Tom

Thanks Norm, I'm very pleased. Bit of an upgrade from my Clarke lathe Tom

Sent my form off last week, hoping I'm not too late

Very nice horse Neil, glad it went to a good home Tom

I don't sorry Norm. On the first picture if you look at the far top right you can see a sort of C piece, that goes onto where the chassis mounts to the transmission there are two holes for it to go onto. Then there is a bar which I presume goes onto the deck lift and then the front is supported by the idler assembly which is missing. Hope that helps a bit! Tom

Hi all, I'm sure many of you saw I have acquired a new lathe from Alan and John. I didn't intend on buying a lathe from them but after seeing it there and some light persuasion from Iain I agreed a price with Alan and John and brought it home. After some fiddling with the wiring I got the motor working. Both gearboxes were quite low with oil so I filled them up and the gearboxes sound much nicer now. I am very happy with it and it has already proved useful as my dad needed a pulley bored out and it did it no problem. John had soaked it in grease to prevent it from rusting which has kept it very well, although it has been a pain cleaning it up! This picture was of it at Johns: Back in it's new home: After a good clean up and I put some carpet in the storage area to tidy it up: Tom

Hi, I have seen them modified to fit but it won't be a simple bolt on job.. Tom

Hi all, I have upgraded from my small lathe as you have probably seen to a bit of a bigger one Photos to follow tomorrow.. I had one question for all you lathe users though, do you have coolant set-ups? I am tempted to set one up as there is a tank in the cabinet for it but I don't really want to use a water-based coolant as I'm presuming it will just rust everything up unless I clean it meticulously. I don't want to set one up if it's pointless but I just thought if the tank is there all I need is a pump and some pipe.. What do you guys use if you do have coolant setups? Tom

Another great adventure, it was a very long day and I'm sure all who were involved were feeling a bit tired today, well I was anyway! Many thanks to John and Alan once again for your great hospitality, it's always a pleasure talking and dealing with you. Also thanks to Chris for letting us use his Bolens to move the trailer about, it saved us a lot of work. Like Iain said, we always come away with much more than we were planning on but that's the great thing about visiting you guys, it's always worth while. I'm sure Alan's sales pitches are getting better every time too A massive thanks to Iain and my dad also who have helped make all this happen and get the lathe into it's new home today, I'm looking forward to getting it back to it's former glory. With Iain's previous experience of moving lathes I think we made it look easy loading it up, apart from a panic when the engine crane decided to spill a load of oil Unloading it was even easier though.. Thanks again to all who helped and no doubt I'll be returning Tom

Did you find the steering box very hard to rebuild? I keep contemplating doing mine because it's done then and I can leave it alone! What are your opinions of the Cub then? Tom

That is so mean looking Ian!! You have created a monster I look forward to seeing a video of in action, don't rush it, you want to get it right! Tom

I couldn't stop grinning! They were real tight getting out but they are like new now, it's amazing the difference it has made. It'd be great to finally meet you, are you planning on taking anything? Thanks Ian, that's the plan anyway Luckily mine wasn't too bad, I pumped some grease into it and it's a lot better now, what is Ewan's steering like? Tom

Great pictures Mark, that John Deere gets my vote though Tom

Hi, Had an afternoon on the Cub today. I wanted to see if the engine ran OK and there was no major problems so I hooked up a coil and tried it. Well I say I did, it looked like someone had tried to do it before. Cleaned the carb and off she went, and I've got proof http://i1363.photobucket.com/albums/r713/whtom/th_510BD656-0C65-4948-AA57-A3219A31E413.mp4 The engine runs well for it's age in my opinion. It hunts a bit but I have a NOS carb for it which I am tempted to stick on, I'm also going to fit new points, condenser, magneto coil, fuel sediment bowl and fuel lines. A birthday really I had a drive well and it all seemed really good. The only problem seemed to be the steering which was very tight, I thought it was the steering box which worried me as I was hoping I was going to get away without taking it out and rebuilding it for now. I jacked the front up and it turned out to be the spindles were very stiff, I had great difficulty in getting them out! After eventually getting them out I soaked them in the parts cleaner and it sanded everything down, re-greased and they were 1000x better. I put it back together had a quick drive and it is so much better, I am very happy with it now. Now just to get some bits for it, tempted to take this to Rural past times.. Tom

Very cool, I look forward to the pictures of it behind your tractor! Tom

Great minds think alike

Regarding the flywheel, on a Kohler engine I use wedge a chock of wood in between the engine block and the flywheel so there is constant pressure on the flywheel and usually a combination of hitting the flywheel and the flywheel nut it will come loose. Plenty of penetrating oil and you want lots of shock but not too much so you damage things.. Tom

If you wanted to and you were interested I could strap it to a pallet? Tom I think he's in enough trouble as it is I'm having a bit of a thin out so you'll probably see a few more bits and bobs on here soon, it's something that I bought with the intention of fitting it to one of my tractors but I know it will never happen. I'd rather see it go to someone who will make use of it. This sickle bar and the commando would be great for you Chris Tom

Hi, I am unfortunately looking to sell my wheel horse 42" sickle bar, from what I understand it is a SMS-425. It is all free although it would benefit from a good oil up. The gearbox seems very good and it's all tight. You don't see these very often and they are quite a cool attachment in my opinion. The mule drive is missing but I have seen dimensions and plans on Redsquare to make them or they do appear on that well know auction site from time to time. It has all the original serial numbers and decals intact as you can see. I am located in Norfolk but I may be able to drop it off somewhere in my travels! I am looking for £225 or make me an offer, don't be shy I have pictured it on a Commando 7 which it seemed to fit well, I couldn't test it because I don't have the mule drive but it hooks up to the rear of the chassis, well that's how it seemed to go on I thought I'd try and picture it on a tractor to help you see what it will look like. Tom

Great pictures, thanks Paul. Project Bendy looks HUGE compared to that little RJ! Awesome line up.. Ewans cub is looking very nice too Tom

:lol: Looking great Charlie

Good looking projects Charlie, I look forward to seeing them progress.. I'm sure I recognise them from somewhere Tom

Looks great Paul, very nice little display Tom

Hi all, Ideally looking for a running, recoil start 7hp/8hp kohler engine but let me know what you have got Tom

Great pictures Alan, I think me and Iain both were too excited at the time to even consider taking any pictures. I have to admit it at least I had one of the nicer, more unique bolens ride with the horses, a very cool machine which I look forward to see Iain getting up and running. I had an amazing weekend, a really great adventure that I will never, ever forget. Tom

I can only echo what has already been said. Alan and John are such great guys and I could spend hours talking to them, so many great stories! Like Iain said, John is very lucky to have Alan as he is doing his best to help him out and helping John speed up the process of the move. I travelled down twice with Iain and like he said we managed to get 6 tractors in one day amongst a few other things, it was a struggle but we did it. It was great fun! It has been a pleasure meeting you guys and I look forward to meeting you again soon. Tom