Project Trisickle, maybe...

Bring on the red.

Shake rattle and spray WHS theme song.

I didn't know we had a theme song but maybe we need one lol.

Had a chiropractor visit early this morning then had to help dad with something but the fanciness has begun. It helps that this tractor has some super nice sheet metal.

The rear clutch rod had a little play so the frame was drilled and the same self lubricating bushings added that we use on the newer PTO lever shafts. The flange on the bushing tightened up the side play and will keep any parts from ever hitting metal to metal, that will be nice and better than when it was new. Now it's snug and smooth and good to 30K rpm lol.

Also, super sliders are for everything, not just for furniture... I needed to be able to slide it both ways on the table to work on the left or right because I need the forklift free for a few coming in tomorrow.

The lift handle has a new spring and the lift setup is all on, I do think it needs some more grade 9 hardware though... The tool box, seat spring, and and tower bolts are still not tightened up yet because I needed the lift setup all on to set the rear cable lift. A new pin is out and the slot hitch is ready to go on so it will get wrapped up in the morn cause it's suppertime again.

Here's some more of what makes things take so long... When someone made the mess of the welding on the brake arm they bent the rod of course. Straightening rods, finding all the missing little things like washers, etc, making things fit right sure eats up a lot of time...

I had a self inflicted time eater (it happens sometimes lol) is the fancy bushings I put in the frame for the clutch rod made it a little too tight side to side so I had to take about .030 off of the new cast iron arm. The 1" mill bit was still in the mill from doing the upper tricycle shafts so it only took a min.

Anyway,,, everything is set up and bolted up tight, shifter is in, thrust washers have been added on both sides of the clutch/brake pedal, the rear slot hitch is on, and I dug out a NOS Wheel Horse belt for it. Everything is looking good.

The easy part is over, now on to the fun I knew was coming since the hood was blasted beginning of this week...

Someone did a good solid repair here, just not a pretty one that's up to par with what the rest of what the tractor has become. It's a tough spot to get to but most of the ugly is ground down at the front hood mount. Now it's time to get the torch out and take the little brace they made off inside the side emblem, take the seam loose to the center of the hood, and straighten out the hood and get the seam right. Here we go lol.

A little OCD bodywork lesson lol.

Whoever fixed it was a really good body man with a good amount of experience to get it hot enough to braze without a lot of warping from the heat, I know this from how hard it was to get apart... The only thing better than a good body man with a good amount of experience is an OCD body man with a good amount of experience lol.

Step 1, get it all apart again just like it was before the repair so you can get everything back where it belongs. No, you can not just beat it back into submission...

Step 2, find out where the metal went that would not allow the body line to line up, it will always be there, you just have to find it. A DA is good for finding it. It is the shiny sanded line that goes from the front toward the gas tank at an outward angle.

Step 3, once that high spot (shiny line) is worked down it will push the body line back over to where it belongs.

Step 4, tack weld what is right as you go, it can't be done all at once if you want a fix that looks factory when it's done. In this case, once the body line is right it can be tacked up to there.

Right when I get going good dad shows up and needs some things, story of my life...

At least the hood is tacked up, has the lines right, and sits straight on the bench now. It still needs a little work but the most time consuming part is over.

I wish I had got this with the crack instead of fighting all the brass but oh well, it is what it is. It would have been a 1 hour job instead of a 10 hour job...

It came out good for what I had to work with. The lines are right and the original crack is lined back up, it's just a little rough from all the heat it took to get the brass loose, most of it outta there, and straighten what all was bent and stretched from the previous repair. There's no remedy for stretching in this case unless the entire front was removed and that wasn't gonna happen, it's a tractor, not a Lamborghini lol. At least the big bump toward the center is gone and the lines are right. The seam will be filled, 2-3 light coats of spot putty should take care of it. It's not as bad as it looks in the pics, the dark spots aren't really that low. Low spots are easier to deal with than high spots, there is a before pic below. The rest of the hood looks really good minus a few dents that were worked out that will get 1-2 light coats of spot putty as well.

Front wheels are underway, insides are done and will try to get the outsides done before leaving tonight.

It was late last night (again) when I got outta here so I didn't get pics last night. Front wheels did get painted on the outsides last night before I left. The belt guard is checked and is really straight minus a few little places around the rear bolt where I straightened it out, and the crack I welded up a few inches in front of it, the rear tires got mounted this morning.

Plan is to get the wheels on and move it to the big table today, I need the wheeled table to take a rearend apart on one of them coming in today. There a few coming after lunch and it's gonna be over 60 today and close to 70 the next 2 days after that so I need to do a little steam cleaning while it's warm. Bring on the warm...