[OldBuzzard]

I play with old Bolens garden tractors.

Here's a couple of my 'toys' in action:

Bolens 800 w/ Reel Mower Attachment - YouTube

Bolens G10 with Haban Sickle-Mo - YouTube

The Sickle Bar mower is semi-rare, and the front reel mower is VERY rare.

The 800 was built in 1964, and the G10 in 1977.

I also have a snowblower, and a snow plow for them as well.

[Takaharu]

Interesting hobby you've got there. What got you into the garden tractors?

[OldBuzzard]

Bolens 800 Free - mkt value @300.00Snow plow for the 800 free - mkt value @175.00

Rear mounted rotary tiller free - mkt value @200.00

Snow/dirt blade free -mkt value @175.00

Brinly Dump cart free EXTREMELY rare - mkt value @400.00+

I inherited the above from Father-in-law, which is what actually got me started. I thoiught it would be nice to use the 800 to push snow in the winter, but the 800 needed some repairs and TLC to get it working, and the "bug" bit me when I was doing that, so.....

Bought the G10 with a mower deck, snow blower, wheel weights and tire chains for 400.00

Reel mower - STOLE it for 200.00 I wouldn't take less the 400.00 for it.

Haban Sickle -Mower - paid 400.00 which is fair mkt value.

Bolens Hydraulic lift attachment (replaces the TALL lever on the side for lifting attachments) 300.00 again fair mkt value.

Some folks tear these down to the nuts and bolts, and repaint everything, until they look like or even better than new. Those generally end up as "Trailer Queens", never being used for their intended proposes, and just taken to antique tractor shows to be looked at.

Others like me just put them into very good MECHANICAL condition, and leave them in their original "working clothes". We actually work them.

These are actual GARDEN TRACTORS as opposed to the "Riding Lawn Mowers" that are sold today, and you can do things with them that the new tractors are just incapable of. Plowing, disking, etc.

I also have a 2010 Cub Cadet rated at 20HP. It does a great job of mowing the lawn, but I could hook it and the 8HP Bolens 800 draw-bar to draw-bar, and that little Bolens (with it's locking rear differential) would pull the Cub Cadet back wards all day long.

Here's a pic of the 800 with the Snow/Dirt blade, and the Dump Accessory mounted on it.

[mkk]

Handy little things these tractors that's for sure.
The first video could do with some Rammstein.

[steves6403]

thats looks like fun
did you restore it yrself and do all yr own maintainence

ps would like to see closeup pics or vid of the workings

[OldBuzzard]

I do my own maint/repair.

As for pics, etc, something like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaTG8In98DQ]

f you would like something else, ask and I'll see what I can do.

[Judas]

got a friend here that is restoring a Simplicity 700 (think that's right) with the sickle mower, bulldozer, and has a massive flywheel on it allowing it to idle at a rediculiously low rpm and is hard to stallout.

[steves6403]

Certainly a worthy hoby and thx for the pix

[Tyrsonswood]

I used to have an old 2 cylinder Craftsman tractor that I did tractor pulls with.... Fun stuff.

[OldBuzzard]

Time for a little update

Since my last post, I've picked up 2 more tractors.

The 800 and G10 while nice, are gear driven tractors, and I was wanting a hydrostatic for blowing snow this winter. With a hydro transmission, you run the engine at full, or PTO rated speed all the time and use the trans to vary the ground speed. For snow blowing this is very good as you can slow the tractor speed while still keeping the snowblower at max RPM. That keeps you from plugging up the blower.

Another 'extra' with the Bolens hydro tractors is that they have a hydraulic lift as standard. It's driven by the same pump that drives the transmission. Sure make raising and lowering heavy implements effortless.

While the IH Cub Cadet was the first to offer a hydro in garden tractors, Bolens was not far behind. What Bolens did before any of the others though, was use a foot pedal to change ground speed rather than lever on the dash. Definitely makes the hydro a lot easier to use.

Anyway, whilst perusing Craigslist I found a nice Bolens 1256 for sale. The asking price was a bit high, but I decided to at least take a look at it. When I was talking to the seller on the phone, he said that he had some other "stuff" that I might be interested in as well.

After taking a look at, and driving the 1256 a bit I decided that even though if sounded a bit high, the 650.00 asking price wasn't all that high after all, as the tractor was in EXCELLENT condition.

He then showed me the "other stuff" and said that he would take 150.00 for all of it. What was the other stuff?

First was a sleeve hitch. It's an add on that is similar to a 3-point hitch that allows the same implements to be used across all of the tractor lines. Those sell today for 100.00-150.00, so that by itself was almost worth the extra 150.00.

The other "stuff"? That was an EZ-Vac system, which is a dump cart with extended sides, and a 5 Hp engine driving a blower that vacuums your lawn while you mow. That rascal alone was worth more that the 800.00 total asking price.

I danged near broke my arm reaching for my wallet

Here are a couple of pics and a link to a vid of the Ez-Vac in operation.

Bolens 1256 with EZ-VAC System - YouTube

[Cow_160483]

Nice finds Old B

[OldBuzzard]

Then, about a week after the first 1256 'followed me home", I found another 1256 on eBay.

It was a 1256 with a Haban Sickle-Mo, a mower deck, front blade, and rotary tiller. The Sickle-Mo is a semi-rare, and much sought after attachment.

I looked at the location, and it said that it was in Baltimore. I posted that listing on a Bolens forum to alert the "Bolens Guys" in the MD area in case any one there was interested in it.

One of the responses to my post noted that I was mistaken, that the it was in Baltimore OHIO, not in MD

Well now....THAT made a difference as I'm in Ohio

I decided to bid on it, but wasn't going to go real high. I figured that with the Sickle-Mo, and other attachments that it would bring nothing less than 850.00.00, and probably closer to 1,000.00.

Any way, I set my bid for 850.00 max, and much to my surprise, I won it at 760.00.

So, it was time for another road trip. Baltimore OH is about 140 mi from my place in Oberlin.

Now, ONE thing has been CONSTANT with EVERY tractor purchase I've made since moving here. It's RAINED. EVERY TIME. It's RAINED.

When I bought a new Cub Cadet last summer, just as the dealer's truck pulled up to drop it off, there was a cloud burst of Biblical proportions.

Then when I rented a trailer to pickup the G10, it started raining.

The same thing happened with the First 1256.

And now, sure enough, as soon as the trailer hitch met the ball on the pickup...it started raining, and rained on us all the way there and back.

In light of this, I've decided to NAME all of my tractors, much like the WWII fighter pilots named their planes. They are now CloudBurst I thru IV. The only one not named is the 800 since it was here when I arrived, and no rain was involved.

So here, for your perusal, are a few pics of CloudBurst IV, AKA "Ole One Eye"

[Dyre Straits]

So, you've now got, Cloudburst I - IV, and a No-Namer due to No-Rain? How about SUNBURST for that one?

Oh, and, BTW, our own riding mower is a Bolens, too.