2024 Project

[WHX?? 48,814]

7 minutes ago, Achto said:

contact with the chain on the eliminator.

Ya know anything across there might. Especially with the adjustable hitch height.  

[Achto 27,565]

As Jim stated todays adventure was a weight bar for the front of the tractor. I started with a piece of 2" square tubing then cut out a few pieces to start the puzzle.

 

With all of the pieces cut out it was time to burn these parts together.

 

This assembly now easily snaps into place using the front & rear Tach-o-matic's

 

On to the next piece. Using a piece of 3/8" bar stock, a cut out from using the hole saw, a spring, and a 3/4" pipe cap I assembled this contraption.

 

What's this for?? Well after I drilled a hole in the 2" tubing and welded a piece or 3/4" pipe on to the square tube, I screwed the pipe cap on to the pipe. I now have a spring loaded pin that will hold the second tube in place. 

 

Drilled 3/8" lock holes in a piece of 1 1/2" square tube 6" apart. Then made some pieces that will hold the weights on to the end of this tube and welded this assembly together . Slide these parts together and I now have a weight bar that can be adjusted in order to get the weight where it is needed. This pic has the weight bracket slid all the way in.

 

Weight bracket slid all the way out.

 

A weight bracket ain't much good unless you have some weight to put on it. I had a stick of 3/4" X 6" flat stock laying around for the last 10yrs or so, perfect candidate for some ballast. Did some math to figure out that if if I cut this into 10" lengths, each one will weight a little over 12lbs. Perfect for my needs. As long as Jim was hangin' around I enlisted his help to get the 10' chunk out from where it was buried in the shop. Thanks Jim!! Then I got out my trusty 4 1/2" grinder and used it to cut the flat stock up. Moved these chunks over to the drill press to poke some holes in them. Unfortunately the bars on my weight bracket pulled in a bit when I welded them so I will have to massage the holes a bit, but that will be a job for another day.

 

  

 

 

 

 

Edited February 12 by Achto

[JPWH 6,033]

Nice job on the weight bracket!

How many discs did it take to cut

Plate? That was a job.

[Achto 27,565]

6 hours ago, JPWH said:

How many discs did it take to cut

Plate?

 

6 discs to make 5 cuts.

[953 nut 55,189]

I seem to remember @Ed Kennell buying a piece of exercise equipment at an auction just for the weights, paid next to nothing for it.

[SylvanLakeWH 25,535]

 

Here's my free trash picked 200 lbs weight box...

 

 

[Ed Kennell 38,135]

1 hour ago, 953 nut said:

I seem to remember @Ed Kennell buying a piece of exercise equipment at an auction just for the weights, paid next to nothing for it.

Your memory is working fine Richard.          You talkin bout these ?   One buck for the entire weight machine. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cafoose 3,354]

That's what I need for my GT-14 FEL

[Ed Kennell 38,135]

1 hour ago, cafoose said:

That's what I need for my GT-14 FEL

Check your local auctions and FBMP Chuck.      Those 20 lb. weights are really nice. 

 Plastic coated for no rattle, interlocking for stable stacking, central hole for bolting down, and mine cost about $0.10 each plus you get a truck load of nice square tubing for free.

Here's one just listed on FBMP for $30.

 

 

 

[cafoose 3,354]

33 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

Here's one just listed on FBMP for $30

I'm in East Tennessee now and I did a quick search on FBMP and didn't see any yet but I'll keep looking

35 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

Those 20 lb. weights are really nice.

Looks like 200 lb you got there

[Achto 27,565]

Moved a little further today. First thing was finishing up the weights for the front and drilling some holes in the front bracket in order to keep them in place.

 

Pulled the head off from the engine and found a piston with a nice full coating of carbon on it. Given this pleasing find I may not pull the engine apart for a build up. The head will be getting shaved down though before I reinstall it. Next I pulled the oil pan in hopes of changing it out to an older  wheel oil pan. That didn't work out but I will get back to that next. What I did find after removing the oil pan was a set of "grenade gears" (balance gears). These felt sloppy on the shafts, so I did what should be done with grenades - throw them as far away from you as you can.  BTW, I was able to pull the grenade gears out without taking anything else apart on the lower end with the use of 90 degree snap ring piers and a flat screw driver. Was tricky finding just the right spot for the crank to be positioned in order to remove the gears.

 

On to the next issue - I wanted to install an oil pan from an older  to allow me to get rid of the shaker plate. The engine that I have has a different mounting base for the oil pan and will not allow the use of the older style pan. Plan B - I guess I'm running the shaker plate mount.  On to another issue - the drain hole on this oil pan will not work with a  shaker plate. Solution - Plug the original hole with a pipe plug and drill/tap a new hole in the correct position.

 

I came to terms with the fact that I will need to run a shaker plate, but using the original rubber mounts was not to be in the cards. I had a set of aluminum solid mounts that were ear marked for another tractor, but decided to use them on my puller instead.

 

These solid mounts work great!! Every thing lined up with very little trouble.

 

One other bonus is that an older battery tray will still work with the shaker plate mount.  Installed the battery tray with my new upgraded hold bar.

 

Edited February 19 by Achto

[WHX?? 48,814]

Wow you got the goal done for the day! 

We didn't know if the grenades could be removed without pulling the crank but yes it can be. 

Dan pulling them ...it is a bit tricky. 

11 hours ago, Achto said:

. I had a set of aluminum solid mounts that were ear marked for another tractor, but decided to use them on my puller instead.

I know where to get more... little bird told me Lowell may be selling them. 

[WHX?? 48,814]

BTW Dan may have to call this tractor Jake not Cubby or Casey ... 

[Achto 27,565]

More forward progress. Worked on making the C-101 belt guard work with the 1257 rear sheet metal. In order to do this I needed to make a filler panel to bolt to the 1056 sheet metal. I wanted some weld nuts for this piece, which I swore I had some in stock. Unfortunately I can not seem to find them. Instead of making a trip to town to spend money on some new ones I decide to just grab a strip of 7ga and make what I needed. Save time & money. 

 

 

With these welded on to my extension piece it will be much easier for mounting.

 

Also needed to add a mount for the front of the belt guard. Seems my engine is now solid mounted I made a piece that could be bolted to the engine.

 

Some minor trimming where the belt guard meets the foot board and it fits like it was made to be there.

 

On to the next fitment issue. Fender pan does not sit all the way down with the belt guard.

 

Again, a little minor trimming to get things to fit properly.

 

Last project, add some bumper plates to the back of the tractor. The purpose of the bumpers are to stop the eliminator from running into the driver in the event that the tractor should stop faster than the eliminator. I have seen this happen with modified garden tractors that are pulling 20+mph on the track, but have not seen it happen with a stock tractor pulling at 3 to 4mph. But.... Rules are rules so I must adhere. For bumpers I simply added some plates to the wheelie bars.

 

With these added I thought that I was done with fab work. Then I read over the rules again, sent a picture to one of the officers of the club that I plan on pulling with, and received notice that I need to do some more fab work. Take a look at the next picture.

 

The issue here is that there is too much exposed belt. I will have to make some type of belt guard extension to cover this up. Hopefully I will be able to get this made next weekend  then I can move on to engine mods. 

Edited March 4 by Achto

[WHX?? 48,814]

12 hours ago, Achto said:

wanted some weld nuts for this piece, which I swore I had some in stock.

Shoulda said something ... someone gave me a bunch and I know right where they are! 

[Achto 27,565]

A fun day of playing put together / take apart, a game that I have gotten good at with this project. First, unbolt the tranny & throw some paint on the ladder bar reinforcement that I made for the transmission.

 

 

While I was waiting for the paint to dry I moved on to making a guard to take care of the excess exposed belt issue. Seemed simple enough but this took up a fair amount of my day. To make the guard everything was carefully measured with a micrometer, marked with chalk, & cut with an axe. 

 

By the time I finished making the belt guard the paint was dry on the ladder bar so I bolted it & tranny back in place. (hopefully for the last time) 

 

With the tranny bolted back in place I was also able to bolt the adjustable hitch back on.

 

 

Edited March 3 by Achto

[Ed Kennell 38,135]

59 minutes ago, Achto said:

guard to take care of the excess exposed belt issue

No exposed belt but the crank is OK ?

[953 nut 55,189]

11 hours ago, Achto said:

measured with a micrometer, marked with chalk, & cut with an axe.

[Achto 27,565]

20 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

No exposed belt but the crank is OK ?

 

Guess they are more worried about the belt flying apart than the crank breaking off.

Edited March 3 by Achto

[Achto 27,565]

Not much to show for todays effort. Spent some time making a bracket and positioning a couple safety switches. The one attached to the brake/clutch lever is the neutral safety switch. I used a motorcycle brake light switch for this purpose. This will prohibit the starter from working unless the clutch/brake peddle is depressed. Towards the rear of the tractor is the break away switch, same break away switch used on trailers with electric brakes. This switch will get tethered to the eliminator. If the tractor comes unhooked from the eliminator, the plunger will get pulled out of the switch. This intern will shut down the ignition and the fuel pump. Along with these switches I also made the brakes functional. Glad that  did not change the clutch/brake lever when they switched to using separate clutch & brake peddles on the C series tractors.

 

I set out to bolt the hubs on permanently but was met with a set back. Who ever rebuilt this transmission also cut full length key ways into the axles. Bonus - as I think this is a much stronger & better idea. Issue - they cut the key way for a 5/16" key instead of a 1/4" key. Good news is that they did cut the keyway 5/32" deep so it is in fact cut for a 5/16" key. Given this fact I guess I will have to cut the keyway in the hubs out to 5/16" to remedy the issue.

 

 

I also pulled the head off from the engine & blasted it. This will be going to a machine shop this week to have about .050" shaved off to gain some more compression. This engine has a series 4 head witch is good for a stock puller, not as good as a series 1 (LP head) but it should serve my purpose well. As long as the head was off I measured the cylinder bore as well.  The bore measures out well with in specs but there is very little cross hatch showing, so I'm thinking a good scuff and a new set of rings will be in order. Will not order parts until I measure the crank though. Want to make sure it is with in specs as well.

 

Edited March 4 by Achto

[ebinmaine 67,422]

1 hour ago, Achto said:

keyway

 

Step key an option or better/ easier to cut a bigger groove in the hubs?

 

1 hour ago, Achto said:

pulled the head off from the engine & blasted it. This will be going to a machine shop this week to have about .050" shaved off to gain some more compression.

 

How much gain will that .050 shave  give you?

 

Any particular HP goal you're after?

 

 

[Achto 27,565]

45 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

How much gain will that .050 shave  give you?

 

Any particular HP goal you're after?

 

.050 will give a compression gain of about .75:1 - so if you start at 8.5:1 after shaving you would be at 9.25:1.

 

Don't really have a HP goal in mind per say. Just tweaking with in the rules. 

[Achto 27,565]

11 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

Step key an option or better/ easier to cut a bigger groove in the hubs?

 

 I think it will be easiest to cut a bigger groove in the hubs.

[Achto 27,565]

Back at it again this weekend. Stacked my dumb bell weights on the mid mount weight bar to see how many I could fit. @ebinmaine might recognize these dumb bell weights.  Any way, I can only fit 4 in between the frame rails due to a clearance issue when I slide the front weight bar all the way in. I can how ever fit 10 on each side on the out side of the frame. Grand total of 168lbs.

 

 

Made a cover plate for the opening on the block for the fuel pump.

 

Then it was time to make some paint fly. No, I'm not prepping sheet metal for a flawless paint job. Just some fizz bomb paint squirted on the pieces that I had to fab. Some silver squirted on the wheelie bars. Why silver? Just wanted to show off the fab work on them. Also added a center brace to stiffen the wheelie bars up.

 

One coat of self etching primer and two coats of flat black on the front weights.

 

Dumb bell weights received the same treatment, got 18 of them painted today. 6 more to paint tomorrow.

 

OK.... I did spray some sheet metal too. The fender pan did get a top notch paint job to protect the add on pieces and the spots where the welds burned the paint off. 

 

Yep a little red oxide primer to help keep the rust at bay. Blends right in with the faded red & rust finish.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10 by Achto

[ebinmaine 67,422]

11 hours ago, Achto said:

@ebinmaine might recognize these dumb bell weights. 

 

Well ain't that cute. 

 

Another puller made outta them!