My floor plates are brake-ing.

Now that I almost have the tire situation sorted out, I need to get my brakes fixed. In order for me to actually use the brakes though, I need the floor plates in place so I have somewhere to put my feet.

The floor plates are good, thick diamond plate. They're pretty rusted, and there's a lot of paint on the underside. That bracket on the right hand one is actually a drawer support for an old tool box, the box is long gone, but I can order a new one if I'm so inclined in the future. Or, I can make my own.











I built some new brake rods out of threaded 5/16ths rod stock. Bent them, welded the corners to reinforce them, and drilled a tiny hole for a cotter pin.

Some traction to go with the tractor.

I have the new rear tires, but I did not have the correct rims. My tire supplier thought they had the right ones, but they were loop style instead of bump.

Fabricating new rear bolts.

The rear wheel bolts are ruined. That wouldn't be so bad if they weren't obsolete and impossible to find. So, I have to make my own.

Tackling the small jobs.

Drilled out and tapped that broken bolt this evening. Not quite as centred as I wanted it, but it works.

Reassembly begins.

Time to start putting this thing back together.

This is the steering gear, the grease still looked fine, so I didn't touch it. It works smoothly.


I put the pulley on the transmission shaft, and put the dash support / steering support back on.



After restoring the brake pedals, I mounted them back on as well.


These are the brake connecting rods. The top one is original, and broken, the bottom one is new, and doesn't work right. I have to make new ones eventually.


The old seat looks pretty beat up.


Straightened out the lip.


Cleaned the rust off the top.


Cleaned the paint off the bottom.


Primer coat on, time for the steering column.







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Grease everywhere.

Now that the frame is in a decent condition, it's time to tackle some maintenance issues.

First up is that leaky transmission input shaft.


To get at it without being sprayed down with gear oil, I first have to drain the transmission. When I first took out the drain plug, water poured out of the hole. It seems that over the years rainwater worked its way into the transmission through the shift lever opening, as the rubber boot that used to keep water out rotted away probably 20 years ago or longer.

This is a 5 gallon bucket, there should only be 2 gallons of liquid inside it. At the bottom is water. Way, way too much water.


But, I was able to take the jamb nut off the input shaft.


Then I removed the old, leaky seal.


The new seal is a lot less substantial than the old one, but the dimensions are right.


Inside the transmission looks ok, a little rusty, but ok.


Oil seal on, o-rings replaced.


New gear oil in, looks a lot better.


New bolts to hold the cap on.


New shifter boot goes on, along with the new knob.


Time for the front axle bearings. I had to buy the biggest size channel locks that Cantire sold.


The bearings actually look pretty good. At least something was maintained properly it seems.


Spindles look fine.



Things are moving nicely.

May is over. Parts start arriving.

I mostly spent a lot of money during this time, but while I was at it, I cleaned and painted the front wheels.


Takes primer well.




My motor controller arrives.


A few days later, the motor comes.


And the charger.


And the parts manual, along with the service manual reprint.



Time to buy more paint and tools.


Bondo, autobody hammers.


My battery pack, along with some angle iron to make a battery tray out of. Welding cable for wiring, copper pipe to make cable ends, heat-shrink tubing. Ten gallons of gear oil, the tranny takes 2, the diff takes 6.


A drain pan to collect the old oil.


Transmission shaft coupler.


Transmission pulley.


Something to connect the pulley to a shaft, and reduce the rpms. The motor does 2400 rpm, the old gas engine did about 1800, so I want to reduce that.


The shaft connects to the motor with a 3 jaw coupler. This allows a little leeway when running, so the alignment doesn't have to be 100%.


New steering u-joint, brake rod boots.


Corks for that hole with the missing plug. No one in Calgary sells rubber plugs, not Grainger, not Gregg's distributors, not Napa. The only place I could find plugs is "Michael's Craft Supply". I spent the better part of an afternoon searching for these damn things.


New steering wheel, new shift boot, and new shifter knob.


New mylar decals, and a new serial number plate.