the beggining of the lathe hobby

The packages all arrived today. After dinner I used a dolly to take them back to my Tractor building and took a picture. Then I opened the box with the table for the lathe – no instructions at all! Fortunately I have an eye and a brain so I assembled it and set it in place. I had a small piece of angled steel left and screws to attach it, but no certain idea where it goes. The holes pre drilled in the top to fasten it to the base were off where the holes in the frame were located so I put in a couple well and put the rest in as best I could. It is surprisingly sturdy. Supposedly the package weighed 18 kilos, but it did not feel that heavy. Tomorrow I open other boxes and assemble other stuff

Tractor Boy

Farmall Cub Switch Replacement

It was a cold, wet, dreary day in Central Texas. Perfect weather in which to replace the light switch I replaced last week. The first replacement was blowing a 20-amp fuse in less than a second when turned to the farthest right position. Fortunately, I had added a separate fuse holder to the circuitry when the replacement did not have a fuse position. I spoke with the nice folk at Farmall Cub Forever and ordered a three position six-volt switch which arrived a few days ago. This time I took pictures so you can see what I was doing. Again, I replaced one wire at a time. The switch has a protrusion which fits in a notch in the console, and I replaced it so the two were properly aligned. I discovered it was easier to take the console off this time, and I did not need a small monkey to reach in the confined space. I did; however, forget that I placed a piece of board between the hydraulic housing and the hood/fuel tank. So, when I started up the Cub to see how well it would run, there...

Farmall Cub greasing

Replacing gear oil and greasing the ’49 Cub ought to be a straight forward task(s). Well it hasn’t been. The transmission fluid was tan, looking like tan paint. Folks on Yesterday’s Tractor Farmall forum said it meant water had got inside the transmission. I wonder whether this tractor was under water at one time. I bought a Spectricide brand insecticide pump, put kerosene in it, and flushed the transmission, then refilled with 90 weight gear oil. The gear oil looked like and had the consistency of thin honey. Pic 1300 shows the transmission filler plug. A lot easier to reach than the plug for emptying the transmission. Note it has a square head. All of these plugs are square headed. Three and a half pints later, the transmission was back together. After the transmission, I decided to check the steering gear oil. It was not tan. It was black as could be so I flushed the housing with kerosene again and refilled with ¾ pint of 90 weight gear oil and replaced the filler plug. Pic 1301 s...

Test Fuel Setup and Coil

The test fuel tank was in place and now the line is on the tractor. I put a petcock in the line so I can control fuel availability to the carburetor. On the carburetor itself there is a 5/16 threaded end to a ¼ inch hose attachment. Tomorrow I will add gasoline to the tank and start the Cub. The coil on this Cub was attached to the inside of the hood. Since the hood is off, I cleaned the mud from the two 5/16X18 threaded holes on the distributor and made a mount for the coil. I had some left over 5/16 thick aluminum which I milled a bit to make it look nicer and get rid of some very ugly edges. I used an end mill to cut holes for bolts, then used a tap to clean out the two holes on the distributor and attached the mount and then the coil. Original spark plug wires were dirty as well as yellow. I used a Dremel tool to clean inside the part which goes on the spark plug, and sand paper to clean the other end. The ohm meter showed the wires have about the same resist...

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