What are you currently working on??
- Thread starter backwoods
- Start date
12.2 volts at any RPM. Battery didn't lose any charge while I was using the tractor today at least. 12.4 before and after with the engine shut off.
DAC
Wrong.
After work this afternoon I got the MF12G out of it's space and lubed the zirks, checked air pressure and checked oil and gas. Still full from the last mow in 2021 and the engine only had 2 mows on the oil change. Oil still looked new.
This is why I bought that grease gun coupler.
It really worked well but it grips the zirk quite hard. That's good, but I had to use a pair of channel locks to pull it off one of the zirks. Didn't even leave any residual grease to wipe off of the zirk! I know it pumped well because I got grease out of the vents.
Had to lift it to get at 3 zirks and that made it nice to inspect the underside of the deck and blade condition.
Sat it back down and cranked the 13 hp Predator and it fired up so fast it surprised me! Bet it didn't crank 3 revolutions and it was running. This engine swap is 7 years old now.
Too tired after being at the day job to start mowing this evening. It looks like the weather is going to hold out for a decent "Mowing Monday"---LOL! Have to run some errands in town in the morning though.
DAC
This is why I bought that grease gun coupler.
It really worked well but it grips the zirk quite hard. That's good, but I had to use a pair of channel locks to pull it off one of the zirks. Didn't even leave any residual grease to wipe off of the zirk! I know it pumped well because I got grease out of the vents.
Had to lift it to get at 3 zirks and that made it nice to inspect the underside of the deck and blade condition.
Sat it back down and cranked the 13 hp Predator and it fired up so fast it surprised me! Bet it didn't crank 3 revolutions and it was running. This engine swap is 7 years old now.
Too tired after being at the day job to start mowing this evening. It looks like the weather is going to hold out for a decent "Mowing Monday"---LOL! Have to run some errands in town in the morning though.
DAC
The only thing I worked on today was emptying a 4 bottles. First time I’ve done that in 10 months. Felt pretty good, next year I’ll have a few more!
There’s quite a few grease nipples on a MF 12. I think could be around 10 or more just on the tractor. MF 14/16 only 4 or 5 on the tractor.
Mowing Monday stories. Yippie. Pictures too. Hehe.
Noel
Been working on a chipper shredder. Not a bad looking unit but missing the carb. Tecumseh 5 hp with the chipper disk mounted on the crank. Wondered around the place until I spotted a push mower with a Briggs that the carb looked appropriate. Since it came with a bent crank I wasn't about to fix it. So I cleaned up the Briggs carb made an adapter and mounted it. Fired it up and it seemed to run fine. Hand controlling the butterfly it revved up, Idled down. Now to hook up the governor. I fired it up and attempted to find which way governor arm moved. I could feel no effect on the arm in either direction so I pulled it all apart and found the plastic governor gear stripped. At that point I just about wrote it off and went back in the house. Then my stubborn kicked in and I went back out to the junk/parts pile. Found the old DR Trimmer that smoked so bad you couldn't breath in 50 feet when it was running. That was a Tecumseh vertical shaft. So I pull that engine and strip it apart. Found the governor to be very similar, Same size and shape with mostly cosmetic differences. Big difference is The one with the broken gear has a boss on the shaft that prevents gear removal. Evidently the gear is placed on the shaft then the shaft is pressed into a blind hole. The other one has all the same pieces on the shaft but held on with E clips.
So now to the interesting part. I wish I had taken pictures. I have to get the two shafts out and must save one shaft and one case. I start with the one where the shaft is sacrificial. I grab the shaft with vice grips and twist. That shaft is truly destroyed now and hasn't moved at all. How to remove the two shafts? And save one of them? The only way I can figure is to drill out the back side of the blind holes from the back side and then use a drift to push the shafts out. So now comes the challenge. How to locate the shaft from the back side of the case when nothing is flat, smooth, square, or straight. I finally come up with a plan. I clamp a 2x4 block of wood in the drill press vice.
find a drill bit the same size as the shaft and drill the 2x4. then without moving any thing I slide the first case piece in until I can press the shaft into the 2x4. This holds the shaft in direct line with the center of rotation of the drill press so I can drill out the back side of the hole with reasonable accuracy. I was then able to use a drift to push the shaft out. Worked slick. Repeated the process for the other shaft then pushed the replacement shaft into the case with the vice. The engine is all back together now but I haven't reassembled enough of the rest of the machine to try it. If I was doing this stuff to make money I would starve to death.
Don
So now to the interesting part. I wish I had taken pictures. I have to get the two shafts out and must save one shaft and one case. I start with the one where the shaft is sacrificial. I grab the shaft with vice grips and twist. That shaft is truly destroyed now and hasn't moved at all. How to remove the two shafts? And save one of them? The only way I can figure is to drill out the back side of the blind holes from the back side and then use a drift to push the shafts out. So now comes the challenge. How to locate the shaft from the back side of the case when nothing is flat, smooth, square, or straight. I finally come up with a plan. I clamp a 2x4 block of wood in the drill press vice.
find a drill bit the same size as the shaft and drill the 2x4. then without moving any thing I slide the first case piece in until I can press the shaft into the 2x4. This holds the shaft in direct line with the center of rotation of the drill press so I can drill out the back side of the hole with reasonable accuracy. I was then able to use a drift to push the shaft out. Worked slick. Repeated the process for the other shaft then pushed the replacement shaft into the case with the vice. The engine is all back together now but I haven't reassembled enough of the rest of the machine to try it. If I was doing this stuff to make money I would starve to death.
Don
On the road again toady. VA appointment in Omaha. Should have cancelled. Hour and 20 m,in drive to have a nice young Dr. say can you do this & this & this & this? ? Does it hurt when I do this?? Nope to all. Good to go with no restrictions. Took all of 10 min to do an examine on a hand I broke 2 months ago. Cut across country on rock road. got a mile and quarter from home and low tire showed up on the council. Got home and 20 min later it was flat. Small cut right where the tread meats the sidewall. Cheap Cooper tires anyway. No wonder they "gave" them to me at cost when we bought the van. Don't get much of a tire for $70 these days.
Back at it today. put it all back together. Made a new longer linkage to go between the governor lever and the butterfly. Fired it up and it runs just like a real one. Shredded several bushels of pine cones with no problems. A little bit of grass plugs it up instantly. Only ran a couple sticks through and it handled those ok.
Don
Only 5 on this tractor, not including the ones I installed on the deck spindles. One of these days I'll put zirks in the steering spindles too. So far they are still nice and tight.
DAC
That’s strange Doug. No nipples on the steering spindles. Was none on the MF 14. So I put them in. MF 16 doesn’t have them either. We will put them in at some point.
Noel
I did add them to the MF1450 when I had the steering spindles out to straighten and weld on them. MF8E already had them.
DAC
Put new headlights in the Ranger this morning. Had them for 3 years but just never out them in. Made a huge difference in looks. I bet I can actually see at night now! The old ones were so yellowed it wasn’t funny.
Also gave its first bath in at least 4 years. She shined up ok. Paint is getting bad. Clear coat gone
figured since I’m driving it pretty much every day again I might as well make her look presentable. It’s so unbearably slow. I am going to make a sticker for the back window that says something like “I have 100hp. I assure you I’m trying”
Also gave its first bath in at least 4 years. She shined up ok. Paint is getting bad. Clear coat gone
figured since I’m driving it pretty much every day again I might as well make her look presentable. It’s so unbearably slow. I am going to make a sticker for the back window that says something like “I have 100hp. I assure you I’m trying”
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Put a battery in the Agco Allis mower and fired it up first time this year... gonna give it the spring service. Thinkin' I might put this one up for sale and start putting together another one in Deutz Allis colors and a 42" deck since I dont really need a big mower now.
Cut my grass with the Cub LT 1050 and some weed whacking. I knew rain was coming around 2:00 so once I got done cutting the grass around noon I had to hurry to get the weed whacking done. Got it all done then the rains started just as I was headed back to the house.