I blame Hydromike for this...

[brushcutter]

1 TO 6 of everything, that's funny!
Man, that's a feeling we can ALL relate to. Congrats on the Bigfoot Brian!

[hydromike]

I blame Hmike for a good share of my habit as well, and when that doesn't work I use JP......

Really? I don't know HOW I've influenced ANY of your purchases, but hey; anything I can do to bring down the rest of the gang, I'm in. Bigfeet are absolutely the "new Attex". Not much of a racing platform, but they find their niche on the trails. It's weird; two or three years ago, I never new they existed.

~m

[Model Citizen]

It's what all the cool kids are driving these days George

Makes sense. I've noticed that a lot of the yoots these days have big feet.
Congratulations. You guys going to get colors for your new gang? Maybe your own unique Hi sign?

Bridget

[racerone3]

Went out to the shop for a few minutes to see if I could get the engine to run. according to the PO, the machine has been sitting indoors for the last 6 years. Ran an IV of 87 octane to the carb, and she fired right up and ran well. no smoke... then again, I didn't check the oil so a total lack of oil could be the reason for the no smoke... think I'll check that tomorrow.

also found a good sized puddle under the machine. pulled the right center tire to see where the tub was draining it's self and found a pretty good sized gash in the "Hustler Hump" with water dribbling out. I think a plastic welder purchase is in my near future.

[hydromike]

Ah, the Hustler Hump. The Bigfeets crowd needs the hump to make room for the 248 tooth center sprocket that let's us go exactly 10 mph at the advertised peak 3600 rpm of the flat Briggs. I have an internal gash on the hump from an extra loose chain, but it's not all the way through to daylight on the bottom. *Yet.*

Try to sleep tonight, and NOT make a pot of coffee at 2am when you're tossing and turning thinking about how soon you can get the frame out. You already know this from the Truckster rebuild, but look that frame over real closely. Mine was tizzoasted. I could have put 10 pounds of steel into it, but settled at about 6.....

~m

[racerone3]

Makes sense. I've noticed that a lot of the yoots these days have big feet.
Congratulations. You guys going to get colors for your new gang? Maybe your own unique Hi sign?

Bridget

I'm thinking our gang color would have to be BROWN!

Try to sleep tonight, and NOT make a pot of coffee at 2am when you're tossing and turning thinking about how soon you can get the frame out. You already know this from the Truckster rebuild, but look that frame over real closely. Mine was tizzoasted. I could have put 10 pounds of steel into it, but settled at about 6.....

~m

sleep tonight should be no issue. I'm pushing the 19 hour mark for today. I'm sure the frame will be fine considering how "pristine" the rest of the machine is. It's gonna take half a spool of welding wire just to fix the gashes in the sprocket tubes that were once bolt holes.

[jerseybigfoot]

So should I consider bringing my Hustler back to Busco for a Hustler convention? If I start soon I should have it properly PM'd. The "IV Max Pain" needs a few more weekends but should be ready for Busco.

[Don]

I try to keep the fleet to 4 machines, and seldom buy one intending to resell it

I most often buy a machine with the intent of reselling. 'doesn't usually work out for me.

Hmike: I had the same gouge under the pizza-pan sprocket. 'Must be a bad habit of the big machines. Attex "camo" HDPE doesn't match exactly, but you don't notice it much down there.

[wildtexasranger]

Congrats Brian, Im sure it wont take you long to get it going.

[jpswift1]

Jpswift was trying to everyone to buy that machine including me. He's the real drug dealer

Who me? Haha, nah. Hey Drew, I think I should go grab that Hustler 950 near me and offer him a rediculously low price so you can join the Hustler club too.....c'mon you know you want to! You'd be surprised how many times that line has worked for me.

[hydromike]

....c'mon you know you want to! You'd be surprised how many times that line has worked for me.

He makes me feel so dirty sometimes. I have my 980 though, so I guess the ends justify the means.

Now, about that Super Swamp Fox.

~m

[jpswift1]

He makes me feel so dirty sometimes.

Now, about that Super Swamp Fox.

~m

That's what she said! Haha, sorry I had to put that in there......you'd be surprised how many times I've heard that.

And yes, now how about a Super Swamp Fox. I just have to finish up my green Superchief trail machine and if a deal comes along on a SSF I might have to grab it.......wait a second, there's no "might" in there, I'll definitely have to grab it!

[hydromike]

I meant for ME, you boner. *ME*!

(lol, emoticon, emoticon)

~m

[jpswift1]

Haha, yea but you left such an opening for me to make a comment like that and I just had to go for it. Kind of like when I'm at a party and there's a girl that had a few too many (emoticon, emoticon).

[racerone3]

5 HOURS OF CARNAGE

got started just before 10am and as promised, the Bigfoot is reduced to a pile of parts. 3 of the axles were really tough to remove. luckily in all cases, I was able to get the opposite axle out, so I ended up putting a long chunk of steel through from the opposite side and pounding with a sledge. eventually they all gave in.
I firmly believe that EVERYTHING that has ever fallen into this tub was still in it before I removed the frame. Leaves, trash, tools, nuts, bolts you name it. I'll have to scrape the 3 inches of greasy compost out and sift through it before I start the degreasing process... missing a few small parts and they are probably down there somewhere!
The PO of the machine claimed that he never drove it, but his nephew's had owned it for years. It looks like it was owned (and "maintained") by a couple of teenagers. there were some interesting mechanical improvizations!
I've learned a lot today. a Bigfoot falling off jack stands makes a lot of noise. In many cases, if you don't have a nut and bolt, you can just use a sheetrock screw and small block of wood in it's place. If you don't have a lock nut, you can just get a bolt that's way too long and hammer the part that sticks through the nut over 90 degrees.
after fighting with axles and random odd hardware for hours, the high point of the day came when I dismounted the goodyear super terrible grips and threw them in the recycle pile. I was hoping that 2 of them would be good enough to reuse on my garden tractor, but that didn't work out for me.

H-Mike, clean out your PM's. your inbox is full