1864 'Improvement'

[Rodster]

Being the 1864 has a plastic hood and sides, a few years ago I decided to 'improve' mine in order to try to keep the temperature down under the hood.

I figured less heat would extend the life of the plastic so I wrapped the muffler in exhaust wrap.

Maybe it worked but pretty sure it was the cause of the recent muffler failure.

When I removed the wrap, it looked like the metal had scaled and weakened probably from the increased heat the wrap held in.

Oh well, I get a new muffler out of it and like someone once said, when you make a mistake while doing things yourself, you are just paying for education!

[john hall]

Not exactly a horrible idea concerning protecting the plastic. Like you said, the muffler wasn't designed to hold in that much heat evidently. Thanks for sharing, that's how we learn what works and what doesn't. So I have to ask, does after all this time, your plastic appear to be in better shape than most of that style?

[Rodster]

Originally Posted by john hall

Not exactly a horrible idea concerning protecting the plastic. Like you said, the muffler wasn't designed to hold in that much heat evidently. Thanks for sharing, that's how we learn what works and what doesn't. So I have to ask, does after all this time, your plastic appear to be in better shape than most of that style?

Yea, at the time I thought it was a great idea.

I'm thinking it had to help somewhat but I also open the hood to let the heat escape as soon as I shut off the tractor. Since half of the one attaching pin on the side panel is broken, I usually remove that too since it's easy to get off.

I would say the plastic probably looks better than your average 1864 but my tractor is just used for mowing so it leads a pretty easy life.

This is the most recent picture of the plastic.

[Rescue11]

That thing looks brand new! Cherry machine