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And as you can see in the last brace picture, I've got the engine mounted in, PTO belt bracket in place- it's all installed and ready to rock. Today, I'll get the pedestal drilled, mounted, and some controls back in place (uh... the throttle...)... then I'll stick the steering wheel and bodywork bac...

Oh, and while I was doing all that... I scrubbed the worst of the crud and excess weldment off the pedestal and hit it with a coat of whatever-white-paint I could find. Yes, the rosette welds aren't totally full, but they're more than sufficient to hold, and like I said- this one will shovel $#it in...

Last night's progress... well... sorta. I had one location flooded-out in Houston, one machine being repaired in North Dakota, one getting a new load-cell in Pennsylvania, and three ice-crews working in Wyoming and Idaho, so I was on the phone more than working...

Not the locomotive, but perhaps I'll have to clean up the cylinders on the 50hp Flory hoisting engine in the back driveway. I'm hoping they're not too bad, but that project won't start 'till after the big shop building is up... I need the overhead crane, concrete floors, heat and light... I'm turnin...

And by the way... only a few brave folks have asqued kwestshuns, so the rest'a 'yall must either know the answers, or are utilizing my thread here as a treatment for insomnia...

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......................................

SO... we all know that the pedestal mounting bolts are a frequent area of fatigue. Some of it is because the operator is hangin' on the steering wheel. Some is because the machine twists on it's central axis (longitudinal), and some is because the machine flexes (bows) in the middle. The longitudina...

And this morning:

And more...

Last Night's progress...

Dave, did you leave the left plate long for a reason? I left and right the left and right plate wrong for a long reason! :lol: Yes, I left them long because I have a possible future use for them up there, but won't do anything with them 'till after I get the loader back on, and do some experimentat...

Have I overwhelmed your eyes yet?

And a few more...

And this morning...

Last two for tonight... Shower TIme!

Welding... hot glue... squirt-gun of the gods...

Okay, so it's Wednesday... middle of a week-long rotation of night-phone/on-call duty, which this time-of-year, can be really stressful at times. Today, I managed to get out of the office by 10:30, and it's surprisingly quiet (knock knock) so I had the Mutt on trailer, pulled into the company shop f...

Today, I picked up a MOOG kit to install into the engine cradle mount system. Somewhere along the way, one of my mounts came unbolted, and plain old fell out, and I never found it again... so it'll go back in with new. After seeing them, these new ones they're shaped differently, and they're harder ...

I've decided that this bracket really doesn't need to be removed ever... and it would be best, considering it's load, to have it attached in such a way that it cannot shift... so I'm going to drill it, clean the frame beneath, clamp and rosette weld it in several places, then fillet weld around the ...

So it was busy in the office all last night, didn't get much done, but a little anyway...

This morning's work...

More CubPorn...

On the subject of clearances...
Yeah, here's details of how the Vanguard twin actually 'fits'...

I wanted to use a QL fuel tank... but there's not quite enough headroom underneath the hood... I'd hafta cut a hole in it and make a 'shaker' scoop to hide it... :roll: But that's okay... I really want a 5-gallon or so capacity. Also, I'm gonna take the Group 24 battery off the rack in the back, rem...

So with everything but a fuel tank in there...

Hey TIm! Well, there's some parts that look easy, and some that are easier said than done. Many are easier by virtue of the tools at hand... but not having the tools doesn't make it impossible. The MOST important part of any project, is seeing something in your head, and believing that it CAN be don...

Now, I haven't mentioned the details of fitting the Vanguard into the IHCC frame. It has WF pedestal, grille, and hood, but I built Loader-Mutt with a frame and engine cradle from a QL-series tractor. When I did, I welded braces between the soft-suspension engine mounts, because they naturally shake...

Great Work, Paula!

So, the driveshaft situation... I knew that the Vanguard block would fit I THINK Keith Ehrecke used a 'stub shaft' adapter, either from B&S, or from Midwest SuperCub. Those I see are about a hundred-fifty bucks, and the result is a 5/8" stub to connect to whatever. I don't recall how Keith coupled h...

And here's the driveshaft... think it'll work?

The most important ingredient in Chili, is TIME.
To properly add the most important ingredient, one must have PATIENCE...