What have you done to your tractor today?

I got some of this stuff....

Ariens YT11 wrote:

I think I killed my Big block single on my Poulan.  

I got my motor going, took some oil out of it and it runs beautiful, only thing is now it has a slight vibration.
And for everyone I talked to, I lied, there was no gas in the oil like I thought it was OVER FILLED!!!

Better overfilled than underfilled!

I installed my voltmeter so I can see my new alternator doing it's thing.... Obviously the motor isn't running in this pic, but it charges between 13 and 15 volts. The 15v at higher RPMs makes me a little worried though. Any thoughts on that?

Probably won't hurt anything as long as its not constantly sustained.

Higher voltage for long enough can overheat and damage a battery. My bus cooked its battery because I drove it from TN to OH and did not realize it was charging at 18+v the whole way.

I have a voltmeter on MULE. Since my charging system is unregulated, and I have my governor tweaked up to about 4000, I wanted to keep an eye on things. When it gets north of 15v, I just switch on my auxiliary lights to bleed off the extra charge.

I thought about it some more... lol. Got all kinds of ideas for it...  

Replaced my starter...
the windings were totally burnt out on it.  Tore it down for parts, disassembled the new one, and lubed the bushings and put the proper top on it.  Reinstalled and my motor cranks again.  Just need to put the new battery I bought in it.

Rebuilt my cup holder...
the rubber flaps I put in to hold the beverage in place had broken off.  I replaced them with a strainer/splash shield from a garbage disposal.   The splash shield came with the replacement disposal I bought for my rental house, and the one that was already there was still good. Works awesome!

Splash guard - pre-install



Nice tight fit...

Best idea award right there!      

Beer good...

Im digging the cup holder!

And half of a axle in the backround too.

That's MoWheeler's carnage...

i looked at mine today, frowned and said, just hold on until jan 1st lol

I took my kids for a little redneck sleigh ride..
http://illiweb.com/fa/pbucket.gif

i broke mine. for good. now i HAVE to fix it. there is only so much PB blaster and WD40 can do. blew out the bearings on my driveshaft, now the shaft moves about an inch all directions

I did the same thing TroyBilt Pony did lol looked at it and said im going to wait lol

I installed an extra set of utility lights in front.  (Inspired by Mr. Modified's Simplicity)    



Installed a backup light. (You can also see where I relocated the shifter to).



Now my dash panel looks like NASA.     



Then I started on the free plow I got.  Now I'm starting to see why it was free.  Lots of small problems to be fixed before installation...

Well today i have done nothing on my tractor because there is snow on the ground and are pipes are frozen. yipee   

Craftsman1998 wrote:

Well today i have done nothing on my tractor because there is snow on the ground.

I'll second that!

^^^^^^ LOL

Last night I scored some better front tires. They're PRO-TRACK RADIALS 20x7x8. Hopefully they will work on the machine and not raise the front end too much.


Can you see how I bent the right front spindle a little bit? That's from riding in the snow and not being able to steer. Those turf tires suck!

Can't wait to mount these and be able to steer!

those tires look awesome! Im a tire junkie lol definitely post up some pics when you get em on! btw did you get your 12 hp on?

those tires are same thing as Duro thrashers. thats what i have on my fronts on the quad. work great in dirt, OK in sand, decent in snow, decent in mud, but if you wanna turn on ice forget it... sometimes i'll have to lean foreward in deep snow so they dig. good tires though, had them for a year, rode it hard. very little wear showing

Yeah, I got the 12 on.  That motor is so nice!  It lugs down so low, pulls right off of idle and rips up into a healthy mid range.  I can't thank Doc enough for the tips and inspiration to build it.  

The turf tires didn't steer on anything but hard packed dirt and pavement.  Total junk.

These new tires should get me going in the right direction.  I also like them because they have grooves going the long way around that I can install motorcycle chains on for ice riding if needed.  Should corner like it's on rails!

Here's what I'm talking about, minus the screws...

i put my crafsman back together and used the deck pulley as a drive pulley, the belt was loose so i bent the belt retainers to tighten it up, put my 8 HP off my murray on it, i can put it in 6th and just barely idle around, 'cept when im pulling somethin it smoke like crazy.

t-dub, those tires look like the ones on my go-cart:

Cool kart! Looks like a close match, but not exact. They must give great steering control though huh...

The guy who sold me mine said they were from a small quad. I haven't put them on yet because I think it will be a bigger project than expected. They're going to be taller for sure, so I'm going to want to modify my spindles shorter to level it out. Also I've got that bent spindle that will be corrected when I drop the front end, so yeah... waiting on a good time to start.