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Well this is the lastest Bolens in my fleet. 1973 Bolens 1556 c/w tiller. Runs well but a right pig to start, Hopefully with a good service & carb clean will solve it. When I get a min!!

Today was track fitting and lubricating hubs,final drives and track rollers. The arduous task of tensioning both tracks was also finalised 29 track pads per side, two bolts per track , 116 bolts to tighten to achieve a spacing between track plate faces of 21/16". Boring and laborious but has to be done, planet rock on the radio a glove on the right hand and get stuck in! two hours later ,job done! Using a ratchet spanner on one side and a long spanner on the other makes it bearable. Both tracks set for pitch and then tensioned to 1 1/2" below load roller for correct track tension. I used three clamps to hold the tracks in position whilst I made the join. Tomorrow I will top up the engine and main gearbox oil and then fingers crossed start the engine, no idea how long it is since this engine ran but I hope I have everything at optimum to achieve a good start without breaking my wrists as these engines are notorious for doing. I have a secret weapon which I hope will make it both easier and safer. Final jobs are to make up floorboard sections, front bumper and then final touch up. And finally to apply the two decals to each side which are the only Ransomes reference on the whole machine. Over it's life 137 was serviced by a main dealer and had a number of later fitments such as a tool box and track mudguards but my ideal has been to restore it to a condition in which I believe it left the factory some time in February 1936.

Today me and my younger brother put the WH snowplow on the cub

My late Christmas present, also got a nice little Heavy Duty dump trailer to pull behind, 325.00 for the Bolens and 100.00 for the trailer, 400 miles round trip, 28 gallons of gas at 1.52 PER GALLON

Those are hubcaps on the rear. Right now I am trying to collect all the tractors I can, and while they are available, after that I can start into them. My next project is to get the Wheel Horse D160 back together. I'm going to find a fabrication shop that can recreate mufflers for the Bolens 1476 and Wheel Horse D160, and maybe a few others. The D160 can use a IH-1 muffler from the big red cub tractors with a chrome Harley heat shield that looks almost exactly like the original. I can cut 4" off the same muffler and use it fro the D160, and use a anodized heat shied from a off road bike that will look very close to factory as well. It'd going to take some time, I have my Senior semester coming up along with my Capstone project, then I apply for my teaching certificate. This fall I will teach and work online toward a Masters degree. When I start to work in the fall I will have both funds and time to do more.

hi all, I have just got a gold 'n' grey fe35 Ferguson, it has a 4 cylinder diesel engine, It is completely original and hasn't been touch of over 20 years. it was left outside under a tarp for 12years, with the head off and the barrels open to the elements! the paint is fairly good. we went to move the tractor in the morning on Tuesday preparing are self's for a long day of moving it! but we inflated the tyres and to are amazement all the tyres inflated and have stayed up since, this was very shocking as they are all perished and have sat for over 12years in all weathers. we then put chains around the back axels and used a van to pull it out, it came out so easy I was so surprised. we then loaded it onto a trailer with a hand winch and it is currently on my yard awaiting its own shed to be build after new year! I'm now very busy spraying everything with WD-40 and have put ceresin down the bores to free it up a bit, and now I'm cleaning the surface rust off the inside of the liners. I will have to investigate the gear box as it wont go into gear, I have freed up the H and Low lever which in-gages and disinigages, I think the little ball that drops in to hold it in gear when driving is stuck and need moving. I think its going to be easy to get running as they are good engines, I have all the parts which just need bolting on, I will see if the engine will turn over tomorrow after the wd-40 and ceresin has done its job! then if it does I will bolt everything together and get a new battery, filters and fuel as I say everything is completely original, with even the original tax disc holder, with original tax discs in!

i don't own one but i worked for someone who had every version of the ferguson 35 apperantly

Just watching a repeat of a repeat of Salvage Squad and they have a stuck four cylinder lump from a Tiger Moth and the old chap supervising them heats up a pan of oil until it smokes and then pours some into each bore . Apparently the heat helps penetration and expands the bore a fraction to aid freeing the pistons. - allegedly !! Any way it worked for them ! So get the chip pan out!

Knew you were thinking that, didn't want to say anything

Alain, another great score you got. I must get a bigger engined Bolens at some point . Is that a wheel trim on the back wheels? Will you be doing this one up? That dump trailer is a good find too.

Patience will be rewarded! I'd be inclined to give it a couple of weeks before resorting to the block of wood and lump hammer! Probably marginal but at this stage its penetration thats needed more than lubrication . Plus Gas or a mix of acetone and brake or AT fluid maybe.

We used Land Rover reverse lights on ours with LED bulbs

Well had a play around took battery off and put back on, tapped the solenoid and it did the trick, started on first turn. Happy days. Next thing is headlights. Can you still get them or is there an alternative? I was thinking of an LED upgrade.

Thats bad news mate, can you pm me the vin number as they've probably changed the plates and I'll tell my contacts to keep a lookout for it

Thanks for quick replies. Key turning ok and solenoid just clicking. Going to check it over with multimeter today. Can startermotor be connected directly to 12v to test it?

contact titch alan he will make one for you

The FE-35 (Gold belly) are rare as may people don't have them as many didn't sell, In the time of the tractor being made people didn't like the colour scheme that harry Ferguson wanted gold and grey its said even his employees told him that people wouldn't and didn't like the colours, and preferred the TVO 3 cylinder petrol (Perkins engine that was in the old standard cars), so many people either bought the Massey 35, which was painted the Massey colours grey and red, or even the older types for example TED-20 or TE-20 that was produced before the FE-35 and other older models which were just painted grey. As that tractor is its worth a bit not running, but when it is it can be worth over £3000, they go down in value if you re-spray them as collectors such as myself like the original patina, but if its too far gone that its full of rust they you would buy new panels and re-spray. Don't get the Ferguson FE-35 mixed up with the Massey MF35 different years (1955-1964) and colours (Red and Grey) and they have a different values in money. Regards Joe this is another picture will put some more up later after I have put some more WD-40 in the barrel and have washed all the moss and dirt of it

Just got tarp off and now trying to inflate tyres! amazing how they all went up and have stayed up. this is the tractor out of the garden, without the bonnet as I was looking at the cylinders. this is it loaded on the trailer, with another tractor! which I also picked up from there a westwood t1200. this is the side of the engine as it was when we took the tarp off, it has a bit of old crumbling carpet over the barrels. this is it on the trailer again, from the back showing the westwood and the bonnet.

Oh good I was going to ask about forms

Boxing Day in the workshop! What a great idea

Nope Part of the problem as we found yesterday was the new float was too tall, which meant when the float went up it bottomed out on the carb body before shutting off the fuel! Once the old float and jet went back in the flooding stopped. One thing that was really bugging me was why the spark was so weak at the plug until the ignition was turned off when it produced a nice fat bright spark just the once! This got me thinking, so I did a little research.. And found an external condenser on a car engine is wired onto the positive side of the coil, where as small engines say a Kohler or a Mag the condenser is wired onto the negitive side of the coil... No prizes for guess which way we had it wired Soooo... armed with a condenser wired in the right way, and also the base jet settings for the Bing carb the engine was soon brought to life Of course all this happened before Nigel had turned up, so I carefully timed it that just as Nigel was pulling in I was driving Horse Gut out the workshop!! The look on Nigels face was priceless.. At first he thought I was driving the Cammo 8 without a bonnet, until he noticed I was driving past the Cammo 8 which did still have it's bonnet on! Picture a look of confused/think your seeing things/disbelief all rolled into one which after a minute gave way to a big grin You have indeed