That is quite a find!! Always nice to have the story to go with the machine. That makes the process more enjoyable and fulfilling for me in the end!:beerchug: You have come to the right place for help! These little tractors all have a personality and are great fun to work on and use.. they tend to become members of the family around here!!:beerchug:

Please keep us posted! Your father in law would be proud you are saving his tractor!!:beerchug::beerchug::American Flag 1:

A little progress this weekend.

Changed plans and decided to strip 'er down. Motor removed to get the loader off a little easier. It went pretty well with a few exceptions.

-Steering wheel removal. Man, I've been soaking this with Kroil for days and it still won't come off with a 3 jaw puller. The plastic center part of the wheel broke off, as I didn't realize how much plastic there was. Heat will melt out the plastic bushing below, and I need to see if they are available. I'm going to try some freeze spray on the stem first.

-Motor is HEAVY! Going to use this as an excuse to buy an engine picker to man handle it.

-Cracked frame under the engine. Not sure if this is common or not, but expect that it was due to hard usage with the loader. I'm really surprised that the frame isn't a little heavier.

-Bearings are very loose in the front wheels. Will need to mic and see if the bearings are shot or the wheels got worn out under heavy loads.

search the forums for steering wheel removal, quite a few homemade ideas posted over the years.

Since you already broke the plastic part of the wheel i'd just heat the hub.. heat and a puller will bring it right off.. the bushing underneath is readily available or I have been told a front wheel bearing works in it's place..
Hard loader use is likely what broke the frame.. IH never designed it to take that kind of use.. all the loaders were aftermarket.. weld it up and reinforce best you can.. it lasted this many years so a good repair and you will get many more!:beerchug:

Your progress is looking really good! Sure is fun working on these old beasts!:biggrin2::biggrin2:

Cracking in that area is common.

Making good progress. Glad you decided to tear it down all the way. The cracked frame is common on the older ones. I have had three that I had to weld that area and none of them ever had a loader mounted. One was a 71 that only mowed grass with 38 inch deck. Keep posting progress pictures as you move forward with the rebuild.

My guess it is caused by slop in the 'C' channel where the main axle pivot pins the axle to it.
Back and forth movement, if not tight when hitting bumps or obstacles would, I think, could cause that damage if not more, over time.
And it would be magnified of course with a loader involved.
Luckily, I did not encounter this issue when I restored my 149/DanCo unit last winter.

Thanks for the info guys. I need to pull the front axle and decide how to best repair the frame. Lots of different stresses concentrated on the poor little frame in that area.

This 123 will see pretty light duty compared to how it was used in the past, so the repairs should last a long time.

Hydro lever removal?
 

Okay, the hydro lever is kicking my butt, as it's stopping the steering column bodywork from coming off. It seems like I've got about everything disconnected, but it doesn't want to come out due to the steering shaft/hydro lever relationship. I've disconnected the bottom, but no luck. Any help?

Bought an engine hoist to assist in the lifting duties, and it's a big help. Raised the whole frame up and let the differential drip dry. It made disconnecting the hydro lever pretty easy on the bottom side.

Standing the whole tractor up is handy. Not sure it's necessary.... but that's ok. Whatever is easiest I suppose.

Pull the bolts out of the column, and pull it out the bottom. Then you can get the dash off.

Take the 6 bolts out of the rear and just take the transaxle out. Pretty easy, and you don't have to hoist it all up in the air like that just to drain it. Just set it over a bucket.

Engine hoists sure are handy for a lot of heavy lifting...

Good work on the 123. I'm enjoying following along.