Clean-Up Work

Did a little clean-up work on the rail-mower day before yesterday.  I relocated two cross-members on the underside of the trailer's plywood floor to the first bolts holding the axle.  However, that meant I would have to run a 3/8" bolt through a 1/2" hole on the cross-members on all four corners.  I decided that that would probably end up wallowing out the hole on the cross-member.  But I didn't have any bushings.  So I went to Tractor Supply and bought a 1/2 x 3/8 x 1 inch bronze sleeve bearing.  Then I cut it into four pieces and when I bolted on each cross-member, I pressed the makeshift bushing into the cross-member, thereby ensuring the 3/8" bolts would not wallow out the 1/2" hole.

I also had to bring the cross-members back to the vise on my workbench in the garage twice to do some more trimming of the corners so they would fit inside the axle brackets.  But finally they fit OK.

I also re-installed the towbar tongue that Frank Glatzl straightened out for the trailer.

Needless to say, this all took way longer than I should have spent but I am determined to keep that motorcar trailer in good shape as long as possible.

In other related news, my small-engine guy came over Monday night and helped me put the Bolens 1455 mower deck together.  Plus he diagnosed a problem with a pawl bushing (don't ask) and two seals on the pawl that need to be replaced.  I ordered the bushing, which arrived today, and bought the seals yesterday at Hydraulic House in Austin.  Once a throttle cable for my Sears lawn tractor arrives, I'll call him up to come over to get both tractors running.  I plan to use the 1455, which has a front-end loader, to mow along the Capital Metro ROW since the bucket can help prevent us from running into large stones or other obstacles that might damage the mower deck.  Here's a photo of it, without the deck at this point:

 

Rail-Mower Photos

Took some photos of the rail-mower as mounted on the motorcar trailer with the Bolens 1250 hood on it.  The hood's hinge actually rusted off so if we want to keep it on, we will have to find a way to re-attach a new hinge to its front.  Plus will have to re-attach the muffler but otherwise this is how it may eventually end up looking:

I also took a photo of the detached rear transaxle and (blown) tires at rest:

This morning I decided to finish up some rail-mower-related activities.  So first I took out a spare mower gearbox, mower deck hangers and studs, and the motorcar trailer towbar that Frank Glatzl straightened out for me and I spray-painted them.

Then I bolted down the rear of the Bolens 1250 tractor body to the motorcar trailer and also the angle iron pieces in the front that are going to bolt through the front bumper, anchoring it to the front of the trailer.  I needed to drill two holes through the bumper, but found my 5/16" drill bits were not equal to the task.  A 7/32" bit had better luck until it snapped off.  So I had to postpone finishing that task until I can go off to Tractor Supply for new bits this afternoon.

Then I removed the rear cross-member from under the deck to see how it would fit on the next set of bolts toward the rear end.  It needed some trimming on one edge with the angle grinder on each side, so I did that.  Also needs a bushing, about .52" diameter, since we are changing from a half-inch hole to a 3/8" hole.  I am going to see if I can find one at A-Line Auto Parts when I go out this afternoon.

Railmower Takes Shape

Frank Glatzl arrived this morning and we achieved a great deal on the railmower project, mainly due to his tireless work.  Our first order of the day was to install the new governor on the engine, so we put the engine back up on the motorcar trailer and opened it up.  We cleaned out the interior a bit more and then Frank put the used governor that he got from E-bay on.  When we started the engine up after reconnecting all the wiring and fuel lines, it ran much better with the newly-installed governor (but of course there was something else that needed work--more later).  Here's the engine installed back on the Bolens 1250 tractor body:

Before we could re-install the engine on the tractor body, I decided to wirewheel and paint a particularly scruffy-looking metal plate.  While the paint was drying, I removed four nuts from bolts on the mower deck to be mounted on the rail-mower since Frank said they needed washers.  I put the washers on and reinstalled the nuts so that's one less potential problem down the line.  I asked Frank if he could find a way to get the mower driveshaft off the old gearbox so we could install it on the gearbox now on the Bolens 1250 mower deck.  I anticipated a great deal of difficulty but Frank observed there was oil on the shaft so he just took a hammer and punch and punched it off.  I was astonished when he said it was done.  In the process of re-installing and reconnecting the engine, I changed out a piece of fuel line that looked worn.  Aside from tightening various bolts, that was my main contribution to the operation.   Although we bought a push-button switch to replace the PTO interlock safety switch, we couldn't use it because its stem was too short.  So we used the interlock switch off the transmission gearbox, which was still good, and it worked fine.   I did polish up the contacts of that switch to be sure it worked.

We also installed a 350 CCA lawn and garden tractor battery off the Bolens 1455 tractor.  When the moment came to try out the Bolens 1250 engine, Frank turned the ignition switch and it started up right away.  Although it ran better with the governor now repaired, Frank noticed it was surging.  He diagnosed the problem as a probable obstruction in one of the carburetor passages.  At the end of the day he took the carburetor off the engine and took it home to work on cleaning it out.  Here's a photo of Frank with the engine on the body and the fuel tank and new battery hooked up:

With the engine re-installed and operating OK, carb problem excepted, that was about as far as we could take that part of the project.  But Frank still had an hour or so before he had to head home so we decided to see if we could get the Bolens 1250 tractor body mounted on the motorcar trailer.  I aired up the tires to the best of my ability (one just didn't want to hold air) and we pushed the 1250 to a point under the hoist I built for that purpose.  The front wheel linkages came right off.  We then brought some chain and hooks and wrapped the chain around the tractor body to support it from the hoist, since our next step would be to remove the rear wheels and hydrostatic transmission.  It took about 7 or 8 tries but we finally just the right point at which the body would balance when supported solely by the chain.  Here's what it looked like at that point:

This photo shows the entire hoist with a puller hanging from the overhead bar.  That is what we used to lift up and support the tractor body.  Frank is removing the bolts that hold the rear transaxle to the body:

We removed the transaxle and dragged it around the water tank to the other side, leaving the transmission propped up in its normal position.  This photo shows the tractor body without it, suspended by the hoist:

As we hoisted the body up, the tires dropped off the front axle, leaving the body by itself:

Here's another view of the suspended body:

Our next move was to bring the motorcar trailer over and position it under the suspended body.  We did so and swung the body over it and let it down.  We then reviewed the positioning of the body in relation to the trailer parts and found that the floor needed to be cut out a bit more, which I did pretty quickly with a jigsaw, and the front cross-member needed to be removed, which we did.  We plan to move it to the next set of bolts forward, closer to the axle.  Frank also noticed that the rear cross-member will need to be moved a few inches back, closer to the rear axle, to get it out of the way of the mower deck.  I plan to do both of those jobs in the next several days.

We brought the trailer underneath the suspended body again and let it down onto the trailer.  Then we put a bolt through one of the two rear bolt holes that are going to secure the body to the trailer.  I am going to bolt down the special holders Frank made to secure the front of the body and use the holes in their vertical sides to drill through the front bumper.  Then I will put bolts through the holes to secure the front bumper to the trailer.  Here's the body now sitting on the trailer, looking much as it eventually will when finished:

I have a strip of metal intended to help support the wooden floor in the middle.  Once we have figured out where the deck will go, I will insert that strip and bolt it to the side frame members.  There are still other things that have to be done, for example, we need to ask around for some lift handles and brackets so we can move the rail-mower when setting on or off.  I also am thinking about installing pieces of conveyor belting on the sides to absorb anything that might get kicked up and thrown out.  The rail-mower as it is, however, looks good and I hope it will become a valued asset for RPI.

Preparing to Return Engine to Bolens 1250 Body

I took a piece of sheet metal off the Bolens 1250 engine today to check for mud-dauber nests and found a bit, probably from the infestation behind the engine shroud.  The rest of the fins were in pretty good shape but I cleaned them out with a screwdriver just to be sure.  Then I primed and painted the sheet metal and put it back on the engine.  I also wirewheeled the top of the engine and spray-painted it with a special paint that resists up to 500 degrees.

I took some nuts off the starter-generator leads and was going to replace them since they were rusty.  Began looking for matching new nuts and didn't find any at home.  So I went out and bought no. 10, 8 and 6 nuts and figured one of them would be right--but none were.  Apparently the nuts fits a bolt that falls between the no. 10 and 1/4 in the U.S. system.  Looks like a size 6 metric.  So I conceded defeat and cleaned up the terminal posts as well as the original nuts and put them back on.

Frank Glatzl is coming back over tomorrow for another work session so we should have more to report soon.

Also my small-engine guy is coming over Monday night to replace two blades and mount the new electric PTO clutch on my Sears Craftsman lawn tractor.

F&6^%5 birds ruined one of the rear headlights on my Woodings CBI by ripping one of the wires out of it.  Also ripped up four other electrical wires, probably using the insulation for a nest they were building on top of the battery.  So I have to order a new headlight and do some repair work on the rear lighting system.

Battery Day

Today, Monday, September 19, was "Battery Day" because I took the batteries off my trailer (powers the winch), Woodings CBI motorcar, Fairmont M19AA motorcar and Bolens 1455 tractor to clean, refill if needed and recharge.  Plus I disconnected the ground cables, removed the hardware and polished it up for all of them to ensure a good ground.  I also installed new spark plug-ignition coil wires on the M19AA, which I last ran in March but had a breakdown.  I didn't expect it to run but I took out the starting crank and gave it more than a few turns and it finally revved up.  Kept it going at varying speeds for about five minutes, which suggests that it is back in running condition.  So that is good news.

I also decided to do some work on the rail-mower.  I cleaned up and primed a backup mower gearbox.  I also tried to take a driveshaft off the backup gearbox shaft since we are going to need that shaft for the gearbox already mounted on the rail-mower mower deck.  Unfortunately the driveshaft adaptor appears frozen on the gearbox shaft, just as the adaptor on the Wisconsin S-12D shaft that Frank Glatzl and I had so much trouble with on Saturday.  The gearpuller won't fit on the frozen adaptor so that can't be used.  Perhaps heating it with my blowtorch would help but I still have to figure out how to get some pulling power on it.  So this is going to be the next challenge.  If push comes to shove, I suppose we could just install this older gearbox on the rail-mower deck, but that would mean taking off and re-installing the belt and tensioners and would be a major pain.  A fellow who helped with the the rail-mower deck is coming over Wed. or Thurs. to install a new electric PTO clutch in my Sears Craftsman lawn tractor.  I think I will ask him to help me out on this problem as well.

Progress and Surprises Amid Cooler Weather

Finally, the hot weather has broken.  Today featured heavy clouds and cooler temperatures, probably peaking in the high eighties.  Frank Glatzl came over to work on the rail-mower project with me and we put up the EZ-Up anyway since the sun did peek through occasionally, but it was mercifully cooler than anytime since our last session in June.  We even had some rain while we went out for barbeque for lunch, so that kept it cool.

Frank installed the throttle and choke cables after I drilled some holes in a piece of copper to be used as a bracket supporting the choke cable.  We were not sure what to do when we found that a clip to hold the throttle cable onto part of the engine was missing.  But then I went to my junk metal container, spilled it onto the garage floor and there, in the middle of all the old, rusty bolts, etc. was the missing clip.  So it has been restored to its rightful place.  Frank also installed a used fuel pump I found on E-bay since the existing fuel pump was not working.  First he took it apart to inspect it for problems, but it passed inspection and when we did turn the ignition key the engine fired up and kept running, so the fuel pump seems to work.

We then found the PTO safety interlock switch was not working so we had to take it off and bring it first to TSC and then to A-Line Auto Parts.  We found a substitute also with a rubber boot (to prevent moisture from ruining the switch, considering the tractor engine likely will get rained on at some point).  A-Line ordered it up from the warehouse.  We dropped by A-Line after lunch at, appropriately enough, the Railroad Barbeque restaurant, to pick it up.

But we had bigger fish to fry by then.  While waiting on the safety interlock switch, we fired up the engine without it and noticed that the engine was running way too fast.  The governor did not seem to be working.  Frank fiddled around with the control rod on the outside and found it was loose.  Regretfully we realized we would have to disassemble everything, remove the engine and then open the engine cover to see what was going on with the governor inside.

We disconnected the engine and moved it up onto the motorcar trailer.  At that point we decided it was time to remove the U-joint on the driveshaft coming off the engine since that U-joint would no longer be used and we wouldn't want it flying around with the shaft.  Of course, the U-joint had no intention of going peacefully.  Apparently it was rusted in place.  After much hammering, spraying with penetrating lubricant, and heating with a blowtorch, we were able to dislodge the middle of it.  We figured the best way to get the U-joint collar off was to use my angle grinder.  I cut along the woodruff key slot, and managed to cut enough so Frank could pull the collar off with my gearpuller.

After that we drained the engine and removed the engine cover to investigate inside.  Here's a photo:

 
This was actually a very interesting moment for me.  Being the sheltered person that I am, I had never before seen the insides of an operating engine, not counting those in museums, displays, etc.  So it was really neat to see the gears, the piston, and, of course, the governor gear.  As it turned out, there are two little "ears" that push a spool-like object that links to the external control rod which governs the throttle.  Those two ears were broken off and we found the remnants inside the engine case.  With them broken, the governor couldn't work.  Frank has since located a new governor for a Bolens 1250 on the internet and has purchased it.  He looked at the rest of the engine interior and said it does not appear to have suffered any corrosion from water intrusion.  He was glad we have a tapered bearing on it since that made it easier to get the engine cover off.  Here's two photos of Frank working on the engine:

We had to drain the oil to taken the engine cover off.  While we had the cover off, we cleaned the interior of the engine case with paper towels to get out  sludgy contaminants.  Hopefully that will help the engine continue running for a good long time.  For now, however, that was about all we can do.  We did clean off the surface that the engine gasket rests on.  Then we replaced the engine cover and all the bolts to keep moisture out and moved the engine to a "tie" on my rail holding the Fairmont M19AA motorcar to remain there for now.  As for the rest of the tractor, it looks sort of forlorn, having been torn apart:

But it's just another bump in the road on the way to a functional rail-mower.  Frank will let me know when he is ready for our next session so we can keep going.  We'll replace the governor, remount the engine and reconnect all the wires and other components.  Then, if it works OK, we'll drop the hydraulic transmission and axle off the back and cut off the front wheels (of course, both while the frame is suspended from the hoist) and lift the frame up with the hoist.  Then we will slide the motorcar trailer underneath and lower the tractor frame and engine onto the trailer.  So that will be a pretty cool transition to its new operating position.

Frank took home a motorcar trailer towbar, along with the hydraulic lift hangers that adjust the mower deck up and down, so he can straighten both (he figures the towbar was smacked by something, causing it to bend into an S-curve).  He is also going to fabricate a hold-down for a battery and a breather tube to run from the air cleaner to a vent in the engine cover.  That's a lot on his plate and goes to show just how much this project owes to him.  

Work on Rail-Mower Mower Deck

Today I took the cap off the gearbox on the Bolens 18048 mower deck that will be used with the rail-mower and I poured in 11 oz. of Hypoid 85W90 gear oil, GL-4 spec, per the 18048 manual, which calls for 11 oz. of SAE 90 oil.  In the afternoon I removed the height adjustment mechanism since it will not be needed in the deck's new function and would be an obstruction to getting the deck underneath the motorcar trailer.  I removed the rear roller for the same reason.  They will serve as spares for the other 18048 mower deck I will be using with the Bolens 1455 garden tractor.  I also have two additional mower gearboxes for these decks, so if I blow up any of them I will have an immediate replacement.

Rail-Mower Preparation

Today I decided to get the motorcar trailer ready to receive the Bolens 1250 tractor body we are going to mount on it to serve as a rail-mower.  I spent an hour or so penciling in the outline of where on the trailer floor I will need to cut to create access for the tractor body and then another hour and a half drilling and cutting.  I ended up with the following:

I still have to enlarge the bottom portion of the cutout to accommodate the mower deck hangers, but otherwise it looks pretty good.  I wanted to preserve as much as possible of the floor since we will be placing equipment and tools on it while operating the rail-mower.

Frank Glatzl will be coming over early Saturday morning, the 17th, around 8:00 am, so we can get as much done as possible before it gets really hot.  But the forecast is for mid-90s, which is much better than the 100 degree plus temps we have suffered through all summer.  I worked on this project up until noon or so, by which time it was hot enough to call it a day.

Additional Work on Rail-Mower

Last Sunday morning I re-installed the PTO pulley guard.  Was about to re-install the plate that supports the gas tank and battery when I noticed that it was getting rusty.  On Monday morning I wirewheeled it and Tuesday morning I primed and painted it.  Re-installed it on Wednesday morning.  Now I can put the gas tank and battery back on.  Small steps, but now that the heat is coming to an end I may be able to get a lot more done.