The weeds have been a problem, especially in the Kingsland area. I have gone up numerous times to Kingsland this year with a push weedwhacker and cut weeds, so we have made some progress, particularly at various rail-highway grade crossings (crossings are high priority because we don't want to get hit by any vehicles going over the tracks). But weedwhacking is very labor intensive and particularly difficult during the hot Texas summer. Heading out of Kingsland toward Scobey spur the weeds have grown so tall that we decided that for our Oct. 30 NARCOA motorcar excursion we would just turn around at the first crossing east of Lake LBJ rather than try to go through them. That means it is time to do something about them.
Rather than try to weedwhack a mile or more of track that is causing the trouble, I have decided to try to fabricate a mower on a motorcar trailer to be pulled by my Woodings CBI. The CBI has a variable transmission, enabling the engine to go as slowly as necessary to accomplish a good mowing. My M-199AA is really unhappy and heats up fast at speeds less than 15 mph, so it just isn't the right motorcar for the job.
I had bought and renovated a Bolens 1455 garden tractor with a front-end-loader and mower deck, planning to use it to mow along the ROW. I outfitted it with heavy-duty 10-ply skidsteer tires so railroad spikes would not hole them right away. And I have just gotten the mower deck back from the fellow welding reinforcement plates on it.
I realized it would be a good idea to have a parts tractor so I went down to Bay City, TX, after seeing a tractor that looked just like my 1455 on craigslist.org. Turned out to be a Bolens 1250, but that was made contemporaneously with the 1455 so most of the parts are identical. It was in terrible shape, lots of rust, but the engine isn't frozen.
Shortly after getting the parts tractor, I realized that I could take the wheels and the hydrostatic transaxle off it and mount it on the frame of a motorcar trailer, with the deck hanging down in the middle. If the crossmembers were high enough, the deck would clear the rails by 3-4 inches. That would cut the grass to a level that would allow motorcars to get through OK and still leave enough of the blades for them to absorb herbicide from a following motorcar with a sprayer. Once the weeds have been sprayed, that will decrease the problem dramatically. After two years of regular spraying, we may not have much of a problem as long as we keep it up once or twice a year.
I have done the following to the 1250 tractor so far:
1) Cleaned dirt and grease off all parts of it.
2) Changed the oil in the Wisconsin S-12D engine.
3) Added ATF fluid to the transaxle.
4) Repaired one of the rear tires and added an inner tube to allow it to be towed if necessary;
5) Bought and installed an ignition coil with built-in drop resistor;
6) Installed new spark plug;
7) Fabricated a new mechanism to operate the PTO control rod and unfroze the PTO assembly;
8) Unfroze the gear shift lever;
9) Took a stab at rewiring, using the 1250 schematic, but found two interlock switches not on the
schematic;
10) lubricated every zerk on the machine;
11) installed new fuel hose leading to carb; and
12) lubricated points with carb cleaner.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to connect the carb choke cable to the carb and I suspect the carb is going to need a complete rebuild anyway. Plus the rewiring has not resulted in my even getting spark, so I have to get my VOM out there and check to see those interlock switches are in the closed position.
I have a small-engine guy who did most of the renovation of the 1455 so whenever he has free time he comes over to help out. We will see when he can make it over to take the carb off and rebuild it.
One thing I now know is that renovating old tractors costs lots of time and money, but it gives me a feeling of satisfaction to bring some old piece of equipment back to useful life.
I should mention the mower deck is getting work done as well. My small-engine guy is working on the spindles. I have wire-wheeled all the parts that came off it and primed and painted them. If I can get my sandblaster going (some sort of clog in it), will sandblast the deck and then reassemble it with brand new blades. The deck will be used either on the 1455 FEL tractor or on the 1250 railcar mower, depending on what job needs to be done.
Just went over to Katy, TX, yesterday to pick up a Fairmont motorcar trailer on which to mount the 1250 and deck. Mike Barnette, a fellow RPI member, generously donated the trailer for this project after I sent out an appeal to the RPI membership looking for one to buy. I found one up in Canada for 450 dols but shipping was going to be 700 dols. So needless to say, a donation located in Houston was much less expensive. I told the wife that freed up a large amount of money to spend on RPI. I don't know why she didn't seem impressed, it seems so similar to all the savings she has found while shopping.
The trailer is aluminum and the two lengthwise pieces that connect to the axles are both bent. They are too short anyway, so I plan to buy new C-channel replace them and use as cross-members to increase the height for the platform to mount the tractor.
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