Started on my Lawn Ranger

[Michael Bullington 5]

Here is the picture of the short stub foot rest on my 63 lawn ranger...which i could make it bigger but this thing wont let me

hope this helps

Attached Image

[sorekiwi 761]

Here is the picture of the short stub foot rest on my 63 lawn ranger...which i could make it bigger but this thing wont let me

hope this helps

Thanks for that. TT actually sent me a bunch of pictures of one and all the measurements a while ago. I just havent made it yet (which actually means I havent found a piece of tube the right size yet).

Right now I'm trying to reduce the number of pieces I have spread around by getting them back on the tractor....

[jusjeepn 59]

Mike, The Ranger is really looking good! I hadn't read this post until today and I have to say it really looks great :hide:

[Butch 194]

Valspar by the quart cures slowly too. I've got a lot of Raider parts drying in the garage right now. Next batch of parts I spray I think I'll get some hardener and see if it helps.

Well I guess I better buy it buy the gallon. Hopefully it will dry 4 times faster. :hide:

[Butch 194]

Mike I think it all looks good so far. Is it me or do a lot of you guys have metal lathes? I swear I haven't seen so many lathes since I worked for Gulfstream Aviation many years ago. A lot of the people here seem to have some sort of machining or fabricating experience. I always thought I had a ton of tools but I can't even hold a candle to some of the shops I've seen here.

I'm not sure but did you use a can or gun on the hood? I couldn't tell how bad your pitting was but I had some of it on my project. In fact I had a lot of pitting from using my sand blaster. I'm hoping that by the time I'm ready to sand I'll have enough build-up of Por15 that all the pitting will be hidden after the final sanding. I have never used Bondo but have never been a fan of it. I went to a vocational high school for 4 years and many of my buddies took auto body. I can still remember months after they painted their cars they started having problems with the filler. I'm sure Bondo has come along way since then. In fact I plan on using a little of it on the hood of my tractor. I started stripping the hood and fenders tonight. I don't plan on using the sand blaster on those 2 parts. I'm still unsure of the prep I'm gonna do. I don't know if I'm gonna use Por15 on those parts.

After seeing yours I'm getting the itch to go get one of those with the rounded hoods. I don't know the models yet. My present project is for necessity of needing a tractor which takes some of the joy out of it. If I had something like yours I would consider spending a year or two rebuilding one. I wouldn't restore it. I'd modify it. After seeing the 418-AA that Whlpny made, it really gives me the bug for something like that. I just can't do all the machining and fabricating he did. That's a real piece of work.

Keep the pics coming.

Butch

[saguaro 0]

Mike

Looks like your not far from having a fresh ride :D

[JimD 3,345]

hey mike, what museum will i have to go to to see this tractor in person? oh, and i hope your house sells soon and you get relocated to ohio near me. i'd love to come over and pick your brain and borrow some tools. in return, i would be happy to, well, ... pick your brain and borrow some tools. an absolutely beautiful job on the ranger!!

[sorekiwi 761]

Mike I think it all looks good so far. Is it me or do a lot of you guys have metal lathes? I swear I haven't seen so many lathes since I worked for Gulfstream Aviation many years ago.

I'm not sure but did you use a can or gun on the hood? I couldn't tell how bad your pitting was but I had some of it on my project. In fact I had a lot of pitting from using my sand blaster. I'm hoping that by the time I'm ready to sand I'll have enough build-up of Por15 that all the pitting will be hidden after the final sanding. I have never used Bondo but have never been a fan of it. I went to a vocational high school for 4 years and many of my buddies took auto body. I can still remember months after they painted their cars they started having problems with the filler. I'm sure Bondo has come along way since then. In fact I plan on using a little of it on the hood of my tractor. I started stripping the hood and fenders tonight. I don't plan on using the sand blaster on those 2 parts. I'm still unsure of the prep I'm gonna do. I don't know if I'm gonna use Por15 on those parts.

Butch

I do have a little lathe and mill at home, but their both small. Ok for machining up a mandrel for pressing in a bearing or a seal or something, or for making up a brass bush. Its real handy for the little stuff you come across. We've got a bigger lathe at work if I need it. I've been trying for years to get my boss to buy a Bridgeport mill, but havent been successful yet...

The hood, tank and beltgaurd were painted last weekend with a gun - theres some photo's in the current painting thread of the bits hanging in my yard. I wanted paint with hardner on the tank (it's supposed to resist any fuel splash better), and I really wanted these 3 pieces to match in color.

Heres a close-up pic of part of the mower deck, which is typical of the rust on most of the horizontal surfaces.

I've had reasonable success with plastic filler over the years, but I only use it for a skim coat. The surface you put it on needs to be clean. I've never had any experience with lead, but I dont really see that it would "stick" any better, and would be a ton more work.

Thanks for the positive comments guys...

[sorekiwi 761]

hey mike, what museum will i have to go to to see this tractor in person?

The pictures flatter it, it's not a museum piece. Actually I'll probably use it to cut grass - I've never used one of old gear drive decks, but if it cuts OK I'll use it. Besides the Wheel Horse Police would object to the Kohler thats going to sit in the front!

When I bought it I was going to fix it up a bit for my 4 year old daughter to drive around. She hangs out with a little guy that has a 4 wheeler, but now I've seen that little b*stard roaring round at 30 mph, I've kinda decided she'll hurt herself. By the time it's finished she'll probably be 6 or 7 so we'll see then. She loves going over to Grandpa's farm and it would be kinda cute if she followed the big tractor around with the Ranger.

[Butch 194]

Yeah that is some serious pitting. Some of it looks more

like corrosion. I had thought you used a gun and saw the pictures

in another link of the hanging hood. But I thought I read above here

somewhere you used a rattle can. I musta misread it.

But I still plan on trying the gun also. I was just looking at it. It

has more controls than I thought!! It was a $50 special from Harbor

Freight.

Butch

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Mike it looks like myou are doing an excellent job!

Lemme pull it 4 you you deserve it!

Duke

[KyBlue 652]

Great job!! Look forward to seein it done

[BairleaFarm 339]

Looks great

[84 400 0]

Good build you got going. I can't wait to tear mine apart. but it seems when i do have the time i need to put it to work.... once of these days........

keep up the great [progress

[wallfish 15,931]

Man, that was one UGLY tractor before you started. Looks really good now :hide:

[mike_1951 0]

For minor pitting I use a Hi build primer, sand and primer again better then bondo

[Brian1045 28]

For minor pitting I use a Hi build primer, sand and primer again better then bondo

I too use the high build primer..It's wicked stuff. For anything worse I use a tube of high end body filler glaze. It's better than bondo and you'll get smoother less "noticable" results. :hide:

[Michael Bullington 5]

wow that thing is looking good!! ..I just started on my 33E ..last week....I get a update thread going also...

quick question,,,did the ranger come with those foot rest....my ranger just has the solid bar,,,someone may have took them off over the years..

thanks

[nwpahorseman 0]

there is a set of the footrests on ebay right now

http://cgi.ebay.com/WheelHorse-Used-Foot-R...A1%7C240%3A1318 :hide:

[KyBlue 652]

For minor pitting I use a Hi build primer, sand and primer again better then bondo

Actually you need to do just the opposite..

Heres why...

Bondo when it dries its dry. its not really going to move or shrink..the trick to that is you have to have the metal that it is going on, perfectly clean, no rust, oil, grease, or anything else.. I wouldnt even use primer for filling in pitting..you dont have a way to scuff the primer to give the bondo something to stick to..

Now Primer on the other hand...Isnt going to dry...well it will but its going to take MONTHS...just because its sandable, doesnt mean its done moving and shrinking. So Six months or a year down the road..your going to see that pitting..

Hope this helps a bit.. Oh and if your really set against bondo... you could use lead

[sorekiwi 761]

quick question,,,did the ranger come with those foot rest....my ranger just has the solid bar,,,someone may have took them off over the years..

The '63 uses a cast footrest on the LH side, and a tube that slides over the stub on the right hand side. In '64 they went to the long bar on the RH side, with a kink in it. (This is all discussed on the first page of this thread...)

[sorekiwi 761]

Bondo when it dries its dry. its not really going to move or shrink..the trick to that is you have to have the metal that it is going on, perfectly clean, no rust, oil, grease, or anything else.. I wouldnt even use primer for filling in pitting..you dont have a way to scuff the primer to give the bondo something to stick to..

Hope this helps a bit.. Oh and if your really set against bondo... you could use lead

I agree with you Scott. The only bondo that I've ever seen crack or fall out was put on way too thick, or onto a surface that wasnt prepped to take it.

I've only used bondo to fill the deeper rust pits, or to blend in where I've welded in a patch. I have no experiance in using lead, but I would imagine that it would be fairly fussy as to what it would want to stick to, and it would be a lot more work to finish.

My biggest problem with the finish on this tractor was the very fine rust pitting that completely covered it. Most of it wasnt really deep enough for the bondo to grab hold of, so high build primer was used to try and smooth it all out. So far its not too bad, but there were parts that were really hard to get perfect (and I didnt!!), around the grille and the spokes of the grille themselves are the area's that spring to mind.

I am fairly pleased with the way the last bits I painted turned out. Again its not perfect, but hey "you pay peanuts, you get monkeys!".

[sorekiwi 761]

The new lung is in the hole. Its not running again yet, I need to give the carb a tickle up, and work out how I'm going to hook the choke and throttle cables up. That little Kohler looks like it belongs in there though.

The steering wheel came out OK with some polish and elbow grease. The plastic around the center is not very round though so I'm not sure what I'll do about the insert for the middle.

Also toying with the idea of modifying the sediment bowl/filter . All the old ones leak like sieves, and all the new chinese reproductions seem to as well. I'll use a modern in line filter and fuel shut off, but I might see if I can put a couple of plugs in the origional unit, blocking off the bowl and the shut-off. They just look better with the sediment bowl in place...

[Rollerman 290]

Wow Mike...thats looking real nice!

Been thinking about putting a Kohler in my sons LR...but not sure how to work out the fuel tank mount. "It's the later style"

Again...looking very nice. :hide:

[sorekiwi 761]

not sure how to work out the fuel tank mount. "It's the later style"

Gators just done a K into a L-157, but I dont know how he did it...

BTW, you recognise the belt guard Stephen? :hide: