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Back last summer while I was at a mates barn having a rummage, right at the back in the darkness I found a red tractor that ive never seen before. After a bit of research I found that it was built by Toro for one year and because of poor sales was dropped. The dealer had 10 and offered them at a deal and my mate bought 3. Two were used for a contract that he had then parked up and the third is still new and not assembled. The one I have bought is a Toro GMT 230 1978, It has a Kohler 23 hp engine, hydraulic deck lift and bends in the middle. It was parked up in the barn in the late 90s after doing 170 hours work and left until I spotted it. After fitting a makeshift fuel tank and a good battery it fired straight up with everything working. Have to say i'm chuffed to bits with it and sounds really nice, awesome thing to drive

We got more than we expected...

Would like to wish all the forum user's a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Got a photo of my chicken plucking machine on the back cover of Stationary engine magazine,,

Now the disruption of Christmas is over its back to the shed. This is a Raider 10 thats been in the back of my woodstore for a few years and during my rebuild on the Raider 12 ive been piling bits together to put it together. Had a bit of a late start as i had to clear all the sawdust after sawing up a load of wood during the last couple of days. This is as far as ive got today apart from the chassis is now sanded down to bare metal

Went to visit Mr Showman in the deep South today as we were out and about on this lovely warm March Day We managed to rehome his set of Sisis discs for him, they will look good behind our smaller ride ons

Hello all yesterday I went to see this Tractor and found it was a perfect fit so I had to buy it and will be going back to collect on Saturday hope you like I will post more pictures when I get it home

Had a victim visitor to the shed today who popped in for coffee and collect a few parts. After the coffee and a chat we loaded his car with more than I expected to get in it and I was happy to empty his pocket. I think Ian was pleased with all the bits and left with his car much lower at the backend Here's some photos

Today's progress has been a bit slow due to a very stubborn hub, i warmed it up and bolted a puller on but no joy. I gave it a good soaking and tried again still wouldn't move. Next I connected up the gas axe to get more heat and quicker, with it glowing it still refused to move so i went for a cuppa to cool off. I thought I'd give it one more chance if not I decided to leave it rather than brake it. Same again with loads of heat and an extension pipe on my T bar it moved and off it came, next was the other side so with puller fitted it slid straight off. It was a lot of work but at least i got them off and can change the oil seals and I didn't break anything.

New steering shroud fettled, painted and fitted to the Lawnbug, decal arrived from Titch at Machinery Decals today so that's finished it off...

Managed to get in the shed and do a bit more. i finished getting the rust and crap off the chassis and got a coat of primer on it and sorted out a couple of attach a matic thingys.

Well we had to give it a go, remember where we put all the kit ,fit it and have a play

Had a couple of spare hours today so I've done it bit more. everything just about done and all up and running, I've moved it backwards and forwards in the shed , next job to get it out and try it round the garden.

My good deed for today clearing the the footpath in the village so that the old ones can get their pensions and food, we must make sure the old ones are OK Keep well

My 1267 "Skonkfest" tractor has had a checkered past. I got it after my heart attack to help with snow removal at work. I t had had a stuck exhaust valve in the past. I found assorted other things like no carb base gasket, silly putty sealant on the breather ect. I repainted it last spring because I got tired of a pinkish tractor. It had run good since I had done some tinkering so I only replaced the head gasket and decarboned the head when I painted it. On it's way to it's first show it had fouled the plug. I cleaned it and didn't think twice. It ran through the Big Wheel horse show parade with no issues but this winter it started fouling the plug again. so bad I had to dig out the crud in the plug. It got to the point where it wouldn't run longer than 15 min with out fouling the plug even with an anti-fouler in it. I got a 14 HP K321 on the shelf of of an much newer tractor but I wanted to keep the original starter/genny set up. The donor motor: Ring gear needed to come off for the original shroud to fit: Shroud mocked up on 14 to see how it fits: Had to use the head off of the K301 for the correct bosses for the genny bracket. You can see all the oil on top of the piston and gunk around the exhaust valve. This was all cleaned up when I painted the tractor and is only a couple of hours of run time. I'm shocked that this really didn't smoke much: Look at the build up on the plug and antifouler after only a few min of run time: New engine painted up: Ready to drop in: Mounted on the tractor. This frees up the lift table to lift the tractor! Running with different stack. I stayed with the smaller one.

Thank you HarryT. I would love to get a copy of the manual and parts list. Would it be possible for you to copy them? I'd be happy to reimburse you for any costs. In the meantime (Triumph66) here a couple of pictures of my tractor just after I found it under a large tree!

I had a few hours today so I popped up to the yard I share with a tree surgeon. I thought I would try and level out all the wood chippings & ruts with my 600 & chain drag mat. I was pleasantly surprised by the results as we had a heavy downpour last night and the ruts were caused by my mate's Land Rover and wood chipper. I got the drag chain mat off The Showman back in November. It did a tidy job.Photos taken on my mobile and I hope to attach a video of it working if I can work how to download it from my phone!

Got a few more bits sanded down and primered

Hi all found this in shed Yesterday under a old cover just had to buy it as you do, Seems all good but no bag for it . Powered by a Briggs and Stratton 7hp Engine was quite expensive when new and they made a few different models built by Edward Thomas and co .Oswestry Shropshire hope you like it I do definitely not for painting just preserving

While walking into town, my usual Saturday excitement, I detour through a small trading estate to have a peek in the local metal fabricators scrap bin. Most weeks either nearly empty or full of RSJ off cuts and 4" or larger thick wall box section plus large section angle. All big and heavy. Last Saturday had a much better assortment of small stuff mixed in with bits of the above plus other mixed junk including lots of tangled metal banding from delivery's of steel. Back today with the car. Into the shop / office and asked if I could have a dig in the bin. Lady person at desk didn't sound too keen. "We don't like that" but donned a high vis vest and came out into the yard. I pointed out a few smaller section bits and asked if I could have those. "Yes, but be careful, there are lots of sharp edges", as if I didn't know. Started pulling bits out and she started helping. I think she was worried in case I cut myself and sued. She would have had a fit if she had been at John's place while Chris and I were clearing the scrap. Anyway, got a selection for possible future use. Would have dug deeper and got more if lady person hadn't been nearly having kitten's. Asked how much I owed, "Nothing" was the reply I was hoping for. Result, although I was prepared to cough up a few tea bags. Various sizes from 2" x 1" down to 1/2" square plus round tube and bar, flat strip 1/4" thick and an 18" x 12" x 1/8" plate.

The original exhaust which.was used for the test runs was unsuitable for scale appearance and was also in the wrong position. A 180 degree bend to fit within the side panels was needed. I tried a length of flexi pipe I had but this wouldn't bend into a tight enough radius. A piece of 15mm copper pipe was bent up using an ancient and crude pipe bender ( found at friend John's place ) where else, which gave the required result. The exhaust stub on the engine is approx 22mm outside diameter although the bore is a lot smaller. An adapter was turned up to suit. During the clear out at John's various stainless steel silencers were found which John had made at work. This one was removed from a mower and cleaned up. This was connected to the copper pipe via an old 90 degree plumbing elbow after cleaning off all the muck. After finding a length of chrome plated pipe a posher version was bent up. No prizes for guessing where these came from. Not sure how this pipe and the plating will stand up to the heat but not the end of the world if it doesn't. An extension was made for the silencer, again from copper pipe, as I didn't have anything else of a suitable diameter. This was drilled and the lower end plugged as per the full size. An adapter ring was turned up, drilled and tapped to hold everything together. This ring also located the assembly into the grill surround. The completed parts and after fitting. Still need to make some adjustments.

Think we should call this Raider of the lost parts

Got a bit more done today in between tea breaks

More body filler than I could have imagined was used on the hood but looks pretty decent now

I needed to get in the shed today and shut the door with the radio on. i picked up some post and rail fencing Christmas eve so i thought i would cut up the rails today that had been stored in the van. heres a photo, I'll do the posts tomorrow