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My dogs like children as well. Can't eat whole ones though.

this is my 2 lads, springer is a seasoned flusher/retriever and the lab is currently in training

A little progress over the last couple of days. Not the ideal weather for painting, but having a drying cabinet helps. Two coats of primer applied by brush in the mornings, with afternoons drying in swmbo's greenhouse.

Earlier in the year, I acquired a sickle bar. Today I decided to see about fitting it. I only have the bar. No mule drives or any parts needed to mount it. I be doing some research in the very near future. It's rather heavy, so I decided to remove the mounting bracket for ease of handling. Popped it under the C-81 and mounted it at the rear. I now need to find out how it mounts at the front and if it is connected to the lift arm. Getting carried away, I stripped off the skid plate then the cutter itself. Removing an accumulation of very black, oily grass, of unknown vintage in the process. Finally being left with only the gearbox on the bench. This is where the fun started. The lift lever on the bar is mounted on a threaded stud screwed into the gearbox. This could be screwed in or out, which I found rather puzzling. Fiddling with it, as you do, I heard something drop inside the box. So off with the cover plate. Three screws loosened nice and easy. Two were tight and took a bit, read a lot, of persuasion. One snapped off. Cover off and I could see why the oily, black grass was oily and black. No oil in the box. No water or other detritus either. Looked in very good condition in fact. Found what had dropped was a locking nut off the aforementioned stud. This was replaced and tightened up. So oily grass under the box and no oil in the box was pointing to a leaking seal. OK I'll strip it out and get a new seal. Simple procedure. Remove a plug from the side opposite the cover plate. Circlip from the now visible pivot shaft and tap shaft out. The main shaft should now be able to be removed. Only it can't, as someone in their wisdom has welded the cutter bar actuating arm to the shaft. So shaft will have to come out, bringing seal and bearing with it. Only one small problem. There'll be a circlip holding the bearing in.

Picked this up the other day, cant find any info on the internet, anyone know anything about them, especially an age ?

Alain, I think the seller is definitely way off with his pricing. I wonder where and he came up with that ballpark figure.....

That is what was called coach painting. My late father painted his 1936 Hillman Minx by hand with coach paint. Had a lovely finish.

Here's my Black Labrador, Lola. She's totally loyal to me and my two boys after she eaten of course!

OSPHO was something I'd not heard of until now. Looked it up, sounds ok, but I don't know if available this side of the pond. The primer I use is Rustins Red Oxide. Have done for years and quite happy with it. I agree that most manufacturers didn't/don't use primer, or undercoat. Some may? The reason for that being cost, not for reasons of quality. Hence the term, "Factory finish". As to the "factory finish" holding up well, I think that depends on the environment used in and how well the item is looked after.

well you should see the prices people over here try to sell GT's for. there's an A80R for sale in germany without implements for about 700euro's.

Your a lucky so and so Andrew, When you make the maiden voyage I think you need to be dressed in period 1961 business casual, complete with hat and pipe. We can make a retro advert brochure.

here is ours, Seen it! After it! Got it!

this is my Alfie boy he's not much of a hunter though he's more up for fine wine and dining

Got tired of getting a sore back when working at the tractors so knocked up a work bench out of some old fencing.

Mark, your on. But it'll be next year. Had a good afternoon in the workshop today. First job to get the seal out of the gearbox. There's a blank plate in the box opposite end of the shaft. This was gently prised out. To reveal the shaft and ball bearing. A circlip on the shaft end was removed, then the shaft tapped out using a drift till free of the bearing. It was then pulled by hand as the bottom bearing is a plain bush. The seal was well worn and no surprise it was leaking. It's very thin and fragile and I didn't want to damage it by prising it out. I found a washer slightly less in od to the plain bush. Placing the washer inside the box on top of the bush and using a long drift through the box and onto the washer, I was able to gently tap the bush outwards until the seal dropped out. The bush was then tapped back into it's original position. That is as far as I can go with the gearbox, until I can get a new seal. I decided to start to strip the sickle bar blade next. The knife bar was pulled out and then the skid and cutter bar guides. These, along with the nuts and bolts are now in the E-tank. The knife bar and teeth got a good wire brushing, then sprayed with Pocket Rocket. (Similar to WD40) Then the bar guard got cleaned up and made ready for priming. The shoe assembly below has also been stripped and cleaned up.