Motorcar Trailer Floor Installed

This morning I slid the 4 foot x 83" motorcar trailer floor into place and marked where the six holes to hold it would have to be drilled.  Took it out and drilled the holes and slid the floor back into position.  Five boltholes turned out fine and one had to be enlarged slightly to allow the bolt to fit.  But I finally got the floor installed.  Then I installed the trailer towbars and bolted them on, and the trailer tongues and bolted them on.  With that the trailer was ready to go.

The front and rear sides are closed off by various bars so nothing larger than 1/4" can fall off.  After finishing it up, I brought over two pieces of conveyor belting to protect the floor while we use the trailer for tomorrow's work session.  Here's what it looks like:

Finally, I winched the trailer up and into my 12-foot trailer:

Talk about low wind resistance!!  Won't be losing mpg due to the trailer on tomorrow's trip.  So now RPI has a useful piece of equipment, pending installation of the Bolens 1250 garden tractor on top of this trailer.  When I am ready to install it, I will take the floor off and cut the middle portion out.  Then I will install the two side pieces, leaving a gap into which we will lower the 1250.  That way we will have places on both sides of the tractor to store tools and supplies while pulling the rail-mower.

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.

Bought Another Bolens 18048 Mower Deck

I've been worrying about the 18048 deck that came with the 1250 garden tractor, since it was in terrible shape, really badly corroded, and had doubts whether it could be renovated.  And even if it was renovated, it might break down.  So I looked around for a deck, but the nearest possibility is in St. Louis, MO, which would cost about dols 900 just in mileage costs to do a round-trip, not to mention food and lodging on the way.  I found a 18048 in really nice shape near Portland, OR, and bargained the price down to dols 250.00.  Took a while longer to find a shipper willing to bid on it, but finally arranged shipping today for dols 373.00.  The shipper had to crate it and deliver it to their terminal in Portland, while I will pick it up in San Antonio.  Here's what it looks like:

I will use this one with my Bolens 1455 garden tractor, leaving the one that we have just rebuilt to be used on the rail-mower.  This shipment probably will be delivered to the Portland terminal today and should be available for pickup by Friday, if all goes according to plan.  More likely it won't get in until next Monday or Tuesday, but I can deal with that.  I might go to a tax convention in St. Louis next month but now I don't have to drag a trailer to pick up a deck.

Installed a Guard

I had a piece of conveyor belting I had cut a month or two ago on hand and decided this weekend was the time to install it on the 1455 mower deck.  Picked up the acorn nuts, as called for on the parts list,  and other hardware and then drilled holes in the belting.  This afternoon I used C-clamps to hold it in place and bolted it on.  It projects about 2.5 inches below the edge of the deck, so that ought to provide some pretty good protection against flying objects.  Here's what it looks like:

Also installed the roller on the other side of the deck.  Not much more to do to this deck, am awaiting judgment from my small engine and tractor guys on whether we can salvage the 1250 deck.  If not, then it's starting to look like I either buy and have one shipped in, or road trip.  I have a tax preparation convention in St. Louis coming up next month and there are a number of tractors with decks within striking distance, so that's my best shot.

Am starting to realize the rail-mower project will really have its greatest impact not during a year of drought like this, but during those heavy-rainfall seasons.  But the restoration we are doing will keep these old tractors and decks going for many years so that will pay off over a long time frame.

Cutting Floor Mats

Today I cut floor mats for my M19AA and for another RPI member's M19, the first customers for our conveyor belt-to-floor mat fundraiser for RPI.  It was pretty simple for the M19, just cut a 52" long piece and then cut it in half, yielding two mats 14 7/8" wide each.  It was more complicated for the M19AA since I had to make some custom cuts to fit it around the seat supports and under some large bolts.  But I ultimately finished both and installed them.  Here's what the right side of the M19AA looked like before:

And here's the floor mat with the customs cuts:

Finally, here's the floor mat as installed:

The main point of installing the floor mats, of course, is to keep sharp tools from scraping or damaging the floor.  I think these mats will do that as well as make the car look more professional.  I already have a single mat in my Woodings and probably will cut another one for the other side.

In other developments, I planned to start reconstructing the Bolens 1250, but took a closer look at the newly-reinstalled drive sheave and found that it does not line up with the PTO pulley, etc.  I don't know how to deal with that since if I back the sheave off the shaft a quarter of an inch so it aligns, then the setscrew will be hanging out over the end of the shaft so that it couldn't be tightened down on the square key properly.  The probable answer is to pull the sheave off the shaft again and reverse it, but I will wait to consult before doing that.  Just another bump in the road toward completion.