OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Ride-On Mowers Resto Notes: Murray ... with Overhead Foxtails

I also dissasemble my guns, lap the needles to the nozzles using autosol and a slow drill before I run any paint through them. you get a better control I think.

We'll be back soon with a new addition to the management team.
Young in years but good on imagination, I can follow a manual but imagination takes a different type of thinking.




He'll deliver absurd, imaginative thought to a humble Husky.
at 6 weeks he's in the groove, watch out when he inherits the throne, DayGlo colours, anti clockwise blades, removal of governors??


I see anarchy


But maybe nothing.
He's just a puppy after all...

Lotsa LUV
Bill

Meet
Dr. Winson O'Boogie.
Named after the pseudonym that John Lennon used when he performed with artists that were not on his (EMI) label. Altruistic anarchy.

At this point I must insist that NONE of these following and few before projects are my own work.
My neighbor Mark was fascinated by my playing and just wanted to hang out and see what I was doing, another neighbor Glenn helped by borrowing a mower and suggesting a slasher or bigger unit might be usable.
I have over 60 R/C cars and was going toward 5th scale with 23-35cc engines and fixing mowers and one or two restorations, my brother already had a thing for '60's Victas and early '70's rovers so he gave me a collection of later model spares.
The rest became inevitable.
Of course I dismissed both and carried on in my own way until I was given a few interesting bits of junk and re aligned the service areas.
It was so much easier than doing cars!
I now have over 120 working internal combustion engines in all sorts of implements.
I still covet a 1960's David Brown tractor above all.
To Mark, my stalwart parts washer and continual poke in the back to get on with it, Glenn who suggested and then cautions about being "too perfect, just "get it done" and my brother who collected for years before I realised the there were even different model mowers.
To the forums here and also elsewhere, the variety of opinions and the sparks of an idea, that's why I'm here now and finally some of the great parts providers, if they didn't supply the part now they did, or will and their catalogues give incredible insight.
My gratitude beyond words.


To restore or refrbish is the best thing you can do for recycling because it is not only landfill, but the costs of making another in the materials and power are negated.

There is also the beyond cool feeling of mowing the verge with a 50 year old vintage mower, priceless.

I have become the victim of their enthusiasms and as such the captain of a ship that may never make port.
With

Mark
Glenn
Sue
Max (management)
Bella (management)
Winston (management) to begin soon.

Enjoy the ride, we're having fun doing something interesting, not profitable.

Here's the dash panel.
I'll do a detail on this later but a this point it's just an access panel to the fuses and solenoid so we used it for an interface panel,



at this point it was the initial shakedown so a lot of features were left out until we'd run it through the initial tests.

We're about to add an ammeter to the top dash and a 12V lighter socket, aux audio input and an hrs usage meter to this panel.
(Remember we still have only put 500ml's of petrol through this so far). I refilled with 1.5 litres 2 weeks ago but we've started it once since then. I'll take the meter as a Zero.
The layout and population is fairly simple. The Dash units are available online cheaply, from me they're about $20 but I test and then epoxy them first.
The amplifier units the same, about $7.00 on line but I test and coat in epoxy plus add 3.5mm aux dash connectors. For about $20.00.
The antenna is almost done and I've used a similar system that I've used for some planes and helos so I'm good with the performance for simple FM radio.
The knob I use now is a guitar control that's a gibson SG replica but of course anything..

Here's the amp,




about 15W bu it's really for parking, sitting back with some beers and it's good enough for that, I removed the 3.5mm input and direct patched the front end line outs into the inputs of the amplifier.
Likewise I patched the front end and amp to use common -ve and switched power a simple panel switch just turns on the panel.
So, by turning on the power, we can play tunes with no regard for the mower being on or off.

Pics coming soon.

It's about 2" square so we work with that, the front end unit is equally simple but we'll go through all the wiring patches soon.

One thing I cannot stress enough is to take pictures.
When doing a pull down it may be several weeks before the parts are painted, replaced or refurbished so to rely on the frail human memory would be folly of the greatest risk.
Even to sub assemblies, I won't go into details but would offer this example of the blade engagement mechanism.



It had to be disassembled for cleaning & painting.
To refer back to the pictures meant that it would go back together first time not with a lot of experimenting and mistakes.

Another tip is ALWAYS have a container next to you for screws and parts. Putting them aside or on the footrest etc. is the first guarantee of failing, they get bumped, camouflaged or just plain lost and you'll waste hours looking for something that should have been there all along.
I keep all reusable containers (take away food, dips, plum puddings etc) and also the small sandwich bags and a permanent marker are very good where you have to keep the bits for a while.
Don't use glass, trying to gather up your bits among the shards of a shattered jar is not fun.
Keep glass jars for mixing small amounts of paint, they're cheap and when you're done you can toss them. Don't bother with jars that have plastic lids, the thinners will melt them into a sticky goo and ruin the paint. I seem to have an affinity for Aldi cream cheese jars, 250ml metal lid and good proportions for paint. You'll find your own best thing but try a few different ones. I also probably do more paint than most of you so I get more chances to make mistakes.
This job took 3 months (though not full time) so some of those bits may sit for that long before you see them again.
Properly labelled bags and pictures will prompt the memories and make the reassembly so much easier.

G'day Bryce I take a few pics with my phone these days. It's usually in my pocket and easily backs up to the computer. Anyway, it's a little off topic but tell me a story about your David Brown. What model is she? Do you have a few acres to play with it? Just a passing thought if you were to drop a glass jar you could try pick up the bits with a magnet.

Slashburn,
Thanks for the reply. I'm still looking for a David Brown, I've been offered an interesting Massey and of course get offered a huge amount of old scrap that that's not worth dragging from the paddocks it's been buried in for 40 yrs. Most people just want you to take away there garbage, I still wait for the right DB.
It must be between 1960 and 1964 and be in usable condition but not restored.
Ideally I'd like 2, one as original mint and one that looked like that but with a modern engine and hydraulics system for actual use. If you know about machines then you'll know about a DB.
I have about 4 acres so a tractor is totally over kill, but a vintage tractor once a month and digging a new veggie patch every year would totally justify a vintage David Brown.
Plus just going out on a cold morning and firing up a 50 year old tractor just because you can...
priceless.

Rest assured, when the right Browns arrive they'll make this little job look like a school project.
We did this one whilst getting some other resources on line and we're still 6 months away from a reasonable workshop.
My DB's will be certifiable works of art, I promise.
I've got a good garage and have put most work on hold whilst I got finances etc done. My workshops are a gaggle of sheep sheds that I'm told are the oldest standing structures in the whole town. The uprights are round raw poles, and you can see the adze marks where they were jointed. Not state of the art workshops.

Mate, I have an early Dexta. She has a single stage clutch and no remote hydraulics. I love it to bits. All I wanted for my birthday a few years back was to spend the day on the tractor. I had a blast just chugging along slashing the grass.I only have 5 acres but if I had to move back into town I'd take it with me. What kind of rusty gold are you passing up?

Here's the exhaust port route, the specifics will be up soon




crude but effective,
and with some finish strangely neat.

I've got over 120 working engines now, from competition Nitro cars to 2T buggies, mowers, ride on's, cars, vans, and racing machinery that uses up money like a chux in spilled beer.

I'm personally pleased that we got this one finished. (we are nearly finished, a few details yet).
I still REALLY wan a vintage tractor.
I must be just a glutton for punishment.



Bill

Any chance of a pic or two of your sheds? They sound like a work of art. Our place is a soldier settlers place so my shed was his first house. It has some nostalgic charm but yours sounds more impressive.