TireSmoke.org

Now that you've got this 420 working so well, perhaps a paint job is in order??? It
could make this classic PERFECT!

GM

Paint it and ruin the "patina"??
Yeah, paint would top it off for sure, but I'm going to put that off for a while. Winter is coming and with it comes a lot of time spent on yard work.
Maybe in the spring. We will see.
There is one thing that has caught my eye. To bad it's in Linville, Va and shippng is half the cost of the rollbar.

I'm thinking that roll bar will still be there the next time you're in VA. Even if it's in five years...

-BP

I was thinking the same thing, BP. And... it's very convenient to my route to Carlisle.

I was somewhat premature when I annouced that I had solved Gladys' starting problem. The Houdini spray worked for about 24 hours and then it began to fail again. Upon closer inspection I determined that the connectors on the neutral switch were loose. The rivets, after 25 years of use, had loosened. looking for another quick solution, I borrowed some conducting glue from Maverick and applied it to the rivets using a long stick to reach the switch. After drying for 24 hours, I tried it again. This time I could see smoke coming from the switch. The handwriting was on the wall, so today, using techniques developed by arthroscopic surgeons, I went about removing the switch from the recesses of the control panel. About 2 hours later, I had it out. I replaced it with the PTO switch I discovered which had been jumpered out of the circuit by a previous mechanic. It was the same switch, but in much better condition. To make sure, I took it apart. It was beautifully "old school" and had individual components so I was able to clean it up and lube it and test it. Now I was sure I had a good switch. It took me about another 2 hours to get it all back together and working.

I promised Fred a video, so I jerry-rigged a Go-Pro type setup. It looks like this: And here's the video:
https://youtu.be/cSzVIshvN-4

We've seen helmet cams, dash cams, and now boob cams!! Well done!!

Marvelous! Love the articulate steering!!

GM

Nothing but hydraulic lines between the front and back trans-axles. I'm beginning to appreciate hydraulics.

Pretty damn cool. Now your ready for the snow.

I decided to disassemble the bad neutral switch to see what it looks like inside. I was amazed to find that it was in quite good shape. I cleaned it up, tapped the rivets to tighten the connectors and lubed it. Then I checked it with a meter and it was working as good as new. I decided to reinstall it in the PTO circuit and remove the jumpers that had been added. It works like a charm. Here is what a great, "old school", rebuild-able, switch looks like inside.

With ol' Gladys working like she should, I went out to use her to push great piles of leaves into the woods. It's much easier than raking or blowing them.
All went well until I was ready to park her for the night. I turned the key....and nothing!! OK, here we go again. She was dead on my driveway and I had to hot wire the ignition to get her moved. Since I know the starting circuit quite well now, it didn't take long to find the problem. One of the slide-on connectors to the PTO safety switch had slid off. Apparently I hadn't crimped them enough when reinstalling the switch. It didn't take long to understand why this switch was jumpered out of the circuit when I got the tractor. I quickly made up a new jumper, removed the switch and called it a day. Hopefully no more shoes will drop as the days get colder. All looks good again.