Birth of The Black Horse.

[Stormin 9,981]

  Some may have seen my C-121 aka The Black Horse on here. I purchased the tractor off my Southern mate Chris Sutton, sight unseen and he brought it up to the Newby Hall show 5-6 years ago. It ran, drove and entered the line up in the Wheel Horse Round up. And then home hoping swmbo wouldn't notice there was an extra tractor on the trailer.

  Unloaded and in the workshop, the intended restoration began. This will be a condensed version. It took me a year to complete.

 

 

 Until a pile of bits lay on the workshop floor.

 

  One thing I did find, that neither Chris or I had noticed, was a lot of play in the left side rear axle. The needle bearing was shot. After separating chassis and trans, the box was stripped and rebuilt. That job deserves a thread of it's own. So it may get one at some future date.

 

 After the trans was back together, the tractor rebuild could continue.

 

First the chassis got a lick of paint after the trans was rebuilt.  Agricultural tractor enamel brush painted. BTW. All parts were grey primed first. Some by brush and some by rattle can.

 

 

The tower was next. Getting a good prep first.

 

 To be continued.

 

 

 

 

 Photo's seem to have got a bit mixed up. But never mind.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Stormin

[Pullstart 63,201]

I like the black!

[Tractorhead 9,065]

Iam curious, looks sharp so far.

 

[Stormin 9,981]

 Fender got a good clean up and primed with red oxide.

 

 

Somewhere along the way I made up this pair of track rods. Originals turn down and threaded.

 

Engine got a clean up and painted with BBQ paint.

 

Engine, fender and foot plates back in place.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2018 by Stormin

[Stormin 9,981]

16 hours ago, Tractorhead said:

Iam curious, looks sharp so far.

 

 

Curious about what?

[Tractorhead 9,065]

What the final Result will look like..

 

so far realy Hot stuff.. 

Like it👍

[WHNJ701 4,165]

what are you using for the black paint?

[Pullstart 63,201]

So stealthy!

[Stormin 9,981]

17 minutes ago, jabelman said:

what are you using for the black paint?

 

 Chassis, front axle and trans', agricultural enamel. Brush painted. All primer red oxide. Brush or spray. Top coats Supadec spray cans.

[Pullstart 63,201]

I must admit, I like this build more than the C-125, though it sounds like they are going on at the same time.

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,547]

Looks great in all black! Have a rim color picked out yet?

[Stormin 9,981]

 

5 hours ago, Sparky said:

Looks great in all black! Have a rim color picked out yet?

 

Patience!

Edited December 1, 2018 by Stormin

[Stormin 9,981]

7 hours ago, pullstart said:

I must admit, I like this build more than the C-125, though it sounds like they are going on at the same time.

 

The Black Horse was done about 4-5yrs ago.

 

The C-125 is just getting a tidy up, as it's my main worker. I'm actually doing more than I intended.

[Stormin 9,981]

 Though the carb may look gold, it's actually silver.

 

Nice high back seat that it came with.

 

Foot plates with skate board top grippy stuff.

 

Flywheel cover.

 

And fitted.

 

Bonnet in English. Hood in American.

 

And the result after a year, though not the final result. 

 

 More to come on mods that have been done. But I need to sort photo's first. So that's all for now.

 

Bye!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2018 by Stormin

[19richie66 17,531]

Looks good! 

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,547]

Love it! Those rims are sharp!

  I’m not a huge fan of a straight pipe exhaust tho, bit to loud for my tastes.

[WHNJ701 4,165]

it's different for sure it will look good once it's lettered.  might have issues with the paint on the hood with stack so close?

your a neat painter, I don't see over spray on those fancy stands

Edited December 1, 2018 by jabelman

[AMC RULES 37,141]

Nice to see the build thread...

always thought the Black Horse was such a cool tractor.

[Stormin 9,981]

7 hours ago, Sparky said:

Love it! Those rims are sharp!

  I’m not a huge fan of a straight pipe exhaust tho, bit to loud for my tastes.

 

Pipe isn't straight through. There's another pipe inside with baffles.

 

7 hours ago, jabelman said:

it's different for sure it will look good once it's lettered.  might have issues with the paint on the hood with stack so close?

 

 

Here you go.

 

No problem with stack and paint.

 

[Stormin 9,981]

The eagle eyed will notice the wheels are different. The rears have been narrowed to take 700x12 tyres. Better for ploughing. Fit neatly in the furrow bottom.

 

 First I got a friend with a bigger lathe than mine to cut a spare set of rims.

 

I then welded the two halves together, using the cut out section for location. Before they had been machined they'd been marked, so the two halves went back together lined up.

 

Welded and cleaned up.

 

Then nicely taped.

 

There was a difference in hight of the standard size tyres and the 700's.

 

So the fender was lifted 1" and the edge of the footplate trimmed to clear.

 

 

You can also see a lower backed seat has been fitted. Makes it easier looking behind when ploughing and operating the latch that secures the plough up.

 

Edited December 2, 2018 by Stormin

[rjg854 11,574]

I like the wheels, they appear to be chromed   what did you paint them with?  I do like that look 

[Pullstart 63,201]

Now I recall seeing it before!  Those skinny tall wheels and tires brought it all back to my mind!  Thanks for sharing the build of this ‘beaut!

[Stormin 9,981]

2 hours ago, rjg854 said:

I like the wheels, they appear to be chromed   what did you paint them with?  I do like that look 

 

 Wheels are painted silver. Rattle can sprayed.

[Stormin 9,981]

 The front wheels are scooter wheels, bored out and holes drilled to fitted trailer hubs. I did have some photo's but can't seem to find them.

 

 Like wise with the tran's photo's. Only these four.

 

   The needle roller bearing was completely goosed. Most of the needles had found their way into the box. On the way not doing one of the main bearings much good either.

 

 

What came out when cases split.

 

  Main bearings were unobtainable. I could have got secondhand ones from the States but wasn't keen on that idea. I believe someone is now producing them. So what to do?

  In the end I sourced metric ones. Slightly bigger on the O.D and also the I.D. A local machineshop bored out the casings to fit the Bearing O.D. and I turned up some sleeves to fit the bearing I.D. and diff' journals.

 

 

 A touch of bearing fit was applied to the sleeves when fitted to the journals. One thing left to do is sort the dipstick as the end was broken off. You can see the end at the top of the photo' of bits.

Edited December 2, 2018 by Stormin

[Stormin 9,981]

 After fitting the bigger diameter rear wheels, the tractor sloped down a touch at the front. So I did another little mod.

 

 Two spare steering arms got their spindles cut down. The spindle that goes through the axle had their ends drilled and tapped. That was fun.

 

 

 Two trailer wheel spindles obtained. Two sleeves made, along with two spacers and a couple of long bolts found.

 

The trailer spindles got modded as before.

 

Job done.

 

 The Black Horse now stands level.

 

 I think that's all now.

 

Edited December 2, 2018 by Stormin