slf-uk

On Friday I had a quick trip to see Alan, John and Chris (The Showman), stopping off on the way to drop off a Bolens to the other Chris (Bolens Chris as my lad calls him). It was fantastic to meet up with them all again. I picked up a Bolens 1054 which I am sure a number of you have seen before. A couple of pictures of the tractor after it arrived safe in Norfolk, the home of Bolens tractors in the UK It is a 1054-03 which I believe means that it was made in 1972. Iain

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

Maybe one more :-) Yes, space is an issue, but we all have that problem Iain

If we took Andrew's, Chris's and my 850, pulled them apart and made one from the best parts, it could save us all a lot of time :-) Iain

Great looking tractor Tom. You could always sell me that EK if you need the space :-) Iain

I had the chance to have a very quick look at Andrew's 850 yesterday when I was dropping a tractor off for Chris. Very nice machine. Iain

It may sound odd but, yes standard engine oil. Iain

Very interesting Bolens, I may be able to add some further information. It look like some parts have been added from another model which makes the identification harder. It looks to have two drive pulleys which would make it a 650,750 or 850. It should also have two pulleys on the drive shaft. Normally it would have a belt fitted to each of the drive pulleys and a lever through the bottom of the dash tower to move the tensioner onto one or other belt, giving high or low range. The shaft appears to be present near the pulleys but no hole in the dash tower or lever. I would have expected a 3 speed rear end so I suspect a 6 speed is a later addition. A 850 has a Wisconsin engine so my guess is that it is either a 650 or 750 with a rear end and maybe a dash tower from something like a 1050. 650 is a 184-01 (B&S 6hp 146402-014801) or 185-01 (B&S 6hp 146401-014701) made in 1966 750 is a 171-01 (B&S 7hp 170402-013001) or 172-01 (B&S 7hp 170401-013101) made in 1967 650 is manual start and so is a 750 171-01. As such if the engine is original I think it is a 750 model 172-01, just as Nigel suggested. If you are unable to identify the model number as Alain suggested hopefully the engine numbers are readable. I hope this helps Iain

Thanks for the kind thoughts guys. I am working all hours at the moment but I hope to have some tractor time in a few weeks time. Time to sit down for a birthday drink or two Iain

I feel the need to wade in on this one I see Chris appears to have a problem with his left hand on both pictures. It is either lovely attached to the Bolens or maybe he is trying to hide something. I have the twin to John's tractor and I think they may have been separated at birth and are longing to be reunited. They have both been painted to look like Wheelhorses and both have been robbed of some of the manly Bolens features such as the PTO. Here is a couple of pictures of it's twin which clearly shows it a Bolens Looking at the front in detail it clearly shows the Bolens features. Er. hang on a minute

I am intrigued to know if mine have cast or pressed pulley wheels but worse than that when I looked I couldn't find them. The D-Series one has cast pulleys and I only found that because it fixed to the front of my D-160. Sadly I am not as organised as Mr Showman. It could be a good business opportunity to make up and sell mule drive refurbishment kits with cast pulleys. Iain

Wheels and tyres look great. I am looking forward to seeing your spindle conversion. Iain

Great job and it really looks the part on the back of the tractor A drop of red paint and it will look like a factory attachment. Iain

It took me a while to work out what you were referring too as I most of my tractors have a proper PTO to drive the attachments It is very interesting that some of the pulleys were pressed steel and others cast. I will have to check out my WH mule drives to see which version they are, might even have a spare one. I have a mule drive for one of my D series but no attachments to use it with It will be interesting to see what type of pulleys are used on that. Iain

How are you planning to fit the dukes of hazard air horns now you have removed the horn circuit?

I would love to go but unfortunately I can't find a way to make it work Iain

Fantastic attention to detail, it looks great. Iain

Great article. On this site I also noticed this amazing article telling the story of landing a C-130 on an aircraft carrier, wow. http://theaviationist.com/2014/07/16/c-130-land-on-carrier/ Iain

Very good of Chris to take one for the team I wondered what was in the caravan and thought it might be worth exploring, but I really hate spiders. Iain

Tom, let me know if I can help you out with any parts or assistance. Iain

Happy birthday Nigel, have a great one. 100 years old that can't be right, you look at least 10 years younger Best wishes Iain

Great article and pictures, pleased you have achieved stardom Iain

Great truck Nigel. It will be hard to keep it that clean. Iain

Sorry to here about you loss Chris . I know it's hard as they become part of the family. Best wishes Iain

I was originally planning to go to the show but work commitments got in the way. Instead I have spent the last two day attempting to navigate around the traffic jams and it looks like I missed a really great show. I wonder if the Bolens are locally owned. Thanks for posting the pictures Iain