[416Jonny]

The end cap of the hub goes on first. Next is the wheel. Making sure both are seated all the way into the inside of the axle, put the collar on. Put the pin in a hole, check how much play you have and adjust. If you have too much play even on the tallest slot, it can be shimmed with thick washers. George’s spreader had an acceptable amount of play, so we didn’t end up running around trying to find one of these washers. Chances are, you’d have to make one yourself to fit. Not that it’s hard, time constraints and a gloomy cloud cover had us thinking that what we had would do just fine. These aren’t Italian super cars going 180mph, it’s more important that everything is solid and in good shape.

When adjusting your end play on one of these older axle types, you’re looking for no more than 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch. But that little bit of play is important. You don’t want to see the collar pushing the wheel against the end cap. That will only accelerate wear and make the wheels harder to turn. Too much play is just as bad. If the wheel has room to rock, that’s just as bad, if not worse than not enough play.

Cut, paste, repeat. Take care of the other side and you can start looking at other parts of the machine.

[416Jonny]

A quick note about the chemicals you might be in contact with. I couldn’t give you an MSDS or show you a health study involving every substance you could come in contact with, but I do know that it’s not good for you. Stories about gentlemen that have done wrenching all their lives end up with some very strange health problems. Rubber gloves are cheap insurance against whatever may be lurking in the deep, dark recesses of the industrial world. The really nice ones are the thicker blue gloves they sell at auto supply stores. Buy some, they are worth it. The amount of money (chump change) and time (you’re already in town) don’t even come close to what you’ll pay for later in life. Cancer isn’t fun. These things are not meant to be in your body. They are not inert.

Okay, now that everything is nice and clean it can all go back together. Slather on that grease! Since there are no bearings to pack and no seals to hold in the grease under pressure, stop worrying about filling the whole thing. It won’t stay. But a decent amount is important. Also, where you put the grease is important. Unlike a wheel hub of say, a car trailer, filling the cup of this machine with grease isn’t going to do anything except make a huge mess.

[416Jonny]

Once the collar is off the axle, the wheel comes right off and reveals what’s left. The end cap to the hub! The axle has no type of seal, so taking this cap off is a breeze. Slides right off. Now we can start cleaning. A lot of paper towels and rubber gloves later, the old scummy grease is out of all the important stuff.

[416Jonny]

Holding the hub together is a pin with an eccentric oblong head. A quick tap from the bottom and it was out. The neat thing about these old designs is how simple the whole thing is! The wheel is held in place with a collar that has three graduating steps. Because the wheel has no bearings, it rides directly on the collar and the end cap on the inside of the axle. As these parts wear, to reduce the play in the axle, you would simply remove the pin, turn the collar to the taller step and reinsert the pin. There by bringing everything closer together. Simple, durable, easy to understand.

[416Jonny]

For mowing the lawn, a simple forecart or wagon with a draw bar could pull a gang of reel mowers. My dad mows his lawn with two push reel mowers taped together, for excersize. Golf courses use these to cut the greens and they do a wonderful job. A good sharp reel mower cuts short grass like nobody’s business.

I figure after the harness, all the stuff to take care of a lawn and small garden would cost you probably the same (or less for the thrifty amoung us) amount of money you’d get from selling a riding mower or rototiller.

But I think the real stumbling block to working a horse like that is most residential zoning doesn’t allow farm animals like horses. But if you’ve already got the horse, using it to take care of your lawn would be pretty cool. You’d probably be the only one in your neighborhood that was doing it. You might end up in the local news paper after enough people see you using a pony to mow your lawn. But then again, if you do anything the “old fashioned” way anymore, somebody is bound to look at you and point. Everything we as a group do seems like a novelty to most everyone that doesn’t know about the history of getting work done.

Mowing your lawn with a pony in full view might be a great way to show people that you can do things without spending hardly a dime and end up a better overall human being because of it.

But, clearly, now is not the time for logic.

Showing somebody what can be done is another great way of instilling confidence in them so they might try it on their own. Action speaks louder than words as they say, so maybe just go to a neighbor and mow their lawn to show them. It works for vacuum cleaner sales, why not promoting draft animals? The same lines might work as well: “ma’am, I’ll bet you’ll never believe what this little pony can do for your lawn!”

Will there be a sweeping abandonment of Cub Cadet, John Deere, Toro or Husqavarna lawn tractors? No, if people don’t have the money or access to gas inorder to mow their lawns, I’m sure they have more pressing issues to address than grass growing in the lawn.

It is neat to imagine the thought of the ant-like conformity of suburban sprawl being groomed by groups of landscapers driving ponies. I’m reminded of the hardware store commericials where men are riding brand spanking new lawn mowers around postage stamp sized lawns. “I’ve got 22 horse power and a 54″ mowing deck. I’ll be done in no time!” Unless of course something goes wrong, at which point any repairs have to be done by a certified dealership and cost the equivalent of a small Polyenisian island.

Okay, enough ranting already!

Yes, home maintenance sure would be a lot more interesting using animal power instead of by hand or by using a yuppie garden tractor. For those with ten acre lawns that end up buying a $9000 0-turn radius and spend all day riding them, one could certainly save some money and sanity just pulling a mower around.

Jonny B.

[416Jonny]

I think the real concern would be getting that collar on…… 😉

Jonny B.

[416Jonny]

You know, I’ve always had this urge to hitch six or eight up of those little critters in front of a gang of reel mowers to mow my lawn. I don’t know, seem’s like a funny idea.

Hmmm…..I can see the head lines now, “local screw-ball mowing lawns with 8 miniature horses. The police were notified, but stated that their was no law against being a dumbass.”

Welcome to the forum!

Jonny B.

[416Jonny]

First, I would love to come help you. Since you’re not that far from Burlington, it wouldn’t be a big deal at all!

Second, Carl is right about your safety concerns. If you’re worried about your animals getting out of control, you’d better decide how you’re going to stay safe. A foot board for stability is a good idea. I think the old timey ideas of safety had to do with being able to ditch the ride before you go down with it. When I was plowing with Erik, a couple of times the plow would hook hard into the ground on a turn and flip over. It wasn’t dangerous since you’re only moving at maybe 2-3 mph and you’re only sitting 2 feet (not even) off the ground. I would say have a foot board and if you want a good seat, leave off the sides or have very short sides.

The chains that drive the machine can be built for it. If you can find an older set that’s supposed to go on it, then rock it out. But you can build a chain as well. Take your chain, loop it around where it’s supposed to go, mark the length and dissamble it at that length. Bear in mind that the chains are supposed to hang down a certain amount in order to engage when the drive lever is dropped. I can definetly help you with this. The loops can be heated by torch, bent into and out of position for reassembly.

From the look of the picture, it seems like a nice project. As John just remarked, if the wood in the bed is good, then a poly liner of some sort would be a nice idea. Easy to replace when the time comes.

Tell ya what, send me your contact info and next time I come home I’ll get ahold of you and we can take a look at it. Get a plan together. Get an idea and chip away at the thing.

They are such simple machines, you can’t really do much more than adjust and replace items. Or paint it, for that matter.

You mentioned quickly a cast iron housing, is there anything wrong with it that requires welding? Welding cast iron is a challenge and is a job for some one who know’s what they are doing. The iron has to be heated to a certain amount, welded with nickel rod, done in a certain manner, all sorts of things. If the case is cracked and leaks fluid, there are other options. JB Weld is fantastic for these applications. The case doesn’t come under any heat, only minor flexing and can be cleaned, patched and painted in very little time.

Let me know if you’d like my help!

Jonny B.

[416Jonny]

What do you use to view your pictures with? Most of them have an option to resize the picture. Just remember if you save the picture, save it under a different name. Or all those big, pretty pictures you took will become small, pretty pictures.

[416Jonny]

Looks sound in principle. Roller bearings are not a bad idea.

I would take a few things into consideration though.

Roller bearings by design cannot take an impact (direct thrust) load nearly as well as a solid contact bearing, but I don’t believe a cutter bar is put under that type of load very often, so that might be a moot point.

Lubrication? What type and at what intervals?

From the sickle bar mowers I’ve worked on, they are all fairly universal in construction. I think one of the few older pieces of farm equipment that weren’t really much different from one maker to the next. I don’t see why this wouldn’t work on just about any application.

What are you trying to achieve by using this guard system? I’d be interested in finding out what you’d gain by using it. Could lead to more improvement to the design of these mowers.

I really like those guards though. With support on the top, that’ll help resolve the issue that I’ve seen. The old guards tend to bend upwards (am I preaching to the choir yet?). I think matching bolt holes won’t be a big issue. I think they might not be all that forgiving of a bent bar.

Did the gentleman you referred to say anything about using them?

I’d really like to here about how it works out!

Jonny B.

[416Jonny]

What’s to say it couldn’t happen? A bus ticket, a couch to sleep on, some grub and apparently my passport, now. I’m sure the total cost ($40 round trip on a bus ticket) of my time and maybe some other people’s will be a whole lot less than paying somebody who needs to make a living off of this stuff.

Believe me, I do this kinda stuff for fun. You oughta see my uncle Steve and I. Or the rest of my family. I always seem to get roped into fixing something for somebody.

Jonny B.

[416Jonny]

I almost forgot, Jean, there are some opportunities in Vermont.

Erik Andrus and I plowed out part of a soccer field for a local school back in October. That might be an option. Schools alway leap for more chances to teach kids anything. More so if they don’t have to pay anything for it.

The community garden on the Intervale in Burlington used to be plowed with horses. They use a tractor now, but I think it may have had to do more with being able to have somebody come out to do it with horses more than needing to do it some how cheaper. Of course, there are logistical issues, since you can’t keep horses in Burlington. Which I think is stupid, what’s wrong with having a livery and stable in the city? You can’t drive a car in Burlington hardly any faster than you can drive a wagon….

Jonny B.

[416Jonny]

I might be able to chime in here real quick.

From having turned wrenches, busted rust, greased and painted enough machinery to have the stuff permently embedded in my body, I think I can lend a hand. I swear, I’ll never rot once I die, I’m so full of industrial chemicals.

In choosing machinery, I think the lines to follow are clear, but figuring out where you fit in there isn’t easy. More so when the things you want or need to do with any piece of equipment are always changing.

If you buy a beat up piece of machinery you’re probably going to spend less to start with. However, it may (more often than not, I believe) end up being more hassle than it’s worth. You have to decide how much your time is worth to you and more importantly, your sanity. To me, time is nothing when working for myself or a friend. Money is harder to come by. And sanity, well, that’d break my doctor-patient privilage to get into.

But then again, working on such machinery can do wonders for people. Swelling of pride and knuckles aside, keeping old iron alive drives people to make some very poor and interesting life choices. Hilarity usually insues.

One more part of the old iron side, if you’re not doing a whole lot of work, you made not need to do very much maintenance to your equipment. If you drive a forecart only a few times a month, as long as it’s reasonable well covered, you may not need to check tire pressure once a month or grease wheels bearing more than once every 5-6 years. Or at all for that matter.

If you’re depending on your equipment for a living, it always pays to keep your gear in tip-top shape. Absolutely, no agruement. Which bring us to the other side of the coin.

Brand spanking new equipment!

And boy, is some of it expensive!

But what I’ve seen so far at Animal Power Field Days and used on Bound Brook Farm I can say with certainty that it’s all well made. That Pioneer KV bottom plow of Eriks with proper upkeep should easily last him the rest of his life, his kids and maybe a few more generations. There may need to be a few parts of the plow itself that has to be replaced and was designed to do this relatively easily. Grease is always cheaper than parts, so slather that stuff on!

I like lots of equipment, so I’m a little biased against buying just a three point forecart and using a bunch of little tractor equipment to farm. Certainly can be less expensive if you want new stuff, but equipment designed to be used for a certain task, in a certain manner will always out perform something that has been merely adapted to the situation.

I think some of the members of the forum that have seen and worked with the older horse drawn stuff that ended up being pulled by tractors can attest to how this works. You take a plow that was meant to be pulled slowly and reasonably gently and strap it behind a 20 horse power tractor. Start down the field and let the carnage begin.

While I do think having a piece of equipment for each task you need to pull off is a great way to go if you have the money, I do like HYDRAULIC three point hitches. If you are going to use a forecart, hydraulic is the way to go. With a “wet” system, force is only applied upward. As in, the system is always trying to lift the implement. If your plow is setup right, the plow will want to stay in the ground. So when, not if, you hit an obstacle, the hydraulic lift will help pull it out or over the obstacle. I think that may be more critical for use behind a tractor because of the speed involved, but every little bit helps. Easier than backing up a plow, I think. Easier to lift, too.

It all kind of boils down to what you need, or think you’ll need. “What you think you’ll need” is commonly translated into, “want”.

Either way you go, preventive maintenance will always pay off better than just letting it all fall apart.

You know, just a quick reply.

Jonny B.

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