OldBuzzard

The assistance Dave is providing to Andrew is unbelievable and inspiring ...

Not really.  I've done pretty much the same here in the States when I've done some of my long road trips.

For instance, when I was going down to Virginia to pick up the Bolens forklift that I had refurbished I made two extra stops on the way. One was to pick up a tractor for the fella that did the refurb, and the other was to pick up some Brinly attachments for a fella that lives very close to him. 

Since both items were on my route, it just made sense for me to pick them up and save the other guys from having to make a trip or have them shipped.

Over on the GTT Forums there is a sub-forum just for that purpose.  You can post your route, and available space when you make a trip, or ask if someone can help get something to you.

... fortunately folks around here don't slaughter for fun like they did in New York a few weeks back.

That wasn't done for "fun".

They were in a populated URBAN area and it was something that had to be done for safety reasons.

We haven't gotten too deep into that.

It appears that Andrew will be making all of the arrangements over there for the actual shipping.

I will be prepping/crating/getting it ready for shipment.

If it ships from the Port of Cleveland which is only 40-50 miles from me, I'll be able to deliver it to the port which will save some money.  If it has to go to New York, that's 500 miles from here and it will have to be shipped from here to there.

Oh by the way, when I was taking the cattle pics, I had my little camera at max zoom, and with the glare on the LCD screen it was a bit hard to see just what I was taking a picture of.

Here are a couple that I didn't include above  :D

Gentlemen,

Sometime back, April 16 in fact, Andrew (Triumph66) sent me a PM over on the GTTalk forums.

There was a 1962 Bolens 600 listed on eBay that he was interested in, and he wanted to know if I would assist him in getting it shipped to him if he bought it.

One reason for his request was that it had been posted on the GTTalk forums and I told folks that I was VERY close to where it was located and that I could pick up and store it if anyone was interested.

I replied that I would be more than glad to help, and Andrew got VERY interested.   Since he was so interested, I decided to go take a look at it in person as it was only 20 miles from me.

I took a good look at it and took it for a spin around the barn yard, and was VERY impressed with it.

I asked the seller if he knew anything about the history of the tractor and he explained that he worked in a scrap yard, and that someone had brought it in to be scrapped     Since he is a bit knowledgeable he set it off to the side so that they could sell it rather than scrapping it

Why on earth someone would do that is beyond me.  As you will see in the following pics, it's one of the nicest original tractors that you will ever see.  It's absolutely beautiful

It was listed with a starting bit of $300.00 and for one reason or another no one bid on it and Andrew STOLE it for the minimum bid.

PM's started flowing fast and furious, and after wired bank funds finally arrived (that was a story in itself), I contacted the seller and made arrangements to pick it up.

So today I hooked up the trailer and went to fetch the mighty Bolens.

One thing that Andrew mentioned was maybe I could take a pic of the Bolens with an 'iconic' American building in the back round,  I hope I succeeded  :D

I did stop on the way home to take a pic or two of some "iconic' bovines as well.  You don't see them often in this part of the country, but if you ever watched the old Westerns, you should be able to figure out what they are :D

So without further ado, the pics, starting from hooked up and ready to go, to back home with it one the trailer.  I will be taking more pics as we go along and most likely a video or two as well.

Is that manual already on pdf?

800_Parts_Catalogue.pdf

bolens600_800_900owners.pdf

Is the free wheeling pin in it's proper position?

Sorry, but the hood decals aren't close to being correct.  Those look more like a 1050 than an 800.

Here are some pics of my all original 1964 800 so you can see what they should look like.

The size of the silencers on the Bolens gets me. It's bigger than the engine.

I think Bolens called those the :Hush Tone Mufflers.

They are a bit on the largish side, but they sure tame the "bark".  MUCH quieter than the little round can type mufflers.

There's another answer to the original question:

Any one that I don't have    

You definitely want R1 tread AG tyres.

I would fill the tyres as well.  Here in The Colonies we have a product called Rim Guard.  It's a beet juice derivative and weighs 11lbs/gal. as opposed to the water based fluids that are roughly 8 lbs/gal.

You might check with the various agricultural dealers and see if there is something similar in the UK.

If you use a water based fluid I'd recommend the winter type window washer fluid, and fill them to the valve stem with the stem at the 12:00 position.

You want some airspace in the tyre to give a bit of a flex and cushion.  If you fill them 100% the tractor will ride like it has steel wheels.

There is another option as well, and that's a Calcium Chloride solution.  It will had a lot of weight, but I would avoid it like the plague.  It's very corrosive and will eat up the wheels from the inside.

Shame, shame, shame gentlemen.

You forgot one of the old Bolens that is the most fun to operate.

The Estate Keeper and it's little brother the Lawn Keeper

To test the hydro, I'm thinking anything from 1,000-3,600 RPM would work.

As far as the coiled tube.  That's the remains of the tubing that goes from the hydrostatic transmission to the hydraulic control valve and then to the lift cylinder and auxiliary hydraulic outlets.

The engine would have been a Kohler K532 air cooled flat twin cylinder.

You might want to try Rick Show for parts.

rlshow4@comcast.net or by phone (724) 944-5513

I've done a lot of business with him and he has a LOT of NOS and used parts.

Looks like you are getting it together.

FYI, Jestin at www.tubeframes.com can supply you with the proper lift rods at a pretty decent price.

I've done business with him and he's good people.

I can't tell you the length, but it is shorter than the other tube frames which all use the same length shaft.

Yes they would ne 1/2" x 34" belts.

Here's a link to a "how to change the belts" post.

http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/1510-putting-drive-belts-on-a-tubeframe-garden-tractor/

Just so you have it, here's the 900 Parts Manual

900 Parts.pdf

When it's setup properly, that lever is turned anti clockwise, and then pushed or pulled to move the idler to the correct belt.

There should be two drive belts. One for hi range and one for lo range.

If by 'the other lever' you mean the one with the long red handle and pointed towards the seat, that's for engaging the PTO.

Here are a couple of pics of my 800.  The 900 is pretty much identical to the 800 except for it having a different seat/fender pan, and larger wheels/tyres.

  Now that I see this picture, I can see that I made a mistake. It's a 900

From the side view it looked like that lever was coming out of the trans case.

The red lever/shaft just below the Amp meter is the hi/lo change.

It moves an idler from one belt to the other to change from hi to lo range.

Gents.

Here is a very good article on the history of the Tube Frames.  It definitely will help in identifying them.

http://gardentractortalk.com/articles.html/_/history/bolens-tractors-the-tube-frame-series-1962-1978-r68

Wish my eyes weren't so bad. I miss being able to see details in picture like levers and such. Good call OB.

Here's a hint on how to see those details.

Click on the pic to get the popup pic.  It in many cases is larger than the one you see in the post.

Then click on the Save button.  That should open that pic in another browser window.

In that window, you can 'magnify' the window by holding down CTL + to zoom in.  Use CTL - to zoom out.

The above is for Internet Explorer.  Other browsers may not work exactly like that.

Fenders are wrong for the 800.  That would make it a 900 or 1000.

Since it has the hi/lo lever for the transmission, that makes it a 1000, as the 900 used the same hi/lo system as the 800.

... I expect he will be buying a Bolens now after trying one, ...

That does tend to happen a lot when a GT lover encounters a Bolens for the first time. 

... Can't be sure but I think WH Sickles and other machines were made by HABAN? ...

Haban did indeed make a Sickle-Mo for some of the WH models.

However, I don't think that the one pictured is a Haban unit.

Here are a few pics of the Haban model 414 Sickle-Mo that was for the WH GT14, Electro 12, Charger 10 & 12, and Raider 10 &12.

Yeah the old girls does look a bit rough.

I've heard it said that "If it casts a shadow, it can be restored". 

One good thing is that the hydraulic stabilizers on the hoe indicate that it's one of the later ones, and they made improvements in them over time.