HeadExam

I like it too, and if I ever need my comb plucked, I'm going to buy one.

I've debated the sickle mower, but have been drawn more toward a flail mower since I can get fairly close to the fence with the Brush Hog. Are you selling a sickle bar? The sickle bar like the brush hog would handle the saw grass in front, but behind that is small trees and thick vines, some several inches thick, spreading from tree to tree. I take a machete and hack my way in a couple of yards and start hacking everything around me, then move over and start again, the bigger stuff I use the bow saw. The area by the tank is 24 yards deep of thicket, by 30 yards long. I've encountered badgers, armadillos, possums, snakes, rats in this area, I am almost sure I also saw a wild hog, I know I smelled one, and that black hair seemed too coarse for a dog.

There is an inspection plate on that tiller, you might want to remove it and inspect not only the worm drive gear, but the geared bushing inside it that connects to the tiller shafts. The tiller shaft itself has a toothed part that works with the bronze bushing, it is this bronze bushing inside the bearing that often wears out. Good score and good luck, will look forward to you getting it sorted out.

Thanks Andrew, its a small plot for around here. It will seem even smaller when I get it mowed and get the steers on it. I'm working on a couple gates now and waiting for cooler weather to mow. Its been between 36 and 38 Celsius here for over a week or so, with heat indexes over 39c. Its real nice to have a tractor or two for each chore, each gets a work out, but none get over worked.

Good score Andrew, what model tiller is it. You will like using any Bolens tiller, no other works as well

I've mowed and edged the property, tilled the garden again, now to tackle the the trees and brush at the West entrance to the property down by the pond. I have a large steel water tank to remove there, but that's for later. I felt full of beans as you guys say when I started this morning, but right now I'm smooth knackered, trying to hydrate my old body. It was 98 today with a heat index of 108. Early I used the string trimmer and edged and mowed all the yard, then from 2 pm to 5 pm I cut small tree, vines, brambles, and saw grass. I cleared half the West driveway entrance, and after I burn out the vegetation around the tank area I will cut the rest of the brush down. Working tractors are great, but they don't operate a bow saw or a machete that's what I used on all this. But they did get me the 1/2 kilometer from the house to the West driveway. Next I will have to cut the fields and check all the fences.

Happy Birthday Richard. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, aww go ahead, lol

Thanks Andrew, that's a Kohler 16hp on it not a Briggs and Stratton, you wont see that often. It's a hydro with electric lift and I added LED rear tail lights and halogen front driving lights. I have a front dozer blade. rototiller, and deck with it also.

What you need Andrew is what I have on my 16hp Simplicity 7016HK, I think the the mid mount part is a small hiller. It going to be 99-102 today with a heat index possibly as high as 120, I wish I could send some of it to Wales

I would hate to try and lift any Bolens flat top tiller with a hand lift, they have a transmission/gearbox on them that weighs a tonne, before you even talk about the tines and case

looks like some nice stuff http://joplin.craigslist.org/grd/5125111992.html

I do not think any large frame tractor was offered without a hydraulic lift. I do not have any tractors without either electric or hydraulic lift because I suffer from a condition known as Schtickaphobia and therefore have an aversion lift sticks or armstrong lifts. This flat back tiller is different for the large frame tractors compared to the ones for the tube frame, even heavier and mounts with two lift rods like the three point.

Preparing the garden for fall Part 1: Part 2: I need to edge and start Potatoes, Onions, some Brussel Sprouts, broccoli, etc. Heat index has been between 112 and 119 for the last few days with no end in sight.

I did get the PTO rebuilt and on, along with the gas tank, starter, belts, and now the wheel weights

Thanks, I have several of the seminar books 1972, 1986, and 1996 the latter list these different and newer options and attachments. I understand now that the Bolens HT23, nor any Bolens, is like my Ariens GT14H which has two rock shafts or my Massey 1650, Massey 1450, and Wheel Horse D-160 which have two cylinders and a separate valve that can alternate between front and rear lifts. The guy he bought it from indicated a different explanation on the rear knob, I don't collect anything that new or with more than one cylinder, so I don't know. I appreciate the information and will pass it along and want to thank you for the time it took to explain it all, that was very considerate. Thanks, Alain

Thanks, It will be Bolens White and Newport Blue on the shutters

OB, would you please explain what has to be done in order to use this feature. Neither he nor I understand the dent function of the implement and how it works on both front and rear implement function. His manual doesn't even cover the lockout knob and he can't find a manual that explains the complete function of the option. Thank you.

I don't understand? There is a knob that allows the rear hydraulics to be used without removing the front attachments and visa-a-versa. How does not that have anything to do with the hydraulics? I understand it isn't like a valve or work directly ON the hydraulics, but it does seem to function with the hydraulic system and has something very few other HT23's had or at have on them now. Many HT23s I see are missing the knob. Apparently there are many owners that lose their knobs, I guess it happens when we get older.

I painted Mom's house back in 1996 and it was in dire need again being almost 20 years ago. The brick was peeling badly so the first order of business was to power wash all the loose paint off (most of it), That took three days, next I carefully power washed the loose paint from the wood work. After it dries for a few days or week I will go after the peeling spots with a sander and use a heavy duty exterior oil primer. The whole house will then receive a coat of Glidden's Gripper primer (the best I've ever used), finishing up with two top coats of 100% Acrylic Latex Satin. There was rain both days i was using the power washer and as it cleared I snapped a couple pictures of a rainbow over the house. Mom's house is in Wichita Kansas, 175 miles North West of me, so I will be making several trips to complete the job. The nice part of the drive is going through the Flint Hills, almost 75 miles between towns. Many ranchers out here have between 100,000 and 500,000 acres, some even more, it's mostly unfenced and cattle graze at will. At Easter time they set the whole thing ablaze and hundreds of miles of prairie light the night time sky. This kills the weeds and small trees and allows the grass to grow back thick. I include the obligatory "selfie", showing I was concentrating intently on the road, while not shooting pictures.

I found a Bolens HT23 on craigslist, my best friend and fellow collector Garoyl Humphrey from Vinita, Oklahoma has been on the hunt for one for some time. Initially he wanted a first year 1979 model, but after finding out about the selector knob on later models that allows the switching of the front and rear hydraulic lifts he realized that was too advantageous to pass up. The tractor was 1,033 miles due west of his location, in Flagstaff Arizona. He drove out there in one day slept in the truck, picked up the tractor, and returned that same day, well 3 am. He returned with a low hour 1985 Bolens HT23. Being in the desert the green faded in places, but the white stayed true as did the decals. The tractor ran strong and came with a front blade that both lifted and angled hydraulically, an authentic late model Brinly BB-1004 rear reversible blade, 3 point hitch, wheel weights and the small selector knob i mentioned on the rear fender, With petrol and cost of tractor he got out of the desert for less than 2500.00 US. BTW. The original owner ordered this from the factory without power steering. The reason why is that this originally had a snowblower and was used in the high Rocky Mountains not far away. You can tell the tractor had a snow blower by the front brackets that held the helper springs on the front of the frame. Back to the P/S the reason the owner did not want it was that the P/S comes directly off the pump, before any other systems, lifts or drive. With P/S power would b reduced from the drive unit and would also slow the front blower lift. I've driven these large frames sans power steering it doesn't take much more than two fingers IF the steering column and steering parts are in good order.

Both the disc and cultivator look very capable!

Yep maybe Fokker, they built a lot of great airplanes

If you were there you might have seen the last flight of Hawker Siddeley's AVRO Vulcan Bomber. It appears the pilot did not disappoint the crowd, performing maneuvers that of a fighter plane. http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-last-avro-vulcan-bomber-flying-just-pulled-off-an-a-1718892290 My dad sold Hawker Siddeley business jets, both models the 400 and 600. I flew with him on many many occasions and in my opinion they were the finest and most luxurious business jets of the 1980s and 1990s. The Hawker Siddeley company has a rich and storied history in aviation and I challenge anyone to find a company that built the same quality and number of different types of aircraft as H-S.

Mr. Paul Rackham is a very special man in my book, thanks for posting that story Wristpin, reading it gave me immense joy. I do not posses the wealth of Mr. Rackham, and may never, but I know that if I ever do that I will do the same thing he has done with garden tractors. If I came into a fortune saving, collecting, and restoring garden tractors would be my hobby, but my work would have to be giving money and aid to those less fortunate. Since one cannot take assets with them in the afterlife the only sensible thing to do is be be generous and charitable with those assets. Oh how great of world we would live in if people did not go to bed hungry. The Dumont Museum in Iowa offers collection of all kinds, trains, dolls, big tractors and little tractor. Mr. Dumont has every model of Red International Cub Cadet ever built, he has every John Deere Patio tractor ever built, the 100, 120, and 140 models with almost every attachment offered, He also has every model of Massey Ferguson Garden tractor built, from the early yellow 7 and 8 hp Massey Executives to the Later MF series of 7-16 tractors. he also has extensive collection of Oliver tractors and other are big tractors. Check out the photo album. http://www.dumontmuseum.com/ Another Mower Salvage in Eugene Oregon, Burt's http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/lawnside-classics-burts-riding-mower-and-garden-tractor-heaven-including-one-of-the-oldest-riding-mowers-ever/

There are many parts of the country here that are very dry, even in Oklahoma there are parts like that in the Sout West part of the State. The whole southwestern US enjoys very low humidity (and rain fall), and many other areas of the Midwest and Central Plains are fairly low in humidity. For example this rifle was found leaning against a tree in Nevada, it had rested there close to 132 years and I believe it could made to be serviceable without much trouble. http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/15/us/nevada-century-old-rifle-park/ However in North East Oklahoma with all the large lakes and forests the humidity is quite high and the ground quite damp, as you know it does not take long to render a machine rust and dust. Our North East suffers from what is known as acid rain or caustic pollution that falls with rain. This comes from factories run by individuals who hold sway over the government with the threat of reducing jobs if clean air is required to emit from their factories. This acid or polluted caustic rain burns the top of trees and attacks any metal objects as well.