Intro and Resto-Mod questions (Lots pics)

[WELD 13]

Hey guys, new to the site, going to kill two birds with one thread and combine my build into an intro also.

Tony from MA, picked up a few wheel horses last season, an RJ and a 502, sold the 502 and am now finding time to start a little resto/mod on my RJ. I started disassembling it yesterday and have a few questions maybe you all could help out with. 

My plans are not to give it a full factory restoration because of time/funds and overall shape of the unit as it stands.

So i have a few motors to chose from laying around the shop and some other parts i am going to be using.

 

so the first and most important question is transmission seals and bearings. Is there a source i can buy a kit or any one place i can itemize and order all the bearings and seals I need?

 

also whats the best fitting off the shelf style replacement fuel tank? 

 

Here are some pictures, 

 

When i first opened the case i was a little disappointed but i knew it was not going to be pretty from the water i drained out of it. but luckily 

But a quick wipe down revealed that they gears and case were pretty well protected by a layer of grease before the water intrusion so off to the hot tank for everything.

 

So these are the bearings and seals i am looking to replace. 

 

I will also be needing a set of front wheels.

 

stay tuned this project is hopefully going to make ground quickly. 

Edited October 2, 2016 by WELD

[AMC RULES 36,945]

Message member Jake Kuhn here...

http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/profile/4240-jake-kuhn/

offers complete kits to redo all the seals and bearing inside your trans.

           

 

 

[WELD 13]

great thanks, message sent!

[953 nut 51,682]

  When it comes to rebuilding an RJ transmission you couldn't ask for a better resource than this thread. 

Look forward to seeing your project come together;    

[WELD 13]

 thanks, I will read through that thread tonight. 

 

 

[Walt 339]

Welcome to Red Square.

[WELD 13]

would i be correct in saying this is an RJ58? As i look up pictures I am seeing a lot of variations of options in all the photos i see.

It appears my hitch has been modified  and i want to try and make it lift and lower again. Someone at one point just made a bracket and had bolted it to the seat mounting holes so it was permanently up. and they did some horrible welding to it that i plan on removing. 

 

 

 

[WELD 13]

Also I'm trying to find reference photos of what a original fuel tank should have been like and how it was mounted. Mine was bolted to the hood via 2 straps that were drilled into the sides where the logo would have been. Its looking like that was also a modification. 

I'm looking at maybe replacing it with a plastic tank from a snowblower or something. but i may try and fill all the drilled holes in the hood before i paint. so i can't mount it the way it was when i got it. 

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,487]

                       glad you found us.

 

Glenn

[AMC RULES 36,945]

I've read, being that no one has ever produced a surviving example of an original 1959 ID/serial # decal...

so currently, all are considered to be '58 Ride-Away Juniors...regardless of the date code on the trans.  

The original tank straps were just spot welded to the underside of the hood...

and typically, get incorrectly repaired the way you've found yours. 

[WHX?? 46,774]

Good luck on your resto and

Lowell @wheelhorseman1000 should have a lift cable that will get that hitch going again

[WELD 13]

great thanks for the info guys, glad i signed up before doing this. saving myself a lot of time. I made some progress on the case internals and some of the bits today.

ran them through the hot tank and the gears actually came out looking great judging by some of the other threads i have seen with mashed gears and bad teeth.

 

Grit blast revealed a crack in the plow frame. I will repair it but i dont think i will be putting it back on because i dont see me using it. we will see.

A shoddy repair which lastedd but wont be getting re-installed.

 

And can someone tell me what parts of this hitch are supposed to be there and whats been modified. I have never seen such bad welding in a piece of machinery than some of this haha.

 

Edited October 3, 2016 by WELD

[WHX?? 46,774]

Looks to me you need no help ...nice job on cleaning up the gears!

 

18 minutes ago, WELD said:

have never seen wi=uch bad welding I

unfortunately we have  ...someone added those angle thingys for some reason....hitch should look like this..... photo courtesy of @MikesRJ I believe

oh on the other pic with the twisted metal welded on it ... I have no idea hopefully others will chime in...I'm thinkin it doesn't belong at all??

[WELD 13]

my guess is someone added the twisted metal to add rigidity, or maybe it bent at one point and thats ones way to strengthen it. I think i can build a turnbuckle style link to replace it.  

thanks for that picture! it answers a few questons i had. i take it that cable pictured is what would have originally gone to the lever? 

I see you made a new rod to mount the hitch (pivot) Mine is severely pitted. a simple enough piece to make i like the use of the pins over the C-clips

 

going to strip the seals and clean up the 3 pieces of the case next.

 

Still unsure what i'm going to do with the fuel tank situation. I would like to weld up all the extra holes in the hood and make it smooth again. has anyone ever deleted the filler neck hole and mounted a tank lower on frame with a vacuum pump? This is the route i am currently tossing around in my head. if i'm going to be spending the time filling the holes i may as well fill them all. i figure.

 

 

 

[WELD 13]

A hunting trip last week got in the way of progress on this project. But i'm back at it today, sorry for the delay.  I was able to get the trans put back together took a few photos. but not very many photos because i would have had to wash my hands every 2-5 minutes to run the camera phone. 

After assembly it is much tighter and smoother than before.no more axle slop. I don't think the differential was even working corectly before, and the shift linkages were not working correctly either.

Turned out the little spring and pin was rusty and the detent balls were getting caught up a bit.

I also gave the inside a coat of glyptal after I bead blasted the whole thing. 

 

I found a rubber bellow in Mcmaster that looks like it will work for the shifter boot. what's everyone else using?

http://www.mcmaster.com/#9744k12/=14qelan

 

Once the sealant sets up on the gasket I am going to replace all the bolts with new ones and will be sealing them up. 

I only had one hiccup during assembly and luckily it was early on. I installed the new bushings in the diff and completely forgot they came long so i pressed them out to leave clearance for the pinion gear and just turned them down in place.

I didn't have a puller that would work with that small a bearing so i welded 1/4" bolts to the bearing races and just used a slide hammer.

here's a few pics

 

trans-Done

next step is the chassis.

I have been soaking the foot pedals in PB blaster and have put them through a few heat cycles in the last couple week. going to attempt to separate them hopefully they budge. I may have to build some kind of puller. 

 

 

[AMC RULES 36,945]

You're making some great progress...    

type in "wheel horse boot" into the Ebay search window.

[WELD 13]

I had a set of AG style 4.80/4.00-8 tires from a national mower that I was thinking of running in the front and it would kind of match the rears, that way the front aren't brand new and the rears used.

Still trying to track down a decent set of front wheels. I couldn't bring myself to buy the ones from TSC that come with tires. they just felt too flimsy to me.

 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

On 10/3/2016 at 3:41 PM, WELD said:

great thanks for the info guys, glad i signed up before doing this. saving myself a lot of time. I made some progress on the case internals and some of the bits today.

ran them through the hot tank and the gears actually came out looking great judging by some of the other threads i have seen with mashed gears and bad teeth.

 

 

 

Grit blast revealed a crack in the plow frame. I will repair it but i dont think i will be putting it back on because i dont see me using it. we will see.

 

A shoddy repair which lastedd but wont be getting re-installed.

 

 

And can someone tell me what parts of this hitch are supposed to be there and whats been modified. I have never seen such bad welding in a piece of machinery than some of this haha.

 

 

 

I've seen far worse welds than those!  Far worse!  But those are still pretty bad!  You're making good progress!  Thanks for sharing!  And Welcome to the forum!

[wallfish 15,919]

Nice job on saving that poor neglected RJ.

 

--PLEASE don't fill the filler neck hole in the hood. Good hoods are difficult to find and you'll definitely kill the value of it if you do. Seems simple enough to just weld new straps to it to hold a tank since you're already filling other holes!

--The steering link with that twisted steel welded to it can easily be reproduced by bending some round bar. 

--Original style front rims that fit the spindles are tough to find since they are always in high demand but it's not the end of the world if you have to shim some.to fit.

--The original gas tank is a larger oval Kohler tank,

 

 

 

[WHX?? 46,774]

Nice work on the tranny and yes the shifter boot can be had just about anywhere ...P/N 3577..... google 3577 boot

[WELD 13]

Some great info on here! thanks guys. 

Funny, I never even thought to google for the shifter boot figured it was some out of this world hard to find item. 

Same with the tank, turns out they are not as hard to find if you know the right keywords to punch into a search. 

 

Trying to weed out some skinny wheels on ebay proves to be a little harder because some sellers don't offer all the info you need. Seems like 8x5.5 wheels are much easier to find. but they probably wont work with my tires.

I was mistaken, they are 4.00-8 either way i think they would look pretty cool.

The rims that they were on were a 2 peice rim and the hub is a drive hub. I could use them if i machined a bushing to adapt them to the front spindles but it would require a lot of cleanup work on the wheels themselves. so at this point an off the shelf option would be ideal.

 these are the 2 piece wheels

[WHX?? 46,774]

I like the two piece rims. Clean them up, paint & some stainless allen head fasteners to hold them together & hubs. Definitely would be custom! Have to run tubes tho. Could you bore the hubs to 1 3/8" and run standard flanged bearings? Looks like some spacers might have to made too. Lotsa work I know but those OEM  rims are are to find.

 

Would these work?

http://www.millertire.com/products/lawn-garden-tires/4-00-8/8x3-75-steel-wheel-3-hub-3-4-bearing/

 

BTW @wheelhorseman1000 has the boots too... nothing like patronizing a fellow member!!

Edited October 24, 2016 by WHX8

[WELD 13]

Thanks, I ordered a boot about 1 minute after that post about them being on ebay 

 

Well the foot rests came off no problem. however the pedal did not. Broke one of the welds off the sleeve that seized on the shaft. 

I am going to have to cut it lengthwise to remove it i think. I already spent more time than I would like to on trying to remove it without harming it. 

 

But here is the kicker. Every picture i google of that pedal shows something similar but not the same. I'm thinking it might not be the right one to begin with? I have never ran one of these tractors before so im not even sure what that pedal would have been hooked to because it had no linkage on it when i got it.

 

 

Edited October 24, 2016 by WELD

[CasualObserver 3,406]

That right side pedal went with the snow blade. There was a little chain that ran to a pin on the blade. Push pedal... pulled chain, then you could swing blade to left or right using ropes tied to the top corners of the blade... just like the lever adjustment on the later snow blades.

You can see and example of the rope for angling the blade in the picture in this post....

 

 

 

[russellmc301 600]

lookin great

im glad i got referenced