Dave I can FEEL your frustration!! Sorry bro I know that is how to goes sometimes and then it sucks all your motivation away.

 

Just step back a bit and relax, Dave. Give it a week or two then back "at it". You'll get it done.

 

Brandon, sounds like quite a long list. Good luck with getting it complete. I know about getting an old truck back on the road. It's a slow and steady and painful process.

Those sure look like they could break an axle real easy if they bite at the wrong time. I like um!

I understand the pain. Two steps forward, one step back. Least it's motor work and not body work right?

 

Thanks guys I am thinking of picking up another gasket so I can play with it over this long weekend.
I was doing this so I did not had to do the last little bit of body work. Guess that's what I get
Dave ----

 

that just means you found a "weak point" that needs upgradin...

 

That's what racing is all about "finding the next weak link!"
Dave ----

 

yup... play wack-a-mole on the car level... lol

 

Well, my wrecker's going to need a new cab, no chance of finding much in the way of good metal to shake a bit of welding wire at.
The good is that she's a 400, 1979 (as most here were correct in telling me) and I got her briefly running yesterday with a drip-feed fuel line.
The bad is that the cab's gone and the rear end is locked either with brakes or internals.
Another $125 at the auction and I could have had a replacement cab (and the rest of the vehicle) why is hindsight always 20/20.
It's got original (?) split rim dually wheels which I'll be looking to replace when the local junkyards buy the right things in.
*haven't started on it yet and I'm looking at a shopping list...

 

Changed the gear oil in the John Deere, wouldn't hardly drain, put diesel fuel in, ran it around the yard, govenor rod end came off and got lost in the yard, got a new one from Ace hardware, then proceeded to warm it up and drain it. Painting the replacement fuel tank spectra sent me for the f250, it's getting leak tested Good before it goes in.

 

Mine are full tread, but in cut.

My class is what they call a "DOT" class so I have to run a un cut DOT approved tire. I'd have to step up to open renegade or unlimited to run cuts or tractor tires.

 

Worked on fixing the lawn sweeper today. One of the bolts sheered off and let the bearing walk out of its hole which got pinned on the outside of the wall... then the shaft cut a hole in the wall.



what it the wall should look like... the shaft ended up cutting an S shaped grove through the metal wall but didnt take a pic before i cut it out...



but you can see how far down(or up since its upside down there...) the shaft "drilled" through the wall...



patch panel test fit..



welded in..



nice clean penetration from welding on the outside...



ground down the outside welds for the next plans... so it wouldnt happen again i made some reinforcement panels for the bearing hole...



over head shot showing how much thicker i made the wall there...





shot of the good side just to show how thin the steel is..



then reinforced that side too,,



i later painted it but was pretty dark out after i finished cleaning up the tools and reassembling the sweeper axle to drop it back in tomorrow.. once its dropped back in i can re-rivet the lock panels back into place to hold the axle in... i also need to get a new bolt for the axle.. we had replaced the one that went missing and caused the issue to finish the yard but when i took the axle apart i found the other one that stayed is starting to sheer in half.. so going to replace it before it goes back in..

 

Shawn, How long did you use the sweeper for after that bolt broke?
I would think a long time the way it went thru that panel.

Last fall mine broke the cross shaft that joins the 2 wheels and adjusts how high the brush is.
When it was built the left & right sides were not level and the whole time I was using it it was twisting this bar till broke.
I found a pipe to fit inside the broken part to "sleeve it" throw a little weld on and paint and finished the yard.

BTW nice repair
Dave ----

 

when the bolt broke no clue when that happened... when i was using it last time i noticed that the wheels kept dragging instead of turning... so got off to look at it.. i didnt discover that the shaft had moved until i was pulling the wheels off to check the gears inside... the driverside wheel looked like the gears were mismatching too as it chewed up the plastic teeth on the wheel... then spent the next 1/2 hr trying to get the bearing loose from outside the sidewall and back into place... got around to fixing it yesterday... when i was pulling it apart i found the bolt from the other side looking like it was starting to sheer off too...

 

Mine came busted free from a friend. I think I just replaced the wheel with the teeth if I remember correctly. Guess these things aren't built super durable.

 

i think the wheels need another shim spacer on each wheel to sit behind the cotter pin... ive watched them kinda wobble going around the yard.. but dont have any washers that have a big enough hole to shim it back atm... think thats part of why the teeth are so marred up atm.. friend of mine in SC offered to give me his... originally turned it down but starting to think if i hadnt i could weld up a bracket to tow both of them and make the work go faster lol.. but dunno how big his is... i know they come in a few different widths... ours i think is 52"