More tractor repair

[Tom King]

Still working on the John Deere, when I get some time.  It's back together, from the two splits for the reverser clutch system rebuild, and has been for several weeks.

In the process of putting it back together, there are some hard hydraulic lines that had to put back together.  They had to be disconnected to split the tractor.  I found some serious problems caused by idiots working on it in the past.  All the flare nuts were distorted from having regular wrenches used on them.  After the nut is distorted, it will leak, so then the unknowing mechanic with tighten it some more.

Only flare nut wrenches should ever be used on such line nuts, regardless of their size.  These require either a 1" wrench, or 1-1/4" wrenches, and flare nut wrenches do come in those sizes, and even much larger.  I ordered what I needed off ebay.  All the steps of getting to a place where I need more tools adds time in days, as I order stuff, wait for it to get here, and then leave the packages for a couple of days to make sure any virus is dead.

Here is the most visible problem I found, and then found that all the nuts, in the whole system were distorted.  That's when I stopped, and ordered the large flare nut wrenches.  I also printed out a torque chart, and ordered some flare nut crowsfoot sockets to use on a torque wrench.  

There will be more posts in this thread, but I need to get to work this morning.  This has been quite a project.  I'll add a couple of extra pictures, as a teaser for the rest of the process-ended up redoing the front axle too.  It's been extra slow, since I'm working by myself, without a helper, like I normally do.

 

[Chestnut]

Tom you always post the most interesting projects. You are going to have an almost brand new tractor when your done with all this work.

[Tom King]

It's a 1978 model.  The John Deere parts guy said it would be a 2020 when I get through with it.

I didn't start out intending to do this much to it, but I keep finding stuff that needs to be redone.  I don't know how it worked at all, with that twisted line, but I've used it for 29, or 30 years like that.  I couldn't even get the lines to go back together, so I traced it forward.  That twisted part was up behind the front frame, and under the hydraulic fluid cooler, so it wasn't in sight.

Specs call for torque of 70 to 78 ft. lbs. for that line.   I needed two pipes to get the front joint apart.  I'll show pics of the big flare nut wrenches after I take some.

While I was under there disconnecting the lines, I shook the inner tie rod ends, on that bell crank, and they were scary loose, to the point that I didn't want to drive it like that.  Bent a regular puller trying to get them out.  Ordered that big assed puller, and it split the bolt end.  So, no choice but to take the bellcrank out, to use the hydraulic press, and in the process of getting that out, found out how completely worn out the bushings were on all the pivot points of the axle.

So, more tools ordered, more waiting, but all the bushings are out now-a story in itself.  That center section of the axle weighs a couple of hundred pounds.  

One of the best cheap, Chinese tools I've bought.  Of course, I ended up having to use them in a non-standard way.  That's a fifty buck set of press dies.  They go up 1mm each.  I ended up being to beat the bushings out, without having to build something to get that beast up to shop press level. 

The two press dies on the little shaft together:  The little one fits inside the bushings in the frame.  The bigger one fits the O.D. of the bushings, and the little shaft is for use with a slide hammer.  I held that stub with Vise Grips, and hit it with the 2 pound hammer.  That worked, in the tight quarters under the front frame.  I ruined that slide hammer adapter, but that's the cost of getting the job done.  The quarters were so tight under there, for swinging a hammer, that I had to cut a slot through the bushings in order to get them out.  They wouldn't budge with blows as hard as I could get on them.

In the center axle section, I could get those bushings vertical, and leave penetrating lube on those overnight, but the ones in the frame had to stay horizontal, so penetrant did no good on those, which is why I had to cut them.  They'd been in there for 42 years.

That one in the last picture was behind the back journal enough that I couldn't get a good swing with the 2 pound hammer, if I put that handle in the die, so I kept stacking smaller ones behind the first one, so I could hit them with the stonework hammer.

 

 

[Tom King]

I needed to take the axle apart to be able to handle that center part at all.  All the bolts holding the ends onto that center part were well fused with rust.  

It's hard to do without a cheap, beater screwdriver, which this time proved to be the perfect wedge to start the pieces apart.  The fused bolts were 3/4"x5" Grade 8.  It took a good half hour to get each side off- had to beat the bolts out with a sledge hammer, after I got them moving with a 4 pound dead blow hammer on a 1/1/8" wrench to turn them the least bit.

 

[Tom King]

The new lines are already here, but I don't want to crawl under it sitting only on jack stands for the front, so I want to get the axle back under it before I go under the tractor.  The axle bushings are supposed to get here tomorrow.  They'll sit in the box in the back of the truck for a couple of days, and then I'll press them in, and figure out how to get that heavy axle back on the tractor.

[Tom King]

I wanted to get that bell crank out, rather than beat on it too hard, to get the tie rod ends out.  One from a salvage place costs $500.  I didn't ask JD how much a new one costs.

That one cut off bolt is the one that split, when I was trying to get them out with the bell crank still in the tractor.  Once I got it out on the floor, like this, I used the big puller again.  When I got the puller as tight as I thought it out to be, with a 2' breaker bar, and 7/8" socket, I hit it hard with the 2 pound hammer, and it came out.   The puller got the other one out without hitting it, but by then, I had a better feel for how much I could crank on the puller.

I was glad I didn't have to rig up something to hold it up on the shop press, because even this piece is heavier than it looks.

[Tom King]

One of the best systems I use is multiple white dishpans, and cups, to keep up with each assembly's parts.  It worked like a charm when I put the tractor back together after the splits.  It was a multi-month project, and it helped immensely in figuring out where everything went back.  No left over parts, so far.

This particular pan was for the forward facing, Mid-PTO, which I never have any need for, but it had to come out to get the Reverse Clutch out.

I forget how many of these I used, but it was a fair number.

 

 

[Tom King]

Here's what proper large flare nut wrenches look like.  Just like the small ones, they slip over the line, then onto the nut, and grab all six corners of the nut, so there is no distortion of the relatively soft nuts with a regular wrench.

The crowfoot versions are for use with a torque wrench.  If you put them out to the side, there is no correction factor to have to figure in, like there would be if you use it off the end of a torque wrench.

The other wrenches are called "service wrenches".  They're to hold other fittings on the end of flare nuts.  Those fittings typically have narrow lands to try to discourage someone from using a regular wrench.  Short handles help to prevent over-torquing.   One of my uses for them is on ORB (o-ring boss) fittings/adapters to flare nut taper.  Typically, into a casting, there is an ORB fitting with an o-ring between the fitting and the casting.  The other end of that fitting is a male threaded end with a taper to accept the flare nut.  You tighten the ORB adapter to a proper torque, hold it with the service wrench, and properly torque the flare nut line onto that.

In the case of my tractor, where someone had worked on it that didn't know what they were doing, the ORB fittings were grossly over-torqued by the use of a regular wrench on the flare nut, which not only distorted the line nut (flare nut), but crushed the o-ring, causing one of the several such leaks.

Picture of torque wrench is just for illustration of crowfoot positioning.  I will have to use a short extension to allow clearance for the ratchet head, or use a regular beam type torque wrench.

 

[Chip Sawdust]

Back in the day I wondered out loud whether the torque would be off by using flare nuts or crows feet, but learned after doing a bit of math it was pretty minimal. But yeah, those are really the only tool to use on a flare nut unless you're in a hurry and it's something that's been disassembled recently/often.

[Tom King]

This morning, I was able to get the new bushings in the front axle body.  It weighs every bit of 200 pounds, so I had to go carefully slow, working by myself in this isolation.  I was able to roll it around on a moving dolly.

I had cut up some leftover scraps of 4x6 into cribbing, figuring I could jump up each of the three "corners", one at the time, by myself.  That actually worked great.  I could not have done this job, by myself, safely without the cribbing.  It was actually kind of fun having to figure it out, and being able to take what time I needed.

Some of the cribbing blocks allowed me to get it into position at the shop press, to press in the largest bushing.  I had tried to tap it in without the press, but was having an impossible time keeping it straight, and once it got crooked, there was no straightening it back out.  I'd have to knock it out with a dead blow hammer, and try again.  Once I got it set up on the press, the bearing went right in.

The small diameter bushing on the front pivots inside another bushing in the tractor frame.  The front of that axle casting was too long to get in the press, but being a small diameter, it was much easier to get lined up so I could pound it in with the 2 pound stone hammer, and some press dies.  I stood it against the press, with the back end on the floor, and that went right in too.

I got lucky on the big bushing in the frame, and first lick with the dead blow hammer sent it straight enough to finish with a couple of press dies, and the 2 pound hammer.

Then I rolled the axle into position under the front of the tractor, installed the bell crank, and started stacking the cribbing, and jumping up each corner.  It took me three hours to do all these steps, but I went back to the house to each lunch, and the main axle casting was in the tractor.

I had to get Pam to come help me get the axle ends on.  I could have done it by myself if I had taken the wheels off, but I called her away from what she was working on, and in fifteen minutes, we had some bolts in each side holding the axle ends on.

I spent another couple of hours hooking up the new tie rod ends, and aligning the front tires.  This is the first time, since I've owned this tractor, that there is no slop in the front end.

The mixed up, for the second time, order of new hydraulic lines is supposed to be here Wednesday, so I might actually get to see if it all works this week.

 

[Tom King]

The new, main hydraulic lines came in late yesterday.   This morning I installed them, and even painted them with a rattle can.  The old ones has been replaced by someone who didn't know what they were doing.  These are installed correctly, everything properly torqued with the correct type of wrenches, and even have the separator to keep them from rubbing against each other, like the others did.

I started to crop out the dirty cardboard, but decided to leave it.  Now I just need to reinstall the loader support frame, and footrest on that side, and it will be ready for fluid, and a test run.....maybe late this evening.

 

[Tom King]

I got it all back together, and the first 5 gallons (out of 10 required) of hydraulic fluid in it, but the Sun had caught me, and a strong wind had built enough to blow stuff around inside the building.  I felt like I was pushing too hard to get finished, so I walked away from it for today.  

If I hadn't had to stop, this afternoon, to take pictures of the two litters of puppies, I probably would have finished.   Maybe tomorrow...........

[pkinneb]

1 hour ago, Tom King said:

...to take pictures of the two litters of puppies, I probably would have finished.   Maybe tomorrow...........

ahh puppies? No pics posted WTH?? 

[Tom King]

Pam hasn't put up the pictures that we took today.   Here's the page with earlier ones of these litters.  We have deposits on all of these, and a waiting list for the next two litters.  So far, the only people that backed out, after being on our waiting list, were from NYC.

http://starbornhavanese.com/newpuppies.html     It has links to the two litters

edited to add:  Pam just updated the puppy pages.

[Tom King]

IT"S ALIVE!!!!!!   and operates like a new one!

At this point, it looks like a Rat Rod, but it operates, and drives like a brand new 70hp Category 2 tractor!

Picture is after the first test drive.  I had left the sheet metal off of it in case I had made a mistake, and needed to re-split it.  It's sitting there to get the coolant, and oil and filter changed.  I also washed all the old greasy dirt off of it, and washed all the sheet metal.  

Tomorrow, I'll put the sheet metal, and front end loader back on it, and go to work on the point ground with it.  I'd like to paint it, but there's too much work to get done, so looks will have to wait.  I also want to make a better looking surround for that flat top that I stuck on there quickly, one afternoon years ago.

 

[Chip Sawdust]

I love the old Poppin’ Johnnies  

[Tom King]

This one is not quite that old.  It's a 1978 model 2640.  The exact same model that Kevin Costner used to build the Field of Dreams.

[Chip Sawdust]

3 hours ago, Tom King said:

This one is not quite that old.  It's a 1978 model 2640.  The exact same model that Kevin Costner used to build the Field of Dreams.

Yeah - ours were models A, B, G, 60, 70, and a couple larger ones (730? 840?). From the '40s and 50s I'm sure. This was back in the 70s when they weren't THAT old. Great machines to this day. We had a couple dozen of them, some for the sickle bar, the side delivery, the baler, so you didn't have to change equipment, just jump on another tractor and get back out there. Then we got the Hesston swather (all of it was into hay by then) and didn't use the sickle or side deliv much after that. Unless it rained and we needed to turn the windrows

[Tom King]

I knew what you were talking about, when you said "poppers".  When I was a teenager, I used to help a friend's family cut, bale, and get up hay.  They had old tricycle gear Allis-Chalmers tractors.  I think they were from the early 40's.   We used sickle bars to cut with.

This morning, I started putting the sheet metal back on, and decided to go work it for a while, to see if any leaks developed.  One did show up on the fuel return line to the tank, that I couldn't have seen once the hood is back on.

I ran it all morning with the landscape rake.  It's operating better than it ever has!!!

 

[Tom King]

Finally got another day's work out of it yesterday.  This is the main job I needed it for.  I've been trying to get this point ready before it's too late to plant grass.

I spent all day with the landscape rake, cleaning it of all the scrappings from taking trees down.  It's down to bare dirt.  Next, I have to get it all graded down level.  

Monday, I'm calling a stump grinder to see about getting rid of a few of the hardwood stumps left.  

It did develop a few leaks after getting good, and hot.  I'll need to replace the fuel return line.  That's another one ruined by a regular wrench on a brass line nut.  I couldn't even get a flare nut wrench on it because it is so distorted.  That's the small line you can see in the first picture going to the fuel tank.  I'll leave the hood off until that line comes in.

Also, the rock shaft (shaft that comes out of a 35 pound casting, on top of the rear end, that the shaft exits both sides of, and rocks back, and forth, to raise and lower the three point hitch arms (drag links) ), seals started weeping a little bit.  Just a couple of bushings, and O-rings to replace, but that can wait until I'm through with this job, and will be a much easier fix than anything I did to it, so far.

Before I cut a bunch of trees, and limbed these up, you couldn't see the lake for the trees.

 

[Chestnut]

There are probably some people on the lake wondering what the heck is going on. Glad to hear the tractor repairs went well.

[Tom King]

There have been all sorts of questions since I first started cutting the trees, over a year ago, when I gave away the Pine trees just to get rid of them.  I tell them we're putting in a hog farm.

The lake is like a never ending holiday weekend here, for weeks now, as people off work are spending their isolation at their lake houses.  Mostly all smart, educated people, so social distancing is working well here.

[Mark J]

1 hour ago, Tom King said:

I tell them we're putting in a hog farm.

[pkinneb]

Wow what a beautiful view Tom!!

[Tom King]

It'll look better when I get the hood back on it.

I didn't want to work on it today...well, actually I did, but being Sunday, and Easter, I was just making up my parts order for tomorrow.  In looking at the exploded part diagram, that fitting on the return line to the tank is not simply a flare fitting.  It's supposed to be a flare on the tank side, and a compression on the line side.  No wonder it leaks.

If there is enough slack in that line, I may be able to put a flare on the end of the tube, and straighten out that flare nut.  If not, I'll just order the line, and fitting from JD.