KATO

They tend to get upset when I'm looking for somewhere to mount the muffler

Found this handy little tip on how to build a cheap baking soda air blaster for cleaning carbs or other small objects etc
 
http://www.aircooledtech.com/tools-on-the-cheap/soda_blaster/
 
also watch the the short video demonstration test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZhBQXm4yBY&feature=player_embedded#t=3

Hello all. Just thought I'd post a few pics of my latest project. I picked up a 1974 Case 444 Garden Tractor. This is a large garden tractor. It has a hydraulic 3 point hitch, with a hydraulic PTO. I got it with a hydraulic tiller, snow/dirt blade, mower deck, and a very rusty Brinly plow. The starter generator isn't working, so I dropped it off at my local rebuild place to be fixed. The Kohler K321 will need rebuilding, as the previous owner said it smoked, and leaks alot. 
 First, I'm going to get it running so I can check how everything works. I will replace those rotted rear hydraulic hoses before using the hydraulics!  I've been wanting a GT with a full 3 point for awhile, so I'm really going to enjoy this project. Here are a few pics from the 9 hour drive yesterday, to pick it up. There is a couple pics of it next to my 222 as well. 
 
Matt
 

Here's a little bit more of the build before I head out to the shack to play with the GT and a 3 point
 
 
Starting where I left off..
 
Corners cut off.. I'm checking the size against a standard Wheel Horse wheel hub in the photo.
 

 
 
More material taken off.
 

 
 
Until it looked like this
 

 
 
Yep, that fit's the wheel
 

 
 
Part 3 of the new wheel hub was a smaller steel doughnut.
 
From this.
 

 
 
To this.
 

 
 
Which neatly fit's the center of this Kawasaki Gpz305 front brake disk.
 

 
 
It was about this sort of time that work stopped for almost a year as I moved house and built a Workshack twice!

Here's Garry about to "open" a fully functional Workshack..
 

 
 
That feels like a good place to pause the story for now... More to come later.

Hello all. I thought I'd share a few pics of my childhood Garden Tractor, that now belongs to my son Danny. Some of you that have spent time at the RS may have seen the thread where I restored this tractor for my son Danny, a couple years ago. http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/topic/32609-standard-tractor/?hl=%20bantam
 Its a 52 Standard 3000. In 53 they took the name Bantam, but it was still the same tractor. My dad gave this to me over 30 years ago, and it was my pride and joy as a child. I managed to hang on to it all these years, and had the privileged to restore it, and pass it on to my youngest son. These are very small tractors, and although I don't have any attachments for it, you could get them with all the standard stuff. Mower deck, snow plow, dump cart, etc..  It still has its original Briggs 9FB engine with 3hp. You could get these tractors in 4 different sizes. The Bantam Jr.(2hp), 3000 (3hp), 5000 (5hp), and the 8000(8hp).
 I've included a couple of pictures of it from my childhood. I'm the obnoxious looking boy in the pics, and the girls are my sisters, and their friends. In on pic, my dad is on the seat, and in the other pic, my mom is on the seat. I've also included a couple pics of what it looked like before I restored it, and after. Thanks
 
Matt 

Need to repair some fences and such from a winter wind storm. Wasn't really looking forward to lifting the
concrete out of the ground so this is what resulted. One down 6 to go  
 
 

I needed a small boat to putter around in and get through lilly pads so this worked out great. Made from a washer tub,several bicycles and lawnmowers. There is a rudder in back and the wheel adjust up and down to keep the right amount in the water regardless of the load,this is a must have if you build something similar. 5 speed tranny and reverse so I can keep the motor at near idle and is quieter that way. A piece of downspout painted to look like a steamboat stack sets it off.The 14 foot flatbottom boat is just right to get through lilly pads and get up into the trees. You will need a motor with a cast iron flywheel if you use a pushmower engine, I have been able to change over from aluminum to iron on some of the older Briggs.

Due to allergies I built a cab that is fairly air tight and makeup air is filtered,it works quite well and I don't have to wear that mask. The frame is thin wall 1inch square tubing and plexiglass and plywood make up the rest. Insulated with fiber board,carpet and spray foam. I have 3 good sized 12 volt thermo units on top with a fan cooling those and fans on the inside and a makeup air fan that pulls outside air through the air cleaner. An auto alternator provides power for the units. The large heatsinks are diodes to keep the 12 volt as a clean signal but the thermal units gradually stop working and after 2 years they get cool enough to collect moisture but that is about all, they are not worth the cost which is a fair amount.
I am gathering parts to put in freon unit but not till winter, with all this rain I have to mow every 4 days.

Necessity is the mother of invention!

The armature in that thing alone has got to be bigger than most drills today

Never been much of a "wood worker" myself but i can certainly appreciate it
Nice job !!!

That is one huge piece of concrete your hoist is holding...I'm impressed.

Thats a great idea and I agree, ATV's are handy.  I have a friend that did something similar with his ATV.  The difference was the "crane" was actually a lift as it hinged at the bottom mount and the winch was used to pick up the entire boom assembly.  It could be used for anything but he built it out of necessity for getting deer onto the front of his ATV without having to lift them.  Slide onto the boom, engage the winch and then slide them onto the rack.  Just a thought if you ever wanted to transport anything on the front rack.

I made this muffler from an empty propane tank and pipes from a rotted out old muffler.
The old muffler's exterior can was rusted through so I used some of the pipes from it. Drilled the holes into the propane tank, Lined the walls with some fireproof fiber mat and held that in place with some wire fence that has 1/2" square holes. It was a pain to get it right by working through the little hole but not too bad. Welded in the used pipes and came out with a pretty quiet little muffler.  It's not pretty but it's more quiet than the Nelson mufflers are and 1000% better than those pepper pot mufflers. This was kind of an experiment so maybe the next one I will use new materials and was thinking of doing 2 chambers.

Need to repair some fences and such from a winter wind storm. Wasn't really looking forward to lifting the
concrete out of the ground so this is what resulted. One down 6 to go  
 
 

WOW!, can you bring that to my house someday?  very nice!!!

That's brilliant! It looks great and saved you a lot of work too.
Tom

That is a great idea.  There's so much those ATV'v can do, I've had the need to just that too!

That's a pretty good idea!  Thanks for sharing it

Need to repair some fences and such from a winter wind storm. Wasn't really looking forward to lifting the
concrete out of the ground so this is what resulted. One down 6 to go  
 
 

Need to repair some fences and such from a winter wind storm. Wasn't really looking forward to lifting the
concrete out of the ground so this is what resulted. One down 6 to go  
 
 

I built this little steam engine from copper pipe, brass rod and a caster wheel. It runs from compressed air.Fun little project
The attachment pic wasn't that clear so here's a photobucket pic