One thing leads to another! - Page 3

toyman · #21 04-11-2010, 09:05 AM

Squatch - what are you priming and painting with and how are you cleaning/stripping your parts? Looks good, and I'm looking forward to the finished product.

squatch · #22 04-11-2010, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toyman

Squatch - what are you priming and painting with and how are you cleaning/stripping your parts? Looks good, and I'm looking forward to the finished product.

Like said above this isn't really a resto. Primary for me is getting and keeping it rust free. Second is easy touch up. This tractor will never be shown while I own it but it will be worked. Not even really a hobby tractor just for getting the job done. I work on stuff because I can not because I really enjoy it anymore. I'd rather be fishing.

That being said. Most of the clean up is being done with various wire wheels mainly a cup brush in my 4.5" angle grinder. Then it's cleaned with mineral spirits and primed with rustoliem rusty metal primer and top coated with 2 coats of rustolieum flat black. I'm brushing it on. The brush gets in the nooks and crannys that a spray gun will never touch. I've done this to a military trailer and 2 different truck frames with great results. Show quality shine it's not. Easy to repair when it gets scratched up it is.

The sheet metal will probably get rattle canned with TSC valspar cub cadet yellow. Not the best but I'm not set up for spraying with a gun. Beats rust and I'm about the only one who will ever see it other than a few pics on here. I'll remove the decals with a heat gun along with the glue from the torn up foot treads.

I had to trim the right brake pedal to make the winter cab fit. So now the pad doesn't fit. So I pulled all the pads and I'm going to coat the pedals and the foot tread area with "Tuff Coat". It's pretty much the same as "Herculiner" DIY bedliner but water based and made for marine environments. It has ground up car tire in a polyurethane resin base. I have plenty left over from my bassboat project so that's what I'll use.

Hope that answers Your question. It should look fine from 20' but it won't be show worthy for sure. Which is fine by me as the way I work it that show finish wouldn't last long either.

squatch · #23 04-18-2010, 10:10 PM

As already said I've been pretty busy so time for the Cub has been sparse. I have managed to get a few things done and have some pics.
The bushings in the end of the cast iron axle are supposed to be one at top and one in the bottom with a tight fit. Well after 20 years the new bushings were slide in by hand. There is no machined lip to keep them in place. I found the height is exactly 3 bushings tall. I still had the old worn bushings and they were slotted bushing which gave me an idea. I took the dremel with a cut off wheel and cut a section out of 2 of the old bushings. This is to allow space for the grease fitting. then I spread them a little for a tight fit and placed them in the middle of 2 new bushings. Compared to the new they are worn enough to make a grease channel. I wiped the outside of the new bushings with some RTV before I installed them to make sure they didn't move after installation and let them sit for a day or 2.
Stack of 2 new 1 old.

Installed (fuzzy pics)

Axle with fresh paint and new bushings.

Spindles installed and tie rods loosely attached. A couple of the bolts are not the proper ones. I'll be picking those up tomorrow. This is the same Heim joint rod end set up that Scott Murphy just showed here. Very HD!

Axle in the frame and tie rods real close to set.

Wheels installed with new bearings and new V61 5 rib tires.

The front end is now nice and tight. Completely slop free.

All the pedal and shaft assemblies are now installed. There is still a little primer showing here and there. That has been painted since the pics were taken.

Pedals waiting traction coat.

I actually have a good bit of other stuff done and should have some more pics soon. So far I'm pretty happy with the way things are turning out. This tractor should be much more reliable and function more precisely when it's back together!

Methos · #24 04-18-2010, 10:23 PM

Looking good!

ACecil · #25 04-18-2010, 10:30 PM

Nice job, squatch! Thanks for the update.

BThein · #26 04-19-2010, 10:39 PM

Looks real good !I wanna see it when you have it all back together, should look pretty mean.I just picked up another 1872 I was just going to steal the rear out of it but I kinda hate to break it up.
Take Care, Bob

truckntran · #27 04-19-2010, 10:48 PM

The flat black looks good, couldn't have it in the hot texas sun tho...

Is that the axle that folks recommend for the super steer conversion for older Cub cadets, does anyone know?

Gonna be w real workin' machine when you are done...

squatch · #28 08-03-2010, 10:46 PM

Haven't been on much lately. The tractor has been slow going. It's been a crazy year with lots of other stuff taking time away from it. I'm getting close to completion and have plenty of pics. Chassis is back together, Trans resealed and back in, wiring harness completely redone, ready to set the motor back in place maybe tomorrow. The front sheet metal is painted. the few other pieces are primed and should be done by the end of the week (famous last words). Everything looks good so far especially for a rattle can job. I wet sanded the primer with 400 and that helped a lot. I like the yellow color of the TSC paint. Slightly paler than the road grader yellow/orange on my tractor stock. I hope to get the cab painted to match before winter. Same deal solid yellow. Don't have pics downloaded yet but real soon. I guess that makes this a teaser post. Hopefully next week I'll get some seat time on mu Cub again and many new pics up for you folks. I can't wait to see it all together myself!

BThein · #29 08-04-2010, 09:56 AM

Good Deal! I have been curious to see it back together .
Take Care, Bob

squatch · #30 08-13-2010, 10:01 PM

Time for another update. I'm almost there. Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll be ready to mow. Some small parts have not been painted like brake rods. They just got scotchbrited and rubbed with motor oil. This keeps them from rusting and paint doesn't seem to last on them anyway. Same with the hydraulic stuff and drive shaft. The inside of some panels had good clean white paint so I left it. I figured it would serve as a reference if somebody ever wanted to restore it to stock colors again. Like I've said it's a worker not a show piece and just a clean and spruce while I was repairing not really a true resto. But It's turning out pretty well to me.

Cleaned, sealed and painted trans ready to re install.

Trans installed.

Repaired wiring harness. It got re-wrapped with split loom when I installed it. Melted connectors have been replaced with color coded push on connectors. Once It's been fired up and tested all the connections will get painted with liquid electrical tape.

Chassis is various stages of reassembly.

Some painted sheet metal. TSC Valspar rattle can cub yellow. The foot boards were not really painted as they will be coated completely and about 2" up the fender with Black "Herculiner". This is a DIY polyurethane bedliner product that is tough as nails and very slip resistant. That should happen tomorrow. Then I can start installing the sheet metal. The battery tray and pedals were coated with a similar product that I had laying around.

I can't wait to get it back together. Hopefully before winter I can get the cab painted solid yellow to match and finish painting the plow and snowblower that I didn't finish last winter. Only thing left to do on the chassis is to install the gas tank. engine and wiring are in and completed since these pics were taken.