Hammerhead 817 #1 Posted August 20, 2013 Well I finally got a chance to wrench on my latest scarf, my 1956 RJ35. It had some wrong parts on it that I had to remove and replace. The seat was wrong and the gas tank too. The rims are painted cream color now but will have to be stripped down to bare metal and painted the correct color of black. I removed the 1965 style hood decals and installed a new set of Mayhew's 1955-57 style hood decals. I looked at all of the original condition RJ35's on this site and they all seem to have their decals in this location there abouts. Most of the restored RJ35's on this site have their decals in a few different spots, so I went with what I think is the more correct location. But I am sure whoever(Elmer or Cecil!!) installed them back then, didn't have an exact spot in which to put a few hundred on, day after day for 3 years! So they vary a little bit. I also removed the muffler heat shield which I don't think they had in 1956. It got in the way of the drive handle so I don't want it on there, I'll put in on my parts shelf for a later model machine. My buddy Packrat straightened out the hood which was caved in pretty bad and twisted too. After he beat it with a BFH and body dolly for an hour or so, I restored a lot of the paint on this tractor without repainting anything. The paint on the hood was all mangled up from gas getting spilled on it over the years and someone laid a rubber hose on it and it decayed and melted into the paint. The fuel sediment bowl leaked gas all over the frame and it looked bad. The paint resto/repairs turned out great and I will put some wax on the hood and frame and it will look awesome! Thanks to Clay for identifying this original Clinton engined machine as a late production 1956 RJ35 WH.!! I love these rare style of front tires, they are the early style Generals. The sidewalls are little different than the later style of Generals. BFG bar lugs on the rear. The belt guard should be the open style so I may change that around. I also changed the exhaust system, but it still isn't correct for a Clinton, but that is what I had laying around. I haven't tried to get it running yet since the gas tank still needs painted. Gotta redo the drive handle too. How's it look? KJ 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jake Kuhn 1,554 #2 Posted August 20, 2013 Looks like some nice progress! I believe most 57's came with white rims...but I personally like the black better too. I am going to paint the rims black on my 57 rj35 resto. Jake 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neil 2,409 #3 Posted August 20, 2013 (edited) Thats a nice RJ35 , how do i get hold of Mayhews decals for an RJ35 I now have my first pond tractor here in UK and i think it is probabley the ony pond tractor in the UK Dontcha ya just luv the little round hoods Edited August 20, 2013 by neil 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AMC RULES 37,127 #4 Posted August 20, 2013 Looking really good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
