[Farmall] O-12 chronicle, part 3

[olmstead at ridgenet.net]

A quick update.  Finished up the O-12 today and filled the radiator.  Used
water, because I knew it'd leak if I used antifreeze.  Murphy, y'know.

I made a serious blunder.  I used a good-looking used radiator core that I
cleaned up a couple of years ago instead of a new core.  In fact, the new
core I ordered showed up when I was about halfway done with reassembly.

The radiator leaks.  Steady dribble from one tube.  Slow enough that I can
use it for the documentary, but the radiator will need topping off every
hour or so.  The leaky tube is behind the left frame of the radiator, so
there's no way to fix it w/o disassembly (at least pulling the frame off).
 Maybe I'll do that and haul the radiator to the local shop.  I won't have
time to do much more than that until Thanksgiving.

Other than that, the O-12 is a great machine.  It idles well, revs nicely,
sounds great and the overcenter clutch works perfectly.  As noted back
when I first described this tractor, it doesn't have a great deal of
power, but it's such an easy tractor to putt around on that I'm very
happy.

The oil pressure responded to my 'farmer fix'; I shortened the relief
valve spring and that dropped the pressure to about 34 pounds at idle, 60
at full rpm.  No serious leaks, unlike before.

So the tractor is doing its part; it is up to me to fix the problem I caused.

-karl