Shop Time w/T.W. Friends

...Cole doing all the work like usual.



Looks like he did a great job too. Nice!

 

Well men, it was a good day to do what I like best -- drive.

Fired up the LTD and put on 75 or so miles, turned 23,000 on the way. It is the first time around for this car, 59 years old and that is the original miles.

 

Take & bake Supreme pizza from Aldi, loaded with nice things (that Mrs Green won't eat) like peppers, olives & onions.
Only $8

 

Well
Not trying to toot my own horn but I think the practice engraving restoration came out pretty friggin good.

After this set I’ll have a good handle on some techniques..

 

Wow!
That is horn blowing worthy.

Seriously, I think most of us shop folks like to see what other folks are doing and are capable of - not bragging, just sharing something you have done.

The depth of the color and crisp engraving is impressive. Is the white a paint?

 

Yes sir.. Actually NAPA Paint Markers.
Found a trace of the engravings and worked from there with a exacto knife, a pair of tweezers, and a couple of mechanic probes to deepen and widen the engraving deeper and wider than factory.

 

HA HA HA

 

That one came from my parents, dad got tired of mowing around it and pulled it out of the ground.

 

Looks great

 

Looks great!

 

i'm planning on registering it in indiana, just to figure out the process, and keep it local. looking through the maine stuff, it's basically the same process, just longer renewal differences. personally, i don't fully trust the 'remote plating' operations. they're generally a victim of their own success. when far too many people know about it, they tend to change the loophole.

think back to when you were growing up. has anything really changed? because i know it hasn't for me!

 

looks like the Beam NG computer game. great physics simulator, not extremely realistic graphics. the color tint of the truck is off, and far to reflective for the color(looks almost like blue-chrome, which isn't a ford factory option), and the DRL's and turn signals are poorly lit, almost a shadow of color overlaid onto the vehicle indicator positions. those new ford led DRL's and turn signals are vividly bright.

 

welp, my back yard is starting to look like rusty's shop!



the orange arens supposedly has a bad motor--it ran, but 'lost power'. it's hydrostatic, and both insides of the rear wheels are fully gunked from a leaking rear end. i'm suspicious it's not a motor at all, but low fluid/bad seals. i don't yet know much about hydrostatic, but envision it's similar to automatic transmissions, where low fluid would present a 'lost power' condition the same way as a 'bad motor' would. also, the forward/reverse foot pedal doesn't feel like it's connected at all. i tried getting this one to start. the motor cranks, and compression seems alright from what i can tell trying to spin the top by hand, but it doesn't even try to fire off using starting fluid. suspicious of ignition system currently.

the red one is a troy-built. it's supposed to be a motor donor for the orange arens, as the motor is supposed to be good, but the trans supposedly is entirely shot. but it's not hydrostatic, so there's a possibility of rebuilding.

the dark green one is a craftsman, no mower deck, used as a plow tractor, and was running/driving in the last 5 years. allegedly. it also was parked in an un-sealed garage with racoons. so it's a hazmat project. it's hydrostatic as well, but i don't want to touch it much until i can clean it up. the motor's oily, but the trans is bone dry on the outer casing, unlike the arens... the seat and tires need replacing, and it's the roughest of all of them, but also the one i'm most interested in keeping around if i can get it working right, as a yard dog for the trailer(s).

and he threw in a gas powered sidewalk edger as well. motor turns, but it's a garbage find, so no clue if it works. looks like low mileage though. no major dust/debris, and no leaks anywhere.

i already have a project gas powered sidewalk edger from a personal garbage find, but the one i found was in far worse shape.


trailer worked great! i'll never run another trailer without airbags if i can help it! even loaded, it pulled so smooth i almost couldn't track where the trailers axle was. most times things like railroad crossings are felt in the drivers seat. i had almost none of that. it also pulled just as easy dry as it did loaded.

minor issue with the suspension is that i need to run some shocks on it to control oscillating. 80% of the time it's fine, but crossing intersections at speed, the high and low points of the intersection crown come real close to the oscillation frequency, so it starts bouncing pretty hard by the time it fully exits the intersections. it self-tames somewhat fast(about 8-10 bounces and it's back to smoothly riding), but it's a little more than i'd like.

and the more major issue is that my a-frame kicks off the hitch were causing some twisting of the a-frame under load(the disadvantage of making do with leftover steel). so i need to reinforce (likely box them and add a crossmember) the a-frame to take the full load as planned. i originally had the mowers all the way forward on the deck, but it twisted the a-frame sections far too much for my comfort level for the journey home.

 

Naw.. nothing has changed.. I wish I had paid attention to my elders more.

 

Good morning everyone, welcome to the weekend

 

Good Saturday morning friends! Hope everyone has an awesome day

 

Good morning shops crew, hope you have a great and blessed Saturday.

 

yeah, i wouldnt wanna arm wrestle him in a few years.......

 

process is the same, yes longer renewal times, and based on murrilins rate for 12 years I would have paid $552.00 and Im sure, with 1 of murrlin elected officals taking a trip down south on our dime that will increase, and Maine is $215.00....

 

Good morning shop crew I hope ya'll had a great week. It’s been super busy for me, extra babysitting with the grandkids due to the other grandmother being on another vacation and my yard work in between. It makes for some long days.