2024 Project

[Achto 27,576]

Finished painting weights this morning and then pulled the engine back out of the frame. When I pulled the tins off I discovered an issue with the starter. The way it was mounted it would have never engaged with the fly wheel as it was too close.

 

To remedy this I made a .215" thick shim to put behind the mounting bracket. With this installed I ran the starter gear out by hand and turned the engine over with the gears engaged. The teeth look to mesh together well so I believe this should solve the issue.

 

Next I pulled the rod & piston assembly out so that I could measure the crank pin. The pin measures out within specs so there will be no need to have it turned. Finished up the day by scuffing the cylinder in preparation for a new set of rings.

   

Edited March 10 by Achto

[Achto 27,576]

Engine parts arrived !!  Before throwing parts at the engine I figured that I better check the valves for leakage. Filled the valve depressions with some some WD-40 & then applied low pressure to the intake. This resulted in all kinds of bubbles around the valve. 

 

Pulled the valves out & gave them a good lapping, after that the second test resulted in no bubbles around the valve. 

 

Because I am untrusting of aftermarket parts, I always check them. First check was the rod to crank clearance with some plasti gauge, .0015 as it should be.

 

Piston to cylinder clearance checked out at .008" clearance.

 

Remember the cylinder head?

 

What it looks like now.

 

To make sure that there is no clearance issues, I got to play with Play Doh today.  Some strategically placed gobs, bolt the head on, spin the engine over, take it back apart, and measure the thickness of the Play Doh.

  

 

Finished up the day with a mostly complete engine. Switched out the quiet line tins for the older tins as well.

 

Fuel, wiring, plus a few odds & ends left.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 18 by Achto

[OoPEZoO 524]

That’s quite a blood blister under your thumbnail 🔨 💥 

[Achto 27,576]

21 minutes ago, OoPEZoO said:

That’s quite a blood blister under your thumbnail

 

Amazing how little of a bump it took to start it. It happened at the start of this project.  Now it's a race to see if I can get the project done before it grows out.

Edited March 18 by Achto

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,297]

@Achto how thick is the metal that you used to make the block off plate for the fuel pump?

[Achto 27,576]

11 hours ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

@Achto how thick is the metal that you used to make the block off plate for the fuel pump?

 

I used a piece of 10ga.

Edited March 21 by Achto

[Maxwell-8 4,275]

On 3/18/2024 at 12:52 AM, Achto said:

Piston to cylinder clearance checked out at .008" clearance.

 

Remember the cylinder head?

great idea with the play-doh. 

I am curious as to what compression the engine has now.

[Achto 27,576]

2 minutes ago, Maxwell-8 said:

I am curious as to what compression the engine has now.

 

On paper it should be around 9.5:1.

[Achto 27,576]

Made progress but not much to show in pictures. Kohler #30 carb rebuilt and installed.

 

Wiring and fuel plumbing took up most of my day today. Took a little extra time to find a place to mount the fuel pump and rectifier / regulator. Ended up tucking the fuel pump inside the dash tower and mounting the rec/reg to the frame rail just behind the battery..

 

Dash looks nice & clean.

 

In the home stretch now. Work & holiday will shut down any progress next weekend. Hope to hear it run soon though.

 

[Moparfanforever 845]

Another job well done!!

 

How much weight do you have hanging in the middle of your tractor??

[Achto 27,576]

3 minutes ago, Moparfanforever said:

How much weight do you have hanging in the middle of your tractor??

 

 Currently 168lbs. and a little over 50lbs on the front. These may change after I actually get it on a scale.

[ebinmaine 67,500]

40 minutes ago, Achto said:

 

 Currently 168lbs. and a little over 50lbs on the front. These may change after I actually get it on a scale.

 

 

Are you allowed to shuffle front to center for weight distribution or anything like that? Or do you have to stick to a certain axle weight or limit amounts in certain locations?

[Achto 27,576]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

Are you allowed to shuffle front to center for weight distribution or anything like that? Or do you have to stick to a certain axle weight or limit amounts in certain locations?

 

Can put the weight any where you want, as long as the total package with driver does not weigh more than 1050lbs 

[WHGuy413 2,683]

late to this party but enjoyed catching up. Absolutely love this build. You have given me a bunch of ideas since @WheelHorse_Kid is getting into pulling. Incredible job on your tractor.

[953 nut 55,229]

8 hours ago, WHGuy413 said:

@WheelHorse_Kid is getting into pulling.

                                                                   

[Achto 27,576]

Didn't get to play with this tractor much over the weekend. I did find a little time to repurpose an old piston from a weed eater.

 

First up was to make a couple of plugs out of some 5/16" round stock to plug the holes for the wrist pin. After installing the plugs and wrist pin clips, I heated the piston up. While heating the piston with a propane torch, I filled the inside of it with low temp aluminum weld rod. https://www.harborfreight.com/8-piece-low-temperature-aluminum-welding-rods-44810.html

Took a little over 3 rods to fill it to my desired thickness.

 

Now that I had some meat to work with it was time to take it for a spin on the lathe. Drill a 5/16" hole a little over 5/8" deep, then tapped it to 3/8-16.

 

Threaded a 3/8" bolt into the hole & threw it back on the lathe for some polishing.

 

This will now be the shift knob for my puller.

 

[Pullstart 62,881]

Nice shifter!  It looks so much bigger in the close up shots!  

[Achto 27,576]

1 hour ago, Pullstart said:

Nice shifter!  It looks so much bigger in the close up shots!

 

That's what she said. 

[Achto 27,576]

Today's menu - Get this baby ready to light the fire.  In order to do this I needed to have "dead man" throttle control. My plan is to turn the brake peddle into the gas peddle. Gathered the basic parts to make this happen. Starting with a piece of pipe that I bought for some reason. Guess this must of been the reason.

 

I did not think that I would be able to weld to the cast metal that the peddle is made of very well, so the piece of pipe gave me some thing to weld to. I cut the threaded ends off from the pipe and the cut it length wise so that it would fit the curve of the brake peddle. Then cut the rest of the parts to make this into a gas peddle.

 

Next up, burn these parts together. Drilled and tapped the peddle so that the assembly could be bolted in place.

 

2 more pieces required to make this work, a bracket to hold the throttle cable, and a bracket for a positive stop. All three completed. 

 

Gave all these parts a quick squirt with some flat black to keep from rusting. Adjustable wide open positive stop installed.

 

Throttle cable holder and foot peddle bracket installed, with a return spring for the peddle.

 

Also installed a return spring on the engine side of the throttle.

 

I think the weed eater piston shift knob turned out well. 

 

With these parts installed it was time to light the fire. Good news!! It fired right up.  Runs great and runs through all the gears well, butt... the strait pipe is loud and and um, loud!!!  A few shots of it out in the sun light.

 

 

Only thing left now is the fire suppression system "fire extinguisher"  and scale it out to get the weight dialed in.

[ebinmaine 67,500]

This is just excellent work Dan!!

[WHX?? 48,815]

Cool...cable off a deck??

[Achto 27,576]

1 hour ago, WHX?? said:

Cool...cable off a deck??

 

Yep!!

[Achto 27,576]

Show time next week , well kind of any way. I will have a chance to do some practice runs as well as have the tractor teched to ensure that it is with in the rules. Given this fact I figured that I best get the finishing touches on it. The final required piece was the fire extinguisher. held it up in several locations & finally settled on this one.

 

Easy to get to with little to no operating interference. 

Edited May 30 by Achto

[Pullstart 62,881]

Did you give it a try at the pullin’ sled @Achto?  How’d it do?

Edited June 9 by Pullstart

[Achto 27,576]

9 hours ago, Pullstart said:

Did you give it a try at the pullin’ sled @Achto?  How’d it do?

 

I did get a chance to hook up on Thurs & Fri. These were just fun pulls, not really a competition.

I was quite happy with it's performance On Thurs., Hooked to the sled 5 times. Knowing that I had a fresh set of rings, I would shut it down when the engine would start to lug down hard.

On Friday I pushed it a bit harder. Laid out the cash for 5 pulls. Each time that I hooked to the sled I moved weights around to try to see what each change would do.

 

Just like the day before I was very happy with what it could do. THEN..... Towards the end of my 4th run I heard a bad noise & saw some debris fly out of the side of engine. Pulled the tractor back to camp to check the damage, After the head was removed, the damage was quite evident.

 

 

Dis=heartening cause on Sat. I had to have the tractor running so that I could go through a tech inspection from the club that I am pulling with  this year. @WHX?? Said that he had a gasket for me so I stopped by his house on my way to tech inspection & changed it out quick. Tech inspection was a breeze, passed with flying colors. I was also able to turn my engine speed up a little. It was at 3810RPMs, the new engine speed is 3987RPMs

 

First points pull will be on the 13th of July.

 

Edited June 10 by Achto