[westofb]

Thanks for the compliments! I have tried to keep the tractor more or less stock, just trying to improve on an already excellent design. Of course the most noticeable change is the change in color, but there are 2 mods that I am glad I tried. The first being the steering upgrades, when I got thus tractor, I would guess it had a third of rotation of the steering wheel worth of slack in the steering. Now it has absolutely no slack, it had slack in the steering box, tierod ends, and front axle pivot point, the front axle near the ends would move back and forth about an inch. I learned of the steering box upgrade (bearing to replace inner jamb nut) by reading threads here, and I decided on my own to replace the axle pivot pin with a bolt and jamb nut, these two additions plus replacing all the tierod ends made it great. The way the tractor sits right now (nose light without an engine) you can turn it lock to lock with one finger! As the engine and rest if the front end parts are assembled, I am sure it will increase the steering effort, but when I got it it took two hands to crank the steering.
The other upgrade I made that I think improved the tractor was the rear wheel studs. I cannot believe they came factory with wheel bolts, the studs make rear wheel changes a breeze. I don't have loaded rears or wheel weights yet, but I can't image trying to mount them on the tractor without the studs, what a PITA.

Hopefully I can get back to work on it and get some more pics on here, I am really looking forward to putting it back to work.