TJ's fixing stuff

Okay so, this is a message thread I sent on a discord server (censored for this forum), I need advice lol.  

So today i fricked up...BAD
Actually about a month ago.
So for years I've been driving by this house in my town, and there's an old 70s, 80s John Deere lawn/garden (I dunno) tractor sitting there. It definitely doesn't run.  A month ago I left a note on their door asking if I could buy it.  I said "The worst he can say is no."
Well....
The guy called me today.  He's 58.  He had a stroke 7 years ago, this was not at all an easy conversation to have, it was hard to understand him.  I'm not exaggerating any of this, I swear.  That mower was bought by his grandfather in the 70s.  When his grandfather died young, he left it to his father.  His father used it until he died, and then it was given to this guy (Rod).  He used it until he had his stroke 7 years ago, and ever since then, it sat.  When he got my note, he first thought no way, too many memories, I'm way to attached to it, etc.  His exact words were "it means the world to me."  But he thought about it, and he said, and I quote, "My grandfather smiled down at me from Heaven and said Rod, sometimes you just got to let things go."

I feel so fricking bad.  I kept offering to fix it for him, I said I'd do it for the price of parts, I eventually offered do do it completely free.  He kept saying no I want it to move on to someone else and let you make memories with it.  I feel SO FRICKING BAD.

Don’t feel bad. When you fix it, you are carrying on that tractor’s story. Just be kind and appreciative.

Yeah a few of the best tractors I have were sort of reluctantly given to me or given at a very cheap price... All 3 of my sears tractors were from an old man that died, two of my cubs were family owned since the 70s etc...My 210 deere was my neighbors fathers.... I tend not to sell those machines or if I did I would re-home them to someone that would appreciate....

On a different note. I got a new toy last night!








It does run and drive with the jerry rigged gas tank (old one is full of rust). It'll do close to 40 mph, it's pretty quick. It's a 1982 Honda ATC 110. I paid $300 for it. It has a new CDI, coil, brakes, points, carb has been rebuilt, etc. I'm going to keep it for myself. I'm going to put my ITP Mud Lites on it, and the knobbies that are on it are going to go onto Belle (the MST will probably like that more). I'm going to try to restore the fenders from their traumatic experience where someone molested them with a spray paint can. If I can't restore them, I may paint them red and then save up for reproduction fenders (the cost about $300, but I think it'll be worth it.) I also need to put a new seat on it, which would be about $60 for a proper ribbed, reproduction Honda seat.

So yeah, let me know what you think! I know I'm really excited.

Makes me slightly jealous....

@TheBeal wrote:

Makes me slightly jealous....

Bwahahaha
So I'm not going to clog up this thread with the ATC, but I have decided to sell it.  It is going to be completely immaculate when I sell it, 100% perfect.  I'll have pictures when I'm through with it.

I sold this saw for $150, had about $70 in it.  Echo CS 352.  The guy who bought it was from Louisiana and had evacuated because of the hurricane so he had to buy a saw asap so I met him in the middle of the night to sell it to him.  I also gave him a spare bar and chain that I happened to have in the barn because he needed it more than me.


I sold this saw, bought it running for $40.  Sold it for $105.

It also had a case.

I also sold the Craftsman II for $410, I had about $60 in it.



Also sold this guy for $105.  Got it for free and all I had to do was pound a valve seat back in.



A few nights ago, I picked this mower up for $250.  A little steep, but John Deere's around here can easily go for $700 , and it ran and drove.  This is it after a good paint job.  I have the deck, it needs a belt and then to be put back on.  It is also in about as good of shape as the mower after I painted it.  It is the rarer yellow deck, which is not very common on these STX38s.







The seat was completely shot so I ordered a new one, $80.

Well that pretty much wraps up the John Deere project. I've got $350 in it. I'm going to try messaging a few people and see if I can't trade it for another 4 wheeler. But I've got it listed for $800.

Sold the John Deere for $800.
The ATC is almost done, just waiting on a seat cover. I'm going to list it for $1700.


She turned out really well.
The other day, I went to Holland, Texas, and bought this for $1950. It's a 2016, these are the ones you'd see outside Tractor Supply. Has 4 hours on it. Needed a carb clean and a battery.






2WD with diff lock. Has a Honda GC390. Electric and pull start. Dump bed. IFS and solid rear axle. Dana FNR and diff. CVT. I'm really happy with it. It'll do 22 MPH. Not super great but not bad. I've always wanted a side by side, but it was never worth 4 grand, which is about what they cost. So this was a pretty good deal, so I snagged it.

Awesome man...

Now that should be a handy machine! Pretty cool that it just has a GX series Honda in it, those are real simple to work on.

@MightyRaze wrote:

Awesome man...

Thanks!

@AllisKidD21 wrote:

Now that should be a handy machine! Pretty cool that it just has a GX series Honda in it, those are real simple to work on.

Yeah definitely, especially compared to like what a Polaris Ranger would have. And it's air cooled obviously. Just a lot less to go wrong, I like it. And they really didn't build it with any specific parts, anything on it would be pretty easy to refab or to find new.

The seat cover for the ATC came in.





It turned out really nice. It's going to hurt to see it go. I've got it listed for $1700, I think I can get about that. If I do, I pretty much traded it for my trail wagon, so that's how I'm choosing to look at it.

I've also decided to sell my Ford Explorer. It's just...I dunno. I never drive it anymore, I always take one of the ranch F150s, and now I'm taking the side x side. It's also taking up a parking spot, and it really looks kinda trashy. So I'm selling it as a hunting rig for $700. Someone is supposed to come and get it for $700 tomorrow.



This little guy I got like 3 months ago. I bought a new carb for it which was like $10. It came with 5 different intake gaskets. I had absolutely no clue which ones I was supposed to use or which order to use them. I screwed around with it for a while and then gave up. I tried no gaskets and I couldn't even get the engine to pop. Then Sunday I took the old carb, took it apart, and put it in my ultrasonic cleaner, and put it back on with no gaskets, and now it runs perfectly. So uh...okay. It's pretty neat, 5 speeds, has an actual hand throttle, and it kills by grounding the coil, not by just simply closing the throttle. Has a manual PTO too, so you have to manually engage the blade. If I didn't have an AWD Husky I'd probably keep it as my personal mower. I've got $125 on it and a couple people interested.





This is some cheapo Harbor Freight generator that I got like 3 months back as well. Couldn't get the thing to run by cleaning the carb with just carb cleaner, but the other day I stuck it in my ultrasonic cleaner and now it runs perfectly. Sold it for $60 the other day. It's 2 stroke.





I'm supposed to go buy these for $70 in a few days. They just need the carbs cleaned.

Do you have the link or something for that ultrasonic carb clearner? Sounds like it might be worth investing in...

Sure thing.

Ultrasonic cleaner.

I've cleaned like 7 carbs with it so far, usually it only takes about 45 minutes.  The timer on it goes up to 99 minutes.  The fluid does get pretty hot and will damage rubber components, so you can't put the needle in it, and it will destroy gaskets.  So be sure to fully disassemble.  But from my experience it doesn't damage floats or any plastic components at all.

I use this stuff in it.  The cleaner is designed for water.  That stuff also says do not agitate.  Mustie1 uses the same stuff on his ultrasonic cleaner, and I'm basically going to say the same thing he says.  It is flammable, it is not designed to be agitated, however it works extremely, extremely well in an ultrasonic, better than water, and I have not had a single issue with it, and Mustie said he's been doing it for years, and his words were, use at your own risk. There are several other people on YouTube, Andrew Camarata comes to mind, who have ultrasonic cleaners and run water in them, and it works fabulous for them. Also, just a heads up, that Berrymore stuff smells absolutely terrible.

Okay, good to know. Thanks! I'm gonna look into getting one.

Sold the John Deere and picked up the 2 mowers from the cop in the next town over. Paid $70 for them both. They're like brand new. The Murray has a Briggs with a hecking PLASTIC CARBURETOR. What the hell. Had to blow a jet out and it runs perfectly now.





The Huskee has a Powermore. Just had to soak it in my ultrasonic cleaner and now it runs perfectly too. I've got them listed for $90 each.






So that's pretty neat. They shouldn't be hard to sell.

Yeah I'm not a fan of those plastic carbs. They're actually nothing new though, Briggs has been using plastic carburetors for years.

@AllisKidD21 wrote:

Yeah I'm not a fan of those plastic carbs. They're actually nothing new though, Briggs has been using plastic carburetors for years.

Yeah I'm not surprised.  I've just never run into one before, lol.

So I drove to Fort Worth, Texas today to get a trailer.
This is how the trailer looked when we left.  Nothing crazy.  8 foot, tilt trailer, perfect for hauling mowers, my side x side, branches,


whatever.

And...well...about Killeen it was 8:30 PM, I was tired, I'd been up since 4, and my dad said he'd drive the rest of the way.



And this is how the trailer looked when we got it home. Basically he missed the turn 3 miles from our house.  Then he was like "Oh okay yeah I'm not towing a trailer or anything" threw it into reverse stomped on the gas OH SH*T
He gave me a margarita so I won't kill him and he's going to pay for parts to fix it but of course I have to do all the labor.  Oh well, it's not too bad.  Good excuse to do some welding.

Which I don't mean this as a bad on my dad thing. He's never pulled a trailer before until today. He has no clue how to back one up either. He's a computer programmer, not a rancher.

Well, so I got my trailer put back together last night.








It's 8'x4'. It is a tilt trailer, it does have a crank winch on it. I'm very happy with it. It's not the nicest trailer in the world, but I think I made out pretty well. I paid $520 for it. Not a screaming deal, but I don't think I overpaid.

Mantis approved it looks like.

@MightyRaze wrote:

Mantis approved it looks like.

Yup!

Welp I just sold my ATC for $1000.  I already miss it a lot.  But I had a really good reason, which I told a few people.  Anyway.  Ya, I miss it a lot.

Also, I'm taking next month off from buying and fixing stuff because bow season.