Fixing and then refixing........

On Sunday I had the chance in this beautiful weather to do some tractor work.  I have been itching to work on both the Oliver and my second Bolens Groundskeeper for some time now so between work calls I got to it.  The Groundskeeper has a bad hydraulic pump resulting in bad steering and no lift.  The pump is an all in one pump and reservoir belt driven from the motor.

You can see the pump here in this picture.  I replaced the belt as well that runs both the pump and the generator.  The pump is by no means a new pump, I am lucky enough to have a parts tractor that has some major transmission problems that I can rob parts off from.  After getting the new pump on and all hooked up I tested everything and blew one of the six foot hoses that come off from the pump.  I looked back in time to see the line spraying the whole back half and underside of the tractor in hydraulic fluid.  I have since replaced the hose and on a nicer note also added an exhaust to this tractor.

This exhaust is well needed and I think, on nights like tonight when I changed the hydraulic hose at nine o'clock and tested the tractor - the neighbors like it.  My next step on this tractor is to take the spare push arm set up I have and make a carryall for the front of the machine.

An update on Jacob's tractor.  I thought I had a motor that would fit on his tractor but as it turns out this engine wont work as it is a little different than most Briggs and Stratton engines and it has the exhaust pipes coming out solid towards the dash of the tractor and we would have to butcher the dash up too much to make it work.  So we are still on the search for an engine for Jacobs tractor but - wait and see I have a plan for this engine. 

I have also found another great use for the Quadractor as a tow truck. When the GroundsKeeper blew the hydraulic hose I towed it up the driveway to in front of the garage door with it.  Then today I decided that this snowmobile needed to go so I hooked on with the Quadractor and hauled it down next to the road to sell.  It has more than enough power to haul it and is so convenient with the winch I can just hook and drag. This leads me to a whole other matter with the Quadractor.  I have learned from experience now that if you have to change a cable that you should change them both.  When you only change one at a time the tensions are different and they often aren't lined up the same and this happens.

On that note, when the cable has sprung off and is loose you can still drive the Quadractor in a straight line to get it to a serviceable area.  I'm not sure that it would do well on rough terrain but on the driveway it made it fine.  I am going to pick up two new cables, (luckily they are cheap) and have help to keep the steering wheel and the wheels lined up and try to redo the steering cables again.

While the passenger side was twisted around as you could see in the last picture the drivers side is still relatively straight.  The Quadractor is a pretty frequent flyer at the Rusty Gold Farm Repair shop but when I get to run it around it is worth every minute of working on it. 

So I leave you with this glamour shot of the Quadractor and hope you come around and check my blog out often to see the latest fun we are having here at the Rusty Gold Farm.

Smaller projects before winter

After a few slow days where I was sick and not doing much of anything I am right back to some small projects.  First I got the headlights and a tail light wired into the diesel 1050.

I was able to use some nice Grote brand headlights and a nice led tail light.  They are wired into an original light switch and as you can see they are sufficiently bright.

This winter they are going to do well for plowing.  I may also build a grader blade for the sleeve hitch on the rear.  Secondly and hopefully lastly on the diesel 1050 I built an exhaust off the side of the hood.  I had originally just cut a hole but wanted more of a big tractor look so i came off the side of the hood with a flange and an elbow.  After taking the picture I added a short extension and a rain flapper.

That unfortunately is the shortest exhaust elbow that you can get and it does stick out quite a bit but looks good from the seat.

The exhaust doesn't fit directly against the muffler but it is close enough that most of the smoke goes up and out.  The next small project is on my woodstove.

It all starts with this little inducer fan I got at work to make a small blower to go through the heat exchange in the stove. 

I welded it to a piece of 2 1/2 inch exhaust and screwed it to the heat exchange on the stove. I tested it out and it has Allyssia's seal of approval for adding extra heat to the house.

The motor draws little to nothing as it's a 220v motor.  Next time i will have to show off my home built plenum.  I am also starting on the other steering cable on the Quadractor so that it will drive straight.

New plow in action

As promised I got a few short action shots of the diesel bolens in action. Allyssia as usual was my camera person and always gets my best side.

I was only plowing some saw chips, bark, and small sticks and rocks.  The dustpan did well and it is finally level on the ground and I modified the lift lever to give some down pressure. 

 

Now for what I've promised, a decent video of it plowing!

I also hooked up a hand throttle but will be replacing it soon with a locking throttle so it doesn't rattle down from operating speed. Tomorrow I hope to also have some headlights to wire in and Jake and I are going to start again on his tractor. We have been having trouble with the old Tecumseh motor and the parts are no longer available so we are going to re-power it with a Briggs and Stratton.

Diesel Bolens 1050 project coming to a close.

I am finally glad to announce that the Diesel 1050 project is slowly coming to a close. After sandblasting, grinding, wire brushing, and putting the bondo on it I finally got to painting it.  I used a heavy fill primer and then a gloss white paint.  For jobs like this I just use Rustoelum brand rattle cans.  After the paint I put a clear coat on to help protect the paint. 

There are still a few odds and ends to be wrapped up like the getting the grill painted black and some round LED lights put in and wired. Today I got the last coat of clear gloss on and got the hood installed.

I did get the Hinge bolted to the tractor to test it.  This Tractor has been a few years in the process and it is so great to finally be on the home stretch with it. Also today instead of watching the paint dry I finished another little project for this winter.

This little dustpan plow has been hanging around my house for a while but it had no mount. I had picked the plow up with a tractor that I bought and now I finally have a tractor to push it.  The push plates were from an old Bolens snowblower.  This afternoon I welded the plow and the bracket together and test mounted it to the tractor.

It came out level and tomorrow I plan to get some action shots pushing some sawdust, bark and eventually in a few weeks - some snow.  After building and mounting the plow I opened the hood and dropped the hood on the plow and decided to make a safety chain.

The safety chain is held with a clevis so it can be easily unhooked and the hood removed. Tomorrow I hope to have lights to installed and a nice action video of it running.
Thanks for reading!

Great Vacation Finds

This week Allyssia and I got away from the farm. It is our one year anniversary so we decided to take a nice little vacation and go to the Fryeburg Fair and then into Vermont to the Robert Frost Mountain Cabins where we went for our honeymoon.  We have been fortunate that both times here at Robert Frost it has been beautiful weather and the owners Marty and Carrol have been extremely welcoming and kind to us. 

They even remembered it was our anniversary and adjusted their sign on the drive in to welcome us!  The scenery is just amazing here and with the leaves changing the mountains are ablaze with colors. 

Each cabin has a screen porch and we have been able to eat dinner out on the porch and enjoy the view.  They also know the area well and gave us directions to a nice little hike with the nicest panoramic view.

Allyssia especially is in love with this place and we will most definitely be coming back for years to come.
                               http://www.robertfrostmountaincabins.com/
                          Be sure to check them out! You wont be disappointed!

Backtracking a little bit to our first few days of vacation where we were at the Fryeburg Fair.  We went on Monday to watch the Woodsman Day activities which includes different things like the springboard chop, the modified chain saw, and skidder races.  After watching quite a bit of the woodsman show we wandered through the vendors.  This is one of my favorite things at the fair because I enjoy talking with all the vendors.  I was naturally drawn towards the woodworking section of the vendors and while looking at some high end wood-splitters I was approached by the man running the booth.  He came over not to sell me a wood-splitter but to try to sell "The Log Ox".  After looking it over and playing around with it Allyssia finally decided that I needed one and decided we would take it.  

So this is the basic tool with no extras.  As a fair special I got the extras to make it into a cant dog and also into a timber jack. It is supposed to replace having a birch hook for lifting logs onto the wood-splitter and hauling them around. It also has an optional belt hook that I will soon be getting because I think that it will be extremely useful.  

One of the best parts of the "Log Ox" is that it is made in the USA with USA made materials and the wooden handle is made in Maine.

Here is the base of the tool in use.  It is surprisingly easy to use one handed and Allyssia even likes it, even though she wouldn't let me get a picture of her using it.

It also has a pin on handle to make it into a cant dog as well as a pin on timber jack.  The handle is shorter than most timber jacks but it is still very versatile and easy to use.  I haven't had much time to play with it as we are still on vacation but the little work I have done with it I give it a five star rating. Check them out online, I don't think that you'll be disappointed.

https://www.thelogox.com/ 

New project updates coming soon!

 

Finishing some projects

Before winter comes blazing in I have been trying to finish up some projects. The biggest and longest running project that I have been working at has been the Estate Keeper. Now I haven't built a hood for this yet but I have finished the mower deck and tested it out.

After much searching and waiting I finally found another idler pulley and finished painting the deck.  I was able to give it a good test run mowing the back lawn and after finally figuring out the height adjustment it made the lawn look like a golf course. Now being my usual self I did not get pictures of the golf course lawn but Allyssia did snap a few action shots down at the barn.

For the barn, the deck has to be left high due to the mounds of horse manure and large assortments of rocks.  When I mow, split wood, or do any other tractor related job I like my work tunes as seen in this picture.  I bought mine when I used to do a lot more push mowing and now wouldn't be without them.

Since the mower deck was not working when I did the engine swap I am not sure if it is the fully rebuilt deck that does it or the diesel power but the deck will mow through some heavy deep grass/hay field. 

Here is the hood for my diesel 1050 primed but not painted yet.  It will end up being white with a black grill.  The top needed some bondo work, which I did, and then sanded but when it got primed the defects in the bondo really showed up so I will need to re-sand and prime again when I get home from vacation.  Allyssia has even offered to hand paint the grill black to help avoid dribbles on the white paint. 
     This week I wont have to much for updates except for a little bit about our vacation that we are taking.  We are in North Conway, New Hampshire for a few nights and then on our way to Vermont. Today we spent a whole day at the Fryeburg Fair and I picked up a sweet new logging tool - but more on that tomorrow!