[AT] winter projects?

[charlie hill]

Happy Thanksgiving!

John it looks like my winter project will be engine work on my D-14.  I'm 
not sure where the problem is coming from yet but I've been getting water in 
my oil.  LARGE volumes of water.  Either I've got an O-ring, head gasket, 
casting plug type problem or it's rain water getting in through the muffler. 
The tractor is currently stored outside and both water events have come 
after big rains and after I changed mufflers on the tractor.  It's not 
getting in through the top of the exhaust pipe, that has a rain cap on it. 
I'm thinking it's somehow running in between the pipe and the manifold but I 
don't see how that much can get it that way.  I didn't have antifreeze in 
the engine so I can't tell from that if it's water from the cooling system. 
It's a recent problem (during and since the hurricane) and I haven't run the 
tractor much since then.  At this point I'm guessing because I haven't had 
or taken time to figure it out.  What I'll do is put some dye in the coolant 
water and see if that winds up in the oil pan.  If it does I know it's an 
engine problem.  If not and it's clear water next time I'll know it's rain 
water.  Meanwhile I've taken that muffler off and put something over the 
manifold to prevent rain water from getting in while I'm not running it.  I 
sure hope it's rain water.  That is an easy fix.

Other than that I've got all sorts of projects to work on,  getting the 
garden plot ready,  replacing some bearings in my woods brush cutter gear 
box, etc. etc.   I'm not sure how much of it will get done right away.

Charlie Hill

-----Original Message----- 
From: john hall
Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2011 8:15 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: [AT] winter projects?

First off let me wish all list members a Happy Thanksgiving.

I haven't seen hardly any posts the last month or so, kind of figured 
everyone has been too busy getting ready for winter. Maybe everyone is 
getting caught up enough to share what type of projects they have for the 
winter. Possibly someone has a real restoration project in the shop?

I only have one restoration project, its a Cub Cadet Original. We've done 
all the mechanical work (except for new front wheel bushings) and parts 
scrounging. The owner wants me to paint it, I haven't decided about that.

My '91 Ford F-150 keeps rupturing the fuel lines. After the third line blew 
in 4 months, I parked the truck. It has been sitting for about 6 months. I'm 
going to pull the bed off so I can see more easily what is going on and 
replace every line on it.

Next on the list is a bunch of farm related mechanic and fabricating work.

I bought a larger sprayer barrel for my 3pt field sprayer so I need to make 
a new frame for it and transfer the boom system over.

I bought a dump trailer made out of the back half of a 1 1/2 ton dump truck. 
It works pretty good but I want to make some changes. The body goes so low 
to the ground it will hit my elevator so I will probably cut off the end of 
it. It also doesn't raise high enough for wheat to slide--especially if you 
were to get into some ryegrass, so I may have to move the lift as well. I've 
got a jack off a tractor trailer that I want to mount on the tongue. It will 
need sides made as well. Hopefully when all is done I'll have something that 
will hold about 2-250 bushels.

As far as tractors go, one of the Farmall Super A's needs some work. The 
last hay we raked with it (rake is PTO driven), the PTO was getting really 
loud. Hopefully its only a couple of bearings gone.

The Farmall M has needed a seal put in the hydraulics for a few years now. 
It hasn't ranked high enough in importance to do it yet, maybe it will this 
winter.

The last project won't get much attention until next summer. I bought a 
Deere 3300 combine that needs a lot of TLC. Its not really beat up but 
several maintenance issues need addressing. I bought this one to use 
strictly for cutting beans. My old 55 is in fantastic shape but I am tired 
of sitting in the dust (no cab) cutting beans. The plan is to use the 55 for 
wheat and the 3300 for beans. The floating header should make life easier 
cutting beans as well. If everything works out well with it I may try to 
find a straw chopper for it so I can use it in wheat as well.


So, what's on your to do list?

John Hall
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