The deal of the day

[nyquil junkie 305]

As I said previously... the logical thing to do was buy another one, right?

 

A few miles down the road, I found this one. It only made sense to bring it home.

 

It came with a pile of spare parts, some of them I dunno what they are.

 

 

Plus a packet of several original manuals and papers for it.  Plus spare tire chains.

 

It has a few minor issues... for one its out of line, I don't know how to adjust it, there are no adjusters.

 

 

And it didn't run, but I got it running, I think it has a few dirty grounds. All of it seems to work just fine. The brakes and the clutch are super sloppy and need adjusted. Its covered with dust from being in a corner of a garage, and needs a bath.

 

 

$300.

I need to remove the deck and sharpen the blades and pressure washer it all clean. Then I'll set it loose on a lot full of weeds.

 

 

[nyquil junkie 305]

[nyquil junkie 305]

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 12,289]

The arm on the steering spindle is likely twisted. That is what happens when the tire runs into something it can't climb.

A closed up adjustable wrench on the flat bar can be used to twist it back into alignment. And it does not take much for a large improvement. I have broke the weld doing this.

[kpinnc 18,601]

2 hours ago, nyquil junkie said:

has a few minor issues... for one its out of line, I don't know how to adjust it, there are no adjusters.

 

1 hour ago, gwest_ca said:

The arm on the steering spindle is likely twisted.

 

 Yeah somebody whacked something pretty good, or it fell off a set of ramps or similar. 

 

If you can't bend the spindle back, they are fairly common from similar year model machines. And adjustable tie rods are always a nice upgrade! 

[nyquil junkie 305]

I have a set of wheel spindles that came with the 314A I just sold. Are they the same?

 

[kpinnc 18,601]

17 minutes ago, nyquil junkie said:

have a set of wheel spindles that came with the 314A I just sold. Are they the same?

 

Probably not. The 314A had 6 inch front wheels so the spindles will be 1 inch taller. They will fit, but will raise the nose by an inch which will greatly affect how a mower deck rides underneath as well as reduce how high any rear mounted implement will raise. 

 

You want spindles from a machine with wide 8 inch wheels. Then the only difference will be what retainer is used to hold the wheel. There were three types: bolt, e-clip, or cotter pin. Functionally no different but just something to consider. 

[Retired Wrencher 6,736]

N/Junkie I would look into the manual section of this model find all parts you need.  Manuals are knowledge that will pay you back in the end. Also if you ever find another C141 you know what to do to make it into a good tractor. Put some hours into it should be a good worker when done.  

Edited 9 hours ago by Retired Wrencher

[ri702bill 12,291]

7 hours ago, kpinnc said:

And adjustable tie rods are always a nice upgrade!

 

Seconded. And the OE ones are probably on their way out anyway.

Interresting combo of cutting deck & tire chains....

@Handy Don can comment about a bent steering arm....

[Lee1977 7,648]

10 hours ago, nyquil junkie said:

I have a set of wheel spindles that came with the 314A I just sold. Are they the same?

 

They will work just fine ,only raises the front about 1" with 8" wheels. I have two 312-8 with 6" spindles and 8" wheels.

[nyquil junkie 305]

These extras are the same size, they have tires on them. Musta not been for that other tractor. But, I checked the spindles on it, they dont look bent. Not saying they aint just sayin... they dont look bent. I will probably get a set of adjustable rods and call it good.

 

The reason it didnt start is the nice young guy who had it said you turn the key, it does nothing. he put on a new starter and a new solenoid. Several solenoids. Same problem, he was mowing, it shut off and in the garage it went.

 

One owner, gramps bought it new. Looks like nobody ever molested the wiring.

 

So, Ya jump the starter, it starts. If ya touch a hot wire to the S post on the solenoid, it starts. I assume this means either the ignition switch is bad (I'm gonna check that later) or a safety switch is bad. I think it only has 2.

 

Shouldnt be too hard to run down. 

 

Instead of me searching for parts do you guys have a fav vendor who has all these old/new replacement parts or equivalents?

 

i could just bypass all the switches but since its electrics are all seemingly correct and original, why ding its future value.

 

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 12,289]

 

[peter lena 9,910]

@nyquil junkie nice pice up !  personally would not  wash it down , would  give it a penetrating oil soak down ?  that will let you preserve a patina perfect  era , look . done a lot of this,  method  in paint recovery sent . do it in phases , experiment , also  like valvoline 10-30  VR1 , flat tappet oil , extra zinc , helps break down engine varnish  , that  clogs rings and  valve varnish deposits . that  lighter oil , will  really  help out  your  introduction to it , lots I would personally do to it . that pto lever  set up is a gold mine for  FUNCTUINAL  DETAILING , pto cone needle bearing , easy to clean out , and lightly re grease  , with lucas XTRA HD  green, chassis grease , 550 deg flash point / polyurea rated , like to spend a month on that , touch everything,  thats about what it takes , pete   

 

[nyquil junkie 305]

14 hours ago, gwest_ca said:

The arm on the steering spindle is likely twisted. That is what happens when the tire runs into something it can't climb.

A closed up adjustable wrench on the flat bar can be used to twist it back into alignment. And it does not take much for a large improvement. I have broke the weld doing this.

 

Well I said it wasnt bent but I failed to take into account I have no point of reference to compare it to, really. The 312H here has the same kind of steering, they look about the same and the same angles.  I'll have to pull the wheels and post some pics to get some input. I'd go on and try to bend them but I'll show ya what they look like before I make an expensive mistake.

[nyquil junkie 305]

After looking at these spindles for a while, the left one is significantly bent. The end of the plate that the tie rod bolts to is much closer to the tire than the right side. This means if I figure right, the round post the wheels slides onto is bent backwards a bit. I did bend down the flat bar that the tie rod end bolts into, that helps a little but its still out of whack..

 

That and I lost a C clip and the clip pliers so... yeah. 

That leaves me with 2 choices then I guess... a new/old spindle or an adjustable tie rod. Turns out I only have ONE of those old ones and its for the right side. Lucky me.

 

Does this mean I have to go buy a parts tractor? 

 

 

[Handy Don 16,765]

17 minutes ago, nyquil junkie said:

After looking at these spindles for a while, the left one is significantly bent. The end of the plate that the tie rod bolts to is much closer to the tire than the right side. This means if I figure right, the round post the wheels slides onto is bent backwards a bit. I did bend down the flat bar that the tie rod end bolts into, that helps a little but its still out of whack..

 

That and I lost a C clip and the clip pliers so... yeah. 

That leaves me with 2 choices then I guess... a new/old spindle or an adjustable tie rod. Turns out I only have ONE of those old ones and its for the right side. Lucky me.

 

Does this mean I have to go buy a parts tractor? 

An adjustable tie rod cannot properly correct for a more-than-trivial bend in a steering arm on the spindle because a noticeable bend almost certainly affects the critical geometry.

 

In my case, I suspect a significant impact to the wheel was the culprit (cause unknown--pretty sure it came to me that way).

In the end, I was able to invert detailed and careful measurements from the other (presumed still ok) spindle and, in small increments, carefully bend the steering arm back to the “correct" position. I was also concerned that the shaft was affected. The angle between the axle and wheel sections was off slightly, but I deemed it not worth the risk to attempt fixing. I’ll live with a tiny bit of negative camber. 

 

 

[nyquil junkie 305]

There is a set of spindles on ebay for a C-120, the measures look the same. Are the C141 and C120 spindles the same?