Alan

thanks for the update Alan and I am chuffed that the Bolens will live for another day thanks to Chris and Iain's dedication to
the Bolens Cause! They have gone to very good homes.

The Morris Marina is a car that bring back memories.......

I am chuffed to bits with the tractor & attachments I brought  Pictures to follow soon (none of that overloaded sprinter!)
 
I just glad to have helped out & will do so very soon again
 
Chris

Sorry for not posting anything lately.   As some will already know, and for those that don't, it was decided to dispose of friend
Johns collection as various job lots.
 
In view of his health, which appears to be going downhill rapidly and his desire to sell up and move to a much smaller
property as quickly as possible, we thought this was the best and quickest way to go.  A lot of the collection has gone
already, with more spoken for.  Many thanks to the various buyers.
 
Some may be disappointed at not seeing what was for sale, but after dragging out from the various hiding places, it was
found that most of the Bolens and Wheelhorses were in VERY poor condition.  Although they were covered up years ago,
time and the weather, plus brambles and other vegetation had come off best.
 
There is still a lot of stuff to go yet, some of which may find it's way on here, if appropriate.  Still sorting and clearing out.
Can't believe how much John has collected over the years.  Not just tractors and related garden machinery, but his Morris
Marina cars.  He has a few in almost as new, low mileage condition. Not everyone's favourite car, but John LOVED them.
 
Again, sorry that some members may be disappointed, but acting in Johns best interest.
 
Regards, Alan.

Sorry for not posting anything lately.   As some will already know, and for those that don't, it was decided to dispose of friend
Johns collection as various job lots.
 
In view of his health, which appears to be going downhill rapidly and his desire to sell up and move to a much smaller
property as quickly as possible, we thought this was the best and quickest way to go.  A lot of the collection has gone
already, with more spoken for.  Many thanks to the various buyers.
 
Some may be disappointed at not seeing what was for sale, but after dragging out from the various hiding places, it was
found that most of the Bolens and Wheelhorses were in VERY poor condition.  Although they were covered up years ago,
time and the weather, plus brambles and other vegetation had come off best.
 
There is still a lot of stuff to go yet, some of which may find it's way on here, if appropriate.  Still sorting and clearing out.
Can't believe how much John has collected over the years.  Not just tractors and related garden machinery, but his Morris
Marina cars.  He has a few in almost as new, low mileage condition. Not everyone's favourite car, but John LOVED them.
 
Again, sorry that some members may be disappointed, but acting in Johns best interest.
 
Regards, Alan.

ime glad they have gone to a good home

In my opinion, John is very lucky to have Alan as a friend. The amount of time and effort Alan has put into this is incredible.
 
I was very pleased to have the opportunity to meet both Alan and John over the weekend and I enjoyed talking to both of
them. Seeing John's health over the weekend, I believe that Alan had no other option than to progress more rapidly.
 
I am sure it will not come as a surprise to many people that I bought most of the Bolens tractors and equipment as a job lot.
 
The surprise might be just how many tractors you can get into a Mercedes Sprinter, aka the Great White Whale. We had to
use a white Sprinter as the red ones are only for Wheelhorse's   Alan mentioned that Chris (The Showman) manages to
get three in easily and four with a struggle into his Sprinter. We started with getting five tractors in a load and then with
Tom's support we managed to get six squeezed in. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to take any pictures but it made
an interesting load. I think others may have taken some pictures.
 
I will post some pictures of the tractors over time and once I have recovered. I am far too old for being stuck in a van for 18
hours and 1100 miles over three days.
 
It was a great adventure and I am very grateful for Alan's support, also help from Chris and Tom.
 
Iain

Sorry for not posting anything lately.   As some will already know, and for those that don't, it was decided to dispose of friend
Johns collection as various job lots.
 
In view of his health, which appears to be going downhill rapidly and his desire to sell up and move to a much smaller
property as quickly as possible, we thought this was the best and quickest way to go.  A lot of the collection has gone
already, with more spoken for.  Many thanks to the various buyers.
 
Some may be disappointed at not seeing what was for sale, but after dragging out from the various hiding places, it was
found that most of the Bolens and Wheelhorses were in VERY poor condition.  Although they were covered up years ago,
time and the weather, plus brambles and other vegetation had come off best.
 
There is still a lot of stuff to go yet, some of which may find it's way on here, if appropriate.  Still sorting and clearing out.
Can't believe how much John has collected over the years.  Not just tractors and related garden machinery, but his Morris
Marina cars.  He has a few in almost as new, low mileage condition. Not everyone's favourite car, but John LOVED them.
 
Again, sorry that some members may be disappointed, but acting in Johns best interest.
 
Regards, Alan.

Not much to report guys, after a busy weekend I was to tired yesterday to do much..  So little in fact I can't remember what I did other than bolt the brake fluid reservoirs in place and plumbed them in!   Maybe I need more coffee!
 
Anyway, to keep you all amused here's the latest Why Not video.. Enjoy
 

Great to meet you at the weekend Philip. The blade looks great on your RJ
 
Can't be many blades that have done that many miles in such a short time
 
Iain

Evening All,
                     Having acquired the front blade for the RJ at the weekend i thought i'd put up a few photos of it more or less complete. The rear plough, which is a Barford Atom item, is the one that was used on the RJ by the previous owner; disc to be found.
 
When the blade arrived home my 5 year old son was chuffed to bits; jumping around with excitement. His 2 year old sister however didn't know what the fuss was all about but joined in jumping anyway.
 
I'll take it to a couple of shows as is before restoration starts although i  don't want to end up with it in bits if i need it in any snow

For your viewing pleasure here's how Nigel broke the steering
 

Thanks Mark, paint is on the way.
 
 
 
 
Thanks Norm.. Yes I did have to look up gradely
 
 
 
 
Kylie you say.... Can she weld?
 
 
 
Thanks mate, it looks even better now it's not silver
 
 
I didn't take many photos Tuesday as it was quite boring stuff.. The day started with making lots of these small plates..

To cover over these sort of bits on the chassis..

And the day finished with a red oxide chassis
The welding is 99% done, just a few small detail bit's left to do..


 
 
 
Wednesday the engine frame got the treatment.. Some final welding and a bit of smoothing out..  Here the frame is fitted to the engine so  I could make a mount for the coil pack..

It always amazes me how a quick coat of paint can change how something looks...   A red metal sculpture

Engine and a few other bits bolted back on.. The wheels were only thrown on to see how the front end looked.. They will be coming back off to fit the new tires/tyres.

A close up of the front end... Me likes how it looks

Before the rear axle could go back on I had to pull it apart again! The mounting holes needed to be made slightly bigger but the brake backing plates were in the way stopping me getting the drill in... So it was easier just to pull the axles out to get the backing plates out the way.
I also needed to drill a small breather hole in the top of the axle and fit a jiggle pin..  A jiggle pin is a small split pin that's a loose fit in the hole.. The idea is the pin jiggles about and stops the breather hole from getting blocked up..

For a change it wasn't me that made a shopping mistake, it was Nigel... It gave us something to laugh about yesterday
 
For reasons I'm still not sure about Nigel bought a set of disk harrows from Fleabay not quite realizing how big they were!!
 
Of course Nigel had not turned up at the workshop when "Time Team" Dave dropped the harrow off, so Nigel's face when he turned up and saw the size was priceless
 

 
 
What you can't quite see from the above photo is the front of the harrow was through the doors of my workshop, so it had to be moved....Ah.. No wheels on it!!
Only one thing for it, split it in two and borrow a forklift.. The rear discs went first..
 

 
 
Followed by the fronts.
 

 
 
As fun as a forklift is they are not that good off road.. So the LandRover tug was called into action to finish the job.. So far so good..
 

 
 
Until suddenly no steering!!   So the LR had to be abandoned where it was for the day.
 

 
 
I'm not back at the workshop until Monday, so I will let Nigel finish the story once he has worked out what has busted steering wise..

As many of you know, we are meeting up at tractorfest at Ripon next weekend. As bendy is 90% complete and I'm at work all week, I though I'd best get bendy all shiny and ready.
Here's The front lights finally wired.

And bendy getting a good wash


Loading up tomorrow

heres a 5 minute bodge - literally
 

Got a few of the Wheelhorse 's out this afternoon for a bit of grazing and sunshine

Actually Iain you are on the right track. By 1965 tractors started to become more sophisticated and user friendly, gone was the primitive behemoth that took hours to change attachments or required constant tinkering. These newer and easier to operate machines were being designed for the wife. You see, here in America at that time most women stayed home, took care of the kids, the laundry, the cooking and cleaning, so it was only obvious that with an hours free time a week left over they could also mow the lawn and thus saving the weekend for dear old dad to relax and enjoys his pipe and pint.

Another Rotovator from the stash.  Fair condition.  With prop shaft.  Asking £100.  Located near Cranleigh, Surrey.

Hello All, 
 
 
Last September when I was over one of my shows I picked up an old garden trolley that was slightly worn down it had no sides or anything of the sorts, I picked it up for a bargain price, and over the winter I've slowly been tinkering away with it getting it done a little by little ready for the first show of the year! which was the weekend just gone, I'll be uploading photos of that soon!....
 
I built the cart for my little nephew Tyler, so he can be pulled around the showgrounds or towed, and when hes old enough he can use it behind his own tractor hopefully!
 
 anyway here is the pictures of the stages, from start to finish! the last photo is him being pulled about like a king around the showground, its alright for some I guess!...
 

 
 

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
 
 

As some of you may have seen as my dad posted some pictures. I picked up a cub cadet 70 the other day with all the original manuals and number plates, here's the pictures of when it arrived.





My fully restored Wheel Horse C-121 had to go to pay for my new project.

These are the manuals that came with it and also the leaflets from the dealer in Cleckhuddersfax.

Sorry you were all wrong
 

 

 

 

 
Cub cadet original made in January of 1963 with original registration plate registered in Norfolk..
 
What do you guys think?
 
Tom

Something like this would make the job pretty easy  :D
 
 

Hi Iain, yep there is a fair few feet of box section is the frame, it should keep it from twisting during launch
I'm not sure about how to hold the wiring yet, but I do have a Wheel Horsey solution for holding the brake lines in place.
I'm trying to think up something witty to say about the Triumph air filter, but it's just to early in the morning for but brain to work fully
 
 
 
 
Thanks Charlie.
 
 
 
 
Thanks mate, she's getting there now
 
 
 
 
Hi Norm, the engine and rear axle will be going gloss black, the rest will be normal WH colours. To add a bit of sparkle some of the engines ally bit's will be polished up
 
 
Well, what a week that has been! My step daughter has been seriously ill for a few weeks resulting in her being rushed into hospital for an emergency operation last Monday. Since then she has been staying with us and quite rightly so my workshop time this past week has not really been much!       The good news is Lisa is now recovering quite well, and life is slowly returning to normal for both us and Lisa
 
 
What workshop time I have had this week has been taken up with welding..
The inside of the chassis where it meets the front axle has been plated up giving it a smoother look and thus changing my plans on how the front end will look..
 

 
 
The outside of the same bit of chassis could of been welded up and ground smooth, but it would never look as smooth as the inside bit..
 

 
 
So a cardboard template was made and some WH panel off cuts were dug out.
 

 
 
Resulting in....
 

 

 
 
The very front of the chassis under the axle needed tidying up, and as the whole build has a Hot Rod feel to it I thought the chassis needed the same touch..
Three bits of plate and a bit of box tacked together.
 

 
 
Which go here.... I would of welded them on but early Wednesday morning I ran out of welding gas.. I wondered why the last of the gas vanished very quickly and found a welding burn hole through the rubber pipe!  So watch out for flying sparks guys and girls!
 

 
 
New gas didn't arrive until late Thursday afternoon so instead of welding I did some cutting..  Eight plates marked out on some 5mm thick steel.
 

 
 
These would of been easy to make had I not wanted the curves!
 

 
 
It wasn't until yesterday that I got the chance to weld all the new bits on.. Lot's of welding and lot's of grinding the welds smooth, but it was worth it
 

 

 

At long last, due to family bereavements, I have loaded my 1254 to go to Dorset to a friend (Daniel, aka Robins) to fit a new wiring loom in it and to do some carb fettling. When I got it back in early autumn I pumped up the tyres and greased everywhere and unlocked the diff lock to enable her to move around freely. Today, she moved from the back of the garage for the first time and onto the back of the Hilux. She's really is a solid bit of kit and worth the effort to revive her. I got a new fuel tank, battery tray, belts, air filter and other items to aid her rejuvenation. She will be dropped off tomorrow morning. Be good to have a catch up with Daniel and see how his WHs are faring.