Rebuilding Fred's tractor

[Brendan Barry]

The fuel injection pump died on Fred's tractor last summer and while the pump was getting rebuilt some of the tractors other mechanical issues were looked into. The end result was the tractor rolled out of the shop last month with a rebuilt engine and new clutch.

Tractor being torn down in bay 1 of the shop. With the two old lathes having been removed from the shop and the new lathe not having arrived yet we had space in bay 1 to do the rebuild. Using the overhead crane made splitting the tractor much easier.





The front end has been removed.





Pulling the motor out. The motor didn't want to come off the transmission input shaft. Turned out the pilot bearing had self destructed and welded itself the the transmission shaft and the clutch disc wouldn't fit over what was left pilot bearing. Once the motor was off the clutch housing had to be taken off the transmission to replace the damaged transmission input shaft.







Phil and I pondering the mess the failed pilot bearing made. Stewart's photo.



Clutch housing being removed.





The engine block sitting on the radial arm drill press table. I had to get the casting numbers off the block and a connecting rod to get the right engine kit.





Engine on the stand being stripped to the bare block.







Crank and camshaft out.



Old cylinder sleeves and rods with old pistons.



Block with new sleeves pressed in and new pistons in. The old sleeves are sitting on the floor to the right.



I didn't take any pictures of the reassembly but I do have a picture of Fred taking off on a test drive last week.

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Well done you all for that open-heart surgery that will give that usefull and devoted servant a new youth. Shovelling coal into the coal bunker may warm you up in Winter but when it's hot it surely kills you. By the way how many pounds of coal can hold #9 coal bunker ?

[Roger Cole]

Your photos make it look so easy, but I know all the work it takes to strip down all the components to get to the clutch and engine block.  My father was an auto mechanic who did side jobs in our garage at night.  I remember the time a neighboring farmer brought in his Farmall for a clutch replacement.  My father welded up a steel dolly from old angle iron with steel wheels to allow the front section to be rolled away from the back section.  Of course, both ends had to have proper blocking. 

[Bill Baskerville]

Another fantastic job that went on this winter with very little visibility outside of Sheepscot.  Our Maine and greater New England team is something at which to marvel.
 

[Jeff Schumaker]

I can imagine that Fred is happy that the tractor is running again.

Jeff S.

[Bill Piche]

I can imagine that Fred is happy that the tractor is running again.

Jeff S.

You kidding? I'M happy because it means I don't have to schlep buckets of coal from the pile for the foreseeable future.

[Jeff Schumaker]

There's that, too.

Jeff S.

[Dave Buczkowski]

I remember Brendan saying more than once that the only reason he went through all that grief and aggravation was so that Bill Piche didn’t have to schlep coal anymore. He was especially concerned about Bill’s manicure.

[Bill Baskerville]

I remember Brendan saying more than once that the only reason he went through all that grief and aggravation was so that Bill Piche didn’t have to schlep coal anymore. He was especially concerned about Bill’s manicure.

Bill Piche with a manicure.  Oh No!  How will I ever get that image out of my brain?