment' transfer will refer to H M Queen (Liz II) . The Handlebar Style is also a giveaway that tells us it is fairly modern (post WW11) in Atco history. It looks unmolested, so the Tag should still be there somewhere and these were used during the 50's. Another way to get a rough age on some Villiers is to inspect the Flywheel for a date stamp. This may narrow down the date a bit further, but bear in mind that Villiers 'Stock Piled' manufactured parts and so a 1953 stamped Flywheel could be on a 1955 built engine. You can get the manuals for the engine.

Did I see a milling machine in Nigels workshop? You could cut it in half on that, using a slitting saw.

Only a very small update as not much has been happening on this project.. As much as I love my old Southbend lathe it was struggling with the large slab of steel so I put it on my Monoturn lathe. The drill chuck is only there to stop the slab from flying across the workshop should it break loose! As nice as it looks it is way too heavy and would act like a flywheel on the wheels, so I need to find a way of cutting it in half to make 2 thinner wheel thingys or turn 1/2 inch off it's width on the lathe!

There is usually a little brass tag, somewhere on the frame where the fuel tank mounts meet the mower side pieces. On that will be a date code. Sometimes these are painted over..........

Was running OK about 35 years ago Chris. You must have broken it.

My flat bed trailer is for sale, 8'6" x 4'6" over the bed, fitted with hand winch two mini wheels on indespension units, no brakes but trailer can be fitted with extra indespension units allowing for four wheels and brakes. Picture shows it loaded with my Merry Truck. It's in North Wiltshire. £180 Will Haggle....

bloody brilliant

Love it

cushty