Going to dig into my 1250 for some repairs... Anything to fix while I'm in there?
 

So I am planning on disassembling my 1250 to do some much needed repairs and upgrades. I will be pulling engine and driveshaft and doing the cradle mod, replacing flex discs, fan, and replacing some gaskets in the engine (oil pan, breather, and possibly head gasket). Besides these, what else should I inspect or upgrade while it's apart? Thanks.

Steering gear box, all steering connections, drain & clean out hydro, hydro filter, brakes, wire harness and all connections, front wheel bearings, rear axle seals, hydro linkage, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

I changed the filter and fluid a couple months ago, harness will be replaced down the road but for now it works. Internal brakes work great. Front wheel bearings are pretty new, but I didn't think of the steering box. I will have to give it a refresh, thanks for reminding me. Will be replacing tie rods when I get a chance (going to order some ham joints from mcmaster carrots for a few other projects anyway.

Add motor rail modification and ISO mounts to the list.

Check to see if you need the trunnion fix. You need it if it doesn't hold speed well going up and down inclines.

Squeeze the front axle channel to get rid of fore, aft and front rear otation and replace pin and/or bushings if needed.

You don't want to be accuse of an MWI and wear out your newly rebuilt steering box!!

I do have new ISO mounts and am going to do the one piece cradle mod. Need to get a bolt and nylock nut for the front axle. It was on my physical list but never got to the digital list. Trunion is good, fixed it when I swapped hydro lift over from my 1450 carcass last year (I think it was last year).

If you opt for a bolt in the front axle instead of a new OEM style pin, the head will have to be machined off quite a bit to clear the deep sump oil pan. It should also have a grease well machined into the center of the shank like the original pin has.

Make sure the bushings are in good shape as well and that the grease fitting in the center of the axle will take grease.

Disassemble the wheel spindles and bushings from the ends of the axle. Clean and inspect for wear. Clean an polish the steering knuckle spacers so the will spin freely in the end bores of the axle. The steering knuckle spacer (bushing) should be clamped tight between the ends of the steering knuckle when installed so they turn in the axle as an assembly, this is what the gets the grease. Make sure these grease fittings are clear and will take grease, flush them out.

You may discover upon dis-assembly that the knuckle bolts are what have been spinning instead and the spacers are stuck in the bores due to no grease causing much wear on the bottom of the axle ends. This is all pretty obvious as you will discover when you take the unit apart. These spacers may be stuck in the bores and you may find the bolts have been turning in the spacers instead of the other way around.

Make sure the grease passages on the bottom lip of the knuckle pivot points are clear. They my be heavily worn and need touched up with your disc grinder wheel.

Good Luck.
Nothing like a nice tight front end when driving one of the little tractors in a parade or mowing and plowing not having to constantly correct the steering to maintain a straight path.

The tie rods are 3/8" correct? 2 Left and 2 right thread greasable heim joints are what I am going to order .

they are both right hand NF threads
Actually there are 4 joints.
2 on the drag link and 2 on the tie rod.
all right hand threads

RIGHT HAND 3/8-24 NF thread

Huh, that's odd. Figured they would be left and right hand like my Deere is. Thanks for setting me straight. Glad I waited to order them. I will order 4 right hand thread heim joints then.

So got my HD greasable tie rod ends and steel for the cradle mod from MCmaster the other day. Just need to order some seals next week and hopefully this project will be underway.

So this week I hope to start the disassembly of the ol' girl and get some progress done.

So some unfortunate news tonight... Got the engine unbolted and head off, and found some serious damage. Thought it was gonna be an STD piston but it was bored .010 over. For how bad it look it ran pretty great. Not sure what the plan is now, but at least I can fix the other things that are messed up. The grooves are fairly deep and more than likely will have to be rebored.

Yup, it looks like a re-bore is in store.

Have your machine shop, or whoever is doing that work for you check it closely once it has been tanked.
Be sure and take them the crank as well, it is likely to have been turned .010 already as well.

The original 321 block I planned on using in my 1450 turned out to be a boat anchor as it was found to be cracked once it was properly cleaned up.

Good luck!

Even if the crank was previously turned .010 under, you can order a .020 under rod if you need it. I've had to do that a couple times. batkt4kids is the ebay seller. He can get you the .020 under rod with the rebuild kits he sells.

put some paint on the flywheel timing marks.

In the process of putting a K301 from one of my 129s back together right now.

Hopefully I can get to seeing if the carnage goes any deeper today and weigh my options. If worst comes to worst I have a 1650 with what seems to be a k301 so it may become the replacement (provided it isn't as bad as this one). The ol' girl will probably have to go lower on the priority list until spring more than likely. I've got my 1450 to revive first.

So last weekend I got a bit of free time and tire down the block some. Got flywheel, all external accessories, front bearing plate and piston out. Undirtu lately the last PTO stud stripped off and will not come out. And having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to get the valve keepers off. But it's pretty much disassembled and should be apart by Saturday. My spring conoressor is kinda junky and I'm having a hard time keeping the tool from flying off (because it isnt straight).

Haven't done much work to the old gal lately. Found out this is actually a k321 and not a k301. So I'm going to take the 14 and drop it into a deere I've got that needs an engine and part out a decrepit 1650 with a 301 ( according to the tin- that has lied to me before). Right now the 1250 is sitting under a tarp until I get time to pull the 1650 engine out and examine it.

When replacing the axle pivot with a bolt, make sure it is long enough that the threads end outside of the channel.
You do not want a thread in the channel, or worse, in the axle and channel as it smaller in diameter and counter
intuitive to tightening things up.
You might have to thread the bolt a bit more after you cut the too-long-of-a bolt off to get it just right.
A washer on the bolt then a nut to get it just right, is not a problem.
And as mentioned, the head of the bolt is shortened for pan clearance.
It does not need the full thickness head as it just tightens the channel and is not tightened all that much as it is just retains the pivot bolt/pin.

Thanks George, I'll have to remember that once I get to it. I'm currently juggling about 5 other projects (most are of the green and yellow variety) and don't have time or money to get a whole lot accomplished :bash2:.