401 Suburban Resto

[Pullstart 68,633]

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

[Achto 30,465]

22 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

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

 

That would be the one.

[SylvanLakeWH 30,146]

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 30,465]

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 January 1 by Achto

[kpinnc 16,608]

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?? 53,740]

5 hours ago, Achto said:

 blast cabinet.

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

[Achto 30,465]

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 11,137]

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 30,465]

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 January 5 by Achto

[squonk 45,077]

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 30,465]

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 15,620]

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! 

[Achto 30,465]

Todays adventure - rebuild the steering system.

 

To start off I turned a portion of 5/8" stock down to 9/16" and threaded it to 12 pitch.

 

Next drill a hole in it and tap the inside of it to 3/8-24.

 

Then use a parting tool to cut it to length.

 

OK, what am I building here ?? Remember the fan gear that the PO messed up by welding the drag link to it? The hole in it was too large for a heal-a-coil. So I tapped the hole in it to 9/16-12.

 

 

What I made was an insert to repair the require 3/8-24 hole in the fan gear.

 

Inserted with Loctite plus I peened the edges to ensure that it does not move.

 

Next - take a peace of 5/8" x 4.5" stock, turn a 15/16" length of each end down to 7/16" and thread it to a 20 pitch. One new drag link.

 

Now for the tie rod that was butchered up. First off, position the front axle and spindles so that everything is held strait.  Then cut a  1" x 5/16" flat bar to length. Use a transfer punch to mark the outer holes.

 

Drill the 1/2" holes in each end and the 3/8" hole for the drag link and test bolt things together. 

 

Looking good, now it was time to turn the two 1/2' bolts into  part #3949 clevis pins. Cut to length and then drill an 1/8" hole 1" deep into the end of the bolt.

 

Drill & tap the end to 1/4-28 to a depth of 3/8" for a grease zerk. Drill an 1/8" cross hole to meet up with the 1/8" length wise hole so that grease can get to the pivot point.

 

Front end repaired & almost ready for some paint.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:03 AM by Achto

[SylvanLakeWH 30,146]

Wow... give a guy indoor plumbing and the lectricity and bam - you are so much more than a fried cheese curd... 

 

Beautiful work!!! 

[kpinnc 16,608]

2 hours ago, Achto said:

Front end repaired & almost ready for some paint.

 

Just awesome.  I tried to make a set of stainless pivot bolts on the 701. My tooling just isn't tough enough for stainless so I reused the originals. 

[Achto 30,465]

Not very picture heavy today.

 

One of today's goals was to clean the engine up to prepare it for paint. Part of that goal was to investigate the oil seepage from the head gasket. When I pulled the head, this was the scene.

 

Way too much piston wash for my tastes, not to mention the small puddle of oil laying on top.  Given this knowledge, well.. this happened.

 

Thanks to @WHX?? for helping me tear the engine down. Measurements were taken and it looks like it will need a new set of rings & some gaskets. Not a planned event in this resto but nothing that can't be fixed. 

[WHX?? 53,740]

Ready for gaskets, rings & red...

[wallfish 18,859]

39 minutes ago, Achto said:

Not a planned event in this resto but nothing that can't be fixed. 

Once you're to that point during the restore of a whole tractor, it isn't the worst thing that could happen. Plus you'll be glad you did it once it's all done. The worst thing about that is it's going to be tougher to yank! LOL  

[sqrlgtr 1,786]

You guys need to slow down making the whole team look bad 

[Achto 30,465]

2 minutes ago, wallfish said:

it isn't the worst thing that could happen.

 

This is true. I did the tranny a couple of years ago in order to fix a a bad 3rd gear so with a fresh engine it should be good for another 60yrs.