VERY FRUSTRATING belt installation on 59 David bradley part 1

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]Okay. And a new day. This is Monday.

[00:00:04]So, main goal today is get the belts on the drive system for going forward.

[00:00:59]That is carriage bolt. There's a nut.

[00:01:03]I'm going to clean this up.

[00:01:05]Then we'll be back. I'm going to try to get some grease in there somehow.

[00:01:17]Okay, guys. So, a couple of you guys spotted it in the background.

[00:01:24]Uh, this is later this year. I have to find the original engine and I got to find a couple parts.

[00:01:33]Uh, and I have to buy new tires for it.

[00:01:36]What this is a 1952 David Bradley walkbehind. I want to find a Sulky for it. Uh, and a couple other things. I'd like to find a snow plow.

[00:01:49]Uh, so if anyone near me has anything they would want to get rid of for this thing, let me know.

[00:02:00]This is missing. You see that's supposed to have one of those over here. I'm going to try looking somewhere else. I have a guy that's four or five hours and away from my uh stepfather in Wisconsin that has parts, but you know, if I don't have to make the trip all the way up there, I don't really want to. So, a local kid contacted me with a picture and says, "This is in uh Westville scrapyard."

[00:02:34]I hit him back with, "Grab it for me."

[00:02:38]I'm not much into walkbehinds, but it is what it is, and I like it. So, the goal is this hub's got to come out. I'm going to get a tires for it. These are 16inch rims. If the rims are in bad shape, I can find those. Uh, what is weird about this, this weed guard is usually always missing on the sickle bar and it's there.

[00:03:10]So, this is a future project.

[00:03:15]This got to get all fixed up.

[00:03:18]you know, it needs work.

[00:03:22]So, if you guys seen it in the background, yeah, it's supposed to have a model in Briggs on it.

[00:03:35]I've got a hookup on possibly one. We have to see, but uh if nothing else, I'll uh find me a parts machine.

[00:03:47]or something and maybe uh you know work on this one later this year. I'd like to get it going before the Valpo show.

[00:04:00]So anyway, let's get back at the 59.

[00:04:05]Uh I've got the belts here. I got the pulley soaking because uh I noticed somebody has greased it before via a uh needle thing and I can't find my needle thing.

[00:04:20]So, it'll be all right. Um, so yeah, let's get these belts on and then we'll go from there. I got to adjust this. I got to We're going to move out the pulley that I put on. It's going to Oh, come on.

[00:04:45]It's going to be uh running off the correct groove.

[00:04:58]Same goes with this. If anybody has any parts for this, let me know. I am looking for the belt guard for it.

[00:05:16]I think uh 59 through 61.

[00:05:22]If nothing else, I'm going to try to make one.

[00:05:28]So, like I said, this has to be adjusted.

[00:05:32]Uh before we go too too far, the belts need to go on 5/8 by 70.

[00:05:52]Okay, I forgot this belt. You go like that and then like so.

[00:06:04]And then after we get uh that, I have to put a belt bolt right there to kind of hold that.

[00:06:22]Run that up the sleeve.

[00:06:26]5/8 by 29.

[00:06:53]Okay, these are always Oh, helps. If uh the belt is on correctly, that would do it.

[00:07:30]Okay. So, now let's see if it'll go.

[00:07:42]All right, that belt is there.

[00:08:26]Uh, okay.

[00:08:42]I'm looking. See if you guys are seeing what I'm seeing.

[00:08:48]Oh, you you're not even looking.

[00:09:01]Let me look at uh the other one really quick and see. Okay, those are the bolts that the other one have or have 58 29 5/8 x 7 uh 70.

[00:09:55]Why is this thing being so stubborn?

[00:10:32]It's almost like I got It's almost like I need a 71.

[00:10:42]Let me look at the manual and see cuz the part number for the back belt is actually wore off that other one. I know this one's correct.

[00:10:59]So, all right, we're going to try something a little bit different.

[00:11:18]Got that belt.

[00:11:35]and take this belt loose.

[00:11:46]Now take this belt loose.

[00:11:55]Okay. So take this.

[00:12:05]Go like so.

[00:12:11]I have a feeling this top I did it on the other one.

[00:12:50]Okay. So, take this You don't do this very often, then you tend to forget.

[00:14:54]Son of a gun.

[00:14:58]You need to go.

[00:15:34]Look at this.

[00:16:12]Okay.

[00:17:19]You know what?

[00:17:31]Let's try that.

[00:18:01]Yeah.

[00:18:06]You know, something tells me that something's off.

[00:18:24]I don't know if it's the because I got the newer arm on or what, but something is off.

[00:18:35]We're going to need a longer belt cuz this should slip right on. and I'm fighting. So, something's wrong. So, let me go see if I can't find something because I have a feeling if we can get a slight slighter bigger belt somewhere, it would slide right on and be okay.

[00:19:22]But yeah, let let me do that and we'll see.

[00:19:32]And I know why this thing's being a pain in the rear, too, because this one doesn't have the adjuster.

[00:19:40]All right.

[00:19:49]So, so I'm going to tell you guys something.

[00:19:55]All right.

[00:19:57]These are the correct size belts that it's supposed to take. But like anything, when you try to snitch match stuff, stuff's bound not to work correctly.

[00:20:10]You know, take my truck for example.

[00:20:16]It's all hodge podge together. I'll tell you that right now.

[00:20:21]I've got I've got an engine for a 4x4 in it, which has a bigger cam than stock. I got a transmission for a V6.

[00:20:37]uh engine behind a 350 V8.

[00:20:44]You know, the computer does not like having an EGR valve in it. You know, it's everything is like weird.

[00:20:55]But hey, you know what?

[00:20:58]You get it to where you want where you don't have problems. What I'm trying to say. So, you know, this is hodge podge because there's different years of parts on it, and that's what I'm fighting.

[00:21:14]So, let's get this belt off.

[00:21:25]The hardware store didn't have a belt, so I ended up going to Teros.

[00:22:09]So, this is a 5/8 by 71 inch belt.

[00:22:14]It's for an MTD, so the V might not be exactly right, but you know what?

[00:22:23]Oh, well, it's another one of those things of Oh, that's why.

[00:22:42]That's right.

[00:22:50]All right. So, All right, let me get the bolt for here and then we will uh see how it uh it might not pull very good. But we have to also set the uh belts which see about getting this a little bit tighter.

[00:24:23]All right, let me get this taken care of and then uh we will uh set the belts.

[00:24:42]So, how you adjust the belts is you loosen these two bolts up on the uh speed changer.

[00:24:54]And you get it to where one belt is all the way out, the other one is all the way in.

[00:25:02]And that's how you set them.

[00:25:06]This one, it might need set, it might not. I'm gonna spire it up and we're gonna see. It might be fine where it's at. I have to look at it for right now.

[00:25:19]And then after running, it might need adjusted. And sorry, it's getting windy.

[00:25:25]I got a little bit of wetness on the crank seal starting, but that's all right.

[00:25:32]What do you expect for an old thing? So, let me get those broke free and we'll uh set those set it.

[00:25:44]All right, let's get it started up and make sure it's not going to go drive away.

[00:25:55]Now, the clutch is not set exactly.

[00:25:58]That's why I said we have to make sure it doesn't drive away.

[00:26:42]Heat. Heat.

[00:26:48]Heat.

[00:27:06]Heat.

[00:27:41]Heat. Heat.

[00:27:59]Heat.

[00:28:23]Heat. Heat.

[00:28:29]Heat. Heat.

[00:29:07]All right, that is good. I just had to tap it forward a little bit. Oh, that's a little hot.

[00:29:16]Wonder why.

[00:29:18]So, yeah, I'm going to get the work table cleaned off and we're going to run it up there and uh get to work on uh uh the back end.

[00:29:43]It wasn't far out of adjustment at all.

[00:29:46]Okay, I got it kind of lined up. Not fully, but it'll do. Now, one of the comments on a video says that I should back up a tractor up these ramps. You can't do that.

[00:30:01]You want all the weight on the back tires when you're going up to to uh have to get the traction. And if you back up the ramps, all the weight will end up on the front end and you'll lose traction.

[00:30:23]I've done it. I know how it is.

[00:30:37]Oh yeah.

[00:30:50]Heat. Heat.

[00:31:18]Heat. Heat.

[00:31:43]All right, let's get this rear tire off.

[00:32:09]This was just off the a couple weeks ago.

[00:32:48]I got to get the bolt out because I broke it when I uh was working on it a couple weeks ago.

[00:32:56]So, I got to get that out of the hub before we can continue with anything else.

[00:33:04]So, yeah, this is coming off. Uh, the clutch is getting adjusted correctly.

[00:33:09]It's a little bit out.

[00:33:12]Uh, new belts getting put on.

[00:33:19]This is getting freed up. The reverse cable roller that's frozen.

[00:33:27]Yeah, there's quite a bit stuff that needs to be done. Let's start off with getting that bolt out.

[00:33:41]It's just spinning out.

[00:33:48]It was fatigued. I found that out when I after the head broke off. I'm like, son of a gun.

[00:34:03]Can't take it out this side because uh there's a uh flat spot or shoulder on the bolt where there's no threads.

[00:34:24]Yes, we do have a axle seal leaking.

[00:34:33]No, I ain't doing anything about it right now.

[00:35:08]Oh, I guess there wasn't a uh shoulder on that part of the bolt, but yeah, I broke it right off.

[00:35:18]So, the meantime, I'm going to put a bolt back in it.

[00:35:50]But ultimately, I'll have that loose a little bit to where uh we can get the hub off. But let me find a bolt for that so I can tighten it up a little bit and then we'll continue on the next project. All right. So, I found a great eight bolt.

[00:36:13]I don't know what they originally had in them, but it'll be good enough.

[00:36:46]Okay, that's better than it was.

[00:36:58]So, next thing is to get this reverse assembly taken care of.

[00:37:14]All right.

[00:37:30]Let me move you around.

[00:37:43]It's very hard to see. I know.

[00:37:47]So, this is the brakes.

[00:38:21]Okay, we need that come like that.

[00:38:40]This come off.

[00:38:47]And I messed up.

[00:38:51]Okay.

[00:38:55]Don't try this at home, guys.

[00:39:14]Because of that, stuff happens and you're liable to break something.

[00:39:41]All right. So, we got the reverse idler thing out. Now, I'm going to have to take a uh socket, put it around there, and get find one that fits in that bar. And I'm going to have to pound that out after I heat and flinch. So, let me do that out off camera, and then we'll get it back together.

[00:40:04]All right, got that cleaned back up. Got it greased up a little bit. So, let's get it reinstalled.

[00:40:17]It did not take much.

[00:40:25]And no, I did not use oxygen and acetylene. I use a little propane torch running nap gas.

[00:40:57]Oh crap, I forgot something. Forgot the cable keeper.

[00:41:29]All right, let me get this cleaned up.

[00:41:46]Okay.

[00:42:07]Make sure that's in the correct location.

[00:42:20]All right, got that done. So now we have to disconnect all this and get this belt off so we can address the reverse.

[00:42:42]So, let's see if I remember correctly.

[00:42:47]Yeah, that uh do I have that out?

[00:42:58]No, I used it earlier.

[00:43:06]Must put it away.

[00:43:57]Okay, hold on a second. Let me I was needing to readjust there.

[00:44:28]All right, let's speed this up a little bit faster.

[00:44:44]there.

[00:44:58]Let me see what I did with it. I think I know my 7/16 impact rated uh socket was on my smaller impact.

[00:45:26]I know.

[00:46:19]Okay, so that is off now.

[00:46:51]Got to get this off.

[00:47:04]Okay. Where did that go?

[00:47:06]Ah, right there.

[00:47:18]Let this soak in some PB.

[00:47:56]Okay. So, that's tight. Uh, that's going to have to be cleaned up.

[00:48:09]What did I do with my pliers? I had regular pliers around here, but whatever.

[00:49:15]If you don't get this cleaned off and uh freed up good, you're as you're going forward, the reverse will stick.

[00:49:25]It happened on the 63.

[00:49:29]So, I need to clean this all up, get that back together. But in the meantime, I uh got to do something really quick.

[00:49:41]and I'll be back after I get it cleaned up. Okay, guys. It made me wonder because I can run a 28 in belt on my 725s.

[00:49:55]So, here's a clutch off of a 725, a outer clutch.

[00:50:03]That would explain it.

[00:50:09]That would explain exactly reason why uh uh this one takes a bigger belt.

[00:50:16]All right, now that we got that out of the way, let's uh that's 29.

[00:50:28]Here's the third.

[00:51:10]That's not going to work.

[00:51:14]Not going to work.

[00:51:21]Why?

[00:51:24]Is a 30 so tight?

[00:51:30]Huh?

[00:51:52]Let me look at something really quick.

[00:51:53]Maybe they got the wrong pulley on it, too.

[00:51:57]Now, maybe I got the right belt. So, I've run across this before with other units.

[00:52:05]You buy the correct size belt, go to put it on, and it doesn't fit.

[00:52:11]ended up with a going with a longer belt.

[00:52:21]So, what we're doing here, uh, this is a 31.

[00:52:31]So, you got to do what you got to do.

[00:52:41]I don't know if the belts are getting shorter on the newer belts or What?

[00:53:34]That 31 doesn't seem right either.

[00:53:51]See, this is a 31 or not a 31, but a 30.

[00:53:56]But it's the old belt.

[00:54:04]Really don't want to reuse it, but They have to let me uh let me do something.

[00:54:31]Get some tools out here.

[00:54:36]Yeah, guys, I got to get hurry. So, I just got back from uh farm and plate. I had to do a couple other things. I just got one of the Deco 30in belts. You see there's a gap there now.

[00:54:57]That's what it's supposed to do. Yes, this needs some oil, but overall everything looks like it's going to be okay.

[00:55:09]That's about where it needs to be.

[00:55:12]Then when you go down, it presses against the back side of that main belt and that's what engages reverse.

[00:55:23]So, a good quality belt helps a lot.

[00:55:29]you know, I think I got to look and see.

[00:55:34]Yeah, here's a uh another 30in belt. Let me try this one, too. Cuz this is just a black belt.

[00:55:46]It's not going to last that long compared to the others. Hold on, let me set you down.

[00:56:19]Yeah, that's the problem right there. That's the problem right there. This 30 inch is not going to work. I don't think. Let me fool around with it a little bit more. Pull it down like that.

[00:56:34]Eh, it it should cuz there's still a gap.

[00:56:45]So, I'm thinking this is the belt that I have on my other 59.

[00:57:04]So so without that cable on there, it's wants to move around because we Yeah. So, it's this way that it wants to spin.

[00:57:29]So, all right, guys. The wind's picking up. It's about ready to storm. I'm going to clean up a little bit and uh get my butt inside.

[00:57:40]So, see you on the next one, which will finish this up and whatnot.