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: