[AT] Progress made

Henry Miller hank at millerfarm.com
Sun Oct 22 19:54:07 PDT 2017


I forgot to mention that I have been watching some YouTube videos of
various E restorations to learn what I can. After looking at them I
realize that mine runs backwards. The crank in the flywheel has been
screwed tight, which I first thought was just a knuckle saver since the
back wheel is right there, but the crank made instead clearly turns the
engine the other way. I will have to be very careful about the timing as
I'm sure any timing marks I might find are wrong... 

-- 
  Henry Miller
  hank at millerfarm.com

On Sun, Oct 22, 2017, at 09:32 PM, Henry Miller wrote:
> 
> A very interesting tractor day. After church there was a pot luck. One
> guy volunteers at Living History Farms (https://www.lhf.org). He gets to
> see things not on exhibit. In the basement of the cabinet shop is a 1937
> Ford with a flathead v8. There is no garage door, but he thinks he had
> permission to tear the wall down enough to get it out. Not sure what thy
> will do with it after that, but it is a shame to have it out of sight.
> Also someplace back there is a machine shed packed with tractors and
> other farm stuff. I'm going to have to volunteer there just to see it. I
> think everyone reading this agrees they want to as well. 
> 
> After getting home I did a little mudding on my basement project.
> However that didn't last long. My 4 year old asked me to go out to the
> tractor house and start the big tractor, not the biggest one, but the
> little big one, and pull him on the trailer he painted white. He would
> let me drive this time. Which is to say he wanted a hay ride and he knew
> that of my 4 tractors only one was running. (the John deere b I normally
> use for that job blew a radiator hose and I don't have anything in the
> radiator yet) 
> 
> A 3 horse power engine is a little light, in fact the clutch won't hold
> for pulling in 3rd gear. (homemade IH titan model based on a 3 hp hit
> and miss engine)  In first gear at a pace that I can easily crawl
> circles around it everything was fine. Once around the yard (i have 8
> acres) and I was ready to put it away when his little sister came
> outside. So I did one more lap. This tractor was not made for adults to
> drive, anytime I shifted in the seat the exhaust valve would hit my
> knee. 
> 
> After putting everything away I stayed outside to work on the little
> John deere. This is a homemade tractor based around a 1.5hp John deere
> e. I was trying to fit the new gas line. The instructions said that you
> can bend it by hand to fit. Well maybe you can, but I can't. Eventually
> I put it in the vice with some wood Jaws and used an adjustable wrench,
> but that part comes latter. While I was struggling with it my son was on
> the other side playing with the chain and getting more frustrated.
> Eventually he asked me to help him get it. After a little playing I had
> it back in place and the master link reconnected. A job well done for
> the two of us, and probably his first time productively getting his
> hands greasy!
> 
> Then back to the gas line, which was not going in easy. After a lot of
> fighting I got it attached to the mixer, then it was easy to get the
> tank end screwed in. A little gas and turn the crank. Soon gas was
> running down out of the choke... My multi meter says that the Magento is
> only putting out 0.5 volts. So I guess I need someone with a magneto
> recharger. (anyone know of one near des Moines?) 
> 
> I'm writing this from his bed, he just fell asleep. My turn next, good
> night and may your days be as productive. 
> 
> 
> -- 
>   Henry Miller
>   hank at millerfarm.com
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