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To each his own. I personally like all the different ways people on here restore, fix, modify, etc. etc. Makes this hobby more exciting. If we all made perfect tractors by the time we were done doing whatever we do to them it would be quite boring don't you think. Also the term show room new. Let me tell you after assembling several dozen new ones right out of crate from the factory when we were a dealer, I can tell you a lot of the tractors on here that have been restored by some of the members are well past what they looked liked from the factory. Fresh from the factory was really not always all that great. I can tell you that first hand. Believe me.

This is just a rant-n-rave, as I had a few fellows I know look at my 867 recently and say things like, “Bring the sheet metal to so-and-so in town and he can strip and powder coat it,†yadda-yadda. It just got me a little annoyed. I understand the show thing, and have appreciation and respect for the excellent work people can do. I have done a few show queens myself, and know the work and resources that goes in to it. I also have a mixed emotion towards it, which is why I don’t do very many show pieces. You face the fact that show tractors have a very limited audience, in that only others interested in small tractors are going to bother going to a show to look at them, thus the effort only appeases your peers in the hobby. Also building a tractor solely for show completely takes away its intended usefulness and its originality. To me, there is more beauty in original “patina†(or whatever the stupid word for old finish with some wear in it is) rather than looking at a tractor made to look like it just came out of the factory. Guess what? It ISN’T original, no matter how good a restorer you are. I agree there are some very rare tractors that should only be museum or show pieces today. But I know that there are guys putting hundreds or thousands of dollars in to restoring for show some very common lawn and garden tractors- take the John Deere 110 or Cub Cadet Original for instance. These are NOT rare tractors, and likely never will be! It would be 100% more useful and meaningful just to spend a little money to fix one to use and have fun with rather than spend $300 on base/clearcoat paint alone just to have a show queen to impress your friends and have to worry about getting a scratch in it if you are daring enough to run it. Rant over. Please comment -Mark-

OH...some cheese with your whine good sir? To think...I started messing around with 's to get away from the car club restoration snobs.

The tractors that I have restored were well beyond the "patina" stage. One built from the ground up from rusted-out scrap tractors, one that had been burned in a fire, and the third that had been painted with a brush. So to spend $300.00 to $400.00 on sand blasting and paint is worth it to me. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say. If you think that a tractor in it's "patina" condition is appealing, so be it. If you think that a total restoration should include powder coating or professional painting, that's okay too. My personal opinion is that if you are going to go to the trouble of doing a total restoration, then a new paint job is only icing on the cake. Right now I have two worker tractors that have their original patina. I don't plan on doing anything with them at this time as they are currently without proper shelter so that I can keep the "queens" happily sheltered out of the weather. Just my worth.

Well its finally alive! The rj35 is finally driving. I got a clinton for it last weekend that is fantastic, starts on the first pull every single time!!! She still has a way of things to be done with it but sure am glad its going. I have a schnake for it, need to get the belt guard to fit, get a throttle cable, and the correct tank for it and put the brake kit on it. Pretty hard and scary driving it LOL no belt guard, no throttle cable, and no guard on the engine. Here are a couple pics of how it is now. ~Jake

I think in the end the only one we need to please is ourselves. You do your tractor the way you want, and I will do mine the way I want. I'm not a show tractor kinda guy myself. I'm a "tweener". Somewhere between the leave em alone guys, and the true restoration guys. I have done three tractors to my own specs. I clean em up, repaint em so they look decent, and then use em. It makes me happy. Your tastes may differ. :)

The Sugar Snap Peas are starting to grab ahold of the trellis Should have a good batch of Serano Peppers soon, 4 bushes are loaded like this one...

Here we go! I want to have it done before January so I can enjoy my last year of High School with this beast! It will be a 4x4 1985 Dodge Crew Cab short bed Cummins 5.9L turbo diesel with twin turbos, performance engine parts, 5 speed, 4" of lift and 35" tires with moto rims. NO CHROME!!! Parts gathered so far: NP205 29 spline IC Rad support 12v P pump engine Jungle Shackle Flip Here's what I am going for. Mango Tango (jeep color) If I go with the '78 I will use the '78 grille like this. Not sure what body style I want to use for fenders, doors and bed (whether 70s or 80s) but I will definitely use the 70s hood and interior. P pump motor getting torn down for rebuild: Shackle flip thanks Alex! Rad Support 205 29spline gasket and seal install. Needle bearings were not caged (pain in the A--) and Snap rings on shafts were a pain in the A-- as well. Really happy how it turned out though. I paid $400 for it and the reseal was $32. Was sandblasted before I got it also! Here's what I got out of this weekend (instead of homework) this purchase definitely puts me on cloud 9! Got a fair price on a crew cab that is 95% rust free! Really incredible shape for an East Coast truck! Woke up at 7am and made the 500 mile round trip with my buddy yesterday to Southern Virginia to get this! I also got a short bed box for the short bed frame I will be getting. Came with a clear title and was a Big Block stick shift truck. It received a different trans so they modified the floor for it. I'm planning on installing a removable trans tunnel out of a 1970s truck. Gutted the cab today! The only rust is in the drip rail so I will have to deal with that but not bad. Floors are perfect, all pillars are perfect, rockers, doors and cab mounts: again, perfect. I also made a deal with the seller and bought the fenders off this truck that were removed when I got there as they are straight and rust free. Charlie

Went with SteveBo and our boys to check this place out today. SALTYWRIGHT (Russ) had told me about it a few years ago but I had never got around to going and it's only 20 minutes from home. It is privately owned and only open by appointment. There over 179 tractors etc from the late 1800's and up. The unbelievable part is every single tractor, truck etc runs and operates/drives as it should . Here are some picture to drool over. There were more things to look at but we were chasing the kids around. Here's a video of one running and driving.

What do ya think? Yeah I know another wheel horse with a stack. I think it looks good though, and it seems to run a little better. Im trying to think up a theme for my new hobby. So far its a black stack black wheels and ag tires on the back prolly 6 12 and tri ribs on the front ill prolly go with 4.00 8. Oh and those cool looking can lights lol, I like em anyways.

im not sure how the throttle cable routing for your tractor is to the engine, but most of the big block kohlers have this setup.....

Driving it without the guards in place is what seperates the boys from the men Jake. Nice work so far.

I think she looks great Ken but as you know I'm only completely true to original manufacturing correctness :laughing-rolling:

Duke, if you've had the same shorts on for the past four years...you're definitely gonna need some spray.

I can go either way. If a tractor looks fairly decent with its original "Patina" I leave em be. BUT, if its past that point where I think it would look better restored then that is what I'll do. 50 yrs. from now a restored tractor will have that "Patina" all over again and not a soul will know the difference, and by then I doubt anyone will even care. I came across the correct cops more than 10 yrs. ago when I was into Cub Cadets. I restored a Cub 100 that was trashed and I added a few touches that weren't stock. I spent almost a yr. restoring that Cub 100, for me that is a VERY long time. I wanted it to look as good as I could possibly make it. Yup, I blew at least a few hundred bucks on paint alone. I'm sure I had quite a bit more than a grand into restoring. I'd have at least a few clowns at each show I took it to come up and tell me what wasn't correct on my tractor without once uttering the word nice job. Pretty discouraging if you ask me. Personally, I couldn't care a less what one guy does with his time and money. Should I have not restored this?

Matt, That is one nice tractor. I have been keeping my eye out for a Bantam. It's hard though because I know a bunch of guys that are hard wired to Ebay, CL and other selling forums looking for them. There are a bunch of collectors here in the Northeast and the Bantams, Bairds and other odd tractors are highly sought after. The few that do come up for sale are usually gone within the first 20 minutes if they are on CL. Even on Ebay when they are listed, people email the sellers and try to broker a deal to buy it offline! Maybe some day. Your right about seeing your kids smile ridding on something that you worked so hard on. Those memories will last forever!

With a Kohler engine attached to the Carter N. :handgestures-thumbup:

Haha! Maybe I will inquire with him tonight!

I do not think Mark is talking about this like it is a hobby. I think he is talking about the fact that no matter what you do with one of these tractors, it is never good enough or perfect enough for some people. Bob Maynard went through it a couple of years ago when he brought one of his excellent creations to the big show. If we look at this like a hobby, I think anyone gets into a hobby because they think THEY would enjoy it...it is something they want to do...not to please everyone else. You are never going to impress me with your stamp collection. As far as I know, the only hobby that has major appeal, understanding and almost everyone's interest is making homemade wine. Everyone wants to see the wine room, and almost all go home with a bottle of wine...if they want. That is the best hobby I have found if you are trying to please everyone else...including yourself. :)

New RJ 58 for the barn

Mine is 1-4831 so I guess its a 68 not 69 correct?

Mine is 1-4831 so I guess its a 68 not 69 correct?

I got the parts from www.rcpw.com but you can shop around at any place that carries Toro parts. Thrust Bearing original PN 1534: order Toro # 99-3836 (2 required) Needle Bearing original PN 1508: order Toro # 252-6 (4 required) Grease Seal is a standard CR or SKF # 7410, you can get these at auto parts store or ?, I found some on E-Bay (2 required) I don't have my deck all back together yet to see if the new bearings helped quiet it down, and truthfully my old bearings didn't seem to be worn all that much. I suspect it will be a little quieter and I have the peace of mind knowing the bearings are new, but I think these decks with the gear drive will always be a little noisier than others. My deck was worse for wear around the scalp roller supports as the rollers seized to the shafts and spun a lot of the metal out of the supports so I have to do some welding there. I also have to put some weld beads on the shafts for the small support tires and grind them round again so it might be a couple weeks before I know how the deck works. -Mark-

Thanks Kenny, Aussie, Rich -n- Mike Well I Started assembling the Rear End and Got the Gas Tank out and De-Gunked it and cleaned it up. There was alot of rust stains on it from the rusty sheet metal surrounding it prolly do from vibration of the plastic tank wearin through the paint from the tank so I had some rubbery white roof stuff that is sticky for RV Roofs that I cut to give it some cushion. I installed it on the tank and skid it into place Once Installed Ya cant see it. I have been useing 95% Stainless Steel on all the Bolts on assembly except where there will need to be grade 8 where there is alot of stress. I also started assembly Of The Matt Hydro foot pedal doo dad thought I would try one of those out. I installed the rear fender pan and put some new tail lights on it and then started in on the seat. The new seat I got from Butch (thanks buddy) if you recall I had to make a bracket for it as it didn't fit the mounts but it does now. I got the front tires mounted on the tractor with all new bearings, races, and seals so shouldnt hafta fool with that for along time. Here is some pics of this weekends work. Cheers ~Duke

:text-imsorry: Well im way behind. I took the head off mine like 3 times this weekend and put it on dry every time and never re torqued after the few heat cycles. I feel ashamed lol. From what im reading I need a new head gasket and some copper spray. Great post! Not every one knows this kind of stuff. But you got to start somewhere.