401 Suburban Resto

[Pullstart 68,585]

Is this the Suburban that Rylee has run around Portage on occasion?

[Achto 30,388]

22 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

Is this the Suburban that Rylee has run around Portage on occasion?

 

That would be the one.

[SylvanLakeWH 30,077]

37 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

Is this the Suburban that Rylee has run around Portage on occasion?

 

14 minutes ago, Achto said:

 

That would be the one.

She's really gonna like her new ride... what a nice Uncle!!! 

[Achto 30,388]

Happy New Year everyone !!! With the day off I figured I'd take advantage of getting paid to work on my own stuff.  

 

A little progress report for y'all. First off I degreased the parts so that they would be ready for the blast cabinet.

 

With the dishes done it was time to move on to repairs. First off get the drag link that a PO welded to the fan gear removed. 

 

Hood stand had some fatigue cracks that needed to be addressed.

 

Tool box also had some fatigue cracks. Drilled some holes at the end of the cracks, beveled them out & welded them up.

 

@AlexR was recently asking about spindle repairs. The spindles on this tractor had some pretty severe wear. I welded these then trimmed them back down to size with a grinder & a file. Bearing now fits snug on the spindle.

 

That's all for today. 

 

Edited Thursday at 11:43 PM by Achto

[kpinnc 16,445]

4 hours ago, Achto said:

That's all for today.

 

Excellent work sir! 

 

I've done some of those spindle repairs. I know exactly how much grinding and filing goes into getting them back to round and even. One of my 701 spindles took more than once to weld and grind back true. 

[WHX?? 53,589]

5 hours ago, Achto said:

 blast cabinet.

Speaking of which ...how is that compressor that runs it doing?

[Achto 30,388]

6 hours ago, WHX?? said:

Speaking of which ...how is that compressor that runs it doing?

 

Has about 23hrs on the clock now. It's a cold blooded pig on first start up when it's below 20 degrees out. With 25CFM at 90psi it makes all the air I need plus. Could probably run 2 blast cabinets if I wanted.

[oliver2-44 11,127]

6 hours ago, Achto said:

Could probably run 2 blast cabinets if I wanted.

I’ll take the extra air. Just send a hose down 

[Achto 30,388]

More sheet metal repair. The bolt hole in the seat was busted out, fact it was so big the the head of a 1/2 carriage bolt would drop right through it.

 

I used a hole saw to make a washer out of 10ga sheet metal. Welded this washer in place plus took care of a couple of stress cracks.

 

Ground all the welds smooth, Squared the hole to fit a 1/2" carriage bolt. The seat and front rims then made a trip through the blast cabinet.

 

Moved on to the hood which had some cracks around the front mounting hole, plus plenty of dents.

 

Spent a couple hours with a hammer in my hand bouncing back & forth between the anvil, a sand bag, and some hand dollies to get it as straight as I could. It will still need some minor body filler work to be perfect. After it was straitened out I drilled some holes at the end of the cracks, beveled the cracks out, weld & grind.

 

Other than that all I have to show is a bucket full of sand blasted parts.

Edited yesterday at 12:46 AM by Achto

[squonk 45,036]

On 1/2/2026 at 6:00 AM, Achto said:

 

Has about 23hrs on the clock now. It's a cold blooded pig on first start up when it's below 20 degrees out. With 25CFM at 90psi it makes all the air I need plus. Could probably run 2 blast cabinets if I wanted.

Synthetic Compressor oil will help a cold compressor. I have a 30 yr old 6HP Campbell Hausfield that sits in a cold back shop. Been runnin the synthetic for close to 25 of those years and she fires right up.

[Achto 30,388]

2 hours ago, squonk said:

Synthetic Compressor oil will help a cold compressor.

 

 Will have to give that a try. I currently have a heat lamp hanging over it that I plug in the night before. This helps but the 14hp Kohler with 10w/30 synthetic is still stubborn in the cold weather. Starting to relearn the combination for the choke, this is helping a bit also. Wish it had a way to disengage the belt to the compressor until the engine was running.

[Handy Don 15,504]

4 minutes ago, Achto said:

Wish it had a way to disengage the belt to the compressor until the engine was running.

Yeah, I get that. Of course then the engine, once running nicely and warmed up, would wonder why it now has to spin that cold cranky compressor!