slf-uk

Andrew, Looks great. The oil seal on the shaft often fails on these tiller's, which results in all the oil emptying on the floor when they are left hitch down. When I store mine for a while I put a block under the hitch to keep it level. Hopefully this is was has happened to yours and it has not been run without oil. Iain

That reminds me of many years ago when my Disco was covered by LR warranty and the reverse light switch failed. The day before I took it in for repair I had to use it on a very muddy cow field and the underside was covered in poo. I apologised as I handed the keys over. The service manager thought it was very funny, the mechanic less so. Iain

I have seen a picture somewhere of one fitted to a Cub Sounds very familiar, if I remember correctly it had a high reserve and did not sell. Probably still cheaper than the ebay ones.

Looks great and even better with duals

I have always like the look of the auger attachment you can get in the US for a tubeframe Bolens (may be available for other tractors). It takes augers up to 14 inches in diameter. The attachment itself weighs 550 US pounds which is about 250kg so it would not be a good idea to fit it on a light duty machine. I have never seen one in this country and have no idea if they were ever imported. If they were imported I am sure Andrew will have one soon I found a picture picture of one today so I thought I would share. Iain

Like you, my only hope when I am pushing up daisy's is that my missus doesn't sell my equipment and tools for what she thinks I paid for them. BTW. I like the Lawn Ranger Iain

Andrew, The LK looks great and you did well to get the tiller and deck. As OB said the round top tillers are light duty and if you do too much with them they bounce which ovals the attachment holes. I can't imagine how they mounted it on front as the lift linkage would have been on the wrong side. Should be easy to fit some new pipe of the correct length to the two ends. I can measure the drive shaft on mine if that helps. I think the deck is much earlier than a G14 deck as the decks on the G-series tractors were black and had different linkage. I am no expert on Bolens attachment colours but I would think it was originally from a 850,1050 or 1250, which makes it perfect for your 1256. I scrapped an identical deck a while back as it was beyond repair. I kept all the good bits if you are missing anything. It looks like a 34 or 38in deck, does it still have the ID tag. If so let me know as I have the parts manuals for most if not all the tubeframe decks. Iain

I really like that, it looks great. A cab to keep you warm on these winter days too. I want one now that I have seen your pictures. It would be great to see more when you get it home. Iain

Andrew, I have a Brinly plow and it looks identical. It looks like someone has added some brackets and a wheel at the back which you will probably not need on a Bolens. It looks in good condition, go for it if the price is right. I think George is spot on for the price. You will need a sleeve hitch attachment to fit it to the Bolens, however these are easy to make. My buddy in West Virginia did some plans for me, which he subsequently sent to someone else who posted them on the Internet and they have gone viral. If you don't have the tools to make one I am sure you can easily find someone do so from the plans. I will send you the plans. Iain

Ah, but which one is better tempered?

Incredible machines, especially the octopus. I am unsure how well the octopus would work on my hedges and ditches, as none of the boundaries are straight. Would be fun to watch the operator try though Iain

I really want a GK now! £1850 with all those attachments sounds a good price by UK prices, just need to work out how to get one shipped over. I have a five acre garden which is mainly grass so that would be ideal. Before I got into older equipment it would take the best part of two days to cut everything with a Countax fitted with a 42in deck. Upgrading to a Bolens H16 with a 48in deck wiped half a day off the time. I now use the Bolens HT23 with a 54in deck and can do it all in half a day. It is amazing how fast you can cut grass with a large frame Bolens. A GK would be perfect for the next upgrade. Iain

From the posts I have read, I think we all either run or in the past have run a LR. Must be something to do with our mutual interest in the equipment we talk about on here. Iain

The auto transmissions on WH's are strange compared to the regular autos on a Bolens

This brings back delightful memories of doing lots of research into oils and filters when I did a mechanical refurb of my D-160. I concluded that SAE30 was the best for the WH engine AND auto transmission. I did not feel right putting normal engine oil in the transmission as it then uses that for the hydraulic lifts, but it has worked well for the last couple of year and was what the experts recommended. For the filter, I was not going to pay the UK or US Toro prices so I cross references various part numbers until I found a regular equivalent at a better price, however like a muppet I forgot to write down what it was and have now forgotten. Iain

Happy birthday! Iain

Andrew, looking forward to seeing some pictures of the LK when you pick it up. OB, i didn't know that you could get a cylinder mower for a EK, that must be a great combination. I would love a LK or a EK but what would be perfect would be a Grounds Keeper (GK) they are awesome, especially configured with a cab and snowblower. Does anyone know if the GK was imported into the UK? I came in a close second behind Andrew chasing the EK that was for sale, unfortunately no prize for either of us. Iain

Andrew, I am sure we would all like to see that, if you get the chance to scan or take a picture of it. Iain

Still had the time for a coffee I noticed

No problem, if it is of interest I do a scan of it rather than a dodgy picture taken whilst in a rush. I am a member of GTTalk, using the same ID as this forum so I look forward to seeing your posting. Iain

I really do wish I had a HT22 in the workshop so that I could check. I will contact the people I know with LF's and see if anyone has a HT22. It may be possible to see from sales booklets but for a lot of the time the Bolens importer, Howard just used the US literature. I believe this changed around the 1980's and they printed UK specific stuff. I will check my limited collection of booklets. I believe others on here have a better collection so hopefully they can input. Iain

James, I will be very interested to know what you think about the quality of the kit. A while back I added the kit with this exact picture to my fleabay wish list as I thought about doing the same think. Thanks Iain

Chris, I think you are just laying a smokescreen to cover the fact you have more LF tractors than anyone else on this forum I know someone who has a FEL on a LF and you just would not believe how much he had to pay for the tractor and loader. By coincidence I have a Bolens UK price list from Jan 1980 and I quickly took a picture of the LF page. This may help to answer the HDT1000 question because the only LF's for sale in the UK at that time were the HT22 and HT23. Using an online historic price calculator an HT23 would cost £13,708 and a HT22 £16,140 before taxes at today's prices. I guess the nearest comparator today is a John Deere 1000 series and you could buy 1 and a half of those for the price of a Bolens. I didn't check for an online historic currency convertor but if one exists it would highlight the difference in costs in the UK compared with the US. As you mentioned, they were best of the best in the day. It is a shame that Bolens decided to reduce the quality in order to try to compete on price with manufacturers of less capable equipment. Iain

I like it. Rotating cabs appear to be getting popular on modern tractors, it would be cool to do something similar on a garden tractor

Love the pictures and the list of your collection :D . I don't think many of the attachments you listed ever made it to the UK and the ones that did are harder to find than the tractors. You appear to have most of the attachments made although I didn't see the post hole attachment on the list . I scanned your list to see how many I had and it left me feeling hard done by. I would die for a snowcaster and a cab (hard or soft), either for TF or LF. I noticed from the pictures that one of your G11's a has a front mounted PTO pulley attachment, I was thinking of making one of those as I think it would be a very useful attachment to have. I have no idea why, but in the UK the G12 appears to be one of the hardest tubeframe's to find. I have one in my collection and they are a fun machine, with the manual high/low belt change of the G10 and the 6-speed rear end of the G14, giving it 12 forward and 4 reverse gears, Are they rare in the US or just the UK? Bolens information this side of the pond is as hard to find as the tractors and attachments, so please tell us more Iain