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After a day of painting, cleaning and making fiddly linkages (not much room in there now) I now have working levers Linkages have equal throw, that's why it looks a little complicated. One crank is 2x longer, but the spool linkage halves this to keep things balanced. Dash decal done too.

just saw this on the auction site looks nicely done

Hook painted

Those axles just flip round 180 deg, they are just bolted to the chassis

Wow mate that looks fantastic well done !!!!

I think basically that the engine design is not of the best and excess fuel is always present in the exhaust. In the past I have taken a blowlamp to the exhaust to clear out the crap. The other thing to do is drain the crankcase regularly as oil and fuel does build up in the transfer cavity which can make smoking worse.

I was thinking the same. I have a under used Westwood diesel, just need to find the time Iain

Now that's a good idea

Me three. I've an engineless Husqvarna to bring home one day. Or use the Mountfield that's sitting at the back of the workshop.

Nice conversion, started life as a Westwood

I have just adjusted the crack pressure to exactly 2300psi and the tractor runs much better so I would say it is worth setting them up right. But if it starts runs and does nor smoke too much I would leave well alnoe until you ave the engine in bits again.l

That's a handy little dumper.

I actually painted it silver, I thought that if I painted it maroon and I actually used the tractor/hook the paint would chip and look awful. It probably should be maroon though.

I'm sure we could do a trade for that lovely Cub cadet of yours Tom

Now up to 35 Ransomes entered. Final closing is 19th Feb.

That's not what Pam said.

The latch springs shut holding the hook closed. Ready to bolt to the tractor after a quick paint.

hi mate, nice build! Hope you don't mind me asking what tyres are they ? they look well and i wouldn't mind some like that on mine

Changed the governor no change, checked the spill timing seemed ok. Removed the new head and the barrel fitted a brand new piston and barrel started it up and still the same!!!!!! Seems I am destined to explore the nth degree of set up on all my engines will fiddle a bit more in the morning, good thing about this engine is the electric start at least turning it over is not killing me! Good old Norm re assembled the brake bands on the MG40N and we got that running today, Norman took it for a test drive.

it's keeping them clean Norm, would be a nightmare in mud - plus they aren't designed to run out of line either I thought of cogged v with perhaps some grooves or notches in the pulleys to stop it slipping just not enough room James I've turned the sides of the sprockets down to allow a greater angle. I think running worn and loose with idlers is the way to go.I ran it again at the weekend and it did better, but it is an extreme angle i'm asking it to do I've just finished 4 years of development!!!!!Brief update... Started with a vengeance on the hydraulics. Done the levers Shame every fitting I have is different I think I'll end up changing everything over to jic, as can't adapt the spool valve to metric

Andrew had PM'd me and in the course of conversation Andrew brought up that Bolens may have built Montgomery Wards tractors as well and they did, both early walk behinds and 4 wheel Ride-A-Matics and the Montgomery Wards Squire 6, 725 The first fully engineered with the engine and steering axle in the front 4 wheel Garden Tractor that Montgomery Wards offered was the 7 horsepower “Squire 7", introduced in 1959 and stayed the same for 1960-61, it was basically the same as the 1959-1961 Ride-A-Matics. In 1962 a more powerful engine was installed and it became the 7.25 horsepower “Squire 7 ¼â€. In 1963 things changed for Montgomery Wards in their Lawn and Garden tractor lineup. M/W offered a Simplicity built Garden Tractor, called the 7 ¼hp “Squire 725â€, same name as the Bolens tractor. This would be the last year for the Simplicity 700 Series based tractor. Wards also offered a Bolens built “Squire 6â€, based on the Bolens 600 with a different Cast Iron Grill, hood and Steering Tower. Bolens also provided M/W with several of the attachments for the “Squire 6†that they built.

"you need different shoes for different occasions....." I told my wife that and she said I was a shoe whore.

That last sentence is the only reason why I bought the Monty so my dear wife can help me out in the garden whilst I have a few glasses of wine and look at other suitable tractors........in any case garden tractors are like shoes; you need different shoes for different occasions.....

Actually Iain you are on the right track. By 1965 tractors started to become more sophisticated and user friendly, gone was the primitive behemoth that took hours to change attachments or required constant tinkering. These newer and easier to operate machines were being designed for the wife. You see, here in America at that time most women stayed home, took care of the kids, the laundry, the cooking and cleaning, so it was only obvious that with an hours free time a week left over they could also mow the lawn and thus saving the weekend for dear old dad to relax and enjoys his pipe and pint.

Simplicity employed the best engineers and used state of the art engineering going back to right after Word War 1. William J. Niederkorn founded the company in 1922, and started building riding garden tractors in 1939. Their planetary gear transmission was one of the best, their trans-axle one of the toughest, and the design top of the line. They offered a high/low transmission, dual lift levers, front, mid mount, and rear PTO capable implements and later introduced a shuttle shift transmission that was a vast improvement over vari-drive transmissions. A shuttle shift was a four speed hydro, pick 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear and the shift lever gave you that gear in forward OR reverse. In the mid 60s like many other brands they also started offering a hydro, but its design was not borrowed from any other design Simplicity made their own and made the best. A drive shaft went from the engine to a bevel gear box with pulleys on either side, one ran the mid mount mower deck and rear tiller PTO drive and the other pulley powered the hydro. This balanced design gave the right amount of power to tractor and implement. With this design the mower decks attached to the tractor on the bottom of the front axle and the rear of the mower drug on wheels, the belt came from below the seat forward to the mower pulley, that way the mower followed the axle and terrain. This was the mower that striped your yard. The Simplicity tractor built in the 1990s was not that different under the tin than the one built in the early 60s, albeit an larger engine. To give you an idea of their competence Allis Chalmers bought them and had them produce their outdoor power equipment going back to 1965. Montgomery Wards also used them to build their tractors including the rare and beautiful Montgomery Wards Twin 20. My 1975 Simplicity built Allis Chalmers 716H was 4100.00 new with just a deck, that was the same price as a nice Ford or Chevrolet car. Simplicity still makes Massey Ferguson and Snapper lawn equipment and is owned by BASCO, you know them better by the name Briggs and Stratton. They also make Ferris ZTRs and own Giant Vac. I will say, in my opinion, Bolens built the toughest tractor made, however Simplicity's design was and is one of the best ever made. All that said, I also believe the Ariens GT was the most versatile GT ever built. All these companies reside within 50 miles of one another in the state of Wisconsin and like John M. Kohler, Harry Bolens, Henry Ariens had a dream of building his product, his company and America. Under the stewardship of the elder Ariens grandson, Michael Ariens, the company acquired the assets of the lawn and garden division of Sperry New Holland, the New Holland tractor division was sold to Ford and Sperry went into a diversified business of aviation avionics and oil production equipment. Ariens had only produced a rear engine rider in the past and while a "johnny-come-lately" in the front engine tractor field, they built many walk behind tillers and introduced the first residential walk behind snow blower, so tractors were not their first or main game anyway. There is rumor of a Simplicity built Ariens and also a Manitowoc built Ariens front engine tractor, but very little is known about either. The Sperry Rand tractor was offered in 12, 14, and 16 hp S models, the last model year (1974) having a tilt wheel. These tractors were painted green and gold, but with the Ariens acquisition in July of 1974 Ariens coated them with their now familiar Ariens orange. Like Simplicity the tractor was virtually unchanged except for larger engines and power steering from 1969 until 1999. Features of the Sperry design included front, mid mount, and rear shaft drives for snow blower, rotary mower, and tiller/brush cutter, as well as hydraulic lifts front, mid, and rear, with a available 3 point lift on the rear and integral lift brackets on the front. The operator could select the desired hydraulic lift by a knob on the left side and employ one 1100 pound cylinder that could raise, lower, and float, as well as having down pressure. At first a Vickers Hydro was used, later the transmission was upgraded to a Sundstrand with a Dana trans-axle similar to the Dodge Dart. Kubota liked the design so much they virtually copied the tractor for its early intrusion into the American lawn and garden market, decks and most tractor parts were interchangeable. Andrew your Montgomery Ward tractor was originally gold as was most of their early power equipment, and yes there was a pulley for the front PTO and the snow blower attached to the tractor in reverse of the mower deck and utilized an upside down mule drive to power the snow blower, flail mower, or brush cutter, compressor, sprayer, or any of a host of other attachments. Back to the Simplicity, In 1967 after years of investigation, Allis Chalmers and several other American firms were found guilty of price fixing and operating under a monopoly. In 1960, the U.S. government uncovered an attempt to form a cartel in the heavy electric equipment industry. It charged 13 companies, including the largest in the industry (Westinghouse, General Electric, and Allis-Chalmers), with price fixing and bid rigging Most feigned innocence, but Allis-Chalmers pleaded guilty. Although one motive for the forming of cartels is so that amply profitable firms can try to become obscenely profitable, it did not apply in this instance, the attempt at a heavy-electrical cartel was a desperate (and foolish) attempt to turn red ink to black ink among fierce competition. To punish Allis the government required them to sell off many of their assets and acquisitions, one of them being Simplicity Between 1967 and 1974 Allis built their own line of riding mowers, tillers and tractors in Lexington South Carolina, in 1974 the lawsuit and punishment was withdrawn and the partnership with Simplicity was renewed, However many of those Allis built tractors of the last few years had no Simplicity counterpart and were much of their own design, especially the 300 and 400 series from 1972 to 1974. After renewing the partnership with Simplicity Allis closed the plant in Lexington and moved its operation back to Port Washington Wisconsin and in the end destroyed all spares for the tractors built in those years. The 1975 year saw Simplicity model 7000 series garden tractors like the 7010, 7012, and 7016 the Allis counterpart models were badged the 700 series like the 710, 712, and 716 and were offered in four transmissions and five different engine combinations. For the most part, after 1972 Simplicity used Briggs and Stratton engines and Allis Chalmers used Kohler engines. Sorry for the "novel", I tend to get carried away about OPE history, BTW, I did abbreviate this considerably from its original length , lol. It was close, but the later B series Allis tractors had differences from the Simplicity models, some so small they confounded many dealers and owners. yep, that is right