8N almost done, well almost

Today I put the air cleaner on the tractor which was a chore just a bit easier than removing it. By greasing the pipe which goes to the carburetor it went on a tiny bit easier.

After a wonderful Memorial Day meal and a mandatory nap. ( I hope you believe it is mandatory), I decided to change the oil in the 8N. The oil drain plug used to be a one inch square fitting; however, long ago and far away someone did something to it and it was tapered and rounded. In order to get it off I used a big pipe wrench and a piece of two by four below that with a bottle jack holding it all in place so the wrench would not slip off the drain plug. With a lot of effort it began to turn and I was able to remove it. Before it came off I thought I had hit an oil well. This black, thick, evil looking stuff came from around the plug. At one time it was oil, but now looked as though it was ready to be used to oil a road. I replaced the oil drain plug with a new one and put five quarts of oil in the engine. Then… I decided to change the oil filter. The old tractor takes a NAPA 1010 filter canister. The 8N Owner's Manual hardly mentions the oil filter at all. It certainly does not say how to remove it so I experimented and found a socket just larger than ¾ inch would fit the nut. It seems the cap is compressing a spring and it removed itself soon enough. The canister has a ring to lift it out so I did – part way. It would not clear the fuel line. After studying the possibilities, I removed the bolts holding the oil filter housing to the engine and eased the filter out. Of course I had a new one to put in and it went in with only a little twisting, turning, jiggling. Another quart of oil – total of six – and the tractor is almost ready to drive. I am going to grease the fittings and check the coolant level. The battery is on a trickle charger and is ready to go.

This has been a very productive four days!

Tractor Boy

8N more success !

This is what I did before breakfast today – after sloshing through the rain to my Tractor Building .

Last night I could not get the battery case back into place because the part which covers the steering mechanism was shifted about 1/16 inch too low. I am sure it has been this way for many years.

This morning I loosened bolts holding the steering housing to the frame, squirted with Parts Blaster, and used a Sears pry bar at least two feet long to lever the housing up that 1/16 inch so the bolts would enter the holes. Some time ago I bought a set of pry bars because they were on sale and I thought they would be needed at some time to work on the tractors. It seems I also bought extension shafts for a ½ inch air tool and used one of those to get my 3/8 inch air wrench onto the battery case bolts and the steering housing bolts I loosened. A third arm would have been handy, but I managed. I coated the bolts with plenty of moly grease before tightening them in place. One of the bolts required me to re-cut the threads toward the head as the bolt had been under a lot of wear from that housing for years.

Anyway, as you can see in the pictures, the battery case is in place. I glued washers over the protruding rivets rather than cut them off.

Next… drain the oil, remove the governor and replace parts I bought to refurbish it. Actually it is a partial kit at about half the cost of a full rebuild kit (which is itself half the cost of a rebuilt governor). It seems I bought a parts cleaning tank which holds 20 gallons from Harbor freight just for the governor and all the other stuff I am going to be replacing, repairing, rebuilding, re-installing, and any other "re" I come across in my adventures.

Yes, this is what I do for fun, exercise, and mental challenge. By the way, we have had almost the average annual rainfall already and half that has happened in the past week. Boating anyone?

Tractor Boy

8N Success! Hooray!

This evening I started putting the 8N back together again. The pictures show what I did today. It took me nearly a month to get through the broken off bolt which I never could get out of the tractor. This evening I used a new 3 inch air driven cut off tool to slice through the hardened bolt from Tractor Supply. I labeled all the pictures. I think the grommet and boot are a nice touch although probably not necessary.

Tomorrow after church I will continue with reassembly and put the battery shelf and air cleaner back on the 8N. I am using good moly grease on the bolts in hope they do not get stuck again. I am also cleaning the bolts and bolt holes (sometimes) using a tap and die set. It sure helps to have a lot of good tools.

Tractor Boy

Partial success!

Today I got the new right angle attachment, bored out the hole to 3/8 inch and used a tap powered by a 7mm small wrench to re-cut the threads to 7/16X14 and after a few tries cut them through enough to insert the too long bolt I bought at Tractor Supply. Then I decided to clean the threads in an inconspicuous place - beneath the batter holder – and use the long bolt there instead. That way the visible bolt will be original. It seems the head of the bolt is larger than the new one I bought although both are 7/16 inchX14. Now it seems the depth of the cut threads in the location under the battery is less than the length of the bolt so I can either cut the threads further or cut off the bolt – maybe. I have an air cut off tool and three inch disks and so will give it a try since I bought two of those bolts so one could be a spare. Anyway, I got tired so decided to come in the house and rest. I believe I have some moly grease which I can put onto the threads of the bolts before putting them back in the engine and hopefully keep them from seizing again. It is progress. I also used a die to re-cut or refresh the threads on two of the bolts and will do the rest before putting them back. It just makes sense to me. I may also refresh the holes if I can get to them easily. I do need to find a leather glove as that small wrench hurts my hand now. It takes quite a bit of time to do this re-cutting yet it seems a good thing to do.

Only God knows what was on the bolt that broke off as I never did get it out. For practical purposes that no longer matters. I will be changing the oil for sure as there are steel pieces in the engine area from all the drilling and filing I have done. No one on earth knows when the oil was last changed on that engine since the man I bought it from did not do such things.

Tractor Boy

weather and tractor errata

We have had major flooding in Killeen since Tuesday and last evening a tornado missed our house by just ¼ mile. It passed west of us after starting on the ground at Rancier and Twin Creek. I heard it, but did not see it. It sounded as though a freight train were traveling on 60 ^th Street. I was pretty sure that was a tornado. The sirens did not sound. The power went off, of course.

At least five people have died due to the rain. Flooding effected all major streets, and cars as well as walkers were swept away. Some folks are still missing. One car over toward Priest drive is still under water and too far from shore to hook a cable on it. We have exceeded the record rainfall for the month of May and have had more than half the annual rainfall already. The lake is up 12 feet since Tuesday, I think. At the start of the year it was 8 feet low. We have two more days of rain predicted and it rained hard this morning in the wee hours. It is not raining right this minute though. The ground is saturated so any rain tends to cause a flood. My yard has standing water in it of course.

The bolt is still stuck in the engine of the 8N tractor. I am going to see if I can drill it out enough to just recut the threads. Worst case, short of breaking a tap, is to enlarge the hole from 7/16 to ½ inch and just use a larger bolt in that one hole. Fortunately I have lots of different size left handed bits and maybe a miracle will happen and the bolt will finally come out. I have squirted a lot of PB Blaster and some Kroil penetrating oil yet the bolt has remained fast stuck. I have been working on it for a month so far. It does keep me off the street. Yesterday (Friday) I had the day off and much of it was used working on the tractor and dodging rain squalls.

It sure has greened up nicely.

Tractor Boy