Farmall Cub lights, distributor, hydraulics

The past few days I have been busy with the end projects for the 1949 Farmall Cub. I cleaned and painted the hydraulic lift. It took two days of fairly steady work with two steel brushes, a screw driver, a rotary paint scraper, and finally washing with kerosene. Then I primed and painted the lift.  The screw driver was used to scrape away some of the old dirt and grime. Everything else was too. I ordered the two gaskets needed for the other parts. Finally I attached the Touch Control frame to the steering column post at the throttle location.

 

The Touch Control lever goes just beneath it. The Touch Control lever stops both had broken off wing bolts stuck in them. I soaked them in Kroil over night and thought I could center drill the bolts and use an easy out; however, in the past I have never been able to use that tool successfully and today was no exception. Finally I chucked the stops in a my machine vice and used my milling machine to center drill through the bolts using a #25 drill bit. I was right on center with one and slightly off with the other. A few seconds with a 10-24 tap and the holes were re-threaded.

 

The lights have been challenging. All three bulbs were burned out and I was unable to find the six volts bulbs here in town so I have ordered them. I also ordered the rubber grommets which go between the glass and the reflector, and one center wire and spring because one spring seems broken. I re-threaded the 8-32 screws which hold the light collars in place, then primed and painted the collars. Finally I cleaned up the contact surfaces inside and outside the light housing, getting rid of as much rust as I could.

 

The distributor has corrosion on the center post where the cam is. Also the gap between the points is greater than the .020 it is supposed to be. I could replace the points; however, they look okay. I want to use a point file to dress the points a bit, then the proper gap will be set. I ordered the missing parts which are all related to covering the points to protect them from dust and dirt.

 

Finally I made a wooden frame to attach where the hydraulic lift goes – on top of the clutch housing. I found some fairly soft steel and used the metal band saw to cut two pieces so I could slide the auxiliary gas tank onto tabs and hold it in place. The whole stand is drying after being screwed together over Gorilla glue. Maybe later today I can attach the fuel line, fuel shut off petcock, and try to start the engine. SEARS had an automatic battery charger in 6 and 12 volt and, after adding filtered water to the new battery, it charged the battery in a few hours.

 

Tractor Boy