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Here you are then.

Tidy work.

If I was mowing a nice flat lawn, Andrew, I wouldn't use ag's myself. But the green and verges are a little on the uneven side. I went round the green with the scarifier the other day, using the Black Horse fitted with ag's and wheel weights. Marking was minimal.

Happy Birthday Mate, your hanging in there like a vintage tractor

Happy birthday 🎂 Andrew 👍

With the clutch now free I couldn't wait to get it back together. I gave the end of the crankshaft and inside the clutch a light clean and reassembled everything. Using the manual I checked the position of the brake pad and then fired up the engine. Pulling on the clutch lever I was glad to see the drive to the gearbox stop turning, low, high and reverse gears all worked as did the rotor drive. Time for a play (I mean test run). Given how hard the ground is it worked very well. I will change the engine and gearbox oils next before putting it to work. I asked my father how long the 350 has been parked up for and he said he couldn't remember, we've been trying to work it out but the best we can come up with is somewhere in excess of 15 years. My father bought this Howard 350 new when I was still at primary school and I have fond memories of watching him working it every year. It's nice that after a bit of tinkering it is still capable of a days work.

The homemade 6 x 10 tilt trailer is nearly finished, I just have to put the rear gate on and a couple other small details

Started this several years ago. Had kept back an old Top Box unit from the old 1962 units when I ripped out the old kitchen of my workshop property.. Units were fixed to the walls with Cut Floor Brad nails !, so not easy to save undamaged. The Units were good quality wood with machined Dovetails - I managed to get 2 slices of about 6 inch sections to make 2 Storage boxes for my machine tools. I also had a good old sheet of 1/2" Mahogany Marine Ply for the bases and Lids, so I made them in the style of the old Georgian Military Campaign Chests. Bases are Glued and Screwed (18 in each) to carry at least 20 kgs of bits- The Lift Handles and Lever Latches were obtained in an old Ironmonger type shop in France, but I had to make the Brass Catch Plates set into the lids. Outside surfaces were dark stained and built up layers of Yacht Varnish roughly applied until the wood grain was filled, along with inside bases and Lids. Got more Brass corner plates to make, but more or less ready for the insides to be sectioned for the various tool layouts. Last few days I've been making a little stowage box for the recently obtained Dial Indicator. Measures 4 x 3 x 2. 3/4"- Also utilised an old Reserve Port Box with sliding lid for storage of my Surface Gauge (just long enough)-

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.