100 project has begun.

[jbrewer]

I'll contact some of the google sources for cad/zinc plating and start a new post when I get results. It would be great to know who to send a box of bolts to to get replated.

New fasteners are almost always trivalent chrome plated, to remove the cadmium in hexavalent chrome which is what >90% of fasteners for decades have been plated with. Hex chrome is fantastic... it's cheap, has great rust resistant and is self healing if it's nicked or scratched. Unfortunately if you ate a lot of it , it could kill you so it's been forced out of the marketplace internationally and domestically. Even the grade 8 bolts one sees in the bins (that were yellow cad/hex chrome plated usually) are now typically dyed trivalent chrome to LOOK like they once were.

We did a bunch of testing at work on the rust resistance before / after RoHS regulations and the results showed the new stuff to be VERY inferior.

I'll go ask for quotes on cad/hex chrome and zinc plated stuff and see what the mail-in prices are. I know there's some home kits, but I'd be (pleasantly?) surprised if they do as good a job as the commercial outfits.

John

[Bamafan]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

If a bolt is rusty, I just replace it with a new one. I don't think the IH headstamp bolts make any difference in a restoration. I've never seen anyone get down and look to see if all the bolts have an IH on them. Or it affect the value of the tractor any.

You know J, maybe you are right about it not making any difference in a restoration, but it makes a difference to me. And I personally could care less if someone doesn't notice the detail that was taken to restore an old cub. I want this cub to look as it did in 1964 when it was sitting in a dealership for sale. And makes no difference to me if it affects the value of the tractor, because I'm doing it for me.

[jbrewer]

Originally Posted by Bamafan

You know J, maybe you are right about it not making any difference in a restoration, but it makes a difference to me..

Repair: Doesn't make a difference
Restoration: Does make a difference


I save and clean the bolts too. I really like the IH headstamp.

[mortten]

IH made their own fasteners at the West Pullman works in Chicago. Around about the time the 1X8 1X9 series came out management decided to try to get a part of the aftermarket bolt pie. They started stamping the heads with WP instead of IH at that time.

[john hall]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

You would have to be an IH "guru", not a Cub Cadet "guru" to know that answer. I've read almost all the IH books there are about the company. IH had their own iron ore mines, and at least one steel mill. They made a lot of their own iron products. However, I have never seen anything in all I've read about them making their own fasteners. I'm guessing they didn't. But it wouldn't surprise me if they did. They (IH) had their hands in too many things that they could have outsourced for less. I'd research to find an answer, but I'm not that interested to know.

I tried to find "official" documentation online but couldn't. However, popular belief online and what was related to me by may father is that IH did make a lot of their own bearings and bolts. Typically these items have WP on them--the plant was known as the West-Pullman plant. I have read IH dropped the IH markings to use WP instead so they could produce bolts and bearings for sale to other companies.

This is as close to "official" proof as I could find.
https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM52003


A bit of IH and US history. IH, Standard Oil, American Tobacco, and US Steel were all broken up for being trusts/monopolies. I bring this up to address Jmechs point about IH owning iron ore. Long story short, in the early 1900's IH owned coal, iron ore, timber reserves and was the world leader in ag equipment. You could say they were greedy and wanted to control it all. The history of IH spans well over 100 years. Things they did in the mid late 1800's set precedence for labor agreements in the 1970's, which led to the strike that effectively killed IH (because Cat and Deere could produce equipment to meet demand and IH could not). Of course as they were dying, the money makers got sold off--hence Cadet was sold to MTD. Yeah its a bit more complicated than that, but that's enough for a post about original bolts. If you want to know more, get a copy of "A Corporate Tragedy" by Barbara Marsh---pretty certain it is out of print so you will have to find used. So next time you see that IH made Cadet in your garage think about the Chicago Hay Market Riots!

[J-Mech]

Well, there you go! Now we all know.

[zippy1]

Originally Posted by jbrewer

Todd,
Those came out great and it's really the right way to go if there's a plater nearby. (If someone knows of a mail-order plater that we could send a bucket of hardware to, that would be good to know!)

The thing about wire wheeling cad plated stuff, is that the wire wheeling sure cleans them up well but I think it removes the cad plate in the process, and rust will form quickly.

That was the idea. The majority of them were rusted, and I needed them as clean as they could be before refinishing them.
I checked a lot of places, and the only one, that I contacted, that could guarantee every piece would be returned was,
Pugh Metal Finishing Inc
Plating service in Greensboro, North Carolina
Address: 802 W Gate City Blvd, Greensboro, NC 27403
Phone: (336) 275-7417
They have a price minimum, but I do not recall what it was. They called me when the package arrived at their facility, and again when they were shipping it back.

[Baccarat]

One of my customers re-manufactures original parts for early (1900 - 1940) motorcycles. Excelsiors, Hendersons, Indians. We do a lot of the sheet metal work. All of it is to exact reproductions. If I can't replicate a part he has us buy specialty tooling to do it. Most of these are collector bikes so originality is a must.

IIRC he has a cad plating source in Indiana that plates all of the parts that require it. If someone can tell me the exact plating terminology, I can ask him if they do that sort of plating and their address/e-mail. I know that he ships them UPS and they return the same.

Let me and I'll check with him.

Mike

[jbrewer]

Good info!

Todd that place is not too terribly far from me, although these days you can do a lot of damage with a flat rate box (I cast bullets, and it turns out you can pack a lot of lead in a medium flat rate box!) .

I'll contact them and ask. I'll see if I can get a box of various hardware and ship em. Looks like there'll be some quality time at the wire wheel.

Thanks for the info...and I'll be looking forward to the info on the cad plater too.


John: I knew some sketchy stuff about IH's problems with unions and desegregation, and that they owned their supply chain (ships, train yards, etc) in their quest for complete vertical integration. I think I'll research it via some books thru interlibrary loan. I know it's a complex and memorable industrial past.

[jbrewer]

"Permanently Closed"....