Shop Time w/T.W. Friends

Good morning guys, have a great weekend!

Grandma decided we needed to clean out and mulch the kids front planter beds while they are at the hospital. So we spent yesterday afternoon weeding, raking out, planting rose bushes and spreading 20 bags of mulch. Headed to Lowe’s again today to get more mulch and plants for the other side.

 

Good morning everyone, it’s Saturday time to work on everything you put off all week. Regardless have a great and blessed day.

 

@RustyGreen , know anything about old toro's?

from what i can find online, it's a 1960's vintage toro 'snow hound'? that i got at a church rummage sale for $10. really strong compression, extremely unique single stage, metal blade snow thrower. all the lines were updated at some point, and cables are all greased, definitely an old man's snow thrower. the engine block is painted white instead of red, indicating it's not original. but there's no model number markings anywhere i can find right away besides an engine serial number tag.

the removable engine plate setup makes me want to find other components that work with it!

 

I doubt it’s the one my father had years ago that he gave away to my ex-brother in-law but he had the same thing that he would switch from the snow thrower to a lawnmower and even a tiller for his garden in the spring. Worked great and ran great.

 

That looks like a death machine if I ever did see one

 

That's the first thing I thought too, geeze that thing is wild...

 

It was a monster to handle tilling which I only did a few times but mowed the grass many. You change the motor from one set up to next in less than 5 minutes. Also has a lever you can push down and adjust the handle to whatever height was comfortable for you.

 

Daughter out grew her bike, so I spent the last weeks worth of breaks at work working through the bearings and stuff on a free bike. Then today I refitted her training wheels to this bike, put some scooter wheels with bearings on instead of the noisy plastic ones. Now to get her outside to try it.. I've promised her access to the spray paint to customize it as she wishes

 

Doing chores today. Got to take care of firewood, so had to move the square sterns. Here’s the new ride behind the old ride. (15’ behind the 13’). Should be better when I take the wife and kiddo out fishing. Great way to utilize this 60 degree day. Happy Saturday everyone!!

 

That would have come home with me for twice the money

 

People were tougher back then...
I have a 1968 Ariens blower with a clutch like a vehicle - there is no operator present control, you release the lever and off it goes.

 

It has been a busy day...

Damn, Sam... Talk about burning the ol' fuel. Usually I get 19 - 22 with steady highway driving.



Of course that led to this...



Had to stop for my favorite budget lunch, pizza special at The Club for $2.76.

 

And back at the garage - in the rain.



This Rube Goldberg looking machine is the grandfather of modern zero turn mowers - a Yazoo 60" front deck "Master Mower" made in Jackson, Mississippi.



The deck is shaft driven, as the trailer is 60" wide and the deck is about 61" we took it off.



The engine is a 2 cylinder Wisconsin, some readers might not be surprised...

As it is currently raining pretty good and the tires are all flat (all 3 of 'em) this might just stay on the trailer tonight.

 

Random observations:

This was a 200 mile highway run with the trailer, it weighs about 1000 pounds empty, I pull it around town all the time and aren't really conscience of it, for that service the Tacoma is fine.

I have pulled it with an XJ Cherokee, F 150, F 250 and now the Tacoma.

Empty on the fairly flat I could run at 65 in sixth gear, the dash display settled in about 15 so a 5 to 6 mpg loss - I attribute this to the air resistance of the trailer tailgate more than the weight.

Loaded it was fifth gear and mileage dropped to 14 or less.

I reset the display when I got off the highway, it is 10 miles of straight 40 - 50 mph road, in fourth gear that showed 16.3, with no trailer this would normally show 25 or better on this stretch.

I have pulled it many miles with both of the Fords and it never made much difference, the F- 150 got 12 mpg all the time, the F-250 got up to 11 on the highway.

No real point to make here, the XJ is probably a better puller than the Tacoma due to the torque curve being at so much lower rpm with the in line six.

Both Fords with V8 engines are far superior as well.

For the entire trip I wondered how the heck do the guys with racks, heavy builds or towing campers do this regular?

 

Road trip comeuppance story:

I was motorin' along, singin' a song (Nanci Griffith today) and suddenly this little broken spring looking fart can equipped car bellows by me, engine turning 5 grand -- sounds like a hair dryer with a megaphone...

Well he was clicking along in the show off lane at 75-80 and just about the time he disappeared over the next rise a gray Tahoe smoothly sailed past just about pacing fart can kid. As I crested the rise I could see the Tahoe hanging back about 1/4 mile.

Crest the next rise and see red & blue flashing lights on an off ramp.

 

Sure it wasn't my old Talon?

 

They do it but constantly complain about the gas mileage their overweight brick gets.

Speaking of Tacomas and gas mileage, my wife said depending on how the numbers all cook up, we might be looking at a '24 Tacoma with a Hybrid. If it's anything like her Highlander, I'll take it.

 

This one was red. The exhaust did have an oil burning smell though .
Funny how driving around in second gear all the time wears the engine out, who would have thunk it?
IDK what model, most of them seem to look pretty much the same.

 

I will lose 4-5 mpg's with a strong headwind, but if the truck's computer is somewhat correct I've averaged right around 20 lifetime.

 

I'd get close to 22mpg in the warmer months in the '21 that was auto. The '22 manual has been struggling to maintain 19-20 with the way I've been driving it. I run er' through all dem gears...