Spiffing up a Husky tractor using a Milwaukee radio

[ohiofarmer 3,276]

 I got a free Husky 26 Horsepower lawn tractor for free last year. It is oK for what it is, but the front headlight bezel was gone and the top of the hood was creased from a tree branch.

 

 The metal on the hood is so thin that it was pretty easy to get it bumped out to within a sixteenth of Bondo to finish it. Used Headlight lenses are about 30 bucks, and I was not having that.

 

Here is an image of the tractor [the big photo in the center] with a similar hood  https://www.google.com/search?q=husky+lawn+tractors+images&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi528Tb6qLTAhWHwVQKHdL9CkIQ7AkIZw&biw=1280&bih=666#imgrc=sFFVwkzJ_PpUoM:

 

 Here is an image of my radio that died  http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-Reconditioned-Job-Site-Radio-N9-24-0200/203316926

 

 You guessed it. The steel mesh over the speakers will go over the headlight lens area for a blacked out look. The tractor sheet metal is gray with some red highlights, so the vented part of the hood will be Sunrise Red to match. I even plan to leave the milwaukee logo in place.  The steel mesh is pretty easy to work as all it requires is a bit of notching and bending here and there to massage it into place. I might even use the radio carry handle for a front bumper

 

 The metal is so thin that the hood grill was heavily cracked around the mounting bolts. I welded the cracks closed and also welded a washer to the thing for re-inforcement I am just painting the damaged areas a contrasting red and most of the gray will buff out pretty well

 

 Wish me luck. Pictures will come

Edited April 14, 2017 by ohiofarmer

[ohiofarmer 3,276]

 It has taken longer than I thought, but there is only so much you can do with the thin metal I had to work with. I finally had to just put spaced out welds around the washer so as not to make the thin metal too brittle. I cleaned the areas off carefully with a polygrit grinder so JB weld could be added to make a decent looking transition and also It seems to have added a lot of stiffness to that thin metal---a real balancing act.

 

 MTD left a lot of wrinkles hanging about the base anyway, so it would be pointless to try and make an invisible transition. I just took a sandwich bag to form with my fingers the uncured JB weld and then some epoxy filler to get it close enough to look decent when painted and avoid rusting. Saves a lot of sanding.

[6wheeler 603]

Sounds like it will look cool. Leaving the Milwaukee emblem? Oh yeah. Re-nu, Re-use, Re-purpose.... Works for me. Good Luck.

[ohiofarmer 3,276]

   The first picture shows washers welded to the grille. It was cracked badly from vibration,so I hope that it holds this time

 Here is the grille, sort of mounted in place All that is necessary is to make little cuts and bend the edges around the cowling.

[ohiofarmer 3,276]

Here it is, partially masked and getting ready to paint. The lighting area of the grille will be flat black to match the grille screen. The hood top grille has a bit of body work completed to remove a crease and will be either flat black or perhaps Red to match the tractor frame. Probably some of the rusty edges will have accent color red as well. Where the paint is decent, i am leaving it original. It has two speed drive with foot pedal Vari-Drive on each setting

 

 The tractor operates and mows fine and is kept inside. it actually looks pretty good and heading to looking better. I just might try to sell it next spring if I can pick up another Wheel horse this winter. Still kicking myself for not buying that c-160 last year.