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here is my new to me Bolens mulching mower. I got it as a part exchange for the mountfield sp555 mower. I've used it around my yard for cutting grass some of heights of 2 feet! its great it never bogs going through high wet grass, its a great old work horse!

Being at somewhat of a loose end today, as heavy rain put paid to my plans for outside work, I've spent the day in the workshop. After a bit of tidying up and some work on my Saxon trailer, my thoughts turned to ploughing. Chris's mod came to mind, so the afternoon was spent modifying my in a similar way. One thing I didn't want to do was fit a longer cable. After a bit of thinking the result is below. I did find the cable clamps etc very close to the fuel tank, despite being off set. So a piece of modified box section is now in place on the sleeve hitch, which keeps things well away from the tank. Next thing is to fit the plough, buried at this time somewhere in the workshop.

Hi all, sorry for the inactivity, been busy and not had so much workshop time, but I have been slowly but surely working in the Westwood. I sent the carb to be cleaned by a friend of mine, that should be back soon and hopefully the Westwood will be usuable For now I painted the whole chassis and bodywork with Owatrol oil, the only bits I left untouched were some corners underneath that were hard to reach coated in oily grass anyway I also straightened out the steering wheel, rustproofed and painted it, and some other little ajustments here and there. And yes, I managed to spill Owatrol oil over one of the rear tyres I'll look forward to being able to use it for gentle garden work this spring.

Small amount of progress. More Lathe time recently and still working on the PTO Reduction unit. Finished making the 8 special bolts for the Bearings- Refurbishing of the Big Brass Bearings with new inserts is done and ready to bolt onto the Carrier Plates (working on those)- Checking for imbalance, as it is a heavy piece and I want spot-on. Just the 1/8 BSP Plug to sort and skim the Outer face- Carrier Plates had the first coat of black gloss, but slow to dry and harden. Next job is making/Screw Cutting the 1/2" dia Tie Rod shafts, Spacers and 1/2" BSF Brass Nuts which will hold the engine and PTO in line. I have to draw up the design so I can refer to it for dimensions of parts etc, rather than fabricate and trial fit. More to do on that. Edit on 13th Nov........ Additional Pic during the skimming of the friction face. Very tight fit on the Lathe with only 1/4" travel spare each end -

A write up on how it was done later, but for now a few photos

Yesterday I collected my Jacobsen built Ford 100 from Chard in Somerset. The owner, Tony, gave me the background on the Ford as referred to below: "I have what I believe to be the only Ford 100 imported into the UK . It has a mower deck, beltdrive rotorvator, bulldozer blade, and most of the bits of a trailer plough.The story I had back in the late 60's was that "it was sent for evaluation as a saleable item and used by the then boss of Ford UK. He found it too small for his needs so traded it in with a local tractor dealer for something larger. They were supposed to remove all the Ford markings before re-selling it, but they left them on!" My late father bought it. It was in use as a grass cutter for many years by my late father who passed it on to me when he moved to smaller housing. I used it either for grass cutting or rotorvating, but it has been stored now many years with only one minor attempt at renovation 7 years ago. I have no further use for it and I guess I want to sell it, but I would rather it goes into the hands of someone who can properly restore it, maybe that means it needs to return to the USA?" He carried out a light rejuvenation of it in the 70s as detailed below: "If this turns out to be successful attached are some old pictures I took abaou 20years ago before my last attempt at refurbishment. The decals, from a ford 2000 were added in the 1970's following a repaint and DO NOT really suit this old lady, hey I was a lot younger then. in my refurb I made a new seat can cover. not easy and could not source the rib moulded material, but looks MUCH better than the ragged old one. The off road tyres were a 1970's purchase when I hoped to get some 12" rims adapted to suit the hubs and gain more grip for the plough. project submerged by marriage failure. The potato ridger was added to the plough frame from a merrytiller and is not original. For some reason I dont seem to have pic of the rotovator but the drive/attachment mechanism is in the third pic along with the plough attachment. The original exhaust was side delivery but this vertical one (now defunct) and a later one now added, though awful to a purist somehow make it look more macho." I contacted the vendor and agreed to meet up in late August and a deal was struck. He was keen that it went to an enthusiast. Yesterday I collected it and drove it up the ramps onto my pickup after it was jump started. It is the first time it moved under it own power for 7 years. Previously prior to that some 30 years ago, as mentioned above, it was fired up and back in the 70s it was given a fresh coat of paint to freshen it up. The decals are from a Ford 2000. Today I unloaded it and gave it a good wash whilst assessing what needs doing. I pumped up the tyres, grease the suspension and to drive and cleaned the plug. My plan is to give it a service (oil change, air filter, spark plug, drain the tramission oils,replace the fuel line etc) and buy a battery. It's missing a belt guide on one side but it's all there and original ( apart from the stack exhaust). The Ford is based on the Jacobsen Chief model from that era. I will be picking up the Ford Tiller and front bulldozer plough in a few weekends time. Ford 100 on collection Ford 100 washed and given a quick grease up with tyres pumped up. Surprisingly a solid lump of metal.

Picked up another Mayfield Merlin a while back. Brings my count to 3 Been sat in a barn in Essex for many years until a friend of mine took pity on it & saved it. Its complete apart from deck flaps which I have a set. Not made up my mind what I am going to do with it yet. I would consider a deal for a bolens or trojan tractor if anybodys interested

As some of you know Norm and myself have been messing around with ploughs, the ploughs we have are the same and very heavy, Norm very kindly made me a hitch the same as his and the plough fitted and worked very well, the only problem was lifting it with a cable from the deck handle. Norm has a spring on his but makes it awkward so I've made a longer cable and moved it back near the plough for better leverage and it seems to work much better

I guess the wire fencing is your wife's way of making sure you don't escape until the digging is finished.

Andrew, the Bolens mulching mower has been around since the early 1960s, I think you would find it a very capable machine.

looks good koen

Doing a good job there, Koen.

Please DO NOT take advice from this guy. That said, many of us have done these things, and many more will do them.

Awesome Job Nigel . Look's better than new (I imagine). I'm sure Andrew will be real happy with it.

Fine looking beasts.

That's a tidy restore Nigel

a few more for a different herd

I like the before and after photos. See you tomorrow Nigel. Cheers

deck on all working, then taken off again, so it will go up the ramps into andrews van

What he hasn't said is he had beans for dinner, inserting the pipe was interesting when he does the second exhaust tomorrow I am not going to assist him

It's been an interesting sort of day you might say A write up will have to wait until the final specs are decided on, but you might say its evolving a bit Here's a short vid of todays fun, only one exhaust is plumbed in for flames at the mo. Once it is right the other side will be sorted..

I already have a 416H Hydro and 416S shuttle shift, both with electric lifts and clutches. The shuttle shift is basically a four speed hydro. I have a snow blower, tiller snow plow, cultivators, harrow, and mid mount grader blade, as well as three decks, so this and the extra standard block and bevel gear box will come in handy

Okay, its not a Gilson. It is a Allis, a real Allis Chambers made by Allis Chambers. Its a 1974 416 Hydro, Hmm I have some these already, but what the hay. It came with an extra block and bevel gear box, and all the original manuals and paper work from 1974. Allis ordered a certain number of the new K341 engines from kohler in late 1973 to put in the 400 series tractor, but a problem arose when Allis found out that a monopoly lawsuit against them was being overturned and they would be allowed to have Simplicity build their Outdoor Power equipment again. The problem was they had decided to make a 410, 414, and 416, but with the suit settled they would not need the 16hp Allis 400 spec'd engines. The 10hp K301 and 14hp weren't a problem in not accepting for delivery, Kohler could move these engines to another brand, but the new 16hp K341 was a new model engine and Allis had made a commitment to buy a certain number of these and could not retract. Allis decided to put more 16hp engines in what would have been 14hp 414 Hydros. That is why you only see Allis 414 shuttle shifts, not hydros the hydros were changed to 16hp and 416 model to use up the engines due to the plant closing and the 400 series model ending the same year it started.