Picked up Mower Deck and Got Things Welded

Today I drove down to San Antonio to pick up my Bolens 18048 mower deck, the one from Portland, OR, which was shipped all the way from there.  On the way I stopped at Lloyds Automotive in Driftwood and Lloyd, an acquaintance of mine, welded the tab to the motorcar trailer towbar.  So now I will be able to finish the motorcar trailer.  Once I got home, I primed and painted the towbar.

Of course it had to be orange to match the trailer.  Here's the crated mower deck:

After leaving Driftwood, I headed down to Kyle to pick up IH-35.  Along the service road, however, I came upon another auto repair shop.  I stopped there and brought in a second piece that needed welding.  It was the bumper for the Bolens 1250 garden tractor I am converting into a railmower and it is a key piece to make the tractor fit onto the motorcar trailer.  One of the four mounting holes had been wallowed out.  So the large space needed to be filled with welding flux and then drilled with a drill press.  I left it with them while I went to R&L Carriers to pick up the mower deck.  It was ready when I got back but the hole they drilled was slightly but definitely off-center.  So the question was whether the bumper could be screwed back onto the 1250.  When I got back I took the bumper over to the 1250, brought in a jack to support the various pieces so the holes line up and, after several attempts, succeeded in getting all four bolts screwed in.  Here's the successful experiment.

I then took the bumper off and sprayed it with orange Rustoleum, next to the towbar so it would blend into the motorcar trailer framework.

Last but not least, I determined to fabricate a floor for the motorcar trailer so we can use it during work sessions.  I bought a 4x8 piece of 11/32 plywood, cut down to 4 feet x 83" to fit the trailer, and yesterday and today primed and sprayed it white.

Tomorrow morning I will be up by 7:00 am, walk the dogs, and then drill three 27/64" holes (to fit 3/8" bolts) on each side of the plywood slab.  Then I will fit the floor in to the trailer, tighten the bolts down, reassemble the towbars and, voila, we should have a functional trailer.  Before taking it to Llano this Saturday I will throw in two rubber mats from my conveyor belting RPI fundraiser.  They should be useful in showing how the belting can protect an ordinary wooden floor.  And the trailer will be very helpful to keep tools, fuel and other stuff while running down the track.