[Newsman]

Was worried about getting dirt in the lines while taking them off TCV. Looking through my plumbing boxes I only came up with a couple of pipe caps and of course they were the wrong sizes. Briefly flirted with ordering some, but with little items like these the smallest amount at a time to be somewhat reasonable was 50 piece bags and with eight different sizes what with the male and female ends, "somewhat reasonable" was off the table.
So I'm looking at how frugal can I get, the heck with being highfalutin, I'm calling it was it is. I'm cheap! Especially looking at throwaway items. Sandwich bags - to big and floppy, in the way. Then I thought of how I seal caulking/glue cartridges- use the fingers of rubber gloves. Heck, I've still got three boxes of HF gloves when I bought them on sale for $6.00. Heck they're $15 now. That's 100 gloves in a box so 6¢ a glove, three gloves 15 caps 18¢. But wait there's more! I had two pairs, already used, ready to be thrown away. only dirty on the outside. So brings the price down to zilch, zip, nada, big old goose egg... I could go on but you get the picture. The only downside - looks like a convention for proctologists!

See what I mean!
MikeC

 

[PA318Guy]

Course you might put a smile on its face doing that!!

 

[Newsman]

Now it's into the nitty gritty.
Had to unhook the rear hydraulic control. One line came off fine, the other- not so much.The fittings unscrewed from each other but was frozen on the line, even after couple days PB Blaster. And as I was turning the line crimped at a 90. So that's one that will be replaced as I had to cut it off to finish removing it. Lowered the rear and lifted frame so I can get to the breaks in it.

The chain underneath is holding tractor on lift as it rotates on front tires as I lift the rear of the frame.

Jack stands just normal precautions.

As you can see this isn't the first rodeo for these repairs. This tractor has been worked hard and put away wet. (and evidently the welds didn't penetrate enough to do any good)

And the angled bar you see laying askew is one of two that is suppose to be welded to the frame underneath to bolt the frame and transmission together. Plan in place for cleaning break, welding together and also welding angle iron reinforcement in place. Not a lot of room thickness wise but test fit appears to be able to fit a 1 1/2 in angle iron 7/64 thick, which I happen to have.
All of the welding repairs on this tractor leave a lot to be desired. Haven't even gotten to some up front yet. This to shall pass as they all have an appointment with the grinder.
MikeC

 

[Newsman]

Course you might put a smile on its face doing that!!

View attachment 2495713

That's the Cub I fixed last year as my poor Case languished next to it on the lift. Guess I'm not too good on follow through as well as being distracted by a myriad of other projects that distract me.
MikeC

 

[Ariens93GT20]

That's the Cub I fixed last year as my poor Case languished next to it on the lift. Guess I'm not too good on follow through as well as being distracted by a myriad of other projects that distract me.
MikeC

Myriad of other projects. Now that is a familiar one. Also good to hear I am not alone. Will there ever be light at the end of the tunnel or do we just get beyond human repair and our projects go to waste? Good to know ten years from now this maybe a possibility.
Keep up the good work. Carry on.

 

[Newsman]

Will there ever be light at the end of the tunnel...

I, for one, am in no hurry to see that light! But at 76 it sure seems that time is moving a lot faster. I checked all the battery powered clocks to make sure they only had the 1.5 volt battery in them. The way time flies

thought someone might have put a nine volt in them.
MikeC

 

[Newsman]

Bit of a hiccup. Morning pretty much spent doing prep with the grinder, running for some steel for reinforcement and making sure there was space for my plans. Wanted to double up on the steel, angle inside piece flat on outside but no go with the outer piece. Just not enough room between frame and brake drum. Then after lunch, with everything fit and clamped it was time to weld, or so I thought. First weld tacking on the 1/8" angle went fine. Well fine except I'm not as agile as I once was and welding upside down while leaning over was the pits. But then the welds turned to crap. Played with the wire speed, heat levels and gas flow. Nothing seemed to work. Ground through a couple and they were solid but you wouldn't have thought so by looking at them. Then it really went south. Turned everything off getting ready to go in but then figured out the problem. Although there had been gas flowing when I checked it as i shut down I cked flow again and there wasn't any. Still set at 25cubic ft/hr and bottle still showed 400lbs. Took off regulator and cracked open valve-you guessed it nothing. Fill the bottle tomorrow as well as changing out the valve set. Have a new set but just galls me that this set only lasted 20yrs.
Live and learn.
MikeC

 

[glenn27]

Go-Mike--Go..

 

[RussKish]

Something to put on the check list for welding, Do I have enough supplies (wire, rod, auto darking helmet, proper clothing for welding above me, do I really have enough gas (burp))

 

[Ariens93GT20]

I exhausted gas this afternoon. One thing nice about stick welding - on gas, bottles or gauges required.

 

[Newsman]

Proper clothing for overhead welding - check, 76 yr old body limber enough to get into position to do so - not for at least 10 yrs. Enough gas, gauge said 1/4 tank- check, natural gas - anyone over 70 will tell you more than enough, family members of those gaseous folks will say more than enough. In fact those same family members will often surprise you with a little gift box of...
MikeC

 

[tiretrx]

Beano is for family gatherings, Mike. Thanksgiving.....maybe Christmas. In my shop? It's au naturel or nothing for me. Also acts as nature's repellent for the uninvited or those ill suited for a mechanical environment.

Carry on.

 

[Ingersoll444]

Good idea with the tarp/drain! Saves from having a indoor skating rink in the winter! Good luck with that repair. Looks like the past weld was more for looks then function. Wont me hard to do better. Are those bad pipes getting changed with the new valve?

 

[tracktortag]

In fact those same family members will often surprise you with a little gift box of...
MikeC

Nothing like a subtle hint

 

[tracktortag]

Ellis, you may want to put a sign like this up to let people know what they might be getting themselves into before entering your shop, just in case.

 

[tiretrx]

Ellis, you may want to put a sign like this up to let people know what they might be getting themselves into before entering your shop, just in case.

View attachment 2495788

And possibly lose seeing that "look" they get when they realize what they've walked into???? No signs for me, Dave.

 

[Ingersoll444]

And possibly lose seeing that "look" they get when they realize what they've walked into???? No signs for me, Dave.

I hear thats where the idea for the movie "The Fog" came from...

 

[Newsman]

So guess we'll change from this anatomy discussion back to the main subject of this thread. So where were we? Oh yeah fixing the broken frame. Well might as well take a bit of a side trip. Since the frame is up in the air, and the rear end, actually lets just call it the two speed transmission so we don't get lost in fumes... again.
Popped the cover and all looked well

but the oil looks a bit high. Should be at top of the fill plug. But gears all turned nicely. no chips could be seen anywhere.
So put a pail under the drain, opened it up and out pours crystal clear water-1 1/2 quarts, finally followed by the oil. Guess sitting for six years was enough time for all the oil to float to the top. I knew the PO had left it outside all the time, and from what I'm finding I don't think maintenance was a very high priority. And actually with the rear weight setup

there wasn't any way to access the fill plug without dismantling a bunch or stuff. Before it's all back together there will be a hole drilled in the back plate of the weight box. But probably will still be a bit of problem because the two weights at 54lbs each and they don't exactly have a handy dandy handle on them plus which they have a bolt running through them so they don't come out. Fat Chance. Have to see how feasible it might be to rig and extension. Below is... wait for it... one of the two weights.

Anyhow onward we go. The transmission gasket and with that in hand I started cleaning out the tranny. Actually guess you could say I started day or two ago with pouring three quarts of diesel in it. Kept spinning the gears a few revs every so often, but is was a bit tough to turn. Was using the brake drum so that all the gears were in motion. Then eureka, the light bulb finally went off and everything was turning better. Simple fix- shifted into high. Duh! Then I got piece1/4" of fuel hose onto the end of the air nozzle and kept running it about the bottom of the casing to loosen up the sludge. That nice clean diesel came out looking black. Then stuck the hose around using air only to clean away some areas where it was still dirty. Another couple quarts of diesel to soak overnight and should be good to button up. Baby steps, but any progress is good for the soul.
Well here it is all clean, new gasket and ready to close. It came out pretty darn clean and looking down inside little to no discoloration from gunk on bottom. Think using the air hose to bubble wash the bottom helped a lot. First rinse came out black, second just slightly gray. Now filled with three quarts of oil and ready to close.

MikeC

 

[Ingersoll444]

OK, so I know its all clean and all, going back together and all... But you really want to change those bolts that hold the diff unit together. Thats really one of the few weak spots on the tractor, and your in there already. They might not be broke now, but they might be ready to snap next use.

 

[Newsman]

Paul, that certainly was / is a consideration, especially after seeing all the abuse it has been through. And was also discussed on the Case forum,where it was mentioned that "if" everything was tight, and as it's quite a job to do, I might want to take a chance. For the short term, I'm leaving it. The plan is to revisit after everything else is taken care of. Going to get it all back together, make sure no other major problems exist, and then... take it all apart again to clean, sand and paint. Of course when thinking about luck I'm always reminded of Dirty Harry's "Do I feel lucky?" Looks like I'm rolling the dice and hope I don't crap out. Thanks for the note of concern. It's appreciated.
MikeC

PS: And before anyone writes about the quote. It isn't "Do you feel lucky, punk?" The actual quote is "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punk?"