Frank 'n Tractor

[Nightow1]

WOW great job on the rebuild. Looks sweet.

[Sam Mac]

Your doing a nice job on this one. Should run like new when finished.

[ACecil]

Originally Posted by sawdustdad

Some pics of the replacement hydro unit (pretty dirty, I must say) before and after some cleaning. The trunnion is badly worn, so I took the trunnion from the damaged hydro and did the repair using the replacement part. some of the other parts I've got lined up, including the rebuilt engine. I ordered seals and gaskets for the hydro. I plan to open it to check it out, do any cleaning, replace the trunnion arm and reassemble. And, finally, the chassis as it sits. Note: I put the blue paper towel under the trunnion for picture clarity.

Great job!

[sawdustdad]

OK, so I have a question for you more experienced guys.

I don't have the firewall, side panels or muffler box for the QL. Do you see any problem setting this up like a 149 in that respect? that is, leaving the firewall off, and using the 1X8/9 series muffler in lieu of the QL arrangement. I also planned to use a round air cleaner rather than the QL version. Might have to retrofit a couple 149 side shields.

Do you see any issues with this approach?

[sawdustdad]

Originally Posted by sawdustdad

OK, so I have a question for you more experienced guys.

I don't have the firewall, side panels or muffler box for the QL. Do you see any problem setting this up like a 149 in that respect? that is, leaving the firewall off, and using the 1X8/9 series muffler in lieu of the QL arrangement. I also planned to use a round air cleaner rather than the QL version. Might have to retrofit a couple 149 side shields.

Do you see any issues with this approach?

Nobody? Or is this plan OK?

[Sam Mac]

Should be no problem to run it without a fire wall and side panels. No firewall on this and the side panels do nothing short of make it look better.

[sawdustdad]

Thanks, Sam. Was hoping you'd weigh in. OK to use the 1X8/9 series muffler and air cleaner? I think it will fit OK, but there are sometimes things I don't realize until I try to fit things up.

Meanwhile, got the steering gear bolted up, and began to mount the lift control valve. Need to get some longer bolts to mount the valve to the plate bolted to the column.

Also installed the new ignition switch. Cleaned up the frame some. Will get started cleaning up the fenders this weekend. Will be home for a change.

Waiting on hydro parts (seals, springs) and the motor rails.

This won't be a full cosmetic restoration of any sort. I'll repaint the fenders and exposed parts of the frame, but there is very little rust, so it's just a refresh job. This will be a working tractor, so it'll get dirty quick.

[sawdustdad]

While I am waiting for parts, put the wide tires on front and hooked up the steering links. Painted some parts, and pulled the old 108 fender that I set aside from the 148 build. After some hammering and wire brushing, I completed the weld repair on the fender where I suppose tire chains caught the fender. Still a little distorted, need to determine if I can fix it better or just put some bondo on it. I may just leave it "rustic." Wire brushed and sanded the rest of the fenders to remove as much rust as possible and then painted the fenders with rust restorer to prevent any further rust. Will prime and paint. One pic shows the "tools of the trade."

Disassembled the hydro unit. Still waiting on seals, but this was a worthwhile effort. I discovered a couple of the pistons were stuck in the cylinder blocks, so I cleaned things up and got all the pistons moving freely. You can see some funk on the set of pistons in one pic. Cleaned some debris out of the cylinder blocks as well. I had to re-use one of the cylinder blocks out of the original hydro because I had trouble getting a couple of the cylinders cleaned to the point the piston would slide freely in this replacement hydro. No real damage to anything else in the hydro, so gaskets and seals and it will go back together easily.

Last pic is a new gift for the shop.

[ACecil]

Thanks for the update pics. Love the IH stool!

[sawdustdad]

Still no parts for the hydro, so I decided to start putting the engine together. Got the valves adjusted, points on, static timed the engine, cam cover, oil fill tube, grass screen, and PTO installed and adjusted. Next need to rebuild the carb, install and adjust the governor linkage, put the starter on, etc. I need a voltage regulator, so will have to order that.

Wasn't sure if the PTO clutch was working, so I used a battery jump pack to energize it, and it worked fine. So far no issues on reassembly other than having to use a tap to clean paint out of a few bolt holes.

Have been able to find the needed parts in the box and coffee cans that came with the engine, plus some other QL parts--notably the iso mounts and bolts plus a set of new aftermarket iso mount rubber bushings.