New guy - Ohio

[creekcrawler]

First post here. Been lurking and getting info for over a year now.
Thanks everyone, lotsa good info to be had!

Over a year ago, traded some bags of Lake Erie yellow perch fillets to a friend
for his old 1450. I was told, "Hey, runs great, buuuuutt......"

It was rather neglected and hodge-podged. Needed some love.
Things like reverse didn't work. Looked like points & carb were original.
He even offered the mower deck, "You can weld right?"
Why do people think that when steel is thicknes of a paper bag it's weldable??

I spent about 6 months getting everything straightened out. Didn't want to buy any attachments til I was sure it was a good runner.

In six months I -
-Replaced choke and throttle controls. PO had screwed replacements on to the side of the cowling! Replaced with oem stuff where it belonged.
-Cleaned trans valves in solvent & blew them out - got reverse running.
-New points & plugs & rebuilt carb.
-Promptly drained the new battery, was in a rush to charge it, didn't pay attention and charged the battery in reverse. That promptly blew the coil.
-Got a new air cleaner assembly on it - my bud was running it without.
-Replaced broken tail lights.
-Replaced patched & leaking fuel tank.
-Got my bud to find the dang side panels in his shed. He found them.
The day after I received two new ones from Ebay!
-Replaced what was left of the motor mounts.


After I got her "debugged", I found a 44 deck for her. It's like brand new,
looked like someone never even used it!
This fall, I picked up a nice 36" blower. Sandblasted it, painted it & painted the interior with EasySlide.
Just put lights on her, someone had removed the originals!

This puppy runs like a beast now!
Starts like a new car, even with the cold weather!
I must say, this tractor is built like bulldozer!

The lights were got on sale at an AutoZone for $10 each. Made a 1/8"
bracket that bolts under the hood hinge and cut some holes in the grill.
Seemed like a sturdier way than mounting them to the grill, and way cheaper than original stuff.

Here's some pics -







Some pics of the headlight bracket install.







Here's some pics of my old ride. Love my David Bradley, but it lacks things. Like reverse, brakes, four wheels. . .
She's sorta stuck being a show piece in the garage now.