slf-uk

Well the police have finally taken a statement. It turns out the looney behind the wheel was only 17. The police say they haven't got enough evidence to do him for dangerous driving but they have got enough for careless driving which will still result in a ban as he had obviously been driving for less than two years and this means disqualification at 6 points instead of 12.  I have no sympathy for him at all.

Bought the latest Tractor and Machinery today, Peter Love gave the section a good write up...
 

Happy birthday, I hope you have a good one.
 
Iain

Brakes back together again fitted new seals and rebuilt the master cylinder. managed to crack a rib undoing the end nut of the master cylinder so rolling about on the garage floor under the car has been fun especially when our new puppy comes and lies on your face and pinches your head torch. Found a replacement manifold as the cracked original is in a bad way. I will weld it up as a spare.

Looking good Ian, I like your idea for strengthening the suspension arms.
 
I have high expectations for the next video and after the last one you have already set the bar high Joseph has been telling all his friends at school about how great the footage is of you handing yourself a mug of coffee/tea.
Iain

I have already started looking, can't believe how few are about.

Not correcting, just adding. Early RJs (55-57) I believe had pressed steel Chassis/frames and Cast Iron Steering wheel? 
 
I'm Impressed Nigel !. Beat me. And you managed to prise it from someone's 'Warm Live Fingers' ! ............ I'm still hoping to get one one day.   

I would love a Suburban or an RJ, it would make a great stable mate for my Bolens Ride-a-matic's. What is the difference between a RJ and a Suburban? is it just that pre-1960 the model's was called an RJ's or is it more complicated than that?
 
It looks to me like these type of Wheelhorse should be called nut-roaster's I certainly would be concerned if the rod let go, so to speak
 
Iain

here's an RJ58
 

 
heres an RJ35
 

rj's and burbans are indeed nicknamed nut roasters....
 
early RJ's were belt drive, later ones and suburbans were unidrive 3 speed transaxles. Fairly easy to spot the early ones due to the belt cover and simple front axle, the suburbans were cast axle.
 
Anyone feel free to correct me - I may well have made all this up

I would love a Suburban or an RJ, it would make a great stable mate for my Bolens Ride-a-matic's. What is the difference between a RJ and a Suburban? is it just that pre-1960 the model's was called an RJ's or is it more complicated than that?
 
It looks to me like these type of Wheelhorse should be called nut-roaster's I certainly would be concerned if the rod let go, so to speak
 
Iain

I got my scaffold winch from Netto , around 10 or so years ago .Every winter it goes in the boot of the car with a 18" length of 1" steel bar .
It works a treat off one of the inverters ( 1200w ) and gives me enough pull to get out of trouble .
Cut out the tow ball profile in the back plate with my little Cebora plasma cutter .
It sits snuggly around the towing ball and the 1" bar is slid through the scaffold pole clamps to clamp the motor to the neck of the ball, quick and easy winch .
Plus i can use it as intened if the need arises .

Morning all, after a short break from MadTrax to build the camera panning jig thingy I'm back on the case now..
 
With the frame painted it's time to start on the smaller parts, starting with these nice crusty A arms..
 

 
 
After thinking for a while I decided the best way to clean the crud off was to use one of these.......
 

 
 
Well, use a Hoover as dust extraction for my blasting cabinet
 

 
 
Unfortunately, due to the cabinet beings so small and bad arthritis in my shoulders the pain got too much after just a min's use, so I had to clean the A arms up the old fashioned way with a wire cup brush on the grinder!
The very shot ball joints in the upper A arms came out without to much of a fight..
 
 
 
 
The lower ball joints however refuse to come out despite plenty of WD40 and huge amounts of pressure in the vice.. I think I'm going to have to grind the base of the ball joints away and try and bash them up through the A arm rather than down as normally would be done..   I'm sure my 12 ton hydraulic press is going to some in handy
 

 
 
Four (mostly) cleaned up A arms waiting a few mods..
 

 
 
With the A arms having quite a bit of rust pitting I don't 100% trust the strength of them especially as they will have to cope with a lot more power and forces.... So template time it was.
 

 
 
Which turned into a couple of these..
 

 
 
One of which fit's in here..
 

 
 
I didn't like the look of the inside straight bit, so something had to be found I could draw around to give a nice gentle curve.
You can also see the lip welded to the underside of the strengthening plate to er... Strengthen it
 

 
 
Fully welded up and hit with some Red Oxide.... I think they should be strong enough now and will hardly notice after a coat or two of satin black
 

 

 
 
And so onto the lower A arms.......
 

Rear fenders fitted when new

Found this instruction to be interesting.
HIGHLY doubt many people are going to remove and replace the belt guard every hour to grease that idler pulley. This could possibly explain why so many belt guards are missing.
 

Very pleased you are ok.
 
 
I'm with Nigel on this one. It does not look too bad to put right, I have repaired much worse in my time.
 
Iain

I had one like this when I was a kid, no idea what happened to it or why I still have all my fingers
 
Iain

I've always used 4.80-8 tubes
 

Got my 4.00-8  Tri Ribs (4ply on offer at the time) from Malpas online UK. Had to send the 4-4.50-8 Tubes back, as they were way too skinny to use on a 3.75" wide Rims.
I eventually fitted 5.00 x 8" tubes and they fitted perfectly. Link to when I was working on them -  http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/topic/22490-74-c-120raider-update/?page=8 .

Some great advice as always, thanks guys.
 
At the moment I am trying to keep some enthusiasm up for when I get some time and my workshop back. It currently is currently a store for 12 tractors, a Land Rover and gator.
 
Iain

Not garden equipment I know, but cute nonetheless so I thought I would share this with you all too...
 
My half-sister's stepdad used to use this little treadle fretsaw as a boy. He made models with it and the model coronation coach and horses is still in their family.
 
It languished in my sister's shed after he died, and she decided to pass it on to us because she knew we'd appreciate it. It was a bit rattly though - didn't need a lot of work, just a strip, clean, a fresh coat (or 3) of dark green paint and tightening everything up. You can get tiny treadle lathes by the same manufacturer. Can you imagine this being sold as a toy nowadays?!
 
My hope eventually is to get Martin to make a little jig for it so that I can use it to cut mitres for picture framing.

Thank you Iain, I appreciate the advice and knowledge. The steering is pretty tight on this and it just so happens I rebuilt two John Deere 317 columns not long ago. I plan on going with a taller narrower tire on this D200 so that will reduce stress and wear, but if it is loose it will be more noticeable. I really like this engine and hope to score a HT20 soon as well.
EDIT: I did the same thing to your name as others often do to mine, put the "i" before the "a", I fixed it, where is spell check when you need it, lol

A short test video for you.. If it looks lumpy that's Potatobucket videos for ya..
Click on the pic... Oh, I guess PB can't handle wide screen!
 

We had a bit last week, but this week it has stuck!
 
heres a few pics out and about

Tubes are important and the rating as well, check out the B,C, D rating system as the ply rating system is fairly irrelevant since they don't rate them by plyes, only by ply rated, I know that doesn't make sense, but it is what it is. I have bought both inexpensive and expensive tri-ribs of the same rating and have yet to much difference.