Back to the Railmower Project

Haven't done much on the railmower project for the last month or so, as you can tell by the gap in posts, mainly because I've been doing motorcar exhibitions and volunteering with Capital Metro (see my RPI OL Activities blog at http://rpiolactivities.blogspot.com).  Plus this continuing high heat sapped my enthusiasm for spending time outside.  Two weeks ago, however, I did bolt the bumper back on after painting it orange to match the motorcar trailer.

That actually was tougher than it appears.  I had to line the four bolts up with two tapped holes each and those bolts did not want to go in.  Had to get a jack to try to hold the two different pieces of frame in just the right aspect for the bolt to go through the bumper and through each of them.  Took about an hour, par for the course for me.

On Saturday, I decided to do a little bit each morning while it was still cool.  So Saturday morning I got out my gearpuller and pulled the drive sheave off.  It had been put on backwards (again, par for the course; if it's possible to do it a wrong way, I will find the wrong way and do it).  Then this morning I remounted it, using a hammer and a block of wood.  After getting it on, I hammered in the square key.  Finally, I tightened the screws down (one tightens down onto the square key) to hold it in place.  In the process of aligning the drive sheave with the PTO clutch, I had to use the gearpuller to pull it back out a little.  Unfortunately I placed the gearpuller blades on the front ridge instead of all the way behind the back of the sheave.  Of course, the ridge broke off, leaving an open area.  Won't render it unusable, but chalk up another mistake to give me experience.  Won't do that again.  Here's what it now looks like:

I also fabricated a spacer to hold the PTO clutch in exactly the right alignment with the drive and engine sheaves and installed it.

My final job for the morning was to relocate the ignition coil.  An acquaintance of mine advised me to get it away from the engine heat and vibration and suggested bolting it to the side of the tractor on the inside.  I scoped that out and it looked doable so I drilled two holes and bolted the holder to the side.  Then I slid the coil into the holder and used a small knurled screw to tighten against the coil.  Seems pretty solid.  All I need now is a longer wire between the coil and sparkplug (12 inches is not long enough in its new position).  But I can pick that up at A-Line Auto Parts tomorrow.

Now I'm ready to re-install the battery and fuel tank,  When that is done Frank Glatzl and I will be ready to install the new choke and throttle cables, the used fuel pump and finalize connections.  Once the engine is up and running, then I will cut out the middle of the floor in the motorcar trailer.  Then we will hoist the Bolens 1250 tractor, remove the transmission, install a pin to raise and lower the deck and then mount the tractor to the motorcar trailer.  Lot's still to do.