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Mini Horses

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First comment I made when you bought the tractor --- attachments next and neverending!! :lol: but so nice to have! My current is a rake -- coming this month. Then next year I am hoping for the pto tiller! Costly. But I sure feel a need....older I get, more I need! I have a pull behind for mower that works great BUT one on pto can be lifted, you drive or back and set it back down. Can't with pull behind....it's constant till or stop, off mower, manually lever up to wheels, drive, off to reset back onto tiller position......unit has own motor. Original cut is fine but when you want sections only, can be real issues. Then you use a walk behind.....hang on!
 

farmerjan

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The old AC';s are great to work on and if you are as decent a mechanic as you seem to be, she will last your lifetime and then some. Maybe you ought to look into restoring and selling some....There are tractor clubs all over too....
Agree about the bushhog.... most do not take care of them. DS is famous for not blowing/washing them off when he gets done... but they do get oiled and greased and all that done every year. Blades sharpened too. They do take a beating around here as there is soo much rock/ledge/etc.....
Get as big a bushhog as you can handle.... saves a lot of trips over the field to do a wider swath.... we have a single that is like 8-9 ft.... then a 15 ft batwing that is a life saver in the big fields....

My suggestion is either a disc for the working the ground, or a rototiller type. @Mini Horses is so right about being able to back up to where you want to till....lift and turn around easily..... to do short sections without all the off and on the tractor and all that. Besides, you can pick up some garden tilling jobs in the spring for people that want it completely tilled.... like I do once and then mulch it.
 

CrealCritter

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Here's the parts diagram for the power director clutch. The tractor was missing parts 5 & 11 plus the set screw.
Screenshot_20201002-174949.png


Without these parts you couldn't lock the power director clutch into nuteral. This is a safety feature. Because when in nuteral no mater what you do to the gear shift forward of backward it won't move at all. Here's what the power director does.
Screenshot_20201002-235754.png


You know you just can call AC and order parts for a midyear 1962 D19. So after looking at the pictures and taking some careful measurements, I had an idea of how I would go about making the missing assembly. Sometimes my ideas are good other times well not so good... This time my idea was good.

I went to Rural king and bought an assortment of 1/2 13 bolts, setscrew, washer and a coupling nut.
Screenshot_20201004-203300~2.png


We cut the coupling nut to the length we needed, the cut a bolt to the length we needed to make the pin. We used a long bolt and cut it on both ends so the pin sticking out of the end didn't have an threads. We then ground the coupling nut round and drilled a 1/4 hole through it for the rod. After we got the rod through the hole in the coupling nut we tightened the assembly down with a setscrew just like is pictured.

Our barn made Fab job worked but occasionally it would get bound up because the rod is formed spring steel and quite floppy in the lever. My suspicion is this is why the assembly was removed in the first place. It could have used a little better engineering. You know I'm not one to give up so easy... So after a little more though, I swapped the set screw out for a 1/2 long bolt and two washers. It pinched the spring steel rod just as well as the set screw did and now there's no more binding. You push the button and it goes right out of nuteral when you pull the lever forward or backward. If you bump the lever accidently it pops into nuteral without having to push the button. I think I built a better mouse trap than the engineers at the factory did.

Here's the first assembly based on the parts manual and picture of the tractor. It worked but just not good enough. And it installed in the power director clutch lever. If you compare the black and white photo to my photo you'll see the assembly looks the same.
623466931~2.jpg


623467357.jpg


Here's a better engineered design. it's loose enough to slide the assembly in the slot when the button is pushed but tight enough to hold the spring steel rod in place and slide up and down as it should by pushing the button on top of the lever.
IMG_20201004_171721739.jpg


BTW the hickory stick came with the tractor. It's how you measure how much gasoline is in the tank. Yep the fuel guage is so dark you can't see the needle. My bobcat also has a stick because it doesn't have a fuel guage at all. I feel right at home checking fuel levels with a stick :)
 
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CrealCritter

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The old AC';s are great to work on and if you are as decent a mechanic as you seem to be, she will last your lifetime and then some. Maybe you ought to look into restoring and selling some....There are tractor clubs all over too....
Agree about the bushhog.... most do not take care of them. DS is famous for not blowing/washing them off when he gets done... but they do get oiled and greased and all that done every year. Blades sharpened too. They do take a beating around here as there is soo much rock/ledge/etc.....
Get as big a bushhog as you can handle.... saves a lot of trips over the field to do a wider swath.... we have a single that is like 8-9 ft.... then a 15 ft batwing that is a life saver in the big fields....

My suggestion is either a disc for the working the ground, or a rototiller type. @Mini Horses is so right about being able to back up to where you want to till....lift and turn around easily..... to do short sections without all the off and on the tractor and all that. Besides, you can pick up some garden tilling jobs in the spring for people that want it completely tilled.... like I do once and then mulch it.

Your right easy for mechanical stuff no doubt. Everything SAE and to me it makes sense how it works. Plus you got all the room in the world to work. I plan on taking good care of the old girl. Maybe it's just me... But I do love old stuff, expecially old stuff that was Made in the USA.

Now rural King that's another story, the place was PACKED... I waited 4 hours to get my new 6' bush hog loaded on my trailer. The loading didn't take so long. but them finding the driveshaft did. Apparently they put the drive shafts in the warehouse in the deepest darkest corner with half the werehouse stacked in front of them so no one will ever be able to find them again. By the time I got home and got it hitched up my wife rang the dinner bell. After dinner it was starting to get dark so I didn't get a chance to hook up the drive shaft.

Today was not very productive at all. But it could have been if they could have found the drive shaft quicker :( oh well at least the hog is Made in USA so I feel good about buying it.

Here's as far as I got, then I happened to notice this sticker, uggg...
IMG_20201004_183422487~2.jpg


See what I did wrong?
IMG_20201004_183456591.jpg


BTW my youngest daughter is scared of the tractor. She said I'm not getting on that tractor. The tires are taller than I am. I said "if your scared, say your scared" she said I scared :lol. I think she needs to come hang out with you for a while @farmerjan. Heck for the that matter, I need to come hang out with you for awhile also.
 
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CrealCritter

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Bush hogging didn't go so well. I snapped the sheer pin (soft bolt) and the shaft pushed forward into the yoke and crushed the grease fitting. I couldn't get the shaft to come out far enough to get a new sheer pin in. After beating with a little hammer, then a bigger hammer and finally my 10 lb slege hammer. I tightened up the top link and backed it up to my trailer. Disconnected it and took it back to rural king for an exchange. I have another one on the trailer to assemble again, horray...

In all honesty the two ding dongs that loaded the first one beat it up pretty bad and I think they bent a blade with the forklift. They also busted the tail light on my trailer. But I do understand things happen... so I'm not going to say anything about it. I helped the guy load the new one this evening and we didn't beat it up at all, unlike like the two ding dongs did yesterday. While I was there I bought some grade 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 bolts to use as a sheer pin on the new one.

anyways here's the old one and the broken drive shaft sheer pin (soft steel bolt). I believe I had the hog level enough. Everything was going well, then I heard a big SNAP and sure enough the sheer pin sheared. Lord willing, tomorrow is another day.

but a big plus... I did find a black berry patch. I won't hog those so we can transplant them into a nice long row, come later winter/early spring. Then I'll hog it.
IMG_20201005_132350503.jpg

IMG_20201005_132251832.jpg
 
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baymule

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I love using my tractor, but I don't use it any more. I stay on the ground to do the grunt work and let my husband have the tractor seat. He can't do what I do, but he can sit and drive the tractor.
 

CrealCritter

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Lord it's tall and thick! Some patches are taller than the tractor. I might have hogged 5 acres today, so I might be a quarter done, maybe... IDK but I do know I only broke 3 shear pins today :) the Old Girl is a beast. The governor kicks in and SNAP there goes another shear pin.

I have so much more to do...
IMG_20201006_184305684.jpg


Amazing the critters you see bolting out of the tall grass. I ran out a family of Bob white quail. Countless rabbits, deer oh my Lord they are thick, they must like tall grass to bed in. I must have hogged over 30 plus beds and fox wow they are thick also. I lost count how many I seen. I seen so many I was able to get a shaky photo of one with my cell phone while hogging.
IMG_20201006_184542536.jpg


Now I know why there are 4 thumb screws to remove the grill and gain clear access to clean the front of the radiator. You can also see the bare metal on the bumper from running through the parire grass. Yes, I asked a lot of the old girl but she put in a day's work and didn't even think twice about it.
IMG_20201006_172925350.jpg


With the parire grass knock down, I can see a lot more. Like 3 deer on my neighbors 40 and geese making a ton of noise.
IMG_20201006_183218350.jpg


IMG_20201006_183552273.jpg


Still got a lot more hogging to do. I bet the old girl would pull a 8 hog without even blinking. I got way more tractor than I need, but bigger is better and besides when in doubt, double the stout. I need a shower something awful. I'm still picking grass seed out of my ears.
 
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Lazy Gardener

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Jealous on all counts. I do hope you are carrying while you are hogging. I'd be looking to get in a bit of target practice to thin out the predator herd.
 

CrealCritter

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I just took the veggie hauler around the fence that separates the property in roughly 1/2. There is a steep deep ravine on the back side of the pond that I don't feel comfortable bush hogging with my high profile D19. If I had to guess it's a little over an acre. I hate that I won't hog it but, I need to be safe first.

My question... I know goats would clean that place up but how is it with sheep and goats on the same pasture? And also, what's a good meat goat breed?
 

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