Very nice, Jeff! :ThumbsUp:

Jeff,
You have done a great job of keeping us up to date on your restoration.
Thanks for posting the many pictures. I am sure it will inspire others to dive in and bring one of these machines back from the brink.
I am not nearly the perfectionist that you are.
Regards,
Chris

Looking good! Once that dries you need to remove the paint from the aluminum part of the hydro unit so it cools properly.

I think it will be just fine, the thin layer of paint on it won't hamper the cooling of the hydro very much. Besides, when I took it apart the fins weren't even visible from caked on grease and dirt, and the hydro fan had 1 blade left that was only 1" long. It was operating fine in that poor maintained state and from the looks of it, it had been in that condition for many years prior to my cleaning it up. I am sure it will run much cooler now than before, paint or no paint, but thanks for the concern.

Jeff it will make a diffrence if they are not painted. Even if there was tons of junk on it before. Do it now while it's easy to get to.

The paint has terrible heat transfer qualities compared to bare aluminum. It'll take just a couple of minutes to clean it off since it won't be hard yet.

The paint was cured today (I did use catylist in it, may not be fully cured, but was good enough to handle and put some pieces back together). I chose not to head the warnings to remove the paint from the aluminum fins, if I burns it up, then it's on me. However, I know for a fact it has to run considerably cooler than it did before, and the new hydro fan will only help with the cooling.

I began the day by removing masking tape from the tags, rear wheel studs, and hydro fittings. Then I reassembled the previous fitted and shimmed hydro control cams, applying a light coat of grease to any and all moving parts. They had some yellow overspray on them, so yesterday I had painted them silver (just what I had handy) spray paint, still a little yellow showing in places, but I did not want to get paint in any of the pivot areas, besides you would have to remove the tunnel cover to see them once it is completely assembled. I then removed the old filter and replaced it with the new one, and through the top cover added 6 quarts of hydrallic fluid, I realize the manual calls for 7, but once it is finished and running, I will top it off, allowing the fluid to work it's way through the new filter and pump.

Then I moved on to getting the rearend assembly installed into the frame rails, using some expanding clamps to slightly spread the frame rails was a huge help. Once it was in, I hooked up the brake pedal rod and centering rod for th hydro unit to the brake pedal assembly.

I finished the day installing the sleeve hitch in it's new home. This was done by a bit of trail and error, it was new to me and the tractor, never saw one installed before. I originally installed the bent rod upside down and it was making contact with the return spring mount inside the frame rail, flipped it over and all was well (the main rod, flat steel with a bend near the inboard mounting point, installs with the bent end facing down, not up as I tried the first go around).

Putting stuff back together, I did scrape the paint in a couple of places, even with the aid of the spreading clamps, the rear end fits very snuggly in place. It should be easy to wet sand out and touch up. Here are a couple pics of what I ended up with after a couple hours work.
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Next on the agenda is to get the front axle and rear disk brake assemblies cleaned, painted, and installed. Then get the new rear tires purchased and install them and the fronts and have a rolling chassis once again! Hoping to have these items off the "to do list" by the end of the week, if all goes well.

Looks good! Thanks for the update. :ThumbsUp:

Like I've said before it's your tractor and it's up to you. Just trying to add some friendly advice. I hope it works out for you.:beer2:

Thanks, I know the advice given is meant to help me out, I may try to wire wheel the paint off the fins before putting on the fender pan. I still doubt that it makes much difference one way or the other....after all car radiators have been painted for years, anyhow, that is enough beating the dead horse for now.

Bright and early this morning, I got to the shop and started cleaning up some parts. Got the front axle disassembled and cleaned as well as the drive shaft.

Called my local sandblaster guy and had to take a break and run some more wheels over to him, these wheels are from the 125 parts tractor I had, they are sized to fit the 23-8.50-12 rears. I am going to use these wheels for the new ags (hopefully get them on Friday), the original wider rears (23-10.50-12) and fronts (16.50-6-8) are eventually going to be wearing a set of new turfs. I figure the turfs need the wider stance to tread lighter on the yard when I decide to use it for mowing (hhhmmmm....maybe next year need to get another tractor for a purpose built mowing machine:bigthink:). Well anyhow, I got the rears sandblasted and brought them back to the shop.

One of the these rears had a bunch of rust in it, even after blasting them, it was now rust free, but very pitted. When I dismounted the tire from that wheel, it had about a gallon of water in it, the other one looked nearly new inside. Since the one was so heavily pitted, I decided to lay on a thick coat of primer over the pitted areas, while at it, I went ahead and primed the exterior of both these wheels. Using the vansickle paint, I usually don't prime freshly sandblasted metal, just apply the new paint, but applying the heavy coat of primer to the inside of the rim, will allow me to sand it down and help bury the pits. These wheels will have tubes installed inside the new tires, I want to load the ags for added traction, the tire shop recommeneded using tubes for loaded tires, to keep the fluid away from the rim.

Here are the pics of the primed parts:
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The forth pic shows the heavy pitting inside that wheel, plan for tomorrow is to get all the primed parts in final paint! I am wanting to get the tractor back to a rolling chassis by the weekend, if all goes well, should be able to get there!