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16

'round the pot-bellied stove / 8000 Contest!

« on: December 02, 2009, 11:37:13 AM »

How about a contest?!

Person guessing the  closest date we reach the 8000 member mark.

I'll donate a 6 month subscription to Western Antique Iron Trader!

To start with you can only make one guess.  I'm not sure what the rules should be but was thinking that maybe a person could post another guess once the date of there last guess had past.

Let me know what you think the rules should be, but for the time being only one guess per person.

George

Merry Christmas

17

'round the pot-bellied stove / Screw up resolved!

« on: October 14, 2009, 01:42:22 PM »

Last Sunday I finally got around to trying to put back together a Howard 3pt tiller that I took apart a couple years ago.

One of the problems of letting a project set around too long is forgetting the correct sequence to reassemble parts

I had a large ball bearing that needed to be replaced.  The old bearing had disintegrated and the bearing race had to be cut off with a torch.

I put the new bearing on the shaft and it didn't go on easy, but after putting the washer and nut on the shaft end was able to force the bearing on the shaft.

Shortly after getting the bearing on, I had my oops moment  I realized that another piece was supposed to go on the shaft before the bearing and now I had to get that bearing off again :eek:

Using a pulley puller didn't work as it was on too tight and I didn't want to risk ruining a $100 bearing.

Tried the old cold chisel trick of using the taper as a wedge behind the bearing to try to push it back off the shaft.  That wasn't working as the chisel would keep sliding out of position.

Finally I decided to make a tool out of some plate steel with a taper wedge shape with a U slot so it would fit over the shaft behind the bearing.

My first attempt didn't work as the tool I made was too small and the two tapers would spread apart when I tried to drive it down behind the bearing.

Second attempt I machined another U shapped wedge but made it larger and less likely to have the legs spread.

It worked

Got the bearing off!!!

After getting it off I chucked up the shaft in my lathe and cleaned up the shaft so it no longer takes so much effort to get the bearing on/off the shaft.

Hopefully, the rest of the reassembly of the tiller will go without more problems.

18

SEL General Stationary Engine Discussion Forum / Ready for winter

« on: October 07, 2009, 12:51:41 PM »

I've had my 18hp screen cooled Stover sitting outside all summer.
Decided this past weekend to move it under cover under a lean-to on one side of the barn.  The advantage of that is it is out of the weather but still in a place I can start it if I want to run it.

Last night I ran it a bit, then drained the water.  So it should be good for the winter.  The temps were getting down towards the lower 30's lately and I didn't want to forget about the water in the cooling system and end up with a cracked cylinder or head.

I've been pretty lucky over the years as I don't think I've ever had anything crack due to freezing temps.  Been pretty good about draining plain water out of things or keeping antifreeze in the ones I use during the winter.

19

'round the pot-bellied stove / Woodland CA swap meet

« on: October 05, 2009, 11:57:31 AM »

Just curious if anyone on this forum is going to the Woodland California swapmeet the end of this month?

Seems that Dave and I are the only posting members in the west, with Dave being in Nevada and I'm in Oregon.

Hint:  This would be a good time for a westcoast lurker to post a response

(of course that's assuming there are any wescoast lurkers here :rolleyes:)

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SEL General Stationary Engine Discussion Forum / A couple magnetos

« on: September 30, 2009, 05:50:26 PM »

This past weekend I picked up a couple magnetos

First one I got was a big Webster Tri-polar for my 18hp Stover.  So I'm one step closer to getting my Stover back to an ignitor fired engine rather than running off a buzz coil as it currently does.

While getting the Webster I noticed the seller also had a nice Bosch high tension flipper magneto.  Very much like the Bosch mags on my Czech engines.  We agreed upon a price for the Bosch so now I have a spare working flipper magneto.

Was happy to get both magnetos.

21

'round the pot-bellied stove / Show plaques

« on: August 07, 2009, 01:52:42 PM »

A lot of shows give exhibitors something to remember the show by.

Could be just a show button, but many give other things.  I've gotten ribbons, refrigerator magnets with engine/tractor photos, aluminum plaques, bass plaques, and even bronze castings.

The european shows are great for giving real nice bronze castings and plaques to exhibitors.

The two nicest ones I've gotten in the States are from the Edgeta National show in 2008 and the Edgeta NW Regional show in 2009.  I'll post pictures of them later.

Maybe some of you could post pictures of some the nicer ones you've received.

22

'round the pot-bellied stove / Branch 15 Swap Meet end of this month

« on: June 18, 2009, 12:21:14 PM »

Just wondering if anyone here is going to the Branch 15 swap meet at Brooks Oregon the last weekend this month.

It is the largest engine/tractor/old iron swap meet in the western states.

I'm planning on taking a trailer with some engines to sell plus maybe the neighbor's JD 110.

Look for the W.A.I.T. banner.

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SEL General Stationary Engine Discussion Forum / Back from EHOWT09

« on: June 12, 2009, 10:23:56 AM »

Got back this week from my European Hell On Wheels Tour 2009.  I was one of the tour guides and besides the Nuenen engine show, we also visited over 20 engine collections.

One of the highlights was getting into the Deutz factory engine collection.  Actually got to see the very first Otto engine run!  Also got to see Otto's first 4 cycle engine although they don't run it.

Had great weather during the trip.

George

24

ATIS General Tractor Discussion / Case tractors with 3-71 GMC engines

« on: April 28, 2009, 11:12:30 AM »

A friend of mine told me that a local farm estate must be getting ready for an auction as they are pulling all the old tractors and equipment out of the brush.
I guess there are several of the L or LA Case tractors with the 3-71 GMC conversion.

Just wondering during what years were these conversions made?  Who did the conversions?  Was it a business making the conversions or were farmers doing their own conversions?

I've never seen one in person and really don't know much about them other than they exist.

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'round the pot-bellied stove / First "Senior Member"

« on: April 02, 2009, 06:57:24 PM »

Just noticed that I'm now a Senior Member.

Think I got that honor by posting my 100th message.  Sure wish we had more senior members, or for that matter even regular members.

I'd be thrilled for someone to top my message count.  I'm leery of starting new threads as I don't want to get too far ahead of the rest of the pack.  On other forums I've never thought highly of people that thought they needed to post all the time and comment on every posting.  So I'm trying hard not to be one of them.

Not sure what can be done to get more than the handful of people that post to these forums.

Spencer pretty much seems to ignore us as he hasn't shown any activity since January.

26

SEL General Stationary Engine Discussion Forum / Ingeco sideshaft

« on: March 31, 2009, 03:44:40 PM »

This past Sunday I started oiling up the Ingeco.  It hasn't run in many many years and although it wasn't stuck, doesn't turn over very easy.

The weather turned nasty and I had to put the tarp back over the engine as it is still sitting outside on my trailer.  No room in the barn at the moment for the Ingeco until I do some rearranging.  Since it is 4k+ lbs and on skids it needs to be put where I want to keep it as I don't have any easy way of moving it.  Will be using pipes as rollers to move it once I get it in the barn.

Would love to have a forklift big enough to handle it, but Kathryn would probably prefer I didn't buy a forklift.  Actually, she probably would prefer I didn't buy big engines I have no way of moving;)

The way the Ingeco is at the moment, unless it fires right off after priming it, I'm not sure how long I can turn those big flywheels over by itself.  Hopefully once everything is is well lubricated it will turn over easier.  This engine is a 12hp and several years ago I stored a 15hp version of the same engine for another collector and successfully started that one by myself several times.

Of course back then I was also storing a forklift for another buddy so could move around the big stuff without a problem.

ps... hope someone else will start a thread.  I'd rather not be at the top of the number of postings list all the time:o

27

SEL General Stationary Engine Discussion Forum / Trip to Cottonwood AZ

« on: March 17, 2009, 11:07:37 AM »

I leave early in the morning to drive the 1500 miles to Arizona.  Will visit a couple of collectors in Idaho, then drive down through Nevada.  Will pick up a 12hp Ingeco sideshaft and 8hp Olds on Friday morning, then go to the Cottonwood show.  On Sunday we'll head home with the two engines.

Ought to be a fun trip!

28

ATIS General Tractor Discussion / Cast iron toy tractors

« on: March 04, 2009, 06:12:30 PM »

Just wondering if any of you collect the old cast iron toy tractors.

Ones made by Arcade, Hubley, AC Williams, Dent, etc.

I've collected toy Fordson tractors for many years along with a few others like Avery, McCormick Deering, and Huber.

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ATIS General Tractor Discussion / Still hand cranking tractors

« on: February 13, 2009, 12:59:25 PM »

In another posting there is some talk about what is considered to be an old or early tractor.  Someone mentioned whether it had a battery or not.

This got me to thinking about hand cranked vs starter equipped tractors.  I've got a couple tractors that are both hand cranked or can be started with a battery and starter.

My Farmall A has both, but I've probably only started it a couple times with the starter and am sure the battery has been dead for many years now.  It starts so easy with the hand crank that I don't see any need to replace the battery and get the electrical system working.

My Oliver 99 also has both, but I use the starter on it. I even took the hand crank off the front as I've never tried to hand start it and really don't want to try it.  With the starter cranking it needs, I know I'd be tired if I was doing it by hand.  Of course I guess if everything was well tuned and in good shape it should start by hand without a lot of cranking.

So do you still use hand cranked tractors around your place?  If your tractor has both starting methods, which one do you use?

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SEL General Stationary Engine Discussion Forum / Active engine collectors

« on: February 05, 2009, 05:57:03 PM »

Just wondering how many engine collectors are viewing this forum.

I know that Dave Ernst and I look at it, but I haven't noticed anyone else in a long long time.