MartyNZ

Now this is a surprise, I thought that old IH tractors, model prefix letter showed the country of origin. A for Australia, B for Britain, No letter for USA. A514 = B450 = 400 AWD6 = BWD6 = WD6 BTD6 = TD6. I didn't expect a British model to be exported into USA.

I bent the driveshaft to a multi-drum mower by pressing the clutch then panic braking, after I discovered that "transmission PTO" meant that the mower was back-driving the wheels while still in gear. That was a limitation of the IH B-450, so my father told me. Fine for stationary implements like a wood chipper or welder, but needs care when moving with something with high rotational inertia like a mower. "Live PTO" is normal nowadays and operates independently of the tractor’s clutch and transmission system.

Bill Hagan is right, Kubota makes the most reliable and durable range of small tractors on the planet. If you get an older tractor, make sure it has 3-point linkage, needed for attachments like a grader blade. I think that the Ford 8N has this. You could consider a John Deere Model B for something more eye-catching as a project. Spare parts are readily available in USA.

Yup, NZ regs don't allow a GPS speedo. Apparently the bureaucrats are concerned about us not knowing our speed in a tunnel or between tall buildings. The 7 second initialization bothers them too. However they are ok with my wildly inaccurate miles speedo in a metric country.

If you were really keen, you could pull the bolts out and get them cadmium plated. Or paint the heads of the bolts as Phil suggested. VHT makes caliper paint in a range of colours that is heat and brake fluid resistant.

As far as I can tell Mobil 1 is a blend of synthetic and mineral oils. It was originally a pure synthetic, but Mobil successfully lobbied to continue using the 'synthetic' description while changing the formulation to a blend. They can do that in the US [where their lobbying dollars get traction] but countries like Japan and many Euro countries actually require that products are described acurately. How bloody old fashioned is THAT? Anyway I have been using Penrite 10Tenths 5W-50 which is type 4 PAO & type 5 Ester blend, but the low pressure light is slow to go off. I will go back to something thicker. I wonder if the full synth has more feel good than real benefit. Regular oil changes of a semi-synth are probably all I need.

I drilled half of the pucks in my bike back in Mar 2018. Six drilled pucks, with the remaining cavities empty. The difference was barely noticeable, but I liked the idea of lowered shock loads on splines/gears/dogs. I have not felt the need to revert to standard over the last 6 years. An odd effect of rubber is that it does not compress much. If you squeeze it, it will bulge out somewhere, without the volume changing (Poisson's Ratio for rubber is 0.5). This tells me that the pucks will be cushier if they could squeeze somewhat, and squirm in in their pockets easily. Dry lube in the puck pockets is helpful, and Klüber Staburags NBU 30 PTM grease (or equivalent) on the rear wheel drive spline is essential.

The title says "drowning in fuel", but you describe a defect that appears to be related to heat. Why do you suspect fuel? I agree with @pressureangle that valves too tight could be the problem. I had these symptoms when I set the valves to the original factory specs. Setting to "world spec" clearances fixed it. Your idea of heating the rev sensor to 100°C while measuring the resistance is a good idea too.

The V11 Owner's manual shows pilot lights were originally 1.2W. The lamps in the back of the Speedo/Tacho are 2.2W. @Kiwi_Roy wrote in some posts about LED substitutes for those incandescent lamps. https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/topic/20578-problems-with-dash-lights/#findComment-235855 Note that the "low fuel" light must be an incandescent lamp because the function relies on current draw. Note also that indicator warning lamp must not be an incandescent lamp if you want to fit LED flashers. https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/topic/30710-signal-indicators/ LED turn signal conversion problem - Page 3 - Technical Topics - Moto Guzzi V11LeMans.com Forum

Well since the probability of me needing it again is lower than a walrus's belly button, maybe I should send it to you. Can you PM your address?

Since I needed to drill out the piece of the nut driven down into a keyway to lock it, I kept going and stitch drilled the nut so I could split it. Tightening a new nut meant that I had to get a better way, so I made wood clamping blocks to grip the pinion in a vice. I should have made the clamps first.

You can see seal ID running face in the pic. I could send you the socket to undo the bearing retainer nut if you didn't live on the other side of the planet...

Wow, you move fast. 4 years was just a guess. You can factor in your own bravery/timidity/risk tolerance to work out your personal "relay life expiry". History shows that I have overrun my relay life expiry date 3 times. It's interesting talking to the people who stop to help.

I think he is right. It's way better to throw out relays every 4 years than to have th bike stop on the side of the road.

You need to move the wiring from that 30A socket to a new and better socket, such as a Maxi Fuse. The original socket is not capable of enduring continuous high current. Contact resistance in the original fuse holder will melt the next 30A fuse. There are many posts about the 30-amp fuse on this site.

Assuming that you are talking about the output shaft seal, it is Guzzi P/N GU90404255, or Seal size 42x56x7. However, there is lots of information on this site you should read before you do too much work. I had a gearbox leak caused by being overfull. You should see the sight-glass no more than halfway covered, after the bike has been sitting on a center stand for several minutes. If you don't have a maintenance stand to hold it upright, then believe me you will not be able to hold it upright and get an accurate read of the oil level. Any more than half showing when upright, or any oil showing in the sight-glass when on the side stand, means it is overfull and sure to leak. I know of a V11 gearbox that was leaking because of water ingress and foaming oil. The GB vent is in the worst place to collect road spray. See: https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/topic/31139-transmission-problem-shift-bendix-any-ideas/page/2/#findComment-299737 See also; Gearbox output shaft seal - Technical Topics - Moto Guzzi V11LeMans.com Forum Gearbox oil leak - Technical Topics - Moto Guzzi V11LeMans.com Forum Leaking output shaft seal - Page 5 - Technical Topics - Moto Guzzi V11LeMans.com Forum Re-seal a 6-Speed Transmission - How to... - Moto Guzzi V11LeMans.com Forum

Sorry I can't claim the prize in person, I'm in a plane halfway between Cairns Australia and home.

How about tools to repair or make a wooden musical instrument like a violin? Guess #2: tools to make a cane fly fishing rod.

A saying from old timers who worked on Pratt and Whitney radial engines; "if you can read a part number on chips in the filter, its time to pull the engine" Not helpful I know, but a great story. 😀

I think your plan to fill and test is a good one. That is what I would do, except for the analysis. There is always a tiny fuzz of steel on the magnet, so analyzing the oil probably won't be able to distinguish between normal wear and serious damage. Debris on the magnet are your best tell. Signs of damage are: -Noise; whining, howling, grinding. -debris on drain plug chip detector magnet. -Serious wear can show as clunking between drive/overrun (hard to distinguish from gearbox dog clearance). -Gear teeth turning blue (pinion gear always goes first).

Is that a steam hammer behind the bike?

You are not the first person to ask that question. See: https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/topic/22336-what-is-the-extra-sump-plug-for/#comment-256978

@cash1000 and I put a remote breather on our gearboxes for just that reason. See pictures: A spray flap is a good idea too. https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/topic/31139-transmission-problem-shift-bendix-any-ideas/page/2/#findComment-299737

If you search for "conformal coating" you will see many products that offer a protective, breathable coating of thin polymeric film that does exactly what you want. Then you can immerse the bike again and it will still start. 😄