Refreshing My 701

[Achto 27,604]

I enjoy restoring one of my tractors each winter. Last winter I took on a resto for a friend instead of doing one of mine. This winter I chose to give my 701 the royal treatment. I have owned this tractor for a couple of years so I have made a few repairs to it already.

 

One of the first thing that I fixed was the incorrect, chopped up belt guard.

 

I made a new one to replace the one that came with the tractor when I bought it.

 

One other part that I remade was the fender brace. The one that was on the tractor looked like it was made by Dr. Seuss.

 

I made a new one to factory specs.

 

One other thing that was out of place was the ignition coil, a PO had it mounted on top of the engine. The hood would not fit properly this way so they had some crazy mount rigged up to raise the front of the hood to make clearance. The mounting bracket for the coil was missing so I made a new one so that the coil could be mounted in the correct place.

 

Along with the above repairs I also managed to get the engine singing like a song and made sure the transmission was right and leak free. Today was "go time" for starting on the rest of the tractor. In this next pic some of you may look at the tractor & say that it did not need a resto. Well it was "restored" when I got it but the craftsmanship was not up to my expectations. So it was time to make this tractor mine. This is what my 701 looked like this morning.

 

Three hours later it looked like this.

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I did have to stop with the tear down to repair an issue that the last "restorer" did not take care of. Every surface of the rear dash tower mount was painted, so I know that the PO never tried to repair the issue. I wanted to make sure that the part was welded back in place before I disassembled the rest of the tractor.

 

The hole in the frame for the front hood bolt was waaay too big. I think that it was drilled bigger so that the hood could be raised to accommodate having the coil mounted in the wrong place.

 

A little time with the welder, grinder and a drill returned the hole to a more appropriate size.

 

Some where along the line the bar for the foot rest must have broken loose from the frame. It was welded back on but far from the correct position.

 

After painstakingly grinding the welds back I was able to return it to it's correct position.

 

And now for my "What were you thinking" PO awards.

 

Honorable mention goes to - Instead of replacing the bushings in the rim, it is a better idea to jamb a tube over to spindle and slide the rim over this tube with no bushings.  BTW, this tube is now brown welded to the spindle. 

 

The Grand Prize goes to this. It is comprised of a chunk of wood tucked behind the idle pulley and the "custom" chunk of metal in front of the pulley. Lucky for me these were only held in place with two 1/4" bolts so they were easy to remove. For the life of me, I can not figure out what purpose they would have served.

 

Lots of clean up work to do before I start sand blasting and finish body work. I will post more pics as I go along.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2021 by Achto

[Pullstart 62,912]

Yee haw Dan!  

[oliver2-44 9,760]

following

[SylvanLakeWH 25,600]

[rjg854 11,387]

Keep up the good work, I know it's going to look great when you finish.  

[rmaynard 15,514]

Since the 701 was such a unique model, I am glad to see you giving it the royal treatment. 

[dclarke 4,032]

Good work, Dan! I'll be tagging along on this one too. 

[Achto 27,604]

@WHX24 You might want to keep an eye on the build. If you see me making some thing that you will need for your 701 let me know so that I can make 2 right away.

[WHX?? 48,828]

Thanks.. will do.  I don't think I really need too much in the way of parts. All mine are blasted already but should get them in the shop for self etching and start a mock up and figure out what else I all need. 

Figure on getting extra paint when you start shooting red, I will bring over what I may have ready. You may be enlisted to do some body work on the hood too. 

I actually worked a bit yesterday on my 701 161 that I got from Kev. Started putting it back together. 

 

What's your plan for the spindle? What me to take a gander in the parts shed? I know there are some 753 spindles out there. 

[Achto 27,604]

27 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

What me to take a gander in the parts shed? I know there are some 753 spindles out there. 

 

That would be awesome!! I'm going to try to save what I got but it would be good to know that I had a back up plan.

[WHX?? 48,828]

Phone pretty dead so gonna stop by the post office and get 'Apples fan blade out today then play hookie. I dread goin out in the parts shed. Old lady threw all her flower pots in it and can't find nothin now. Gotta bring my 701 parts in anyhoo. Will take a look see for one. 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,600]

58 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

I dread goin out in the parts shed. Old lady threw all her flower pots in it and can't find nothin now. Gotta bring my 701 parts in anyhoo. Will take a look see for one. 

 

What?

 

You needs one of these for the shed door:

 

 

[WHX?? 48,828]

I am afraid of rolling pins...? | Yahoo Answers

[squonk 41,155]

Cut loose and buy a new phone so it's not dead and buy your wife a shed of her own you skin flint! 

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

37 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

I am afraid of rolling pins...? | Yahoo Answers

 

 

[WHX?? 48,828]

Jeepers cats and we blame Pullstart & EB for goin 

 

 

I got yer back....Maybe this will uncork yer jug Dan. 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,600]

2 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

Jeepers cats and we blame Pullstart & EB for goin 

 

 

First “Squirrel!” of the thread...!

 

[Mickwhitt 4,642]

Love that track, off topic or not lol.

 

[Achto 27,604]

A little progress report from this weekend.

 

Replaced the missing battery tray with one that I made to spec.

 

The hood had some dents in it, some of which where in the area of the letters on the grill. This would be a very difficult place to do any body fill work so I spent a fair amount of time with a hammer, dolly and a sand bag working as many of the dents out as I could.

 

Along with the hood repairs I went through the rest of the sheet metal filling in unwanted holes, cracks and other various damage.

 

Cleaned up some of the parts that will not be getting sandblasted.

 

Sprayed some paint on a few trinkets.

 

All I have to show for now, hope to make more progress next weekend.

[WHX?? 48,828]

Laid down the frame and started messing with the steering gear on mine Dan. I think mine is gonna have to be the first resto I've done where I have mock the whole thing up then strip down to paint.

Whose crazy @$$ idea was it to do 701s anyway!

 I chuckled a bit when I was taking off some nice green looking patina off those greaseable bolts that hold the drag link to the steering arms. Much as I wanted to use the orginals  they are just too POed and will have to go to the 753 donors.

'Nuff stealing your build ... will just do an unveiling!

 

[Achto 27,604]

A little behind with my weekend up date.

 

It was a "fun with round stock weekend". The steering shaft for the fan gear was badly warn so I made up a new one.

 

The shaft for the steering wheel was rough as well so made a new one of those.

 

And.. the spindles. Any surface that can wear on these has, so with the help of a friend I'm going to try to reproduce these.

 

I will also be upgrading the way that the wheels are held on. The snap ring idea was OK but I much prefer the wheel being held on with a bolt. A little time on the lathe to get the threaded hole drilled and tapped in the shaft is as far as I have the spindles so far.

 

My friend is going to make the bend for me and then I will take over again. They will need the cross holes drilled for the roll pins that hold the steering arms on, plus the backer washers will need to be welded in place.

 

Other than the spindles I am ready for sandblasting and some paint.

 

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Achto

[Achto 27,604]

An early escape from work yesterday gave me some time to play on a lathe. I used this time to whip up some new drag link bolts. I made them just a bit longer so that I could use washers with them when installed. Finding Stainless jamb nuts proved to be a challenge so I just faced down some standard stainless nuts.

 

@pullstart I used my "eyecrometer" when I made the jamb nuts. Measured them later to find out that there is only .001" difference in thickness between them. Talent or just luck?? I'll let you make the call.

 

New ones next to the old.

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Achto

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

46 minutes ago, Achto said:

An early escape from work yesterday gave me some time to play on a lathe. I used this time to whip up some new drag link bolts. I made them just a bit longer so that I could use washers with them when installed. Finding Stainless jamb nuts proved to be a challenge so I just faced down some standard stainless nuts.

 

@pullstart I used my "eyecrometer" when I made the jamb nuts. Measured them later to find out that there is only .001" difference in thickness between them. Talent or just luck?? I'll let you make the call.

 

New ones next to the old.

 

Definately talent!

[Pullstart 62,912]

Phfsshhh birthday luck...

[Achto 27,604]

Might have to send my eyecrometer in to be recalibrated.