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January, 1999

1-1-99:  Happy New Year everyone!

1-4-99:  Ordered the carriage bolts, washers and rubber pads for the fuel tank mounting bracket from Correct Connection.  Looking at the new John Deere books that I got for Christmas, and I see that the non-electrical model B tractors have the crankcase breather in the center of the top cover, not offset to the pulley side like this tractor.

Click here to see the breather

This makes me think about what I see on this tractor.  It did have an ammeter and light switch installed, but real old and disconnected, with no trace of a generator, light brackets, or wiring.  But the offset breather was used because of a battery box, which this tractor does not have.  Why have an offset breather and no battery box?  I think I will change the breather for the non-electrical center style.

1-15-99:  My fuel tank fasteners and the seat bolt/nut came from Correct Connection today, along with my new copy of Two Cylinder Magazine.  Dan's friend John came over tonight, and took a look at the hood.  He is a professional car painter, and said he could cut the hole for the muffler to fit the patch plate, which he will then weld in, and make it good as new.  We talked about the paint for the tractor, and how he would do the job.  He mentioned his dad has restored a 1948 Allis Chalmers model B, and that he most likely would like to take a look at this project.  John called him up, and they will come over Saturday or Sunday.  He said that his dad has an old John Deere model 44 plow with steel wheels, which his dad said I could have.  I said that I would help plow his garden with it this spring.

1-16-99:  It warmed up to just above freezing today, so I have work to do.  Started by cleaning the top of the governor and engine cylinder block, and removed the breather tube to get at it a little better.  I picked up a stud for the governor top, and some 2 1/2" radiator hose from the auto parts store.  Two back issue copies of Two Cylinder Magazine arrived today.

1-17-99:  Another warm day, but it started to rain.  I cleaned the fan shaft, air intake and the outside of the carburetor, and top water pipe.  Primed and painted these parts, the governor, top of the block and the head.  I got some "Easy Off" oven cleaner to help degrease and strip the fuel tank supports.  John said that it will also take off the paint if I leave it there overnight.  We will see, and I will let you know.  I took the breather assembly off the crankcase cover plate and looked in the crankcase.  I did not see any rust, and the oil was black.  I tried to turn the flywheel (yes, the spark plug wires are off) and the engine is stuck!  Not much, as a couple of rocks back and forth got it completely free in a minute or so, but I had it running only a month ago, and it has been inside the garage all this time.  I will remove the sparkplugs and give it a squirt of oil tomorrow.

1-18-98:  Snowing again.  I went over to Kmart and got a workshop fluorescent fixture to give me more light when the door to the garage is closed.  Washed the "Easy off" off of the fuel tank supports, and I got to say, it works great!  There was a little rust, but all of the grime and the paint came off.  I coated the rusty parts with a "Naval Jelly" product that restores the metal by converting the rust back to steel.  I will see if this works and let you know.  It says to let it dry 24 hours.  I put all of my old hardware in "CLR" and the rust is dissolving pretty fast.  I will leave it in there for a day to see what happens.  Checked the paint from yesterday with the new light, and did some touch-up on the governor and fan shaft.

1-21-99:  Took the hardware out of the "CLR" and washed the parts in HSW, then chased the threads with taps and dies.

1-23-99:  Snow has melted about half way with the rain we have been getting, and we are near 40 degrees.  Carolyn and I drove down to the Bradley to Blain's Farm & Fleet to get a "Hi-Lift" brand jack, hardware and some more paint.  The Hi-Lift jack will be used to lift the front wheels off the floor so that I can get a look at the top spindle bushing, which seems to be badly worn.  I will look at it when I get the rest of the front ready to put back together.  I removed the tappet cover and carburetor, and cleaned the front and bottom of the engine, frame, and the upper water pipe.  Cleaned all the loose parts with a wire brush and the body grinder with a wire wheel, then primed everything.  Painted the fuel tank supports, and will put new webbing on them when they get dry.

1-24-99:  Put the webbing on the fuel tank supports, cleaned and painted the carburetor and tappet cover.  Put the fan shaft back on, and painted the inside of the frame from the engine to the pedestal.  Put the tappet cover on with new sealing washers.  It is starting to look like a tractor again.

Click here to see the fuel tank support and painted engine

1-25-98:  Carolyn's brother and his wife sent some goose clothes for the goose that I bought her last Christmas (1997), and they are real neat.  She now needs a second goose for the "his and hers" John Deere costumes.

Click here to see Mr. & Mrs. J.D. Goose

1-30-99:  Pat Noonan came over to help install the radiator and hook up the hoses, which is more than I can do by myself.  I bet the radiator weighs 200 pounds!  After we got it in, I painted the spark plug conduit and air cleaner parts with red oxide primer, and painted the carburetor intake pipe green.

Click here to see the radiator in place

Dan's friend John came over and we talked about how to fix the hood.  We picked up an abrasive cut-off wheel, that we will use to cut the mangled muffler hole to fit the patch, which we will braze in, just like new.

1-31-99:  Carolyn and I went to Home Depot to get a small Bernz-O-Matic gas brazing kit, a 50 foot air hose, an air chuck for filling tires and a plain nozzle.  I cut the hood hole with the cut-off wheel, and brazed the patch in about half way before I ran out of oxygen.  These little cylinders hold about 15 minutes of gas, and that hardly gets me started on this job.  I installed a bunch of the small parts that I had been working on, such as the throttle linkage, air cleaner base, carburetor intake pipe, and the crankcase breather pipe.

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