MaineDad's 1977 C-120 8 Speed Restoration

[MaineDad 85]

Thought I'd start a thread to archive the restoration of the 77' C-120 8 Speed I picked up last weekend. Not sure how long it will take to complete, but this should be a great thread to re-read when I am done

Friday 1/27/12

Tore the engine down and removed from the frame

Saturday 1/28/12

Cleaned up the engine to get it ready for machine shop

Sunday 1/29/12

Started to completely disassemble the tractor. Just have the tower, steering, pedals, and transmission left.

Finished today with this pile;

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,531]

You made good progress for two days work.

I'll be lookin forward to the rest of the progress reports ( and pictures ).

Mike..........

[mnWHfan 47]

That is a lot of work for just two days.

[GerryW 0]

Micah, are you bored without snow to move?? Great work as always!

[MaineDad 85]

Micah, are you bored without snow to move?? Great work as always!

Gerry - Kind of. I told Darren I was bored so I needed a project. Luckily Dennis found this tractor and alerted me :)

[AMC RULES 37,141]

Geeze Micah, you should be done by the end of the week then? :scratchead:

[dclarke 4,045]

Lookin forwaed to watching this one Micah. Good luck with it and keep the pics coming.

[dgoyette 12]

That's going to be a sweet running C-120 when you're done Micah. BTW - I am not at all surprised at the rate of progress on this, when you get motivated Micah, things tend to progress rather quickly!

[Jake Kuhn 1,556]

Looks great so far! :handgestures-thumbup:

[rexman72 210]

dennis has a garden where he grows all wheelhorse stuff

Micah, are you bored without snow to move?? Great work as always!

Gerry - Kind of. I told Darren I was bored so I needed a project. Luckily Dennis found this tractor and alerted me

[JohnnyO64 4]

Excellent work, I just picked up a 1977 C120 8spd last week and I am looking forward to seeing your progress and learning from your posts. I have to be honest I would love to restore my tractor also, but I am sooo hesitant with screwing something up and making a mistake with it. Its currently all totally original right now and its a great running machine, so I would like to just start with lightly brushing down and cleaning the engine and battery. Keep up the great work.... I am impressed !

[MaineDad 85]

Guys:

I am contemplating doing a different color scheme. All the metal would be WH red, but I am thinking the engine, transmission and hubs would be black. I like the contrast. Thoughts?

[rmaynard 15,718]

:law-policered: Look out! The Wheel Horse color police are headed to Maine. I personally think it will look sharp.

[tbbahner 27]

I actually like what you're planning to do. Here's a pic of my 416-8 that will be going down the road in the spring. Same concept with probably a little more black than what you mentioned.

Tom B

[JC 1965 1,530]

wow Micah !! I can't wait to see the end result. That color scheme sounds very interesting also. Please keep plenty of pics coming our way. :thumbs2:

[MaineDad 85]

Update: The PIA steering wheel! I broke it trying to wail out that roll pin. I chunk of the plastic flew off!!!!

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,531]

Update: The PIA steering wheel! I broke it trying to wail out that roll pin. I chunk of the plastic flew off!!!!

Bummer. I think steering wheels are easy to find tho.

I bet kelly has piles of em!

Mike.........

[Rollerman 290]

Did you use a backer as you tried to drive the roll pin through...like a 4x4 block?

Also if you don't have them?...roll pin punches work much better than a standard flat punch.

[MaineDad 85]

Another update of the day:

Pretty much have the whole tractor apart. What I left to finish is taking the steering wheel off and the front wheels off the spindles. The snap rings on the wheels are bigger than my snap ring pliers can handle. I think the rear wheels have never been removed before - The 5 pound sledge helped assist.

Here's two more pictures;

Tractor pile

Engine pile

Will work on the steering wheel and front wheels tomorrow :)

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,531]

Looks like a Wheel Horse in kit form.

Mike.........

[can whlvr 993]

its coming along great,sorry bout that wheel,ive not been able to get a few off so i left them on the shaft and with the hood stand,its a pain but i didnt want to buy another wheel

[MaineDad 85]

Update: Thought I would tear into the rear discharge deck today. The blades, I believe, have never been removed. What a PIA they were to remove! The deck is in pretty good shape with no holes or welds, just a lot of rust. Got the angle grinder out with some 60 grit paper and went at it. Did about half of the deck and got covered in rust, but I had my mask on for safety.

What do you guys recommend i do about the pitting?

[dgoyette 12]

I've read good things about POR-15 Micah. Takes care of the rust and is rugged. I was thinking of using it on a Snowblower Chute that is rusted too. Makes a pretty hard and smooth surface.

I did use this to fix a D-180 gas tank and it worked great!

[Hodge71 664]

I've read good things about POR-15 Micah. Takes care of the rust and is rugged. I was thinking of using it on a Snowblower Chute that is rusted too. Makes a pretty hard and smooth surface.

I did use this to fix a D-180 gas tank and it worked great!

X2 Micah...Por 15 is the best there is. Its a bit more expensive than the average rust stuf but it will blow all others away in durability and longevity!!! Buy a gallon itll do many, many tractors

[MaineDad 85]

Another update:

Machine shop called me this morning. The cylinder needs to be bored .10 over and the crank does not need to be mic'd under. So I ordered the rebuild kit this morning that includes a new .10 over piston and standard connecting rod. I will take both to the machine shop so they can be accurate with the bore. Here's what they will do;

Bore and hone cylinder to .10 over

Re-cut the valve seats

Clean and re-cut the valves

Clean up the valve guides which are in great shape and tight by his measurements

Polish the crank journal and bearing surfaces

Wash and clean the block

Total machine shop cost = $80

Total cost of the rebuild kit = $80

So with a carb rebuild kit and new spark plug, I should be at less than $200 for this rebuild - half of what my last one cost !!!!!

Stay tuned...