A Roller and a Worker

[cschannuth 3,817]

Steve Lubak made me a sort of a package deal on a 606 roller and an 857/867.  I was just looking at the roller for sort of a mild rat rod but when I was looking at it he showed me the 857 and said it was for sale too.  He shot me a fair price so the deal was done over a few days and a couple visits. 

 

The 606 is in good shape and I may restore it some day. But, for now, I'm going to service it, clean it up, put on a set of ags and tri ribs on repainted wheels I have in the shed, and install a predator my dad had sitting in his basement he never used. The 857 was put together by Denny Clarke a few years ago. He upgraded to the 6 speed so it's now an 867. Even though it was his worker, he and Steve took very good care of it. 

 

Thanks to Steve for the fair pricing and thanks to Denny for doing such a great job on the 857. 

 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,374]

Craig,Is that a Torino hiding there in the corner, I may be a Bowtie guy but I give credit where it's due, good looking ride parked next to the 's,Jeff.

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,358]

Craig , how big is your garage . It must be huge you just ain't got enough stuff. Clean floor space , a work bench that's not piled high. Your shop is way too organized . How do you get anything done.

[Achto 27,908]

I think I see two Torino's in there. Great looking and some nice rides in the background.

[cschannuth 3,817]

14 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

Craig,Is that a Torino hiding there in the corner, I may be a Bowtie guy but I give credit where it's due, good looking ride parked next to the 's,Jeff.

 

Yeah, it's a 73 Gran Torino Sport with a 351 Cleveland Cobra Jet and a factory top loader 4 speed.  It's too heavy to be fast but it's fun and it runs pretty good.  Bought it from a family who was the original owner.  It's not perfect but it's all original and he treated me pretty fairly on it.  He bought it with a front bench so he could haul the whole family in it years ago.  The 74 Gran Torino wagon next to it was my dads and it only has 74k miles on it and it is in almost new condition.  It's loud, slow, and fun.  I got it when mom and dad passed.

6 minutes ago, achto said:

I think I see two Torino's in there. Great looking and some nice rides in the background.

 

 

7 minutes ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

Craig , how big is your garage . It must be huge you just ain't got enough stuff. Clean floor space , a work bench that's not piled high. Your shop is way too organized . How do you get anything done.

 

It's 32 X 50.  It was my uncle's.  His daughters didn't want it when he passed so they almost gave it to me since he was a car guy and I'm sort of a car guy.  I was very, very lucky to get it.  I haven't had it long so I haven't been able to clutter it up too badly yet.

Edited December 3, 2016 by cschannuth
wrong quote

[benji756 341]

that torino with the 351 and 4 speed can be a fast car, I knew a guy years ago who had one and it ran great, nice cars and horses you have there!

[cschannuth 3,817]

On December 3, 2016 at 2:51 AM, benji756 said:

that torino with the 351 and 4 speed can be a fast car, I knew a guy years ago who had one and it ran great, nice cars and horses you have there!

 

Thanks.  It actually runs really well with the 4 speed. It's supposed to be a top end motor with the way the tranny is set up but it'll easily leave a stop sign in 3rd gear with almost no throttle. (I've done that by accident on more than one occasion.). It weighs in at almost 5000 lbs though so it'll rarely be "First On Race Day" if you know what I mean. 

[cschannuth 3,817]

Made some progress on the "free"  606.  I degreased it, rubbed everything down with 0000 steel wool and Windex, and hit it with a couple light coats of Matte clear coat. I think it looks pretty good. It still looks old and dull but now it should be protected for a while.   Some new bushings and a transaxle gear oil change and I think it's ready to put my dad's old, unused Predator on there.   I'm not sure how that's all going to line up but I'm assuming I will figure it out. I had the tires and wheels and since I really haven't spent much of anything on this tractor I splurged on some new decals. 

[Wishin4a416 2,191]

Looks great! You did a nice job.

[AMC RULES 37,141]

 Is looking much better. 

[dclarke 4,046]

I like it, Craig.... Nice job!  Are those 8.50's on the back?

[RandyLittrell 3,885]

You beat me to the 606! I was to late to the party. Looks even nicer in your pics. 

 

 

 

 

Randy

[cschannuth 3,817]

4 hours ago, dclarke said:

I like it, Craig.... Nice job!  Are those 8.50's on the back?

 

Yeah, those are the originals off Dad's 161 dirt and all. Having your 857 was very helpful. 

1 hour ago, RandyLittrell said:

You beat me to the 606! I was to late to the party. Looks even nicer in your pics. 

 

 

 

 

Randy

 

Sorry about that. Steve is a busy guy so buying from him is a process. He's a great guy and super knowledgeable. 

Edited December 9, 2016 by cschannuth

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,513]

9 hours ago, RandyLittrell said:

You beat me to the 606! I was to late to the party. Looks even nicer in your pics. 

 

 

 

 

Randy

Randy, you need to get a hold of Steve as he has tons of Wheel Horses in his dad's pole barn just north of Alton.  He has two 953s that I would love to own. 

 

 

BTW, Craig, I love that faded look.  Nice job.

[cschannuth 3,817]

A little more progress thanks to my daughter. I had an old set of hub caps (wrong vintage) that she painted the centers for me. They are a little scratched and dented but cleaned up pretty nice.   I hope to work on the mounting plate mock up for the predator this weekend. I'm making it out if plywood before I drill the plate steel. 

[dclarke 4,046]

Nice job on those hub caps, Craig. 

[cschannuth 3,817]

Thanks, Denny. 

[cschannuth 3,817]

I put everything together and it actually worked!  Dad's old predator even started on the first pull after sitting in the box on a shelf in his basement for a few years.  Of course the throttle knob came off in my hand when I tried to open it up a little more. I even knew better and tried to be gentle with it.  The boys were running at about half throttle in the videos below. I still need to work on the seat but other than that and trying to fix the throttle I think it's done for now. 

 

IMG_3961.MOV

IMG_3962.MOV

 

 

Edited December 18, 2016 by cschannuth

[cschannuth 3,817]

Here's a couple more pics at different angles. This is already my kids favorite tractor. 

 

[AMC RULES 37,141]

Humm...1/2 throttle, huh?   

Probably a land speed missle with a simple pulley swap.  

[cschannuth 3,817]

9 minutes ago, AMC RULES said:

Humm...1/2 throttle, huh?   

Probably a land speed missle with a simple pulley swap.  

 

Haha. I did upsize the engine pulley by an inch. I'm not sure what the math is but it feels a little faster.  Once the engine has a little break in time on it I will use my Speedometer app and see how fast it actually goes.  I also have a Jim Kemp stack for it but I want to fab up a brace to support it before I run with it too much. The first video I was running an old 3/4" shower head.  The video below is with Jim's. 

 

IMG_3971.MOV

 

[AMC RULES 37,141]

Definitely sounds faster.  

[dclarke 4,046]

I like that stack, Craig. Nice job getting this tractor back on the road again! 

[Terry M-(Moderator) 2,177]

Nice Job on the 606!!    Just in case you hadn't seen it before on RS, thought I'd show you pics of my 606 I restored.   Repowered it with a nice rebuilt Kohler k161.     Just need to figure our how to thread the exhaust nipple on the engine so I can install a muffler on it...

 

 

 

[GMan 82]

Terry,

 

Cool tractor! You did a nice job on it. Is that a new dash faceplate or a decal...................Whichever it is would you mind sharing your source?

 

Gary