HeadExam

Anyone seen these, the rear wheels are nothing more than drag wheels the front wheels provide power and braking turns the tractor. http://www.stevenchalmers.com/Gravely/MowIn2001/WC1_LeftFront.shtml

Friday I will be visiting a friend I met several years ago. He used to be a Bolens dealer in the area and has a LARGE Quonset hut full of tractors and equipment that he has decided to sell. I know he has a H14, got dibs on that one for a friend, but he also has a 600, 800, 850 as well as several H14XL, Eliminators, and QTs, along with several shaft drive tillers, mower gearboxes, deck shells 3 point large frame hitches and many other assorted Bolens parts. He is a machinist and made a few of the NLA blade mounts for the larger GTs out of solid billet aluminum, the ones that have extra holes in case the old screws break off or get stripped. I'll be going out Friday to take pictures and make a list of inventory and see if I can help him move it. I'll post the pictures and results here Saturday.

A guy called me that got my number from a local mower shop that told him I knew about old garden tractors. He had just purchased a Bolens G14 from his neighbor and wanted a plow. First I told him he needed a hitch. I printed him all the drawings of the sleeve hitch and rod. He got the hitch built, but could not find a 5/8" pipe, so he used 1 inch pipe, not my style, eBay has 5/8" I.D. by 5 inch pipe that is used as a large wheel bushing for under 10.00. Anyway, long story short (ha) my friend that lives near Oklahoma City, about 175 miles south west one way from here told him he would sell him a Brinly plow. Originally he was going to bring the plow up here when he came up this way to pick up a tractor, but he had a injury and will not be coming. I called him and told him me and the old fellow who bought the plow were coming down, he said I might want to see if the guy wanted a brinly cultivator as well, heck no, I wanted it. I had one before and sold it along with a brinly disk, dumb, dumb, dumb. at least I'm getting the cultivator back. Sorry mates the plow was sold before I knew you were all looking for one, I know of several more around here though.

I used decking rather than 1"x4" to fill the gaps, pine slats were going to be 120.00US. Five sheets of 1/2" 4'x8' decking was only 40.00. As you might see in the picture, I used four 4'x7' pieces on each corner to catch roof rafters then two 2'x4' to fill in the middle span, at the top I used the left over 12" cuts from the four large pieces. I used liquid nails adhesive below the decking and then installed drip edge and tar paper, after that a row of starter shingles at the bottom and then up I went. It will take me a day or so to heal up from this type of activity, fingers are blistered and bleeding, back is sore, Achilles tendon is tender, and spirit is low. I'm also painting the interior of a 3,000 sq.ft. home ceiling, walls, trim, and cabinets. I painted the same house when it was new in 1995.

The walbro carbs on the G and H OHV valve engines can be very stubborn to get right. It has to do with the seat that goes up from the bottom of the bowl screw. That seat wasn't made large enough and has problems with clogging. A very fine wire can be used to remove blockage, but NOTHING else will work, not seafoam, chemtool, air, nothing, I've tried. The symptoms of the carb problem is that it refuses to idle, but will run at full throttle, when you try to lower the throttle the governor starts hunting and the engine dies. One of the guys over at GTTalk sells a updated version of the seat with more room, but once cleaned they tend to be okay as long as they don't set for long periods of time or petrol goes bad as month old milk. Attached is the part the guy at GTTalk sells, I'm sure OB probably knows him or can find out, it is the emulsion tube that easily stops up

The trailer is a 1 ton bed from a old 1970 Dodge truck that once belonged to the Corps of Engineers. The Corps of Engineers turned Oklahoma into a water wonderland by building over a dozen LARGE lakes in the eastern half of the state, one lake has 1,300 miles of shoreline. Our lake Oologah is three miles up the road it is more than 12 miles long and was built by damming the Verdigris river and impounding by stone bluffs on the sides. I use the trailer for odd jobs, the most important is to get gravel from the local quarry, I regularly put over 5,000 pounds of gravel in it for my driveway. Our place is 20 acres, mostly prairie, but a small pond a a couple of large oaks, the neighbors to the north and on both sides have over 1,000 acres and my friends on the North side of the the lake have over 10,000 acres, I think that's a little over 4,000 hectares, its 12 miles to the grocery, but we have a small convenience store a few miles away. Land here is generally around 5,000 and acre in large lots, but can run up to 20,000 dollars for acre lots with utilities. Lots of elbow room

The previous tenants had roofed the well house in 1975, they just put asphalt shingle right over wood shakes. It needed replaced 20 years ago when I got the place, but time and money did not allow it. The structure itself was built in 1964, just a pup compared to European buildings. Next I will tear off the old rotten wood siding and install Hardy board and a new door. After that I will remodel the the block shop, then the barn, of course it might be at least a year before I can get into either one of those projects. I hoping that by this time next year I will be employed and being accepted to graduate school.

very, very nice. I had no idea they made petrol engines for all those tools

The Canadian Wisconsin site is still up, the American site is down, the page that had the production date codes is gone on the Canadian site as well, error code 404. I think I made a .pdf copy, just have to find it in my highly organized library of thousands of manuals, lol.

Here is the link, you have to type your serial number in and it gives month and year. http://www.wiengines.com/support_serial_search/

I have the date codes for Wisconisn engines

I hope your health insurance premiums are paid up, if I had that tractor I would be in hospital all the time, its why I sold my Motorcycles, 10 wrecks in a month. A couple liters of Kentucky Straight Bourbon didn't have anything to do with the accidents (sure it didn't), but at least it lessened the pain temporarily. I don't ride two wheelers or drink anymore, but I could see getting upside down in that rig real fast. I'd love to see a video of it going down the street.

I've heard many shops leave the balance gears out, one guy I know that rebuilds them put a weld spot on them to hold them in after installing new bearings, it can removed in the future with a tad bit of grinding. These engines run a little rough at low RPM or idle without them, not to big a deal if you have ISO mounts, but on solid mounts the whole tractor will wobble like a pub meister. I don't think it's a big risk to leave them in as long as you install new ones properly or weld them in, to each his own.

I went to replace the grill on my Massey MF-16, next thing I knew it was in pieces on the floor and it was 2am. Your doing a fantastic job and inspiring others, thanks.

You need my tractors autographs, they do all the work. Except for the Bolens I haven't restored any of them. I am blessed with having them, but the real tribute goes to those that made them and those that kept them up. I have 17 now and many, many implements, I hope this collection can grow, stay intact and out live me.

lol, it must have been REAL slow news day

Yes indeed, the barn is 70x40 with a 30x50 concrete pad to store tractors and implements. I also have the shop as well for working on machines. I think t is imoportant to save history so people in the future can understand those in the past andwhile my machines aren't really antiques, but rather vintage, this is the time to start saving the lesser known and lower production models. Real mean and women put their backs, sweat, and lives into producing this equipment, saving them is a testament to their work, not mine.

Come over I'll let you take a ride on each of them

Thanks lain, the left axle bearing is bad and the wheel is not completely on the axle, the right axle is indicative of the space between the hub and housing. I will have to split the transaxle case and drive the bearing out from the inside, making sure the axle itself is not damaged and will not suffer the same fate in a short time. I'm not sure about the Wheel Horse but I have twelve holes on the hub of my Bolens 1476 large frame. Once set of six holes is larger than the other set of holes, the lug bolts for the 12 inch wheel and the the holes in the 12 inch rim are larger than that of the 15 inch lug bolts and wheel holes.

Unfortunately a few could not make it, but it was a good day.

One of the Red Square Wheel Horse members Bowtieguy (Frank Rufenacht) hooked me up with a very nice Wheel Horse D series. I bought his D-160 with the kohler single cyinder. The old girl was well cared for and not abused in any fashion and seems to have a lot of life in her. The best part about the tractor is that it seems to be 100 percent unmolested and in a unrestored state, and other than a bad axle bearing (note picture from the rear) and the need for fresh fluids the tractor seems sound. Apparently Frank, his family, and I have a commonality, we hail from Switzerland. Frank's family has been here in the states for quite some time, at least one generation, but I came over on the boat, well it was actually a 1964 Constellation Comet, but I was born not far from the Rufenacht ancestral home of Rufenacht, Switzerland.

This is a picture from Simple tractors, I have the same tractor and PTO, just looking for the right generator. these 540 PTO can be really handy in running medium size generators

I already have one of these on two different brands Allis and Simplicity. What do you use yours for? http://desmoines.craigslist.org/grd/4897187589.html

Okay Neil, I'm always a little confused, are you wanting pictures of my friends tractor? because the one I posted has pictures, I know my friends has a deck, maybe more, an extra non OEM engine, and has been in dry storage since the 1970's, last I saw it was in better shape than the one in the link. It will take me a couple days to get pictures.

I'm not interested in the little ones, my friend wanted to know what his might be worth, but he thought his was a 501 or a 551 he wasn't sure. I bought a Wheel Horse D-160 with the single cylinder kohler that I haven't drug home to impress the missus with