Feature Tractor For February 2020

I thought I would nominate my 1966 Bolens 650 which I bought last year. I was attracted to it since it's the same age as me coupled with the fact it was a no frills one year model. I bought it in Suffolk,UK and collected it from Somerset about a 90 minutes drive away from me. The guy fork lifted it into my van...

 

I decided I wanted to retain its originality as much as possible. The guy I bought it off said he bought it as part of a clearance job where it was at the back of the garage untouched for some 20 years. First off I cleaned out the fuel tank, replaced the lines, fuel tap & sediment bowl as well as replacing the oil & air filter and the transmission oil. All the grease points were greased up and the front tyres were replaced. There was no steering so I nicked one off my 850. New belts were installed and a new exhaust put on after carefully removing the rusted on remnants of the earlier one. A mate of mine sonic cleaned the carburetor and renewed the carburetor with a carb kit. I got a few odds and sods from the States such as the gear levers knobs & the glass lamps on the front. To preserve the patina I oiled it with Owatrol to enhance the paint. It fires up well with no smoke and I managed to finish it prior to the annual RPT show in Sussex in August 2019. It drives well and I used it in the working area at the show using a Brinly Plough and cultivator. My niece drove it at the show and gave it a good work out even though the clay soil was hard as rock due to the hot summer we had. I got a set of wheel weights off a fellow UK owner and they look great on the back of the 650. I also attached a sleeve hitch onto it as well. I plan to replace the front tyres with more appropriate style tyres at some point. I hope to store and use it at one of my customers' garden this year as I use my 600 at another property.