Well, you know the rest of the saying. I hooked up bush hog yesterday morning, took longer because the tractor linkage and bush hog both were weathered from not being hooked up in a while. Then after a lot of mowing the tractor overheated. Radiator hose broke, lost all water. I had enough sense to let the tractor sit and cool off slowly overnight. This is a Long tractor, Fiat design and is 36 years old. Bottom hose has two short pieces joined by a steel tube with a right angle turn. I noticed that the tube was almost ready to have a hole because of the rust from the 36 years. After dinner I decided I need to weld the hole and tried welding with a torch and a piece of clothes hanger. Brazing would have worked better but I didn't have the brass rods, etc. Gave up on the torch and tried the AC stick welder with 1/16 6013 rods. Kept burning through, finally thought I had it finished, then spotted another hole. Wised up and used a DC welder and had enough success to call the job finished. If time had permitted I would have gone to cousins who have a wire welder and got one of them to try it. Anyway, I took the repairs and some water to the field where I spent a huge amount of time putting the hose assembly back on. I had replaced that hose a few years ago and don't remember any trouble, but to be fair I think that time involved having the radiator off which made the hose installation easier. Put water in and drove back across the road home. I want to run it a little tomorrow and then drain the water out, hoping to get rid of some crud in the system.
KEH
