John Deere 68

I picked this up from a former coworker last weekend.  Flat tire, torn up seat, wouldn't turn over, bad carburetor.  Zane and I ran down and picked it up last Saturday.  Even though the mower deck is in good shape we took it and the bagging attachments off after we got home.  When we pulled the inner cowling the gunk was so thick on the carb that the governor and some of the throttle linkage would not move.  We removed few additional shields and then pressure washed the mower. 
The left front tire would not hold air.  Being it was tubeless I decided to try an old trick.  First I pumped it full of air and then held the wheel under a garden hose.  Sure enough, air leaked around the bead - but even better - it was only on one side.  So I pried that side of the tire back a little and shot it with some lube and then pumped it up, it has held 5 days now.  Checked the plug, changed oil, cleaned air and fuel filters (will need to replace them this winter), shot carb with carb cleaner, put new fuel in and charged the battery (see here). 
Then on Monday I bought a new battery.  Then I removed the old torn seat and replaced with one I had received for Christmas a few years ago.  Thanks to Bill Shortz for the help on that. We then put a little fuel in the carb it after a couple of cranks it fired up.

Here are the kids riding it.

Just wait until tomorrow.

Really.  I have an announcement coming tomorrow.

Reverse Charged my Battery - NOW WHAT????

Yep.
Red-on-black and black-on-red.
I had the charger on it for about 10 minutes before I realized what I had done. 
Yep.
Dumba$$.
It is my "new" JD 68 riding mower. 
My new restoration project. 
If I would turn the key would that make it my new explosion?
Dumba$$.

Max Armstrong and the Politics Express

Here comes Max Armstrong as engineer on what I called the Politics Express. 

Yep.  Max is pulling 7 manure spreaders.  I still don't think that rig can keep up with the Washington DC crowd though.

Rantoul Oliver 2655 2255 Stieger 1 and WoodsCopeland on parade

More Power

Here is the dashboard of Big Blue. Yep 2 keys - 1 for each engine.

A view of the hood of the dual engine 8850 by Kinze.

Heritage Iron had a display of "Muscle Tractors" that was really a neat sight.

Zane wanted his picture taken with this Versatile.  He thought it looked cool.  I tend to agree.