OldBuzzard

One of my 1250s has developed a starting problem and I was needing it closer to the garage so I can work on it. I fired up the 1886 forklift and it made short work of the job. Bear in mind that the mast is only rated for 750#, and that the shipping weight of a 1250 is listed as being 975#. Now add the weight of the fluids and the dual wheels and one could safely say that the 1250 is a tad over 1000# as it sits. The 1886 forklift didn't even grunt. Just picked it up and away I went :D

You aren't fooling anyone with that pic. It's very obvious that what appears to be a tow strap is a piece of steel bar stock painted tan, and the Bolens is really pushing the Wheel Horse :yankchain:

Finding the right belt size can be a problem. We ran into that with the HDT1000 refurbish. The PTO sheave is a different size that the one used on the other HT tractors. That's because the engine runs as 3200 RPM as opposed to the 3600 of the petrol engines. The size difference is needed to get the proper PTO speed. The problem is that while they list the part number, the length isn't shown. However, with a bit of searching on the net I found this page which should help :D http://www.jhf.com/home/services/units-converter/calculate-v-belt-length

Something like this would make the job pretty easy :D

Here ya go: https://bolenspartsandsupplies.com/bolens-parts/bolens-belts/bolens-drive-belts-1720573-hydro-tubeframe/

Yes that bend should be there. It's normal for the hydrostatic tube frames.

Welcome to MoM! The 613 was basically identical to the 813/G8 other than the engine. You should be able to use these manuals: Bolens 813 (G8) Owners Manual.pdf Bolens_G-8_Parts_Manual_(pdf).pdf Small Frame Tractor Attachment Interchangeability .pdf

Interesting. The 425 isn't one that you see very often! Don't bet the farm on it, but it just may be possible to make that work on the later tube frames like the 1050, etc. Looking at the manual, which I'll attach, it looks like it may have been a 405A that was modified to fit the QT series. That's not unusual for Haban as they were masters at taking a basic design and modifying it to work across several brands. I found out about that with my first Sickle-Mo. It was a 414 which was for some Wheel Horse models, but by removing the extra bits that Haban attached so that it would hang on the Wheel Horse axle, and having the stub for the prop shaft lengthened a few inches, it was than identical to the 405A. The other extra bit was a 90 deg. gear box that attached under the Wheel Horse chassis to transmit the power to the Sickle-Mo I just have in storage. You can see the extra bits on the front hanger and the gearbox in these two pics: Haban Model 425 Manual Year 1974 for Bolens QT16, QS16 Tractors.pdf

It's easy to armchair quarterback the call, but the people on the ground, including the owner said that it was the right thing to do. From some of the various articles on the incident." This from the owner: Yeah, it's a shame that it had to happen, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

Interesting. The weights I have on the HDT1000 are marked E ROWE. They were originally for combines, but they do fit the 12" wheel just fine although they do increase the width some. They are roughly 105 lbs. each. Here's a couple of pics. One is siting next to a Bolens rear weight just for size reference. I found that having the forklift to aid in installing them made the job a lot easier than it would have been without it.

Andrew, A lot of the Bolens guys like to find the FMC weights. They aren't as common as the ones with BOLENS cast into them. Dave

Dunno about that. Bet the CST Ancla tires will give them a run for their money :D They are available in 25x8-12 and 25x10-12 sizes at very good prices. http://www.discountutvtires.com/CST-ANCLA-UTV-ATV-TIRES/ I have them on 3 of my Large Frames: the 1886-01 with FEL, the 1886-01 Forklift, and the HDT1000.

I haven't weighed it, but I'm pretty sure that the whole combination is in excess of 2000 Lbs. Figure that the Tractor by itself weighs right at 1000 Lbs. Then add 110 Lbs. of ballast in each rear tire, 300 Lbs. of weight in the weight box. Not to mention that the weight box itself is heavy as it's made from 1/4" plate steel which weighs 25 Lbs./SqFt. Plus the weight of the rest of the forklift attachment.

Right then, back to the Operation. When we last posted, the Forklift was still on the trailer as were the makings of the crate. This morning I went out to unload everything and put the crate to a place where I could still get to it later for assembly. Now one thing to consider is that the forklift has very little ground clearance and with the weight box on the back having a long overhang, it doesn't take much to high center it. That means that you have to be a bit creative to get it on and off a trailer. Fortunately my North lot has a drainage ditch that is just perfect. I just back the trailer down the ditch and the tailgate is now level with the road :D I also found that a byproduct of taking the forklift with me when I picked ut the crate was that the crate was resting just fine of the forks. So, unloading the crate was just a matter of lifting the forks so that it cleared the trailer sides, driving off the trailer, and Bob's your Uncle. I'd like to be able to claim that I planned that, but it was just pure happenstance. Pics of how the unloading went.

Not sure what model that is, but it's not a 415 nor is it a 405A for a Bolens tube frames..

Yep, the good folks over at Worcester's were most appreciative, and glad to see that it had a new lease on life. Yes, Haban made the Flail-Mo in different widths. They made the 36" models 502 and 503 for the tube frames and the 48" models 513 and 514 for the large frames. The one in the pic is a 514A and I also have a 503 which needs a bit of TLC and isn't usuable at this time. It's an attachment that you don't want to use with a gear driven tube frame unless you have the optional hydraulic lift. The Sickle-Mo is a model 415A and is mounted on a 1250 with the optional Bolens Dual Wheel Kit. The REALLY nice thing about the 415 is that it uses the tractor's hydraulics to raise/lower the cutter bar. Sure makes it easier to use than the 405A that I have on a 1256. With that you have a lever you pull to raise/lower the cutter bar.

A bit more progress to report. Andrew found and purchased a sleeve hitch for the Bolens tube frames. He arraigned with the seller to send it to me for inclusion in the shipment. I have one pic of it, and at a later date I'll have a few more when I get it mounted on the tractor. We also have the beginnings of the shipping crate. It turned out to be a bit more of a project than I first thought. I went over to the dealer, and discovered that the parts of the crate were too large to fit in the truck bed. I have a Dodge Dakota with the crew cab, so the bed is a bit on the short side. So, I said to myself "Self, let's just go get the trailer and use it". Self replied, "I do believe that is a splendid idea". Now this dealer is also the same dealer that originally put my forklift together. They used and abused it for 30+ years, and about 2 years ago I managed to get them to sell it to me, It worked great but did need some help both cosmetically and mechanically. That was done over the winter before last. You can see a long thread on that over at the GTT forums: http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/29815-bolens-1886-forklift-refurb/page-1?hl=+refurb They were also holding a Cub Cadet open house, with all of the new CCs available for a test drive, etc. I sat and talked with then for awhile, and was talking to the father who was the original owner, and he expressed interest in seeing it now that it had been refurbed. Once we got back home and I was hooking the trailer up to the Dakota, I once again opened up a conversations with Self. "Self" I said "since we are taking the trailer anyway, why don't we load the forklift as well, and we can let the folks over there see what it looks like after the refurbish?" Self replied "Brilliant!" (I think I've been spending too much time on this forum and watching old episodes of Top Gear and the language is rubbing off on me :D ) So, the forklift was loaded onto the trailer and back we (Self and I) went. We shot the breeze some more, and I finally started loading up the crate. Now I gotta tell you, that was WAY too much like work! There was a big stack of knocked down crates, and I spent a lot of time moving parts around until I finally found one of suitable size, and all the parts thereof. Finally, I was all load up and back home I came. Here are a few pics. As you can see the poor Dakota had all it could handle with the forklift on the trailer Another couple of pics of what will be the shipping crate. And, a couple of pics of Andrew's 600 parked next to my HT20D. The HT20D is sitting there because it's being shifted from the Winter mode to Summer mode. The blade will be coming off and the flail mower will be going on. I just HAD to take those pics as it so clearly shows the difference in sizes between the first of the tube frames and basically the last (size wise) of the large frames. Andrew's 600 is there because I was attaching the sleeve hitch. However, I ran into a problem, so the hitch isn't on it yet. I will describe all of that in a later post

That is what we call the "Round Back" tiller. This one has the optional extension on it The round backs are a light/medium duty tiller and meant to till ground that has been previously worked. They can till virgin ground, but you don't want to till a large plot, or do it on a regular basis.

That would be what we call the "Square Back" tiller for the tube frames. It's a very heavy duty tiller and is capable of working virgin ground.

Color looks right for the earlier Bolens. I can tell you that it DOES NOT fit the tube frames or large frames.

Nice research HE. However, you have a bit of misinformation inre the serial numbers. Bolens started each production run with the serial number 00101. So, the first tractor in the 03 production run would have been 0300101. To determine which unit off the line you have, you would need to subtract 100 from the serial number. That means that your tractor was the 1348th off the line in the 03 production run. With the tube frames and large frames there were two different model/production run/serial formats. The earlier ones has the production appended to the model number with the serial number separate. The later ones had the model number and then the production run number as the first two digits of the serial number. That change over occurred in 1972/1973. Here is a Service Bulletin that details the change. Bolens Serial Number Service Bulletein.pdf

Andrew, Yours actually has a partial decal on it:

I leave the Cab and chains on my HT20D on all year. I use it for plowing snow in the winter, and in the spring I remove the doors on the cab and use it with my Haban Flail-Mo. Too much trouble to take the cab and chains off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocQO0TlrWlY

I'm guessing that they were somewhat generic. I have Bolens weights with BOLENS cast into them and another set that are identical but have OLDA cast in them.

Believe me Iain, we have plenty of those kind of people here as well. They are mostly 'city folk' and pretty much wrapped up in themselves. Out in the small towns and rural areas, people are more neighborly and will help each other just because "that's what you do". They do small things like removing the snow from the elderly widow's drive, to the big things like harvesting a farmer's crops when he has an illness or injury.