317...phase 2...teardown

Here is a days worth of tear down and initial clean up. This old girl sure didn't get much attention, that is for sure. So far the only thing that is really out of whack is the front axle and steering...they are all wore out. I think it is going to be handy having a machine shop at my disposal for this one. Other than the hole someone cut in the frame, there are no cracks or bends and everything seems to be holding up well.

317....sidebar.

I mentioned that I got a hitch and plow along with the 317. These two parts are worth about as much as the tractor was on Ebay, but I had plans for both of them.....

First I had to take the mower deck off the 140, then installed the hitch. I actually wanted to clean it up and paint it first, but couldn't wait to play with it, so we'll call this a trial run. The hitch went on without a hitch (LOL) so I had to put the plow on to see how that looked....which led to heading out back to see how it worked. Well, it didn't, but that's mainly because I had the plow set up all wrong. That part has since been fixed but now I'm fighting traction problems. I've got a set of wheel weights heading this way, and already have a set of the narrower rear rims for this tractor....now I've got to track down a set of Firestone 23° bar tires and I think I'll be in business. I'll be the only one plowing Georgia clay in the middle of summer, but what the hell.

317...phase 1

Well, the first thing I needed to do was find out what works, and what didn't. The mower deck that came with the old girl is beat to crap, but I want to set this up as a loader tractor anyway so it's no big loss. I was told the reason the dealer decided to sell this one "cheap" was that it was going to cost to much to get it running. "It will run if you pour gas in the carb, but won't idle." Well, when I took the carb apart, it was easy to see why this was....the float and needle were both frozen solid with rust. A can of carb cleaner later, and she fired right off. It does have some blow by, but doesn't smoke very much and run's really smooth. The hydrostat seems tight. So as of now this thing is looking like a good starting place for rebuilding/restoring.

The latest project.

Ok dad, here is the newest mower added to the group. I've known about it for quite a while, but the dealer was asking WAY to much for it and couldn't get it started either! I'm sure it's set there for at least 3 years, and he's known I wanted it for about a year.

The last time I stopped in to buy parts for the 670 he told me to make an offer. Well, I'm a little better at this game than that so I let him stew a week first. I ended up paying $400 for it, which actually is to much for it's condition except that it came with an integral hitch and a Brinley plow that would bring that much by themselves on Ebay....not that I'm getting rid of either of them! I payed for it on a Friday and told him I'd be there Saturday morning to pick it up. Later that day me and Al were coming home from Auburn, AL and past a yard full of golf course mowers for sale. I've put a picture of the mower that Al bought that we plan to part out and sell on Ebay, other than the steering parts that I've already got dibs on for the 317 build up. Most of these pictures are of the homecoming and for once I'm remembering to take pictures as I go along.

Sandblasted Saturday.

That first picture is of a few of Deb's roses. The rose bushes in front are in over-drive this year!

I spent most of this afternoon sandblasting several things including a Gannon "Earthcavotor" which is a box blade for a garden tractor. It is a rare find that I spotted in Notasulga, AL while there on business. Once I've got it finished it should make a nice addition to the JD 140 that dad and I restored a couple years ago. I was really surprised that I didn't have any humidity problems that usually plague me when sandblasting. When I finished I come in to check weatherbug and it showed our humidity at only 24%! That explains that.

Here is a link to the spray gun I've got coming, and here is a link to an auction showing the type of finish mower I was telling dad about that is for sale here in town.

Final project pictures.

Another weekend project.

This project has been on the back shelf for a while, but last week I finally remembered to stop and see my friend Jeff at Columbus Spring who has a press large enough to straighten out the lower mast bracket. So Saturday I loaded up the tractor and all the parts and headed to Greg's house for some quality time with the Miller 210. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I'll post pictures with the forks on once the paint has cured completely.

New toy for the tractor....and me.

I guess I'll do this entry in JD green since it's about the new tractor attachment. I finally got a scraper blade for the tractor and also found a new favorite JD dealer in the proccess. We loaded the thing in the back of Al's van to get it home, because it wouldn't fit in mine. I did get a chance to try it out tonight and it works great. I think I'll make some end plates for it.

In other news, my spring break is over so it is back to school tomorrow. I'm trying out the milling machines, so it should be fun.