Good morning!!!!

[rswyan]

54F and cloudy @ 4:15 ...

The high for today (Saturday) is only supposed to be 47F ... not sure how that's supposed to work ... since it's already 54F ... :confused2:

Just came down for a snack (cold chicken wings, jo-jo's, and hot rice :licking and a coffee refill.

Was pretty warm last evening (mid 60's) ... until the front came thru.

Managed to get the Kubota 2-pin QA removed and the SSQA installed on the tractor, although by then it was dark out. It went fairly well ... the brackets and all the pins pretty much lined up and only the pins required light tapping with a hammer to drive them in the last little bit. Looks like I may already have a buyer for the 2-pin Kubota QA ...

Also removed the pin type brackets off the pallet forks ... they'll go with the Kubota QA.

After that I started working on the shrub bucket. This was as far as I got before I quit for chow @ 03:25:

Plates are all welded up on the outside (but not inside), the cutting edge is welded on the bottom (but not the top) and I cut and fitted (but haven't welded) two pieces of 5/8 solid rod for the bottom as reinforcement/wear rods (because that's what I had ... )

Still have to do the side cutters (machine an edge and then weld on), some reinforcement plating for the rear, and the gussets for the side plates. And the three Fabco teeth and their mounting shanks.

Don't really have the material for the gussets ... so unless UB has something in inventory, I'll probably be making a trip to visit Uncle Ernie on Monday ...

Next item on the "to do" list will probably be to get a SSQA attachment plate welded onto the pallet forks so I can use them.

 

[rswyan]

You know that you woke up too early when you are the first poster of the morning. ...

LOL ... good one :thumbsup:

(Or when you beat Roy ... which is probably the same thing)

 

[daugen]

hey, if you remember Roy was up at something like 2am last Saturday morning; he's just catching up this week. Anyone up early for hunting season?
reminds me I need to buy no trespassing/hunting signs. Hearing boom boom booms from somewhere not too far away. Of course it could be the local redneck militia warming up their equipment. Funny how I hear the guns going off around cocktail time...

another gorgeous day here, hope to stay outside.

 

[daugen]

and while it's still dark and the first cup of coffee is disappearing, RS, how does that Simplicity drive?
It looks like a high effort machine but a poor man's version of the twenty thousand dollar JD and Kubota mowers made today. Never saw one before, pretty neat. Driving position reminds me of a cross between an old Alfa and old bus... It looks heavy duty and rebuildable though I wonder if parts are easy to get. Must be some owner's clubs for that. Just a very unusual mower.
All good.:thumbsup:

 

[daugen]

one last thought, RS, I have that identical Long tree scoop/stump digger; too bad we weren't closer and you could take it home and copy it. Like the Chinese...Of course, it's seriously heavy and you want different dimensions. I think mine will work nicely cleaning out some ditches in the woods. You called yours a shrub bucket; I like that, something to carry the heavy plant over and slide it on in the hole.
Or that's the goal.

Sandy soil full of roots. Low range. 4wd. Half throttle. Forward...Going to have fun making my own little ditches too. Those back woods will be my training grounds and if I make a mess, well no one is going to see it.

 

[ronjhall]

Just started coffee pot brewing. 43° with light rain this morning. Heading to 48° with chance of showers all day. Leave are falling very fast. Trak-Vac is ready. Have not cut lawn all for over a week. Kind of miss it. :thumbdown:
Drew, did you get the PHD on tractor yet?
Good Morning All.

 

[Buppies]

MossFlowerWoods great news, 61 this morning high of 66 later. Short and sweet as its off to work

 

[rswyan]

and while it's still dark and the first cup of coffee is disappearing, RS, how does that Simplicity drive?

Drives real nice ... ride is actually pretty decent as well, provided you don't try to go flat out, over hard dry ground ... or have the tires over-inflated.

It looks like a high effort machine ...

In terms of driving it ?

Not at all ... the steering is nearly effortless ... usually have to turn the wheel less than 1/4 turn when steering ... most of the time - if you're not doing sharp turns - you're only moving the steering wheel from 11:00 to 01:00 o'clock ... at most ... and I'm sure the linkage on ours needs adjusted ...

It's hydrostatic (forward/reverse) via a foot pedal ... the steering wheel actuates the valves on a pair of Eaton (rotary vane ?) combo pump/motors (one for each large wheel) via a pair (or two pairs ?) of pushrods/linkage ... which controls the amount each wheel is driven ...

Turn it far enough and it will lock the drive wheel on the side you're turning towards (aka "turns on a dime")

but a poor man's version of the twenty thousand dollar JD and Kubota mowers made today.

LOL ... well, it is circa 1985 or thereabouts ... so the technology is a bit dated ... but yes, that's a fair way to describe it I suppose.

IIRC, we paid around $5K for it new, in the mid '80's ... the tires on the large (mid) wheels on ours are still the originals. Carlisle I think.

I think these were Simplicity's original offering in the commercial ZTR market.

Never saw one before, pretty neat.

The one you posted a picture of looks like it has the 60" deck (largest available ... ours is the 46") ... and the dual tail wheel option (ours is single tail wheel) It's also got some sort of non-original gas tank on it from the looks of it (stock gas tank is 6 or so gallons, black plastic, squarish, and on the other side)

Driving position reminds me of a cross between an old Alfa and old bus... It looks heavy duty and rebuildable ...

Yup ... it's a nice piece ... worth spending some T & E on.

The mower deck is fabricated (not stamped) ... probably 3/16" plate ... maybe 1/4" ... heavy-duty spindles with tapered roller bearings I believe. Pretty high tip speed on the blades.

Ours is in need of some TLC and cosmetic restoration ... it's had a lot of use and a hard life ....

Another winter project ...

though I wonder if parts are easy to get.

Probably depends on which parts ...

Last time I checked (a few years ago) the chain sprockets were still available from Simplicity ... but pricey ... I've only replaced them once (in 30 years) ... and then only the smaller ones. Would be pretty easy to fab using off-the-shelf parts.

Only one of the (two) mower blades was available (from Simplicity) last time I checked ... but I'm pretty sure that Oregon has something that would work, if not a direct replacement.

The Eaton pump/motors probably have rebuild kits available ... at least ... if not complete pump/motors. Ours have never been serviced.

The engine is a Kohler (Magnum ?) 18 ... original ...

Most of the stuff (pulleys, belts, etc.) is off-the-shelf kinda stuff ... or would be fairly easy to fab.

Must be some owner's clubs for that.

Could be ...

Just a very unusual mower.

Yup ... it's kinda unique ...

In addition to mowing, I probably use it similar to how you use your RTV ... have a little dump wagon it pulls around to haul stuff ... in fact, used it tonight to bring down a load of firewood to the house.

All good.:thumbsup:

 

[bakerg]

Good morning, a chilly 44F here and only going to make it to 48F. Picked up the new shed, now I just need to put a pad in and put the shed together. Looks like next weekends project.

 

[rswyan]

one last thought, RS, I have that identical Long tree scoop/stump digger; too bad we weren't closer and you could take it home and copy it. Like the Chinese ... Of course, it's seriously heavy and you want different dimensions.

I'll bet you probably have the longer/larger version (they make two)

I modeled the one I'm building after their shorter version (30" projection) ... but even then, I'm using lighter material (1/4" plate vs. the 5/16" that W. R. Long uses)

Mine is fairly light at this point ... and probably will still be, even after I get it completed.

I think mine will work nicely cleaning out some ditches in the woods. You called yours a shrub bucket; I like that, something to carry the heavy plant over and slide it on in the hole.
Or that's the goal.

Yup ...

I have a number of large shrubs right next to the house which I want to remove, but I'd prefer not to just waste (kill) them.

Three large blueberry bushes that are 7' to 8' tall ... about 8 or so Japanese yews which I planted with/for my mother back around 1970 or so, and a large rhododendron - probably at least 12' tall and wide - that is about to grow into the power feed to the house from the transformer on the pole (which I also planted many years ago)

And other stuff (rhododendrons, oaks, black locust, blue spruce, pampas grass, etc.) around the property in various places that I'd like to relocate.

Sandy soil full of roots. Low range. 4wd. Half throttle. Forward...Going to have fun making my own little ditches too. Those back woods will be my training grounds and if I make a mess, well no one is going to see it.

LOL ... that's the spirit ... you'll have a ball ... :thumbsup: