Passing the time during COVID-19 pics

[ss427copo]

Well, we all have taken a pause from what was “normal”. I’ve put all my spray paint cans in alphabetical order, separated my rags from the microfiber cloths, polished the aluminum workbench, straightened all the sockets they lay on their sides from closing the drawers, power washed the lawn tractor and pulled out my 1970ish M&H/Cragars from black, 55gal. storage bags to polish them too. (See the cob webs?) Still ‘holding’ the same air pressure, too.
Thank GOD my wife hasn’t started on house chores.....BE SAFE from Jersey Jeff, I am.

Now post a pic of what you’ve been up too!

[A12pilot]

Sweet! Love the name on the car! Where you at in SJ? Born and raised in Pennsauken, cruised the Marlton 8 theaters Saturday nights, raced at Atco on Friday nights, Flight instructed at Cross Keys airport and frequented South Jersey Regional and Flying W......:biggthumpup: Sniff...good times.....

Cheers
Dave

[MYSTERYCHEVELLE]

Working..... trust me you don’t want to see the pics ��

[Charley Lillard]

I'm also working on a few things......

[ss427copo]

Sweet! Love the name on the car! Where you at in SJ? Born and raised in Pennsauken, cruised the Marlton 8 theaters Saturday nights, raced at Atco on Friday nights, Flight instructed at Cross Keys airport and frequented South Jersey Regional and Flying W......:biggthumpup: Sniff...good times.....

Cheers
Dave

I’m 63 and have been in the same circle. In Mount Laurel since 76. Raced SuperComp. Probably know most people that you knew and Ray, at red lion airport has been my fuel supplier for decades. Joe Ithier is a good friend of mine plus many others. Small world, huh?

[A12pilot]

Red Lion? Wow...that brings back some good memories. Definitely a small world! Oh, and the wheels look great too!:biggthumpup:

Cheers
Dave

[L78M22Rag]

Love the vintage paint scheme on the Camaro!

We’ve dug out some old classic movies to watch with our teenage kids. Recently we watched Castaway because it fit the isolation theme, and couple days later we discovered “Wilson” out on our walk! Sure made this isolation seem surreal!

[32KZ]

Beautiful view! My son was out that way Fall on buisness, did some hiking and climbing, loved it.Forgot exactly where.

[ss427copo]

Love the vintage paint scheme on the Camaro!

We’ve dug out some old classic movies to watch with our teenage kids. Recently we watched Castaway because it fit the isolation theme, and couple days later we discovered “Wilson” out on our walk! Sure made this isolation seem surreal!

Mmmmmm, wonder if my VCR still works? Got loads of unlabeled, bits and pieces. Thanks for the thought....STAY SAFE. I’m 90 minutes south of New York and 1/2 hour north of Philly. NJ is in deep shut down......

[JoeC]

Some parts of the beach here are in lock down but we can still ride to the beach so thought I can use a cooler Beach Cruiser

It's an original 1956 Schwinn Corvette frame with original paint. I built it up with parts of a 1980s Schwinn mountain bike and a set of old chrome BMX bars .
Used an old 67 Camaro Hurst stick with a vintage Hurst ball and set it up as a 6 speed.

[steasley]

New door skin , front bumper and paint grill

[steasley]

project complete

[RPOLS3]

Rainy Saturday here last weekend....most of the "to-do" list is now done............good time to watch some great car movies.


Yes that is a VHS tape and yes I have a machine that plays it and yes it still works well.


No I don't know how to fix the pictures so they are upright...sorry.

[cook_dw]

:biggthumpup:

[RPOLS3]

Thanks DW!

[Crush]

project complete

That is a sharp car, I need to find one like that!

[m22mike]

Looks outstanding

[enio45]

just sayin

[Vortecpro]

I'm still plugging away on my Nova...this is pretty much what it looks like (save for hood hinges and hood latch):

http://i.imgur.com/0MGBkYIh.jpg (https://imgur.com/0MGBkYI)

I wasn't happy with the ride height. One spring had a bit too much arch so I removed it and had it re-arched. You can see a bit of the ARB I crafted for the car here too....Basically the rear suspension is based upon a set of heavily forward biased springs (like a Chrysler Super Stock spring) with double adjustable AFCO shocks and an ARB to control body roll.

While I was it, I took out the back shocks and changed the mounting from "upside down" to conventional. While an upside down arrangement saves a little bit of unsprung weight (certainly not critical for this car), it does position an external adjuster right next to the tire sidewall. And since I'm using a lot of backspace to get the tires tucked up under the car, the adjuster was super close. The fix was to press out the spherical bearings on the AFCO shocks and swap the orientation. Actually it was an easy job. RR'ing the spring took far longer. Here's the shock in the new position (note the adjuster is now easy to access and it's out of the way):

http://i.imgur.com/SlVsJRrh.jpg (https://imgur.com/SlVsJRr)

Here's how the back wheel and tire combination fits. I'm really happy with the way it sits....and I think I can actually get a larger tire in it (it currently has a P275 M&H Racemaster mounted, but it can easily take a 9.00X29.5-inch slick....this is a street car though...).

http://i.imgur.com/9GenimRh.jpg (https://imgur.com/9GenimR)

I also test fit the trans x-member. You can see the cool B&B Performance crossmember bolts here. I've used them since ....well...forever...L-O-L....By the way, I added a new S/S e-brake cable setup too:

http://i.imgur.com/qDHbsV6h.jpg (https://imgur.com/qDHbsV6)

I think I might have mentioned this before, but I had Steve Gregori plate the hood hinges, hood latch and hood catch. Steve tells me this was the last set he did before he sold the biz. They came out great! Not shown here is the new hood stud setup...I set the hood up so that it doesn't use bolts on the hood-to-hinge mounts. Instead, I used a set of ARP studs on the hood. It makes the hood install a whole bunch easier. Like the B&B bolts, I've done this for a long (Long!...L-O-L) time.

http://i.imgur.com/bOUlsAbh.jpg (https://imgur.com/bOUlsAb)
http://i.imgur.com/7vojjzch.jpg (https://imgur.com/7vojjzc)

I also did some extra detailing in the engine compartment. It's ready to go....(I'm saving up $$$ for a block and a few small engine parts). I think it came out great:

http://i.imgur.com/iO1SlWYh.jpg (https://imgur.com/iO1SlWY)
http://i.imgur.com/nSdjjB6h.jpg (https://imgur.com/nSdjjB6)
http://i.imgur.com/GAp0t60h.jpg (https://imgur.com/GAp0t60)

The interior is done too, but I might swap out the OER carpet for ACC. I suspect ACC fits better on the transmission tunnel (the OER stuff is too big):

http://i.imgur.com/sprRe7Ph.jpg (https://imgur.com/sprRe7P)

Whew!

Send that thing right over to my shop, I've got a nice line up of engines to test in it!

[L78_Nova]

L78 Nova
Lots to work on... motivation level... medium ?
inside is all now prepped for epoxy.... then paint the underside and firewall and make it roll again to bring home summer toys.


Plan to start a more detailed build thread soon.
Gary

[300deluxe]

WHO is wanting to be lined up at the GATES?

[72-SS-L48]

Only took 2 years to get this project done....

Here's the before & after.

[Xplantdad]

Nice!

[AnthonyS]

The 6 YO Boy and I are working on a Ferrari F1 model... it's a bit hard to hold his attention doing this in the garage when his bike is so close by... but I'm having fun...

[SuperNovaSS]

Great dad!

Jason

[AnthonyS]

When you have unlimited free time, these come together quickly...

That's him waving "hi".

[jbtech]

When you have unlimited free time, these come together quickly...

That's him waving "hi".


Nice!

[ss427copo]

Only took 2 years to get this project done....

Here's the before & after.

Got mine done too. Finished the walls and ceilings, added the storage cabinets with a full aluminum table top. Full diamond plate floor down and Not before having the tie-downs welded to the cross members for piece of mind and adding my patented, Pro Support to the floor. One front, one rear! They support the chassis, eliminating all bounce while towing. The car and trailer become dynamically “one load”

Race cars owners have bought the from me for years because they are ridged and work! See what former ND Editor, Dave Morgan said after using them.

My phone number is now (609) 922-6142.

[300deluxe]

I'm seeing depression in people that I have never seen in my life. Seems the reaction to the problem is 50 times worse than the problem.

[SMS]

Only took 2 years to get this project done....

Here's the before & after.



What do you keep under the trap door?

[72-SS-L48]

What do you keep under the trap door?

It's for storage/ a spare tire. We opted to up the size of our tires for a better ride and prefer to have them wall mounted incase we blow a flat and have a car loaded. So basically items that are not used often but we want to keep int he trailer.

[EZ Nova]

Nice you guys have the time to do this stuff. I'm still working and actually busier then normal. Even though sales are down somewhat to where we should be, we are now getting walk-in clients. BUT getting products and stuff is harder, so more running around for me and getting products and services done with house closing dates is harder. Actually worked 14+ hrs Monday. Longest day that I can remember.

Might have been nice having 4-8 weeks to get the cars better prep'ped for the track.....

John

[njsteve]

Lately, I've been working on this 1989 John Deere 185. I bought it used in 1990. Going strong for 31 years now. Whenever something breaks on it, I feel like Darrin McGavin in A Christmas Story: yelling and cursing but taking extreme pride that I won another battle with the ancient green monster.

I actually love this old tractor. Yesterday's problem was the battery light going on at idle...and then full time indicating it was not charging at all. I figured it was the original voltage regulator finally going bad. So I googled the problem and it was either a bad voltage regulator (around $100) or the fuse in the fuse holder is loose. You learn a lot from youtube videos! - I pulled out the 20 amp fuse, scuffed up the terminals and put it back in. Worked like a charm! Back to charging once again.

The week before, it was the main coiled spring that holds tension on the hydrostatic drive belt pulley, snapped off in the middle of the yard. After 31 years it wore through the 180 degree end and broke off clean. It took a week, but the new revised John Deere spring arrived and I installed it and back out into battle with the yard once again.

My kids all learned how to drive (and parallel park) on this tractor over the past 20 years. Though my daughter was notorious for breaking parts that the local JD dealer had never seen broken before. For the longest time I thought she was getting $$ kickbacks from them for the parts sales. One time she broke the center hub out of the old front rim. (replaced with the new shiny right front rim in the photo). The dealer had never seen that happen before and wondered what she ran into and how high of a speed she did it to cause it to be punched out like that. She shrugged her shoulders and said "I dunno". No one ever figured out what the heck she ran into.

The one thing I have always done is bought the proper John Deere part and not some aftermarket piece, so in 31 years of replacing broken parts (that broke from wearing out completely) I have never replaced the same part twice.

I have had to repeatedly remove and weld the main lifting arm that raises and lowers the deck, though. It is a bad design that puts all the hanging weight on a small 3/8" thick steel tab hanging at a bad angle of the bar. So every two years like clockwork, it would snap off and I'd have to go on ebay and buy another used lever. Last year I finally took the bar out and brought it to a local racecar chassis shop and had them properly gusset it and weld it up nicely. Haven't had a problem since (knock on wood), though I bought an extra used one just in case. See red arrows in photo for the bad design - breaking point..

And last year I sent to engine oil out for analysis and the lab. It has its original Kawasaki engine. The lab guys were amazed at the findings and told me that whatever I was doing, keep doing it!

And in the background is the 1954 Sears Craftsman tablesaw my friend gave me from his later father's woodshop. The wife and I used that a couple weeks ago to convert the obnoxious sliding panel doors in our front hall closet into hinged, opening doors. (It's the mini-She Shed that contains all her tools and stuff)

[67since67]

My late wife gave me a 185 for Father's Day in 1989, rolled it for 20 years. Other than oil, lube and batteries the only things I did to it were deck bearings and a set of belts.
Those Kawasaki motors are bulletproof and like most all Deere stuff they never die. My only complaints were it steered hard and wished it was a couple mph faster. Sold it to my BIL and he still uses it today.

[njsteve]

A fellow 185'er eh? Cool!

Yeah, my neighbor across the street always takes me by at the 15 yard distance from a standing start. (we've got adjacent, big yards). He's got a newer Deere and it's a zero-turn. No comparison. That thing is fast!

It takes me 40 minutes to do the backyard (lots of trees and obstacles) and about an hour and half to do the front. It's about 2-1/2 acres of grass to mow.

[Crush]

O boy I love talking grass, landscaping and all things tractors. Had a JD 200 series from the 80’s I think 36” deck. Felt like it took days to cut lawn so I moved up a few notches!! Good stuff

[67since67]

I enjoy running equipment almost as much as being in the shop.
I replaced the 185 with an X320 which was a smooth running refined mower.
When I built the new place in 2015 I scored major points with Jani by bringing home a this 1025R. She won't let me near it for mowing, and the Yanmar diesel uses less than half the fuel. I put more than 40 hours on it that first year doing all manor of loader and three point work.

[MosportGreen66]

I enjoy running equipment almost as much as being in the shop.
I replaced the 185 with an X320 which was a smooth running refined mower.
When I built the new place in 2015 I scored major points with Jani by bringing home a this 1025R. She won't let me near it for mowing, and the Yanmar diesel uses less than half the fuel. I put more than 40 hours on it that first year doing all manor of loader and three point work.

That tractor is lucky to be in your care Bill...

[njsteve]

Is that a photo when it was new? or do you wash and wax that tractor in your off hours? :-)

[njsteve]

You made with all jealous with that JD 1025R photo so last night I pulled the busted headlight pod out and fixed it.

It's a terrible design with the fragile plastic lens sticking out beyond the hood and just begging things to smash it. It's been long since discontinued from JD and you rarely see one used and in one piece on ebay. (That's where I got the spare one several years ago).

So I found my old spare busted original pod in the garage, cut a section of heavy clear plexiglass out of the sheet that I bought years ago to get a 6" square for CC'ing cylinder heads. I then used epoxy and clamped it together overnight. This morning I sanded the edges to match the outer perimeter and reinstalled it. Now I can happily night mow again.

[ss427copo]

Steve, you sound like me with my 24 yr old Craftsman. On my second deck. Fixed this, fixed that, then just ordered a new one last fall. Replaced the smoking engine with a used one 5 years ago. It took a shit! Went to PowerEquipmentDirect and bought a Briggs & Stratton Professional Series™ 540cc 19 Gross HP OHV. Just replaced the transaxle too. Duct tape here, epoxy there and even added a 12v headlight, horn and LED tail light.

I’m going to have it at my funeral service!
Jersey Jeff

[300deluxe]

Planned-Demic

[njsteve]

Steve, you sound like me with my 24 yr old Craftsman. On my second deck. Fixed this, fixed that, then just ordered a new one last fall. Replaced the smoking engine with a used one 5 years ago. It took a shit! Went to PowerEquipmentDirect and bought a Briggs & Stratton Professional Series™ 540cc 19 Gross HP OHV. Just replaced the transaxle too. Duct tape here, epoxy there and even added a 12v headlight, horn and LED tail light.

I’m going to have it at my funeral service!
Jersey Jeff

You got a horn and tail lights? Are you making beer runs when the wife is away????

(I'm jealous now)

[Verne_Frantz]

Steve,
Funny that I would run across this article. About 6 years ago I bought this 216 from the mid '80s. Single cylinder, old tech but I love the "variactor" Variable speed drive in any gear. This is right after I bought it before any cleaning or maintenance. Since then, new tires and rear wheels, several belts and fluid changes. It does the job very nicely.
I'm told by the tractor-pull guys that the Kohler 16hp is the favorite engine for that hobby.
Verne
166838

[njsteve]

Nice old tractor Verne!

Yesterday I decided to be nice and ordered some new rear tires for the old 185. Only I have come to learn that this series of tractors is cursed with a tendency to weld their rear rims to the axles after 31 years or so of use. I removed the snap ring, fully expecting the wheels to slide right off like the manual says...yeah right. This is the reason they went to bolt on wheels on the more recent tractors.

And of course there is no ledge or collar to attach a gear puller too. Most people try a torch on the back side of the wheel hub but that rarely works and damages the transaxle seals. Other method is drilling two holes in the rim face and using a harmonic balance puller with the bolts through those holes. That rarely works, too. And if you hammer too much on the rim face or axle you can pop the internal snap ring off inside the case, requiring the entire transaxle to be rebuilt. Another method is to weld a short collar onto the rim hub and then try to use a gear puller. Not very effective either. It seems the consensus from owners is disassembling the transaxle, pulling the axles, and then using a hydraulic press to press to axles out.

So my only choice is to see if my lawnmower guy can dismount and mount the new tires while they are still on the tractor.

Here's a photo of me doing my biblical Samson imitation while my wife Delilah laughs in the background. No, this didn't work either, and the Temple of John Deere is still on four wheels.

[Verne_Frantz]

Yikes! That can't be fun. My rear tires were filled with Calcium Chloride to make them heavy (for plowing, I guess). Of course, that stuff rusted the rims and the tires wouldn't hold air very long. I bought a set of mounted tires/wheels and the swap was easy. That was a couple years ago. Just last week I mounted new front tires. Each front wheel is held on by one snap ring (no keyway), just two roller bearings pressed into each wheel.


I guess you've found the JD Tractor forum. Those guys have helped me with several maintenance issues. I'm still having a problem getting the parking brake to hold. If I need to get off it on a hill, I have to shut it off and put it in gear or it'll roll away.


Verne

[njsteve]

Whats the JD forum address?

I called the service dept at the local JD dealer this morning. He laughed and said they do this all the time. (replacing tires while the rim is permanently attached to the tractor). They charge $89 an hour and have to slice the old wheel off to do it.

He's booked up for two weeks though. So I aired the tires back up and Ill wait til the new tires show up in a day or two. Got them from walmart.com for $54 each. Cheapest place around for the specific Carlisle Turf Master 18x8.5-8 tires it uses. JD sells them for $75 each.

[Verne_Frantz]

This is the one I use.


http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/forum/6-john-deere-tractor-forum/


Verne

[Supergas990]

With the kids home from school, my senior and I are making the push to knock out his Corvette before he heads off to the Coast Guard Academy in July. Should have it on the road next week!

Great way to get quality time with him before he's on his own.

Blair

[69M22Z]

With the kids home from school, my senior and I are making the push to knock out his Corvette before he heads off to the Coast Guard Academy in July. Should have it on the road next week!

Great way to get quality time with him before he's on his own.

Blair

Congratulations to your son heading off to the Coast Guard Academy. That's awesome.