Fixing up one of the 520's

[MalMac 1,331]

You wonder why Quality Control would not catch it. I wonder why the selling dealer did not catch it. When we were a dealer back in the 60's and 70's we had to complete the Assembly of the tractors out of the crates. After putting on the steering wheel and other parts we would check them out. Never started them but made sure steering etc. would work with out problems. Not sure about the tractors after Toro took over but the foundry that Wheel Horse contracted with did do some usable for the company I just do not know how much or just exactly what.

[Raider12 13]

when I get time, time wish I had more of it,

I feel your pain my friend, Time is priceless, and I wish at time I could buy a little. Let us know what you find when you dig into this mysterious machines dilemma. :thumbs2:

[C-Series14 15]

I've seen two others like that Kelly. Factory defects. Cut the welds on the front tie rod plate and re-center it.

Thanks for that tip E, that is what I will do to mine...

[HorseFixer 2,012]

WoW that is Bucked Up! Got me to thinking, Im about ready to go out and start working on mine, You can bet I will be Checking mine out! Pat I hope yer right about easy on and off for the engine, Cause mines comming off for painting.

~Duke

[zieg72 209]

one of my 520's was off a bit but it wasn't bad enough to look into it.

[Kelly 1,029]

Well it's been a while but I got the 520 in the shop to fix the steering and the wiring issue, I figure I might want the blower on a tractor I'm thinking winter might just show up here someday.

well to remove the lower steering shaft you have to remove the engine not a big deal, and glad I did, the motor plate bolts were all loose, in fact one the nut was barely on, I removed the steering and found it was for sure welded together wrong, very wrong, here it is next to a good lower steering shaft (note this is for a gear reduction set up)

I was going to use the shaft I had but decided to repair the orig. as it would not do me any good to leave it lay in the barn like that, after grinding the weld off I set it up square and re-welded it, shot a little regal red on it and was good as new, well in this case better.

I also cleaned up the rest of the gears shimmed and reinstalled everything, I had to realign the tie rods, one would not move I had to heat it over and over to get it apart, but now both sides adjust with my fingers, the steering has to be the best, tightest 520 gear reduction steering I've ever had.

With the steering done, I wheeled the tractor piece by piece I took all the tin off cleaned everything, waxed it all, it has scratches and the hood top is faded but it shines nice.

I also when looking at the wiring I cleaned every connection on it and put dialectic grease on all the connections, the wiring issue was a corroded pin in the engine 9 pin connector, I ordered a new connector with pins, and a new fuse box, to replace the junk one the PO installed, everything else loked good on the wiring, so by next weekend it should be fixed wiring wise.

Another thing I noticed on this tractor it's a 1995 but does not have mats on the footrest? and does not look like it ever had a set? I ordered a set at the same time I ordered the electrical stuff.

I have a new seat to put on it, and after I get the bugs all worked out, fluids changed I think I'm going to install the foot control I got from Matt on this one, it is a very clean tight tractor it only has 404 hours on it.

More latter

[smoreau 658]

Looks like a very nice repair Kelly, You need to get this one fixed up so you can get back to the c195 Diesel tractor :thumbs2:

[Martin 2,131]

kelly, that looks like a really clean one. thats really weird about the steering. come to think of it, i think you mentioned something about that screwed up steering in one of your posts last year. was this the tractor?

anyway, i think your on the right path just giving this one a clean up and fix the bad stuff. plus you can see its a real nice looked after tractor, the engine on that thing looks awesome.

[Kelly 1,029]

same tractor Martin, if you go to the first post on this thread, I just found the old thread and added on, this is a worker so I don't want it too nice, it is or was till I got it, a one owner machine, it came up from Norman OK. with him when he moved to MI.

Yes Scott the diesel should be next, it got pushed outside and covered up to work on this one.

[Don1977 604]

On my 48" mower deck the rear center rollers were welded on with one side higher than the other. I could mow on a slope one way and the grass looked normal, mow the other direction it would almost scap the lawn. This was a new deck and was not damaged. The dealer replaced it when I told him about it.

[Kelly 1,029]

I've been tinkering with this 520 for a couple weeks now, I installed a new 9 pin engine harness connector, a new fuse box, cleaned and rerouted some wiring, fixed the headlight switch, installed new tail lights the old ones the sockets were bad, well one thing lead to another, I had all the sheet metal off, so I took a wheel to it, then waxed it, it turned out pretty nice for a worker, it has many scratches, but over all looks good, glad I took the time to do it.

I bought a new drive belt for it, changed the engine oil and filter, trans oil and filter, I put full synthetic Mobil 1 oil in the trans, I think the PO thought the filters might fall off, I played heck getting them off, the trans filter took 20 min. to get off, I also picked up some stainless bolts to go with some I had here to add a little bling to it.

I had the rear wheels off to get to the trans filter better, so I installed wheel studs at that time, and a plow axle bracket.

The studs are just full thread 7/16" 20 fine thread x 1.5" long, I bought lug nuts at the auto parts store, I was going to buy plain nuts but the chrome was cheaper, so it got chrome, these make putting wheels on so much nicer, cost was $20 total, well worth it to me.

I had the fender off so I also installed a tiller rockshaft, I tell you what getting the tube lined up with the hole in the front of the trans is a pain in the butt. now when I go to the local tractor show that has a plow day I can put the clevis hitch on and mount the brinley one bottom plow.

Sorry for the crappy pics I got a new camera and still learning the settings.

Footrest all painted with new mats installed, they had some rust I wanted to stop and for some reason don't look like they ever had mats on them, finding good spray glue is not easy, or cheap $13 for a can I used a few squirts out of.

I figured the seat was torn not real bad but the tractor was looking good so it deserved a new seat, and I did some trading with a member on here a while back, and got a new seat cover for a 520, so I peeled the old cover off, and repainted the seat pan, I blasted the rust on the inside, but only sanded the outside it was nice, I also repainted the springs and flip up mount, cleaned a lubed the slider tracks, the windlace that hold the cover to the pan was not in great shape so I ordered new, so glad I did it was very nice to work with being flexible.

New Windlace

seat assembled ready for new cover, be sure if you paint one of these and use a grounding seat switch, you have to clean a spot for it to ground, I also smeared elect. grease on the bare spots to help with rust from forming.

start in the front bottom center and work your way around from there, I use vise grips to hold the pad in place, just a light squeeze is needed, don't bite to hard or you will put holes in the cover, also don't try to pull the cover super tight, just snug, or it will pull out of the windlace later, as you install the windlace use a rubber hammer to make sure it is seated all the way, it took about half an hour to install the cover, I leave the extra on the seat till it is used a few times to be sure it will not need to be adjusted or if it pulls loose some place, it can be trimmed later with a shape razor blade, even then I do not trim right tight to the windlace, especially on the bottom where it will get pulled the most from setting on it.

I trimmed some of the cover at the arm rest mounts but not all the way yet, nice stainless bolts here too.

All cleaned and wiped down with a vinyl protectant, waiting for the arm rest, I forgot to clean and paint the special bolts that hold them on the brackets, they are drying right now.

This is where I left off tonight, should be done this weekend and ready to use, not sure the hub caps are staying, in fact I may swap the big tires off the other 520 to this one.

[jusjeepn 59]

Lookin' good Kelly! :thumbs:

[Martin 2,131]

everytime you post more pics of this tractor i can see that just from areas that would normally be bad, that this was a well cared for one to begin with. im not trying to discount the work youve put into it kelly, as i can see the improvements youve made are well done and needed. this has turned out a very nice tractor.

i think what you have done to this is very smart as its made it even nicer without taking away the originality of it and looking like its been totally rebuilt. just looking at the trans area i can see theres still a lot of really nice original paint.

love the seat. 7/16 bolts are a great idea too. done this with the 1057 and wish id done all of mine before this as its so easy now mounting the wheels.

great job, tractor looks awesome... :thumbs:

[dclarke 4,031]

Nice lookin tractor Kelly!

[mattd860 162]

Looks awsome Kelly. But where's the hydro foot pedal that you recently got?

[Jake Kuhn 1,554]

Looks good Kelly! :handgestures-thumbup:

[Kelly 1,029]

Matt I plan to put it on, but want to test run this for a while, and I bought that for my loader tractor, but may end up on here.

[clyde 5]

:woohoo: kelly thats one L ova nice tractor

[bobert94 38]

Kelly where did you find the new windlace have a seat i need to redo also. thanks

[Kelly 1,029]

I looked on the internet for windlace, I'll see if I can post a link to the place.

Here is a link to the page with the windlace, you can go to the home page for more info, I bought enough for 2 seats that way I have it on hand for the next one.

http://search.sailrite.com/?freeText=windlace

[bobert94 38]

Thanks again kelly, I ordered 25 ' should be enough for a couple seats and the trim on the 18 auto. They have some really neat outdoor fabrics too.

[can whlvr 993]

lookin real good,so this windlace is that just the edging that holds down the vinyl,and where do you get the vinyl to match,great job on all of it but also on the seat

[smoreau 658]

I need to get back up north and see if I can get some more of those seat covers! That looks NICE! My 96 520 needs a nice buff on the paint after this winter. Interested? That tractor turned out sweet!! I will check it out next Friday!