Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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Jan 28, 2019 13:23:28 GMT
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In our collection we have a 1964 Bolens Estate Keeper EK7, which has a 7hp Wisconsin engine. We did a lot of work on this machine about 18mths ago and it has been working fine since then. It is a very unusal machine and I only know of a couple of others in the UK. It is lots of fun to drive. This is one of the only pictures I have at the moment Over the weekend my son Joseph made up some new battery leads and fitted a new battery. It took him a long time but he got the job done. He has a video of the job and the tractor in action
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Last Edit: Jan 28, 2019 13:24:15 GMT by Iainr
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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Last year we were hit hard with snow as a result of the Beast from the East. We have not seen anything so far this year but as some parts of the country already have, we clearly need to step up a gear with our snow preparations. My son and I decided that we need a snow fleet that is ready to roll at a moment’s notice. To be fair, I think he decided that would be the case and I just followed along Our snow fleet consists of a Bolens 1054 and a diesel Westwood. The preparations took far longer than I would have hoped for, but we are now ready. We are now frantically checking out the long range weather forecast in the hope of snow A video update from my son below. The picture at the start of the video was the road in front of our house last year. I have just remembered we did a quick video of the fun in the snow last year
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Feb 18, 2019 16:19:37 GMT
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That's a nice collection earning its keep! Heres one of ours a Westwood also earning its keep feeding and watering the animals, it comes out rain or shine sometimes with 2 trolleys well overloaded on occasions but never complains!
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Great work on these tractors. I would love one but the boss lady said I have too many toys Bookmarked.
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1984 Rover SD1 Vanden Plas 2600 Auto 1985 Rover SD1 2300s Auto 2005 MG ZT 1.8 Manual
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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That's a nice collection earning its keep! Heres one of ours a Westwood also earning its keep feeding and watering the animals, it comes out rain or shine sometimes with 2 trolleys well overloaded on occasions but never complains!
Great picture, it's good to see them working. I have broken a half shaft on one of our Westwoods by pulling a trailer with too much nose weight but that was a bit extreame. Not sure how muddy it gets with you but it is surprising how much better they grip with rear chevrons fitted
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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Great work on these tractors. I would love one but the boss lady said I have too many toys Bookmarked.
Thanks. I am not a good role model as we have loads in our collection now
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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The last tractor in our planned winter project list is a 1971 Bolens Husky 1054 which has been painted blue by a previous owner. This tractor challanged us as it looked like it needed very little but that was far from the reality. We spent a very long time on repairs and put a lot of new parts on it. It is great that it is now running and it now means we now have three running Bolens 1054's in our collection Quick video of some of the work and a test drive
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I bought three of these last year. Have no use for them yet but hopefully will have a bigger garden to mess with them soon. Some great tractors you’ve got. Bet was fun clearing the snow.
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1994 BMW 525i touring 2004 BMW Z4 sorn and broken 1977 Ford Escort 1982 Ford Capri getting restored 1999 Mazda B2500 daily driver.
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Feb 27, 2019 18:32:12 GMT
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That Bolens Husky looks quite robust? are they easy enough to get spares for? We try to avoid chevron tyres as they chew the ground up very quickly, we do have a Leyland 154 mini tractor for the heavy muddy stuff but again we try and avoid using it in the winter months as it ends up a mud bath pretty quickly! Have a picture of todays trailer fail! Its only Chinese cheapy but will go again with a bit of British engineering!
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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Mar 13, 2019 14:43:55 GMT
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That Bolens Husky looks quite robust? are they easy enough to get spares for? We try to avoid chevron tyres as they chew the ground up very quickly, we do have a Leyland 154 mini tractor for the heavy muddy stuff but again we try and avoid using it in the winter months as it ends up a mud bath pretty quickly!
The Bolens tractors are the most robust in our collection with the Wheelhoreses coming second. Finding parts is interesting as very limited parts are available and even then the available parts are in the US. Where possible we try to match common parts like bearing and oil seals to something we can get locally. If that is not possible the next best option is to make the replacement part, if all else fails we know two great parts suppliers in the US.
The reason I got into these small tractors in the first place was due to the damage a mini or full size tractor can do in the winter on our heavy clay soil.
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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Mar 13, 2019 15:00:56 GMT
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Having completed the tractors we planned to work on over the winter we started to look for another project. My son decided it would be our 1975 Bolens G14 which he has had his eye on for some time. This was my main grass cutting tractor until the transmission seized. At the time the kids were small and I had little time so, the tractor was put into storage. It turns out that was 2009. The first problem we hit was that 10 years of other stuff was in the way and it took us a complete weekend to get it out. Even that was fun as we tripped over a number of our future tractor projects. Once it was out it got a quick wash before we started to explore the transmission problem. I was hopeful that over the last 10 years it would have thought about its behaviour and the problem would no longer exist, sadly not the case. Over coming weeks we will not have too much tractor time so my son decided to go into a bit more detail in his videos about the work. I am sure this project will test his diagnostic skills and the videos show the details of these fantastic tractors. So far he has created two videos on this project:
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Last Edit: Mar 13, 2019 15:02:23 GMT by Iainr
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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Spring has sprung and it was time to get the HT23 ready for grass cutting. We had a bit of a shock when we saw how much dried grass had gotten into all the places on the tractor that you would rather it didn't. We do clean it regularly but I think that may need to change to every time we use it. I could not believe how much our grass has grown over the last week or so. We have made a quick video and it may make a nice change for some of the people we know in Canada to see some green rather than snow. This tractor is great at dealing with lots of long grass.
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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I have not been very good at keeping this thread up to date. Rather than doing a massive catch-up post, I thought I would provide an update on the latest project which hopefully is of interest.
A previous owner did an engine swap on our 1962 Bolens Ride-a-matic and installed a Honda engine. When we first got the tractor the engine was just nailed in and no work had been done to mate it with the transmission of the tractor. We did that work a couple of years ago and took it to a show last year.
At the show we were using the tractor for ploughing in the working area. It was great fun and attracted a lot of interest however, the proximity of the exhaust to the fuel tank started to cause the fuel to boil.
We decided to make up a new exhaust and the aim was to make it look as original to the tractor as possible. My son Joseph, made a video of the project.
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May 12, 2019 12:48:17 GMT
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Great video, I love seeing the youngsters get involved and do stuff, the boy is going to be well handy to have around when you get a bit older!!
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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May 12, 2019 17:21:46 GMT
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Great video, I love seeing the youngsters get involved and do stuff, the boy is going to be well handy to have around when you get a bit older!!
Thanks. He has been getting involved for a couple of years now and it is great to how quickly he learns. These days, I often get shoved out of the way so he can do it properly
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Last Edit: May 12, 2019 17:23:17 GMT by Iainr
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May 12, 2019 20:52:44 GMT
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Hi, He has a good delivery style on the video with no umming and erring, obviously scripted but keeping it tight with no hyperbole. I wish the same could be said for some other Youtubers. Well done to him.
Colin
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Really enjoyed the videos. Just wish my old man had gone for tractors. Instead, I walked hundreds of miles behind a Suffolk Punch!
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simes
Part of things
Posts: 734
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May 13, 2019 18:16:01 GMT
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Really enjoyed the videos. Just wish my old man had gone for tractors. Instead, I walked hundreds of miles behind a Suffolk Punch! I remember being dragged behind one as an inquisitive child. 38 years later that mower still exists but the favoured option is a sit on.
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Simes
205Mi16 - 262 cams, Jenvey Throttle Bodies, Emerald managment blah blah...... E91 320D MSport Honda NC30 Vespa 300GTS
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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May 14, 2019 12:56:32 GMT
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Hi, He has a good delivery style on the video with no umming and erring, obviously scripted but keeping it tight with no hyperbole. I wish the same could be said for some other Youtubers. Well done to him. Colin
Thanks and a very interesting observation. I had not thought about scripting before, his preference is to do short clips and presumably between clips he is rehearsing the next in his head
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Iainr
Part of things
Posts: 34
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May 14, 2019 13:02:37 GMT
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Really enjoyed the videos. Just wish my old man had gone for tractors. Instead, I walked hundreds of miles behind a Suffolk Punch! I remember being dragged behind one as an inquisitive child. 38 years later that mower still exists but the favoured option is a sit on.
Thanks. I seem to recall spending many of my early years walking behind a Suffolk Punch too. My dad was not daft, he knew that buying something with an engine would result in me making it my job to cut the grass.
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