A lull for Christmas break

I have definitely had a bit of a space over the Christmas holiday and not only have I not posted but I haven't done anything really tractor related. I have made a few small modifications to the engine bay in the caterpillar, went to Grampa's and got the aluminum motor mounts for the caterpillar and drilled the holes in them, and cleaned the coils and flywheel on the new motor.  I am still waiting on the parts needed to get the motor ready to go on the tractor.

These arrows point out the coil and the magnet on the flywheel that gives the coil the energy to fire the spark plug. Both need to be real clean and they need to be ten thousandths of an inch apart to work.
























The only other excitement after Christmas is that I am going to be able to take better videos of my equipment in action.  Allyssia got me a new Gop Pro Hero 5 Black. 

Its a very small yet high resolution camera with a touchscreen on the back.  I wanted the screen so that when it gets setup for a video I can tell where it is aiming.  It also has the little button so it can be controlled from a distance to start and stop a video or take a picture. 

GoProHero5black

Check the link above for more info and the technical specs. 




So that's it for today nothing too exciting but I should be picking up a bunch of my parts tomorrow so it will hopefully be an eventful week into the weekend!

The caterpillar saga continues

So as I said earlier the Caterpillar saga is going to be a long one and you will be seeing a lot of it in the future.  Now on to the progress!  I tore into the old engine out of curiosity to see how much damage had been done.  This particular Briggs & Stratton has a removable oil pan so I was able to just pull four bolts and drop the oil pan out. 

I drained the oil and chunks of steel out of the oil drain and then started sorting out the larger chunks.  The connecting rod was in three pieces and the crank was scored quite deep. 






After pulling the head off I got the piston out the top of the cylinder.  The cylinder was not scored and surprisingly the block was not damaged either.  If I can I am going to try to sell the block and other parts.


On a good note I test fit the engine into the engine bay and it does fit with the filter off.  I have ordered the remote filter, starter, and the newest piece that I found myself needing.

This engine has no crankshaft sticking past the flywheel nut so I need to get what they call a stub shaft.  It bolts on with the two bolt holes in the flywheel and covers and locks the nut in place.  It sets back the installation process a little bit but not much. 

The test fit found me having to cut a little bit of the crankshaft off from the opposite end to make it fit and not hit the hydraulic oil filter.  I am starting to see that the filters seem to be my main problem. To make the engine line up I am also going to need to raise the engine up around a half of an inch.  Grampa has some half inch by one and one half inch pieces of flat aluminum that will work perfect for the motor mounting plates.  I love working with Aluminum for the ease of drilling and widening holes. 

This last photo of the night is just a closer picture of the pump coupling and the starter cup that is representing the other side of the coupling for the mock up purpose.  With this engine being so much lower I might be able to make a simple hood to cover it and keep it out of the weather. 

Until next time the Caterpillar will still be here and so will I.  Stay in touch and let me know what you think.

The Diesel 1050's first winter

Today between the hectic running around, fixing fence that Tee seems to be constantly breaking, and Christmas shopping; Allyssia had a little bit of time to come get a video of the Diesel 1050 plowing snow with the new dustpan plow. 

The little dustpan is something I picked up when I was on a tractor retrieval run while in school.  I had taken my fathers truck to Portland for the week with the plan to drive down to Eliot for a tractor.  After arriving and seeing the tractor the older gentleman asked if I needed any attachments to go with my other tractors.  I of course can never say no to a tour and gladly said yes.  I ended up with this plow along with a few others and a ground plow.  I still have no idea what this plow originally went on.  To make it work I cut the original bracket off and welded on a Bolens snowblower bracket.  I also modified a lift arm so that the plow could have good down pressure to scrape well.   

Because of the angle of the plow I am able to move along at a decent speed plowing.  The speed also helps the snow roll off the side of the plow in the direction that it is supposed to.  Most Bolens plows have a trip mechanism in case you hit something solid, this plow has no trip mechanism.  The plow can also be turned the other direction with just a few easy pins. 

This tractor has surpassed my expectations for a tractor of this size and I think it is very much due to the 10hp diesel motor.  It always has enough power to push and with the AG style tires it hasn't needed chains, though I do have a pair for it. 

Lastly this evening I drained the oil from the new Briggs & Stratton V-Twin and removed the original oil filter housing.  The next step is to get the remote oil filter kit and the new starter installed.  The plan before those show up is to get the Love-joy coupling hooked onto the flywheel and start mounting the motor into the frame. 

I am really excited to be building this project so be prepared to see a lot more of the caterpillar in the next few blog posts and like the Quadractor, you will see it very often once it is running right.    Until next time stay tuned and leave me a comment if you can. 

Snow Removal and Tool Review

This post was supposed to go out last night but I went out on a few calls after hours and it didn't quite get finished.  Today's post is going to start off with a little video of the first snow and my first trip out snow blowing with the Groundskeeper.

With all the wights and brand new chains it has a lot better traction than it did last year.  I did get temporarily stuck there but ended up backing out just fine.  I also have to replace the cutting edge on the snowblower with the new old one I bought.  With the topic of snow removal at hand I was able to pick up the snow blade that goes with the caterpillar.

It looks to be a John Deere blade that has had some modifications done to it.  I have another John Deere blade that I received when I bought the Satoh that would make a couple of nice wings or scoops on the side of this blade to widen it and give a bigger plowing area.  They would of course have to be removable so I could still get into the smaller areas I bought this tractor for.

The progress on the caterpillar is coming slowly but I picked up a motor from an acquaintance of mine to test fit it before I buy it. 

The engine is a Briggs & Stratton Vanguard series motor.  It is a 16hp v-twin engine that is still made and parts are very readily available.  I want something like this that I can easily get parts for and easily fix if something goes wrong.  That is the biggest problem with the current engine - it is so old that for one the parts are hard to find and for two the parts are expensive.





The engine itself fits into the engine bay on the Caterpillar but there are a few minor problems with it.  The biggest problem is the oil filter.  It sticks out about seven inches away from the motor at a 45 degree angle and hits on the main support for the hydraulic drive motors.  I have found what they call a remote oil filter kit so that I can move the filter and just have hoses running to it wherever I want to mount the filter.  The engine also needs a starter but I was able to test it with the pull start

I think that the remote filter setup would be good as well to get the oil filter away from the exhaust so as to keep the oil cooler.  I am going to decide whether or not I am going to keep this motor for the caterpillar by the end of the weekend and order the parts needed if I am keeping it.  

TOOL TIME

At this point in my blog I feel a lot like this could be the Red Green show featuring Duct tape but I guess I will feature a little bit better tool.  Today's tool is also my newest it is Milwaukee's rechargeable Rover pocket flood light.  

 

As you can see it is just a little longer than my wallet and quite thin.  The battery can be charged through the USB port or if you have a second battery it has a separate charger so you never run out of light.  I haven't had it long enough to vouch for the impact resistance or the water resistance but I will definitely keep anyone that is interested updated on it through the next year.

https://www.amazon.com/roverpocket light

Well that's all for today but stay tuned and we will hopefully have an engine in the Caterpiller with some step by step instructions on how to install the remote oil filter.  

I think that we fixed the comments section so I would like to hear from everyone.  

Moving forward on the caterpiller!

Despite the motor throwing a rod in the caterpillar (that is what we decided to name the new skid steer) we are moving forward it.  Yesterday with the help again of my borrowed Milwaukee post light I was able to pull the old Briggs & Stratton single cylinder engine out so I can get an accurate measurement and possibly test a few engines into the engine bay. 

There wasn't much on this engine holding it in except the four engine mounting bolts the fuel lines one wire to the coil and the throttle cable..  It may be a single cylinder engine but a sixteen horse cast iron Briggs is exceptionally heavy.  I had a hard time lifting it out alone but was able to use a 2x6 to slide it out of the tractor.

The engine bay is fairly roomy and I hope to fit a sixteen horse v-twin into the engine bay.  The v-twin it a shorter engine with a top mounted carburetor.  I should be able to use the same gas tank and mounting location and only have to move the small frame that goes around the two pumps.  Tomorrow I am going to pick up the v-twin to test fit it before buying it.  We will have some test fit pictures tomorrow thanks to the post light again. 

The other project that has been occupying a bit of my free time has been has been a little snow blower.  Its an old simplicity with a 5 hp engine.  Mice had chewed the coil wire and ruined the coil so I bought a new style Magnetron coil that bypasses the points and condenser all together so I didn't have to remove the flywheel. After about five minutes of cleaning and installing I had perfect spark.  

Usually I would have to pull the flywheel and replace the points, condenser and wires running under the flywheel and put it back together and if it was wrong have to take it all back apart to re-adjust.  I now have the carburetor and fuel tank off and have them both soaking in carb. cleaner as they sat with old gas in them for so long. 

The new coil is on the right and it is wider because it has a computer like assembly that takes place of the points and condenser. It would be nice to have this project back together and delivered to its owner by the end of the weekend.  Otherwise everyone stay tuned for next time more videos to come.

Disaster strikes for the new tractor

Saturday afternoon when I had gotten home from some service calls I had some free time to work on my new tractor.  It was having some fuel delivery issues that were keeping it from running right so I replaced the fuel shutoff that was plugged up and re-cleaned the carburetor.  After that the tractor started and ran decently and I was able to test it a little better.

It was running and steering really well and I was starting to get used to running the bucket controls with my feet.  I took it on a few laps around the driveway and even pushed some logs with it.  The tractor was still having some trouble with the governor keeping up and keeping the engine revved but nothing major.  After riding around for the better part of half an hour I backed it into its spot and put the board under the bucket and got off to check a few things while it was still running. 

As I crouched down on the carburetor side of the tractor it made quite the bang and died.  I wasn't sure what had happened but when I hit the starter button it was pretty much confirmed that the engine threw a rod.  This is only par for course but it is still disheartening that now the tractor needs a new motor before I can run it again. 

For now this is as close as we get to driving the new tractor.  In the meantime I am back on the search for a motor and searching for a good name for the old girl.  Until next time stay tuned and leave a comment and let us know what you think.

The new tractor

Wednesday came and went and I did indeed get the new tractor home by way of the horse trailer.  Since the days are so short we of course had to load it in the dark.  To load it I ran the four wheeler and pulled it while Allyssia sat on the seat and released the hydraulics.  The tractor itself is quite a heavy little machine. 

And here is where it landed Wednesday night, barely off the trailer but home.  I was able to pull the carburetor off on Thursday but that is all that I had time for.  The fuel tank came off next and was set on top of the wood stove plenum to melt the ice and evaporate the water out of it.  Once dry I used a trick that Grampa taught me and threw a small short chain in the tank and shook it all around to get any loose debris out of the tank.

With the bucket up high I began Friday evening resembling the engine.  I replaced the fuel lines and fuel filter for good measure and installed the carburetor and low and behold it started and ran! Not well - but it ran! 

 Allyssia even likes the looks of the little bugger.  Right now it isn't running good enough for her to test run it, but hopefully soon it will be.  It is acting like it is not getting enough fuel to keep it running.   I was able to test the lift system on it and it is pretty tough.  I was able to lift the whole front of the tractor off the ground

The plan is to try to get the engine running correct this weekend and really test the tractor out and pick up the plow.  I am on call but plan on doing all I can to get it running during the day to have some good clear videos.  Let me know what you think and stay tuned for this weekends post.

Correct fitting tire chains, storage fun and more.

As usual you never know whats going to happen in a week here at the Rusty Gold Farm.  Saturday amidst the running for shavings for the barn, helping Allyssia, and various other tasks I made it over to R.S. Osgood's and Sons in Dixfield to get my tire chains.  The Chains are going on my Bolens Groundskeeper.  Every year when I put the snowblower on I have to work super hard to stretch and bungee cord a set of chains onto the tractor that are to narrow. As a result every year I end up digging through the snow looking for said chain when it falls off.  This year I said enough and bought the correct size chain for the job. 

They were the cheaper set of chains without the big v-Grousers on them because I quite frankly can't afford those.  These chains are heavy duty and seem to be of real nice quality.  Unlike my last set of chains I wont have to bungee cord these on as they are a very tight fit. 











From the back It is a beautiful sight - matching brand new shiny silver chains.  In the install I used a trick I learned where you deflate the tires to get the chains on and re inflate when the chains are tightened to really snug them up.  Once re inflated they don't seem like the chains could go anywhere.

It also looks funny having the weight hanging off the back like that but there is also one in each rim on the rear and a few frame weights inside the rear frame.  Once I get the correct size and length bolt I also have three more weights to put on the outside of the rear frame.  It may seem a little extreme to have that much weight on the rear but the snowblower hanging off from the front weighs almost four hundred pounds and lightens the back end up quite a bit. 







After finishing the tire chains up Allyssia helped me clean out a section of her hay barn that we have already taken hay from to store a certain tractor. 

This will probably be the last we see of the Quadractor until there is a lot of snow to take it out into and test it.  Last year it wasn't really running good enough to test well and it set outside partially tarped but this year it gets an honorary spot in the hay barn. 

Lastly on my crazy run around Saturday I stopped and looked at a tractor that I had seen earlier in the week on the side of the road and got some more info on the beast. 

It's homemade of course so just as rare as it gets.  It is a skid steer prototype that is hydraulic six wheel drive.  It has the bucket shown as well as a four foot blade to go on the front.  The tractor itself is quite simple and unique that I just have to have it.  I have made plans to go pick it up Wednesday evening after work.  The four-wheeler club that owns it said it was running a year ago so it hopefully wont take much to fix up. 

Here it finally is!  I have forgotten to show off my new business cards with you all. They came out excellent and are even two sided.

They are the glossy color cards because I just couldn't resist.  What do you all think?  Stay tuned and drop a comment when you get the chance!