This was my first one and the collection has since grown to 5-tractors of this style.
Bolens built the Ridemaster from 1947 thru 1958.
The 47 and early 48 models had 18 inch front drive wheels.
They switched to 16 inch front drive wheels in June of 48 and used the 16 inch wheels for the rest of the production run.
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This is a 1948 Bolens Ridemaster Type 35AA01, serial #R-457
The engine is a Wisconsin AKS rated at 4 horsepower.
The tractor is driven by three V-belts with one speed forward and one speed reverse.
This is a brochure showing the accessories that were available to go with the Ridemaster.
I got this tractor out of south east Ohio, ..... Looks nice doesn't it. ......
Well, don't let the paint fool ya. It's a " rattle can " restoration that was about 10 years old.
It was not running when I got it.
The engine did turn over but had no compression.
There are a total of 6-pulleys for cable operation and they are all frozen up.
The adjusting bolts for the rear axles are rusted solid.
The paint is the wrong color and there are areas that you can see dirt in it and some areas where they painted over rust.
The cable for lifting the engine is the wrong size and it is looped thru the bracket and fastened with a cable clamp ( the cable should have a ball on the end that fits in the bracket ).
The steering chain is mostly rusted up.
The good news is: it is 100% complete plus it has all the brackets and hardware for lifting front mounted implements.
This hardware is hard to find.
10 years ago, when this was repainted, the 18 inch tractor lug tires were no longer available.
The only tires you could put on then were motorcycle tires. They work OK but they didn't look right.
However, the correct tractor lug tires are now being reproduced and are available from Miller Tire.
This seams to be in good mechanical condition.
I can't feel any slop in the bearings in the rear wheel hubs, the transmission drive pulley or the front axle bearings.
The first thing is to tear it down so every thing can be refinished easier.
When I got this Ridemaster, I noticed the front wheels were sitting at a slight sideways angle.
This was a common problem with the earlier units.
All the pulling stress is on a 1/2 inch thick bracket that is in-between the front tires with the shaft for the turning wheel welded on top of it.
Here you can see how that turning shaft is tilted off center to the left of the gas tank mounting flange.
I put the steering bracket in the press and bent it back straight,
Here is how it looks with the steering shaft straight.
My 1949 & 1953 Ridemasters have an extra brace welded on each side of the steering bracket to strengthen it.
They look like they came that way from the factory but the brace isn't the same on the two units so I don't know for sure if they did or not.
I can't find any mention of a brace added in my copy of the factory engineering changes.
Next, I sanded down the power transmission unit in preparation for painting.
Here it is ready to paint.
And all painted.
Wheels are next on the list. I was luckey enough to find a pair of "new" old original tires from the 40's or 50's.
I sanded down all four rims and put glazing putty on to fill any pits, paint chips and scratches.
I also painted the inside of the front rims with a red-oxide primer.
While the glazing was drying, I turned the rims over and painted the back sides.
I also painted the wheel weights at this time.
Once the paint was dry on the back sides, I turned them back over and sanded the glazing putty.
After sanding, the areas were primed and a few spots needed a second coat of glazing putty.
After I sanded the second coat of glazing, I then mounted the new tires on all four rims.
Then I masked off the tires, in preparation for painting.
Wheels are painted.
Here's how they look with the masking removed and the tires inflated.
It doesn't look like much with the photos, but this is the result of a good bit of time and work.
Here is some of the smaller parts that would fit into the blasting cabinet so I could sand blast the paint off them.
The frame was to large to go in the cabinet so I had to strip it down with the air grinder and 36 grit disc.
Everything was then primed.
After the primer dried, I then put glazing putty on all the pitted areas on the frame and some of the other parts. ( like I did with the wheels )
When the glazing had dried, it was sanded down and the parts were re-primed.
Some areas required a second coat of glazing. After that was sanded, the parts were primed for the last time.
The primer was then fine sanded and the parts were turned over and the underside was painted.
When the paint was dry, I turned everything back over and finished painting the top side.
The thing about taking something all apart before it's painted is that you end up with a whole bunch of
individual nuts, bolts and washers that need refinishing.
( That's where the sand blasting cabinet really comes in handy ).
Here's some freshly painted hardware along with some other parts. ( I painted all the other bolts when I painted the frame )
This is a trick I use to refinish springs that have the coils pressed tight together.
I use a piece of threaded rod and a piece of steel tube that will fit together inside the spring.
Grind a notch in one end of the tube and one end of the rod.
Place the rod and tube inside the spring and turn the nut to snug the notched ends out against the spring.
Use a flat washer between the nut and the end of the tube so the nut has a smooth surface to turn against.
Turn the nut until the spring is expanded out enough so the paint will get in-between the coils.
I mounted the front wheels on the drive unit while it was still up on the table..
The Ridemaster's front wheels are real close together and are mounted on a solid axle.
After the wheels were bolted on, I lined up the tread on both tires and then filled the tires with air to lock them onto the rims.
On the outside of the wheels, the word "Firestone" is centered over the valve stem on each wheel.
Once the drive unit was sitting on it's tires, I then slipped the frame down over the steering post.
Took the flywheel shroud off the engine and found a nice mouse nest in the cooling fins.
The shroud was full of nest all the way down to the flywheel.
I expected there would probably be one as this has been sitting for 10 years since it was last run.
I'm glad that the previous owner couldn't get it running because he would have cooked the engine right away.
Cleaned the nest out and started stripping the engine down.
There isn't any ridge at the top of the cylinder and I can't see any scratches in the cylinder wall.
The top of the piston and combustion area does not have much carbon build up on them.
The exhaust valve was stuck open so that explains why it didn't compression.
The valve freed up easily though.
I stripped the paint off these engine parts and they will stay natural.
The air cleaner and some brackets are painted semi-gloss black.
While I'm waiting for paint to dry, I mounted the rear axles and wheels.
Then I mounted the tool bar and control lever.
The tool bar spring is extremely stiff and had to expand about 3-inches in order for it to go on.
I came up with this idea for stretching the tool bar spring into place ( it worked good ).
The engine base is mounted down in front, along with the lift brackets and spring.
The engine lift cable pulley is mounted up on the front corner of the plate that holds the gas tank.
The lever for lifting the engine is mounted on it's boss on top of the frame ( behind the steering pulley ).
The plate for the throttle is bolted on top of the steering pulley along with two sets of cable pulleys.
The engine lift cable goes thru the bottom set of pulleys and the cable for front implements goes thru the top set of pulleys.
The steering wheel that came on this still has good hand grip rubber on it but the metal arms and shaft are pitted from rust.
I tried to get a snap shot of the pitting but it doesn't show very well in a photo.
Anyhow .. I purchased a new after market steering wheel off ebay that I want to use on this Ridemaster.
I'm going to use the steering shaft from another steering wheel that is shot.
As bad as this wheel is, the steering shaft is not pitted like the other one.
First I cut the steering shaft off of the steering wheel.
The steering post was rusted in the steering shaft so I pressed it out.
Then I cut most of the wheel hub off on the saw.
Next I chucked it up in the lathe so I can cut off the weld that is holding the wheel hub to the shaft.
Here the weld is machined off.
Then I bolted the steering shaft to the new steering wheel with a 3/4 inch threaded rod to hold it in place for welding.
And the welding is finished.
Once the paint is dry, the new steering wheel will be ready to use.
Here is the finished steering wheel.
The new steering wheel is mounted to the frame and the chain is connected to the steering pulley.
I fastened the new data plate on the engine and mounted the engine on the frame.
The new drive belts are installed.
The engine lift cable is attached to the lift arm, run thru the guide pulleys and down to the engine mounting plate.
There are new rubber grips on the engine lift lever and on the tool bar lift lever.
I wrapped some electrical tape around the locking control rod on the tool bar lift lever and then put a piece
of black heat-shrink tubing over it to create a "rubber" handle on the control rod.
The shut-off wire is run from the mag up to the kill switch on the plate that's mounted on the steering pulley.
The throttle lever is also mounted on this plate.
The "A" frame and support bracket for the front implement lift is mounted to the frame in front of the engine.
The trailer hitch is fastened to the frame under the seat bracket and the wheel weights are bolted to the rear wheels.
The grader blade is from another Ridemaster and it was taken all apart and sand blasted.
Then it was primed and painted and mounted on the tool bar.
Here is the finished tractor.
The front drive wheels are able to rotate around so the tractor can turn in a very small space.
It will pivot around the seat.
One of the options available for these was a lighting kit.
It had a small generator that was driving off the flywheel and a light that mounted up on the top of the steering sprocket above the front wheels.
I have never run across one of the lighting kits for sale so I decided the next best thing was to build a replica of the lighting kit.
I have a copy of the original information sheet for the lighting kit but the photos didn't copy well.
They are very dark and I can't make out what the generator mounting bracket looks like.
This is the copy of the information sheet for the headlight kit. these were made by Bendix to go on several types of garden tractors.
The bottom left photo is of a kit on a Ridemaster. It shows both the generator and headlight mounted on the left side of the tractor.
I found a small generator that was for the old Wizzer Motorbikes.
It ran off the flywheel on the Wizzer engine so I figure it will work good for this application.
Here are a couple of the pieces for the bracket.
The bracket on the right mounts to the two engine mounting bolts.
The bracket on the left will hold the generator.
Here is the finished bracket.
The mounting bracket for the headlight is a section of steel tube with one side flattened so it can be bolted on the steering sprocket.
This is the underside of the bracket and the small hole in the tube is to run the wires up thru.
This smell hole and the hole in the end of the tube will have a plastic grommet in them to protect the wire from chaffing.
I made a lever that bolts to the generator and fits over a flange on the mounting bracket.
This lever will hold the generator away from the flywheel for when the light is off.
Release the lever and the generator is held up against the flywheel by a spring for when the light is on.
All finished. .. The engine is running at medium speed and the headlight is shinning brightly. ( it works really good )
I got a tractor light off a late 40's tractor so at least the headlight is "period" correct.
Left side view with the headlight.
Right side view with the headlight.
