slf-uk

Alain, it doesn't count mate as your name spelt wrong! Come to think of it, so Iain's! So that's just Chris and me. No wait, Chris is spelt wrong too; it should be Christopher. Anyway as I was saying, it Dave and me. Hang on, Dave spelt wrong as well. It should be David.
Oh well, Look like I get first dibs for all Bolens stuff after all.
Cheerio losers!
Andrew

The tube frame 1556 was only made in 1972 and the Large Frame 1477 was only made in 1971, I would think either one of these would be very hard to find anywhere. Even though the ride-a-matic and round hoods are earlier tractors they made many more of them, but they are becoming very scarce. tube frames used two thck tubes attached to Baluster up front and the cast iron rear end in back, the Large Frame was, well, larger and used a heavy channel frame. Large Frames were the first to be able to use Cat 0 three points, previous Bolens models utilized a sleeve hitch for raising implements, and Large frames were hydros, were very few tube frame models were hydros, many not offering a hydro lift either which was standard on the large Frames

Whoa Andrew, I believe Alain comes before Andrew, your second

Philip,One of the code of conduct within the Bolens Circle is that the Bolens collectors on this forum are contacted in alphabetical order which by a stroke of good fortune I am first on the list for any rare Bolens!
Andrew

Philip,
The early ride-a-matics were green and yellow and the later ones gold. The front grill is made from cast. The later Ride-a-matics were square fronted still with a cast grill. Husky was the name given to the early tubeframes which predominantly had Wisconsin engines, the 600 had a B&S engine. When Bolens moved to Tecumseh engines they dropped the Husky name and they became G or H series (Gear or Hydro). The husky badge was still used on the front of the early G/H tractors. The easy way to identify a tubeframe is the chassis which is two tubes/pipes.
 
If you look at my post on my Bolens G14 you will see a picture I posted of several of my G/H series tractors. At the end of the line up is my large frame tractor, a HT23. Also in that post is a picture of my latest H16 which is an early model with the husky badge on the front.
 
I am sure more knowledgeable people than me will fill in the bits I have missed.
 
Several Bolens collectors on this forum and we are all always on the lookout for more, so if you know of any for sale do let us all know. For the rare ones you can let me know first
 
Iain

Philip,
The early ride-a-matics were green and yellow and the later ones gold. The front grill is made from cast. The later Ride-a-matics were square fronted still with a cast grill. Husky was the name given to the early tubeframes which predominantly had Wisconsin engines, the 600 had a B&S engine. When Bolens moved to Tecumseh engines they dropped the Husky name and they became G or H series (Gear or Hydro). The husky badge was still used on the front of the early G/H tractors. The easy way to identify a tubeframe is the chassis which is two tubes/pipes.
 
If you look at my post on my Bolens G14 you will see a picture I posted of several of my G/H series tractors. At the end of the line up is my large frame tractor, a HT23. Also in that post is a picture of my latest H16 which is an early model with the husky badge on the front.
 
I am sure more knowledgeable people than me will fill in the bits I have missed.
 
Several Bolens collectors on this forum and we are all always on the lookout for more, so if you know of any for sale do let us all know. For the rare ones you can let me know first
 
Iain

Hi Luke, I can relate to that.
 
Ideally you need an engine that will take a drive on the flywheel for the PTO. It looks like you have all the essentials on the tractor. BTW I have an HT23.  
 
Iain

They will probably end up in the street when Mrs Showman wants her patio back

I didn't appreciate how long our grass was until Saturday so some serious grass cutting was in order.
 
The first job was to service the push mower so my wife could forge ahead with the smaller bits of grass and then sort out my son's electric toy car so he could tow trailers of grass cuttings from the push mower.
 
I have been side tracked recently with new purchases and neglected the repairs needed on the main grass cutting tractor, the Bolens HT23. I did attempt to use it but it was too sick, those Kohler twins are a pain. I then spent the rest of Saturday hooking out a deck for a Bolens tube frame tractor which was hidden at the back of one of my storage sheds.
 
The plan for Sunday was an early start, rebuild the tubeframe deck, drop it on a tractor and forge ahead. When I opened the bedroom curtains on Sunday morning I was faced with this surprise from my wife.
 

 
I cut most of it out with the tractor today but as the push mower is set lower it can still be seen. So if you are planning to fly into Norwich fleapit International airport look out for it.
 
Iain
 
 
 
 

Time for the rest of the update..
 
The hood stand has had a couple of bit's of box welded to it.
 

 
 
Which along with a couple of hefty mounting brackets has put a lot of strength into it, no longer does it wobble when the steering is turned.
 

 
 
The n/s foot plate has been fully welded and ground down.. I did for a while yesterday think about having foot gear change and a suicide clutch, but decided I'd rather have both hands on the wheel when the clutch is dropped at 9000rpm
 

 
 
This is the mount for the suicide shift made for a bit of thick steel and a cut down bike swing arm bolt..
 

 
 
Shifter mounted and the linkage worked out, though you will have to wait until the linkage is done before you see it.
 

 
 
The fender pan has been bolted down, but I thought a photo of 6 bolts would be boring so I didn't take a photo..
 
And to finish off this update, I needed to work out where the pedals would go so I climbed aboard, at which point Nigel wandered (not waddled ) in and grabbed my camera
 

 

 

Hello to all.
 
                I know some of you have seen this before, sorry. Another restoration waiting to be done, an RJ58 with the possibility of plough & front blade in the future.
 
Philip

Wandering not waddling
 
 
 
 
Thanks Andrew, yeah the pipes do look cool   Paint is a little while off yet though.. Need to test drive it first
 
 
Well, I've not managed to get much done this week due to a mixture of illness, visitors and having carpet fitted at home..
 
Both foot plates are now bolted down, I found some bike mounting brackets with captive nuts which came in handy and are much more fun to use than drilling through steel box..
 

 

 
 
This bit of box does not carry any weight and is only there to stop the top of the foot plates from vibrating.. I will add a little bit of bracing though.
 

 
 
Er,,, more to come later as it now looks like I'm off to the workshop today!
 
But here;s something to make you laugh, it did me...  I ordered some air filters which arrived yesterday... I may of got my sizes wrong!
 

 

It is not just you Americans.
 
My wife would like to have a greenhouse and I told her that we need to make sure we get one big enough so the plough does not go through the glass when turning around inside it. She also asked me about some raised beds but I pointed out the safety issues of having further to fall from the tractor and needing space for ramps to drive up onto the beds.
 
Iain

The screws are 5/16"-18x5/8" SAE the picture in the ebay ad just shows a generic screw picture, so I'm hope the head is as big and beefy as the original. I plan on replacing all 25, so I don't think it will look look too bad, and for 10.00 for 25 screws the price was right. They should be here any day now so I'll post a picture of the actual fasteners when they arrive. Also the parking brake knob is a triangle shape fluted knob, exactly like the later models, but red rather than black. Here's a picture of the knob below the link 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/400465627340?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It is not just you Americans.
 
My wife would like to have a greenhouse and I told her that we need to make sure we get one big enough so the plough does not go through the glass when turning around inside it. She also asked me about some raised beds but I pointed out the safety issues of having further to fall from the tractor and needing space for ramps to drive up onto the beds.
 
Iain

Looking good Alain.
 
Do you know the exact size/specification of those Phillips head truss bolts as I need to order a few too and I am sure they will be much harder to find in the UK?
 
I am not sure why Bolens thought it was a good idea to attach the hydraulic tank to the seat pan, it would have been so much easier if the tank was attached to a bracket fixed to the chassis.
 
It will be interesting to see what the correct parking brake knob looks like as it has been replaced on all of my hydro's with something completely different.
 
Keep up the good work
Iain

Two tractors and rotorvators, plus all that tilled ground. Bit over the top for those few plants in the trailer.

I thought it would be best to remove some tin and power wash the old grease and dirt from the 1556. Heavy duty detergent/degreaser was in order more than a straight degreaser as I did not have hardly any of the gooey stuff. In the process I acquired a new OEM batter hold down, drag link, correct seat spring (going to have the old seat recovered), I also removed the pieces of wire that were used as hairpins and cotter pins and order 25 new Phillips head truss bolts for the body tin. I also replaced a #12 wire that the PO had used for the battery ground with a proper ground wire. I was missing a bracket and speed nuts on one side of the dash tower, but that was easily fabricated and I had the speed nuts. The hydraulic tank straps were make shift tin packing straps so I'm waiting on a OEM set to come around. Next, I'll remove, clean, and repack the wheel bearings and give all the grease zerks several good squirts. It appears that I will be removing the hood (bonnet) and wheels and painting the whole tractor. It won't be a proper job, but it will suffice and slow the aging process. Here are a few pics before and after the scrubbing, I'm next. The previous owner in fit of intellectual wisdom welded an extension on the front plow blade lift bar to use as the the tiller lift bar. In that one moment he attempted to destroy one piece in order to make another. I will be "removing the extension and acquiring the proper rear lift rod. His work on the the snow caster chute adjustment rod was of the same engineering quality. The snow caster was from an older smaller tractor, possibly a 733, and he needed to lengthen the rod. Rather than build a new rod, he cut the old rod and welded in a piece of rebar (the round metal rods used below cement), he was a regular Herbert Einstein he was. 

Over the weekend I gave the G14 a diesel bath followed by hitting it with the pressure washer. It is so much nicer to work on now but the state of the grass where I gave it a wash was the subject of much discussion with the boss.
 
Progress on the G14 has been slowed by work commitments and I got distracted by buying and collecting another H16  . Picture from the advert
 

 
Tonight I had a relaxing hour in the workshop on the G14 fitting the exhaust, engine panel work, throttle/choke cables and a few other jobs. Thanks to Norm's reminder I took the plug out of the exhaust pipe first
 

 
I still need to fit the fuel tank and pipes, straighten and fit the hood, fit new battery cables, repair some more damaged wiring and refit the PTO and body panels. I have also bought some new front lights for it.
 
Iain

Over the weekend I gave the G14 a diesel bath followed by hitting it with the pressure washer. It is so much nicer to work on now but the state of the grass where I gave it a wash was the subject of much discussion with the boss.
 
Progress on the G14 has been slowed by work commitments and I got distracted by buying and collecting another H16  . Picture from the advert
 

 
Tonight I had a relaxing hour in the workshop on the G14 fitting the exhaust, engine panel work, throttle/choke cables and a few other jobs. Thanks to Norm's reminder I took the plug out of the exhaust pipe first
 

 
I still need to fit the fuel tank and pipes, straighten and fit the hood, fit new battery cables, repair some more damaged wiring and refit the PTO and body panels. I have also bought some new front lights for it.
 
Iain

That is just so cool, I am very jealous.
 
Iain

Sum more pics of rusty

Been working my MG40 & Howard Gem, which is the lastest purchase to the fleet over the past couple of weeks.
 
Thanks to Iain in Norfolk, the gem now has a recoil starter on the front. It runs very well

Hi all,
 
With the recent sale of the Brinly plough for over £600 and having no luck finding one and after seeing Marks amazing adaptation of a Barford atom plough I set about adapting a spare Barford atom plough I had. I only have a slot hitch at the moment so I adapted it to suit a slot hitch but no welding or modification was made to the plough I just used the original bolt holes which means it can be reverted back to a plough for a Barford atom or even changed for a sleeve hitch. I cut a part out of some 8" box section we had to make the L-shaped bracket and then used a piece off of an old forklift carriage for the bar which will go in the slot hitch and be welded to the underside of the L-shaped bracket. It's currently only G-clamped.
 

 
I will cut the bracket down so there is no risk of it hitting the fender and so the adjustment lever has enough space to move.
 

 

 

 

 
Tom

Thank you all very much, I appreciate it, hopefully I'll be on the road in the next few weeks, I passed my theory Saturday!
 
Tom

It's what my house is called because of the notoriety of the second owner