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.
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