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A bit more work on the fuel tank was done, mostly welding up the odd hole I had missed. There's one! One or two on the underside as well. Not all the holes were that obvious, but putting a little compressed air into the tank made them easier to find.. Some bit's were just welded up to tidy them up. The exhaust system got the same treatment.. Find the holes and weld them up.. Finally the build had got to the "see if the drive system worked" point of things... Sooooo...... Which left only two things to do.. No 1.. Quickly give Madtrax some brakes.. Quickly as in back brakes only.. No 2... Get MadTrax off the bench and go for a test drive..

Feeling a bit bored as I've no project as such now the plough depth wheel is done, I decided to mow the green. Put the deck onto the C-125, topped up the fuel, checked the engine oil and off I went. Got the green done and the verge on the opposite side of the lane, then proceeded with the area between the pond and our neighbours drive. Just about to move on to the other verge by the pond and a horrible rattling noise appeared. Knocked off the deck and it was still there. Not coming from the engine thank goodness. If it had been I reckon the engine would have disintegrated. I then noticed the clutch pedal was bouncing back and forth. Drive belt on it's was out? Gently drove back into the workshop and took footplate and side panel off. Started the engine and I then notice the clutch idler pulley had quite a wobble. Bearings gone? So take the pulley off and that was when I realised the part of the bracket the pulley fits on had been repaired by a PO. It must have snapped off at sometime and a piece of flat had been welded to the top half then bolted through the bottom half. On the bench with the pulley off I discovered the hole the pulley bolt goes through was elongated. Also the nut and bolt were a bit loose. The pulley bearings were not bad. Just a little play. So I tightened up the nut and bolt with thread locker on. Good and tight. All back together now and though there is still a bit of movement in the pedal, it will do till winter. Looks like the old girl will be getting an overhaul this winter. The engine does smoke a bit and uses a bit of oil. So that will be rebuilt as well. Sorry no photo's. I got too engrossed in what I was doing.

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