Small shop projects.

[forbigpicture]

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[Couper]

here`s my lawn maintenance team. Both from the `70s. I rebuilt my "parts" mower and keep the other for back up. I dumped the collectors years ago. I kept walking to empty them.

Nice! Never saw one of those.

 

[bob w]

Wow! reel mowers still in use. Good for you.

 

[MercuryMac]

My Granddad had a wheel driven reel mower when I was little.
Today I made a spring tension belt tightener on the back/bottom of the mounting bracket.

 

[MercuryMac]

One step forward and two steps back. Today I started up the garden tractor and checked the electric, accessory clutch and it worked alright, but it turned the other way than I expected. The belt tightener that I had made and tucked away nicely was on the wrong belt side. Now I have to make it work on the front side which puts it too close to the front wheel at times and too close to the drag link. Arrrgg.
So I mounted my hydraulic tank crossways under the frame.

 

[MercuryMac]

Today I finished up making and painting my belt tightener, on the right side of the belt, this time. The plumbing is now started, as I installed the inlet hose from the tank to the pump. The third picture is a bracket to hold the suction line steady over on the left side of the tractor.

 

[MercuryMac]

Back on the lawn tractor again, I mounted the two control valves. There will be a boars nest of hoses just to the right of the seat.

 

[MercuryMac]

It turns out that the plumbing, [with a little more Imagineering] wasn't so bad. Here's most of the hoses strung in.

 

[Bamamav]

So I guess this is going to be a clean up tractor only, no mowing deck?

 

[MercuryMac]

Yes and no, Bama. This tractor won't have an underslung mower on it, but I still have the mower deck, [in good shape] so I hope to make it a trailing mower that I can swing out to the side and mow under my big spruce trees on the lawn. Now with hydraulics on the tractor maybe I can run the mower with a hydraulic motor and the mower deck can be 'movable' side to side.

 

[MercuryMac]

I forgot to mention that this garden tractor with no wide mower deck underneath is nicer in the garden pulling an engine mounted rotovator. I don't get high-centered in the loose dirt and I don't wreck the rows of plants with the edge of the mower while trying to keep the rotovator close to the rows.
You'll be pleased to know that the engine-driven rotovator is already 'hotrodded'. It has a big motor on it off a grain auger. The bigger engine was so much heavier that I couldn't lift the blades out of the ground by hand, so I had to mount a hydraulic system on the rotovator.
Anyhow, I have finished up the hydraulic system on the tractor and the lawn sweep now.

 

[smallfoot]

Does that little HST machine have a 2 stage hydraulic pump? I have a mini HST tractor that is single stage and it's really different to get used to. The pump isn't fast enough to work with until you speed the tractor motor up considerably. It's still a strain to work a front end loader having to wait and forget trying to make two motion moves with the stick. I have to admit, with everything on it being hydraulic, it's simple to use. And I believe if nothing else, the time lost on slow hydraulics is made up by not having any gear shifts...

 

[MercuryMac]

Smallfoot, this is a simple pump that needs an open system valve. This means that the pump pumps oil all of the time, where yours maybe only pumps when you ask for work by moving the lever. The valve bodies have an open centre in them, so when the levers are in neutral, the oil flows through the vlave housing. I never thought about how my machine will work at an idle, probably not good. When I'm sweeping clippings or leaves I will have the motor revved up, but lifting the dump gate might not work at an idle.
You've given me something to think about.

 

[MercuryMac]

I've been spending my days trying to start the dang little tractor to take it out to the shed for the rest of the winter. First, the new-fangled, automatic choke was not working properly, so I changed it to a manual choke again. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! When you are making new linkage to mount a choke cable, you have to make sure the choke is moving in the right direction. So I spent another day rearranging the linkage so it works now.
Then one of the many safety switches failed so I couldn't let my foot off the clutch or the motor would die. With all of the safety switches you can't get off the seat or let your foot off the clutch/brake or the motor dies and you can't use your test-light to see where the electrical problem really is. I'm rewiring the tractor now in a simpler way, and I'll be much happier, I think. No pictures.

 

[Bamamav]

I hate those stupid seat switches. That’s usually the first thing I bypass. Next is the switch that won’t let you backup with the mower deck running.

 

[redidbull]

My neighbor called me over last summer because her riding lawn mower wouldn't start. I had a feeling it was a safety switch. I said to her look it up online mower wont start. Turns out there was a safety switch near the chute on the deck and it was slightly up. Started right up after pushing the chute down. Kind of frustrating. Jim

 

[smallfoot]

I generally bypass anything that ain't related to engine running mode too...

 

[kenny c]

I generally bypass anything that ain't related to engine running mode too...

Me too. When my kids were little I taught them to check if it was in neutral before starting and don't get off unless it was shut off. Then again by the time my oldest was 14 she was driving an L8000 that she taught herself how to shift a 5+2 speed. They had common sense. That is hard to teach.

 

[smallfoot]

Yessir in todays world, common sense is a super power. I'm glad to be amongst all you super heroes!!!

 

[MercuryMac]

I agree, Guys, those safety switches are a pain in the a$$ when they are working, and even worse when they're not working. They are all bypassed now, but I haven't started the tractor up yet, from fear of,, of,, failure.