The Daily Yardman Thread

[Boobala]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

Hey Clyde,
Beings you're from Florida, Did you get to register your truck as an "antique" or "horseless-carriage" before the state changed the vehicle age from 20 to 30 years ??? Pissed me off big time, I was set to get my "antique plate" next year for my "98 rice-burner Toyota". Way back once you got either plate you NEVER had to pay the registration fee ever again .

 

[Roger B]

1994 Ford F-150

Clyde,

You said the engine was a straight-six and called it a 4.9L. I used to buy E-150 vans with what was called the "300 six", is that the same engine? (Before the 300 they used to be 240's) Damn engines were bullet proof! I knew a company that bought one brand new and never changed the oil for 96,000 miles! That's right, never! All they ever did was add a quart every now and again and it ran that long before sludge plugged it up and it coughed it's cookies.. That is the only 300-six I ever heard of that died.

My vans were loaded to the point that every once and a while I'd break a leaf-spring in one of them. I have no idea what they hauled for weight, but I'd say a two-ton trailer shouldn't tax that engine too badly.

Back in 2003 I had an '99 F150 with the 5.4L V8 (the previous one had a 4.6L V-8). It had been my company truck and I bought it from the company for personal use as Becky and I decided to take a two-year sabbatical and tour the USA and Canada with a 23' tow-behind trailer. That truck had 125,000 miles on it before we left on that trip. I had been reading RV mags about people having transmission problems with tow vehicles. (Mostly Dodges.) And I got to wondering how my tranny would do with long term towing, so I installed a transmission temperature gauge. That gauge never budged off the pin until we were way out West in 2004 going up over a 12,000-foot pass. Then it went up to 230 degrees F, but came right back down after we started down the other side. We covered 46,000 miles over 18 months on that trip and when we finally sold that truck it had 210,000 miles and everything worked except for the A/C, the bearings were gone in the compressor.

I don't remember, but in your detailed list, did you specify how many miles were on the odometer?

By the way, I currently own a Hyundai Santa Fe Sport with a non-turbo 2.4L four-banger in it. It currently has 70,000 miles on it and I tow a one-ton boat&trailer well over 3,000 miles with it every year. ( I don't want to hear any crap about owing a Korean car either! The engine and transmission were both manufactured in the US and the vehicle was assembled in Georgia!)

You live in FL which is pretty much flat, unless you live in "Mount" Dora where "huge" hills soar to 184-feet above sea-level! I don't think that will tax your tranny too much! (Especially with all the fancy extras you've added.)

I'd say, "Tow Away!!"

Rog

 

[Roger B]

H/D Turn signal flashers for tow vehicles

Clyde,

You may want to upgrade your flasher to a Bussman #232, rated for 25 amps incase you have a trailer with standard filament lamps instead of the newer (lower wattage) LED lamps.

Just a suggestion..

Rog

 

[Roger B]

MISSING MEMBER

Currently, all efforts are going into locating "Pumper54" a.k.a. 'Tom', who we believe is from Montgomery, TX and was supposed to be on a motorcycle trip from there to Maine this month, but has disappeared..

Please, if you are a follower of this thread and think you can help in anyway, read the "Missing Member" thread on the MTD forum and do what you can to help us find our friend.

Thank you!

Roger B

 

[Boobala]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

About our friend (pumper54) -(Tom) we are asking ,if you have any information at all about his address, phone # or email , does he have family ( pretty sure he's married) if you know even the slightest bit of information , PLEASE
either post here on this thread or the Missing Member thread with much appreciation ...
Boobala & the MTD Transaxle Rebuild gang

 

[Boobala]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

About our friend (pumper54) -(Tom) we are asking ,if you have any information at all about his address, phone # or email , does he have family ( pretty sure he's married) if you know even the slightest bit of information , PLEASE
either post here on this thread or the Missing Member thread with much appreciation ...
Boobala & the MTD Transaxle Rebuild gang

UPDATE .... Success !!! just heard back from Montgomery FD ,he used to work there, Tom is somewhere NEAR the Mass area , he is with a friend and is ok, ... expecting to hear from him soon either through Roger or the FD .. Stay tuned .........

 

[BlazNT]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

Thank goodness. Sounds like he was just taking the long way.

 

[Roger B]

MISSING MEMBER -Found

All Hands:

Tom has been located and is safe and sound. (Unfortunately he is in Mass.) All I have to say about that is, with apologies to anyone from Mass, - I'd rather crawl though a desert composed of broken bottles than have to even drive across that state - but that's neither here nor there. And I DO have to drive through Mass in order to head South, it's just not my favorite place to be. Hopefully he will escape unscathed..

He IS heading for Maine and he may try to catch up with me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!

Thanks to everyone who helped.. It was Willy's asking about his 'handle' that triggered my memory of what he did for work and that got us hooked up with the Fire Department in his home town. Evidently they contacted his family and they contacted him..

All is well..

Roger

 

[Roger B]

NEW TOPIC - THOR Engines

OK, now that Tom has been located, things can return to normal and we can open and discuss new, eclectic topics.

I don't think that I mentioned it on this thread, but yesterday I went on an all day fishing trip with my step-son. Each summer, we try to find a decent sized lake here in Maine that we haven't fished before and we plan an all day trip, so we can hit it hard and see how well we do. Well, this year we chose Messalonskee Lake in Oakland, Maine. Messalonskee is a beautiful lake in the Belgrade Lakes area, with a surface area of over 3,500 acres and depths of over 100-feet, however, the fishing was horrible! The worst day's fishing either one of us have ever put in! We fished from just after 8AM until 4:30 PM and you couldn't have fed a decent sized Maine coon cat with what we caught.

However, we did tie up to and explore a small island at one end of the lake. The island jutted straight up out of the water with about 15' to 18' banks. It wasn't very large, maybe 100-feet by 75-feet but on top we discovered some old bricks and some old machinery. There were the remains of a small boiler and an old water-heater tank, a large, old fashioned, double, cast-iron, kitchen sink and a stationary single cylinder engine. Laying next to the engine was some sort of controller with the name "THOR in cursive letters cast on it's face.

Today I looked up Thor stationary engines (the one we found was mounted on a concrete slab) and found out that Thor (in the same script lettering) was the name of a motorcycle built in the early teens by the Aurora Automatic Machine Company, which was started in Aurora, Illinois in the 1880's. I couldn't find out any information on any stationary engines made under that name, but the letters were printed exactly the same, so I expect they were indeed the manufacturer.

I was wondering if any of you guys are vintage 'one-lunger' or 'make & break' engine enthusiasts? Maybe one of you knows something about Thor engines??

Here is some information and the Thor logo in the same script as what was on the part we found: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_(motorcycles)

Roger

 

[Pumper54]

Re: MTD Yardman Transaxle Rebuild

Pumper is safe and sound in Maine, you guys are killing me here, had a call from the fire department which went to voice mail as I was on my motorcycle dodging stupid people on Massachusetts highways. As was reported my buddy and I were safe in Massachusetts and now we outside of Bangor Maine. Roger, like I said in the PM we will not be able to swing by but when you all come down to Texas we will meet you all and you are welcome to park your rig in my driveway if you wish. Heading to Madawaska in the morning and then heading to Seattle. Will try to get everyone updated.
Tom