Leaderboard

I think all my work clothes smell like gas, or oil, or grinding dust, or a combination of all of them...

See what I mean? Even the Kiwi knows to leave them clothes alone. :naughty:

spent the day on some of the small but important stuff. set up the steering shaft and gear. drilled the lower shaft for a roll pin. will finish the top when the steering wheel is ready. all the lower steering stuff is done and painted so as soon as i get the front steering bearing in then the engine can go on the frame. reamed the clutch pedal for bushings and drilled the pedal for a zerk fitting. had to weld up the worn out hole in the pedal for the clutch rod pivot and redrill the right size. clutch/brake stuff that needed work also was the parking brake lever hole resized and welded up. clutch rod pivot that goes through the parking brake lever needed filling on the pin as it was worn from the lever as well. then it was on to the lift lever and related parts. lots of welding and redrilling of worn out holes and getting a previous repair of the quadrant redone right to look like it should be. heres the pics...... steering all rebushed and lower part of new 3/4 shaft drilled for roll pin. no more slop in the steering anymore. had to remove paint from shaft as bushings for clutch pedal were a real close fit. bushings are 3/4 id x 7/8 od x 1 inch long. reaming pedal out to 7/8 to install bushings. reamed 7/8 hole. bushing installed. pedal back on shaft with bushings and zerk fitting. welded and ground/filed pivot. parking brake lever welded up and ready for paint. had to fill an area just below hole that was worn from the brake band rod. difference in previous botched repair and another quadrant that wasnt worn that much. gave me an idea of what needed filling and removing to get it back how it should be. had to fill lift lever pivot holes and redrill. hate drilling into weld as its so hard. end of lift lever shaft was worn as well so i needed to build it up with weld and grind it round to fit snug in hoodstand bushing. lift lever/quadrant all sorted and ready for paint.... stuff to be powdercoated come monday....

Heres a few pictures of my 654 thats looking more like a 704 ( 6 1/2 hp kohler )restoration with no hood. If you have and old hood let me know I`ll buy it. How I found it. Now with some primer new axle seals and some tractor supply paint. Still need a hood if you have one let me know .

i put one on my wifes c101,it doesnt get run too much as it is a show tractor(even though i dont show them)but so far its ok,the engine runs good with it,but its not as good as the orig,but we know that when we purchase aftermarket

Please excuse the soap box but -- DON"T PAY THE PRICES!!!!!!! If it's way too much, don't even respond to the ad. Nothing speaks louder than complete silence to a person's for sale ad. They will get the hint after noone inquires for 3-4 months, and hopefully then they will come down in price - the law of supply and demand does work. Too many times I've sen people pay too much for a machine and then try to unload it 6-8 months later because the wife doesn't want or see the 'need' for 7 tractors. Now not only did you pay too much, but you have $100 worth of gas invested, and 3.5 hours on the raod, so now the resale price jumps up $250 to recoup the 'investment'. If you figure things out like Mike showed, you should never go wrong. Even if he's off $50 on each piece, he's still ahead. You won't 'get them all', but financially you'll be ok. Now for the other side of the coin -- pay whatever you want - it's your money. Unfotunately it does effect evryone involved in the hobby. Soap box closed!

Theres no affordable tractors offered today with the capabilitys of our WH's. So to get a machine that regular homeowner can afford and use for some hard work and not fold up and die they turn to the older garden tractor stock. You also have the folks who price them with sentimental value, they are tough to beat down price wise. I think the best way to get a better deal is buy a tractor with a few attachments. Tractors with no attachments seem to be on the pricey side around here but add some attachments and the price doesn't go up accordingly. I'll use a machine I purchased last month for $900 as an example: 1) 50" grader blade in near mint shape =====================================$400 2) 42" plow complete/ good shape/ good cutting edge==========================$150 3) 42"SD deck in near mint shape/perfect blades/mule drive/belts=================$400 4) Rear axle bracket====================================================$50 5) Front and rear wheel weights===========================================$100 6) New two link V-Bar chains==============================================$75 7) 8 speed tractor with Kohler magnum 10 and new front tires/Great overall shape====$400 Thats a total of $1550 worth of stuff if I sold it all off separately so by my estimates I bought it for $650 under its value assuming I got the prices I mentioned for this stuff. Just my opinion of course. Mike...........

Crazy all or nothing weather these days. Kinda like the whole planet is suffering from Bipolar disorder. :coffee:

thanks for the comments guys. alright, was an afternoon thrash to get the engine to where its at now. i couldnt help myself, even with the front wheels resting on the stubs, i had to get some pics of it on the frame. heres the progress of the engine through the afternoon. getting it together normally would only take a couple hours, but with everything looking nice, it took a little more time. i just love the looks of the kohlers, especially the curves of the flywheel shroud, i cant wait to get the smoothed over starter/generator back together and mounted with the belt guard.

day off today, so got up early and got some tractor stuff done. got the trans bolted up to the frame. reamed and installed bushings in the front axle pivot and installed to frame. got wheels bolted up on the rear with 7/16-20 bolts and lug nuts to replace the oem bolts. still waiting for front wheel bearings so the fronts are just on loose, taking a break for lunch and real happy how its coming together, so i thought id post some pics of how it is right now.... going to get some of the engine together this afternoon. im replacing the head bolts with studs, got them in yesterday with a whole bunch of bolts etc so i mocked it up with the head and starter/generator bracket to see how it looked...... more to come after some lunch.....

i was told that it isnt a good idea to leave any thing in the block,the hones are a grit stone and the block needs to be cleaned after,and any grit in the bearings or on the crank arnt good,but i know some guys do it and try to cover up the lower goodies,and clean it out real good,id take it apart and do new gaskets as well