Leaderboard

I've had my doubts about my eldest son for a while. He apparent lack of interest in machinery worried me. He's been more interested in girls and partying. He did buy one of my horses from me, but apart from this pic last weekend he'd shown no interest However the sight of this on the webcam wednesday assured me that he was indeed my son and perfectly normal Jake had been up the lane dozing dirt on his C-125 and clearly wasn't happy he'd got it dirty. Seems he might have a new love in his life

Just a very quick post as I'm about to head to the workshop... Yesterday HG started going back together And the latest HG video for you to enjoy with your morning coffee

We've had a bit of snow, unfortunately I was at work when it started and many cars were been stuck, but the snow is no match for the Amarok!

At least today was productive, managed to bend up a new bumper out of steel strip fortunately I was able to take a template off 225. So started the day as a blacksmith and then spend many hours trying to figure out how the floorboards were meant to be. I thought I had gained some time by buying some part built sets from Neil only to realise that 137 had a totally different arrangement using two boards suspended under the cross shaft by four U bolts which I now have to make. I have made one complete board which required a lot of trial fitting and messing about, the second board is simply a mirror image so it should not take long to make that in the morning. Fortunately I had a couple of lengths of pitch pine ex church pew which are wide enough and thick enough.

When you find out what you need let me know. I have a few scrappers & have a few leads on some other bits All takes time you know

And be the oldest swinger in town.

You might try and use a lead pencil over the data plate to reveal numbers

That all looks a right mess, you did well to save it all. Looking good after some black paint

After most of the main components had been removed work started on cleaning up the chassis. Lots of crud, rust and dead wildlife which seemed to take forever. Some area's were difficult to reach due to various welded on brackets etc. The front axle and steering parts were removed after these photo's were taken. After painting the underside. Countless other operations, not all recorded, before joining up the chassis sections and transmission. This was a potential finger trapping job but luckily they survived. Very fiddly getting some of the nuts and bolts into position due to almost nil clearance between the inside of the chassis and the transmission. I can imagine when built, the frame would have been assembled first, upside down, then the transmission unit dropped in. Not practical for me with no overhead lifting gear or extra hands. I had lots of room in my garage then. Not now due to one of my son's moving back home, as they do, bringing loads of stuff with him, plus I have collected numerous "will be used one day" bits and pieces myself.

Very interesting Bolens, I may be able to add some further information. It look like some parts have been added from another model which makes the identification harder. It looks to have two drive pulleys which would make it a 650,750 or 850. It should also have two pulleys on the drive shaft. Normally it would have a belt fitted to each of the drive pulleys and a lever through the bottom of the dash tower to move the tensioner onto one or other belt, giving high or low range. The shaft appears to be present near the pulleys but no hole in the dash tower or lever. I would have expected a 3 speed rear end so I suspect a 6 speed is a later addition. A 850 has a Wisconsin engine so my guess is that it is either a 650 or 750 with a rear end and maybe a dash tower from something like a 1050. 650 is a 184-01 (B&S 6hp 146402-014801) or 185-01 (B&S 6hp 146401-014701) made in 1966 750 is a 171-01 (B&S 7hp 170402-013001) or 172-01 (B&S 7hp 170401-013101) made in 1967 650 is manual start and so is a 750 171-01. As such if the engine is original I think it is a 750 model 172-01, just as Nigel suggested. If you are unable to identify the model number as Alain suggested hopefully the engine numbers are readable. I hope this helps Iain

Made the bumper, have nice new copper period HT lead and now working on the floorboards.

Can't he afford some nice decals from you mark

http://tulsa.craigslist.org/grd/5392349802.html

As soon as monsoon season is over the metal will be painted black and the wood will get a natural stain and varnish, I'll use electrical panel plugs welded into the "air holes" to fill them up. As you might have guess the trailer is homemade.

hi the plate has been painted over its got the hi lo ratio box and the difflock data plate

After transporting the tractor home and having a good look at the damage and missing parts, it was decided that a near enough non original option was the way to go. One of the first jobs was to remove the blacksmith "repair parts". The frame around the upper grill was a surprisingly good fit held on by nuts and bolts. The door butt hinges were welded on, for welded just imagine bird poop splatter, as one hinge had already parted company. The frame and the upper grill. The bit of tin at the bottom of the grill replaced the original hinge mount which had broken away. The box sections which replaced the lower grill were only firmly welded along the front face and were quickly removed with the help of a bar and G clamps. Some of the welds were good, others bird poop. Almost as if two different people had been at work. The engine was lifted off using the same bar. The heavy welded on plate which supported the box sections can be seen. I cut most of this off before realizing later that I could have reused it to mount the new lower grill. The tow bar extension, seen on an earlier photo was removed, two bolts and more poop spatter, to reveal more damage. The original tow pin hole ripped out and the plate cracked for about 1/2 the width along the bend. Could have been repaired but I went for a different option of which more later. After spending ages, on and off, trying all the usual ways to remove the well rusted on steering wheel, I resorted to cutting a slot in the hub and used a wedge to slightly open the slot. This freed the hub from the shaft. Other options suggested on various forums were a lot more drastic. Once the wheel was off and after taking lots of photo's to help with reassembly the major dismantling started.

Hi all quick update I've had a bit of a play today I've got the kubota running which started very well and I have tested the rear 4x4 drive chain here is a quick video https://youtu.be/HJv0xQZGPtI

Might look better with a large Bolens White body.......... LOL