McLean restoration

[Achto 27,609]

For those of you that opened this wondering what is a McLean, here is a link to some history on the tractor. It is also the most information that I have found on the McLean.http://www.tractorfriends.org/lawngardentractors/mccleangardentractors/mccleangardentractors.html

Last year when I bought my Suburban 400 I also saw this strange little tractor sitting off to the side. I had no idea what it was but my interest was peaked. I took a couple pic's then kinda forgot about it for a while. Eventually it came back into my thoughts and I decided to do some research to find out what it was. I posted my pic's on here hoping some one would recognize it but I seemed to have every one stumped. After a few days of searching I finally found a picture of one on the net. Great! I thought, now I can find some info. Well there just isn't a lot of info out there on these thing, unfortunately. I did manage to find the owner of the one in the link that I posted above. He's a great guy, I spent some time on the phone with him and he was willing to send me some pic's to help me out with my project.

Below are pics of when I brought my McLean home.

Really rough shape, probably not worth fixing but it's a rare tractor so I was willing to give it a shot. A tractor needs an engine so I started there first. The K90 that was in the tractor was locked up of course, but after a month of dumping ATF down the plug hole two times a week it broke free. All of the tins and the bearing plate were junk so I started to look for parts. Then I found a K91 close buy and decided to go with that engine instead. I will tackle the K90 another time. There are many great engine rebuild posts on here so I'm going to keep mine real simple.

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Next was the tear down on the rest of the tractor. Most of this went well, a PO had made a lot of changes that I had to cut out. I will share those  as I go along on this resto. First thing that I tackled was the front end.

The steering shaft had an aluminum pulley on one end and an aluminum steering wheel on the other, both of which were locked on to the shaft. i decided to cut the shaft in half so I could deal with removing the pulley & wheel on the bench. The steering wheel I did not remove because it is wrong anyway, but I needed the pulley. A little wax and some heat helped start to get things moving and then "Sha doobie Shattered Shattered".

Well I have no way of casting aluminum but I did find a nice chunk of aluminum stock laying in my garage. It was 3 1/4" dia, I needed 2 1/8" dia. Time to make some shavings.

Finished product next to original.

A PO also cut part of the steering arms off that will be required for the differential to work. I made new pieces and reinforced the axle where it was worn. Then carefully measured and lined things up so I could weld every thing back together.

Removing the old steering arm was great fun!

Front end mocked up and looks ready for paint.

Next it is on to the transmission. What to do with this mess?! 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2017 by achto

[rmaynard 15,514]

Great start. I wish I had the facilities and the skills to do that!

[Aldon 4,826]

Awesome job so far. Cool little project. If I read correctly on the article you linked it has a type of turning brake set up. Beyond it's time.

[Jaymon74 84]

Are those a solid rubber tire up front?

[Achto 27,609]

15 hours ago, Aldon said:

If I read correctly on the article you linked it has a type of turning brake set up.

Oddly though there are no brakes at all on this tractor. When you turn tight the final drive belt for the inside wheel is loosened so that it will slip. Kind of a strange differential.

12 hours ago, Jaymon74 said:

Are those a solid rubber tire up front?

The one front tire that was on it when I brought it home was hard rubber. It is supposed to have pneumatic tires on the front. 4.00 x 8's 

[Achto 27,609]

I mentioned that the steering wheel that was on this tractor when I got it was wrong. Today I had a little time to work on things so I made a new steering wheel.

 I also wanted to share some of my progress on the transmission. The tranny is one of my biggest challenges on this tractor. There are not many parts that can be purchased for this thing so you will notice that most of the parts are going to be made or altered by me. The first rack that I started on was the input shaft. I had to cut the shaft on both ends to remove it from the tranny. The o.d. required to make the replacement pieces is 1 3/8". After some searching I found that this was a special order size and it was actually more expensive than 1 1/2 at the places I checked. Then when I was removing the axles from my wood hauling trailer (which was a 1 ton GM truck originally) I noticed that they were 1 3/8" o.d. Score!!! It didn't take long for me to figure out exactly how difficult this material was to work with though. I learned that it didn't like to be rubbed, things went much better if you were more aggressive with it. Other wise it wanted to work harden on you. After figuring that out, things went slightly better. The rack of gears at the top of the pic is what I have to replace. Below that is the start of my new pieces. The three smaller pieces will need sprockets welded on to them and will need bushings inserted into the bore of them. The two longer pieces need some time on the mill yet and will need an internal key way cut into them.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by achto

[WHX?? 48,828]

Just chiming in to follow Dan...I already know your fab skills are way outta my league.... but I am excellent with a metric crescent, heat wrench and a BFH! Gimme a jingle if you need those skills! 

Edited February 21, 2017 by WHX9

[ACman 7,618]

15 hours ago, WHX9 said:

Just chiming in to follow Dan...I already know your fab skills are way outta my league.... but I am excellent with a metric crescent, heat wrench and a BFH! Gimme a jingle if you need those skills! 

 

Give yourself a little credit Jim....I know for a fact you can use a cordless drill , multimeter and a nut driver   ... Though some of your employees may disagree  !

[Achto 27,609]

A progress report form this weekend. I'm waiting for some tranny parts so did some chassis work this week end. Below is a pic of the ugly hood hinges that a PO made. At least I have to believe that these were home made, I'd like to think that these are not factory.

My new hinges have a little more style. In order to use the existing holes I had to make one a stud on each of my new pieces. I did this by drilling and tapping a hole in my new plate. Then I threaded a bolt in to the hole, cut the head off of it and welded it in place. The two remaining holes i decided to tap so I would not require a nut on the inside. While doing this I busted off a 1/4 x 20 tap. I got lucky and was able to remove it by catching one edge with a chisel and tapped it around with a hammer. For any one that has broke off a tap, this was a victory all it's own. Here's the icing. I didn't have another tap so I ground the end of the broken tap flat and was able to finish tapping the hole with it. Skill / dumb luck? Either way I was extremely happy. Any way a pic of my new hinges.

Also took some scrap 1/2" round stock and turned a couple hinge pins. I know the clips are at different locations, I had to do that to compensate for reinforcing the engine mount plate.

I also removed all of the unwanted/wrong items from the rear end. I'm not sure they ever made it work but a PO had replaced the original rear axle with a live axle set up, so pretty much every thing had to go. A pic of what I started with.

After a lot of cutting and grinding, I got every thing stripped off except for one shaft. That will have to go too.

I removed the last shaft and cross bar that was not supposed to be there. A PO had also cut some metal away, so this had to be replaced.

The chain had wore into a reinforcement plate for a bearing towards the top of the chassis. Also there was damage to the axle hole from when some one removed the original axle.

The bearing plate was my biggest concern, I had to be able to press a  1 3/8" o.d. bearing into this hole. After a couple mistakes, I got it right and had a good fit. Then I made some plates to repair the axle holes.

Hope to post more progress next week.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2017 by achto

[Aldon 4,826]

@achto, you got skills sir!

 

nice work. It's becoming apparent with each update post you make that I need a lathe and want a mill.

 

im enjoying this project albeit vicariously!

[Achto 27,609]

Thanks @Aldon  I was lucky enough to have a great metal shop teacher in high school,(30yrs ago). He peaked my interest in working with metal. We had an awesome shop with mills, lathes, surface grinder, fab equipment, welding equipment and a foundry.We even had an small CNC mill. Our senior year we had two class periods per day for one semester to make any thing of our choice. Some of the stuff I made is still in use today, Cherry picker hoist, car engine stand, torpedo level, just to name a few. Unfortunately now, many industrial arts classes have left our schools.

[WHX?? 48,828]

We didn't happen to have that same shop teacher did  we Dan??

Edited February 27, 2017 by WHX9

[Achto 27,609]

I'm not sure Jim, Berlin High was my school.

[WHX?? 48,828]

11 hours ago, achto said:

Unfortunately now, many industrial arts classes have left our schools.

Sad but true, I had power mechanics 1&2, Machine shop 1&2, woods & metal 1&2, Auto mech. 1&2, trade math where you learned how to read mics & calipers & such, All very interesting stuff & laid a great foundation  for a 16/17 year old kid who might turn out to be a "gearhead". Just don't see that in todays schools, maybe that's why CNC operators, welders, machinists etc.  are in high demand today!

 

11 hours ago, achto said:

We had an awesome shop with mills, lathes, surface grinder, fab equipment, welding equipment and a foundry.We even had an small CNC mill

Same here! I might have to take some pics of stuff we were required to make and I still use to this day! Lead hammers, centerpunches, vises, I ever get a buddy of mine to sell me that vertical mill (he doesn't use) we are gonna have fun!

[Achto 27,609]

After countless hours of turning handles on the lathe & mill, I'm ready to show the fruits of my labor on the transmission. First pic is of the bearing plates, I was able to save these and install new bearings in them.

This is the shift pawl shaft. I was very fortunate to be able to save the shift pawls, I dread to think how much time I would have had into making new ones. The original shaft is at the top of the pic, as you can see it was very badly pitted and would not allow the pawls to move smoothly. I made a new shaft and installed new detente bearings and springs in to the pawls.

Next is the input shaft, this was the most challenging to complete. After I completed the external machining on my parts I bored a 3/4" hole in the sprocket pieces, weld the sprockets on and then installed 5/8" i.d. bushings. The engagement pieces were bored to 5/8" i.d. and then had a 3/16" key way cut into them. I don't have a broach set, nor do I have access to one so I had to out source the internal key ways. First pic is an action shot while I was cutting woodruff key ways into the shaft. The second pic shows the original shaft with the new one laid out below it.

Next is the reversing shaft. I purchased the spur gear then I turned part of the collar portion down so that I could weld a 25 tooth sprocket on to it. Then I bored the hole to 3/4" and installed 5/8" i.d. bushings.The shaft for this was drilled and tapped on both ends and had a washer welded on to it for a stop. Original with my new replacement. 

The out put shaft. I decided cut full length key ways in this shaft, this allowed easier placement of the sprockets and spur gear. The spur gear is the same as the one used on the reversing shaft. I had a 3/16" key way cut into this spur gear, then I drilled and tapped the set screws for it. You may have noticed the the sprockets are faced thinner by the teeth. The reason behind this...? I originally planed on using #40 chain. When I started to assemble the trans I discovered that I had some clearance issues. After some investigating I realized that the factory had used #41 chain. #41 chain is narrower and the o.d. of the links are a bit smaller but the pitch is the same. So by facing down the sprockets I was able to use #41 chain and solve my clearance issues.  

What things look like after being assembled.

I also found a little time to do some grilling this weekend.

  There was only a vertical rod in the grill when I got the tractor, but I could clearly see indents for cross bars.

 

 

Edited March 6, 2017 by achto

[WHX?? 48,828]

All I can say is WOW Dan!

[19richie66 17,508]

Fantastic work Dan!

[Achto 27,609]

Thank you for the complements Jim & Richie. Finishing the transmission was a major stepping stone towards finishing this project. I still have a long row to hoe on this restoration though.

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,326]

@achto Boy you really have great skills , can not wait to see the finished project. Keep up the great work.

[953 nut 55,321]

        When you have completed the restoration few people will appreciate the amount of skill and dedication required;    but we do.        

[Achto 27,609]

Thank you Jim W. & Richard.

 

I want to send a big thank you to @Vinylguy for his part in this restoration. I sent him this very poor pic that I found on the net.

He put his skills to work and was able to make me these beautiful decals.

I think he did a fantastic job on them. I can't wait until I'm ready to install them.

[Achto 27,609]

Hi, I'm back again with another update. This weekend was dedicated to building my rim / hub assemblies. I purchased some 1 1/2" o.d. tube with what I was told was .125" wall. Make life simple, install 1 1/4" x 1" bushings and job done. Right? Wrong! The tube actually had .120" wall, when I put 1 1/4" o.d. bushings in it was like throwing a hot dog down a hall way. OK, option 1. Turn down some 1 5/16" o.d. bushings to 1.26" o.d. 2. Bore the tube out to 1 5/16" i.d. to fit the larger o.d. bushing. I choose option 2 for these reasons, keep the bushing a standard size for ease of replacement and this would give a positive stop inside the tube so that the bushing could not work its way out of place. So... back to the lathe.

Next was to clean up the original rims. A PO had messed the centers up pretty bad .

After a little bit of cutting and a lot o bit of grinding the rim was back to ground "0".

I used the hub for the sprocket as a stop to hold my new rim center square on to the tube.  I positioned the hub at the correct distance and snugged up the set screws. This worked great, it gave me a way to hold the center for welding.

Next adventure was to get my new piece centered into the rim. After a few different trials and errors I came up with the easiest way I could think of. I turned down part of some 1" stock to 1/2" so that it could be put it into a drill chuck on the lathe. After centering the rim in the lathe chuck I put the shaft into the drill chuck and slid the new tube & center onto the shaft. Then tacked the center to the rim.

With the rim / hub built this far I could now cut my axle to length and drill & tap the ends to 1/2" 20 thread. I cut the axle length to leave .01" end play after every thing is tightened down. Then welded the axle to the chassis.

Welded the sprockets on to the hubs. Then positioned the sprocket to leave clearance so the chain will not rub on the chassis and welded the sprocket hub to the tube. Rim / hub assembly complete.

My goal for the wobble & hop on the rim was .05", after welding things moved a lil. I ended up at .123" on the wobble and .074" on the hop. At a projected 4.5 mph in high gear, wide open throttle I think this will be livable.

At this point I think I'm ready to sand blast the chassis and get some Red paint laid down on this project. I need to paint before I can  move on to making the differential pieces.

If any one wishes do give their opinion. I'm trying to decide if I should leave the inside of the transmission bare, paint it with the same acrylic enamel that I'm using on the rest of the tractor, or paint it with Glyptal paint. The inside of the trans will have 80/90w oil in it.

Edited March 12, 2017 by achto

[19richie66 17,508]

Once again, nice work Dan.

["D"- Man 827]

Glyptal paint and coatings is expensive stuff, is there any advantage to using this as opposed to acrylic enamel, for the inside of the trans? 

[Achto 27,609]

4 hours ago, "D"- Man said:

Glyptal paint and coatings is expensive stuff, is there any advantage to using this as opposed to acrylic enamel, for the inside of the trans?

Glyptal paint is made to be used inside engines, plus it is supposed to seal up any fine pores. I was thinking that it might be better in an oil bath situation than the acrylic enamel would be.