HeadExam

With the help of Old Buzzard we were able to put together a .pdf file of the Bolens 1556 operator/maintenance manual.I took the pictures and resized them and OB used his pdf maker to put the file together I uploaded it to the manuals section for anyone that wants it.

Great score, you're doing a great job beating the bushes and cleaning the hedges for old GTs

Thanks OB, I have a couple friends, one has a 600, one has a 800. I know that may be hard to believe, that I have friends. They will be very pleased to have these manuals.

Is that manual already on pdf?

I DO TOO, Andrew. I love seeing the clothes, and houses, the cigs, and pipes, if you look up Popular Mechanics in google boos you can see all those old pictures and ads for cars tractors, boats airplanes, and electronics. I'm almost 58, I grew up during this time period, really neat to reminisce.

There is another one on ebay, not as nice, for a little over 16 quid which is about what I paid for mine. I thought many of you wouldn't mind having a reproduction copy that you could print or save for free.

I asked Old Buzzard to help make a .pdf file of the manual and I'll share it for free; he has the software to do it. The manual cost me quite a bit of money, but I have always believed that these old manuals should be shared so we don't lose them. I uploaded over 80 manuals on GTTalk forum alone and have shared over 20 manuals that I have bought that weren't on .pdf or available anywhere else that I purchased myself. I could use the money, but this isn't how I want to make it. I am very passionate about the tractor collecting hobby and life as well, in that if you are not going to give a good effort, it shows a deficiency in character. That belief has gotten me into trouble, well that and my mouth, because it seems that their is a extraordinarily vast difference in what people believe is a "good effort".

I got it in the post today, good to see I didn't get scammed, it's an original in fantastic shape. The manual is dated 9/71 as most tractors came to the dealer in the late summer before the model year of the tractor, that way they would seem fresher by the summer of the following year. It wasn't unusual for tractors to be sold as new 2-4 years after they were made.Here are some pictures from inside

Alan, I only spoke German and some French when we came to the States and when I learned to speak English it was without an accent. I moved to Indian Territory after getting out of the army to find people with little command of the English language in the form of syntax or grammar. I have however learn to master the dialect to a tee and can converse with the locals like I was "bornd hear".. Come on over everyone else has, it would be nice to get some illegal immigrants that could speak the language I think we could pass you off as Canadians man I'm killing it here today.

There is always NZ or Australia, better weather and you don't have to try and understand Americans and their version of English

Might be a bit of a jaunt, but well worth it. My friend is selling his home to buy in the country, Nice place. good price, and negotiable DunkleyHouse.pdf

Sometimes the solution is right there, what one must be very careful in not doing, is doing something before you know the problem, I know, did something many times that compounded the problem. The best tool in your shed is your brain. Think about it, get advice, and find out why, the how will become clear after that. It seems they develop the habit of throwing belts after the belts stretch or are replaced with non OEM and/or non Kevlar belts and the blades are engaged when the deck is in the lowered position. The original owner may have read the long gone owners manual carefully and followed the "pre-flight" checklist, subsequent owners may not have had the benefit of that manual, or checklist.

What tribe is she affiliated with? Dakota and Lakota Sioux ( these include the Yanktonia, Siseton, Whapeton and Hunkpapa) are the larger tribes, but then you have the Mandan Hidasta, Arikara, Chippewa, Cree, and Metis tribes as well. Things for Native Americans on the Res are not good, they suffer from a lot of different mental illnesses that attribute to drug, alcohol, and domestic violence issues many times the rate of other communities. it doesn't help that there is over 60 percent unemployment for NA's and virtually no opportunities for work, lots of discrimination and now that the oil companies have set up shop there to harvest oil from tar sands it's even worse, not better.

Alan, you have to squint real hard and have a poor power source that makes the screen flicker, then they move. That's what i have here. The largest power generating station in four states lies not 2 k from my front door and I have to by power from an electric cooperative, that buys power from someone that buys power from someone else and then in the end gets it me. If I follow my electric line I bet they go straight to the power plant and were all being given the shaft.

You did good Andrew, Archaeology doesn't pay well. I'm interested in the cultural aspect of ancient civilizations. My capstone project, and hopefully my Masters study will be centered around Biopsycological evolution, in other words how society has changed the way we humans think through out time. I'm afraid that the passion and fight is being bred out of humans, a lion is a lion, because he always stays a lion. We human change, from a hunter gather society to one of a horticultural society, then a agrarian society to industrial and beyond. We are no longer masters of our own domain and it shows in the way we think. We are like zoo bears, we still look the same, but instead of feeling hungry and hunting food the zoo bear knows the sound of the dinner plate.

The dig site is from Clovis aged native people, pre-dating most tribes. It is a rock shelter that was used as a temporary hunting camp.We have retrieved thousands of artifacts and have barely scratched the surface, it looks like this particular site was in use for thousands of years. No matter how busy a person is he should always take time to watch something grow or just time to ponder. I think of those native people so many thousands of years ago, and the effort it took to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves and their family and yet they still gazed toward the stars and pondered from where they might have come.

This may sound overly simple or stupid, but when you engage the cutter deck blades is the deck in the highest position it can be in? I always tell people to engage the blades with the deck up, then slowly lower the deck, engaging the blades with the deck down and at an increased angle will cause most belts to try and remove themselves from the pulleys. I know many newer model lawn or riding mowers have this issue as they age, just not sure why it isn't more prevelant when the mower is new.

I have so many other projects, a repair on a Ariens HT18 for a friend, sorting out some electrical issues with the Well House, trying to figure out if I want to replace a wall oven or put in a stand alone unit. Then I have a 1973 CASE 224 in pieces I want to restore, I already did the deck and blade. I also have a 1974 Homelite T-16H that I'm working on building a rear lift and lift rod for. On top of all that I have decided to restore the Bolens 1556 and I have it torn down and almost ready for primer. I have finals the first week in May, I start summer school session the second week in May, I'm taking Humanities 2 and Internship 2. My Internship 2 class is in Cultural Anthropology and I will be working at a Native American dig site 11,000 years old not far from my house.

Next week is finals week so I have to "make hay while the sun is shining". I set an old basketball goal up in cement to use as a hoist, mowed the yard, used the edger around nearly a kilometer of fence line. Also spent some time watching some onions grow and beans, corn, okra, and potatoes try to break through the soil.

Very interesting. If you can post pictures from other angles it would help to assess the tractor.

ditto, ditto, cant wait to see what emerges from the cavern

Andrew, I think I can see your face in the reflection of the hood of your Bolens, GREAT JOB!!!!!!!

I think that is right, but then shouldn't the frame on yours be Brown?

Those decals look very, very nice. There aren't many Bolens around here, may be more of them over your way. I collect 1970-1979 hydrostatic drive garden tractors all 14/15/16 horsepower, that way I leave some tractors for others, because I don't leave many that fall into this category