Restoration Questions

[Rooster 191]

I am "getting" ready to start on the restoration of my Suburban. Really now I am just in the planning and parts gathering stages of it. ( Yes I am one of those anal guys that has to know at least most of what he is going to do before he starts on it)

I had a couple of questions:

Since the tractor I have is in pretty bad shape, a complete back to 100% original restore would be expensive and time consuming. SO I believ I am most likely going to go the "build it how it should have been" route...lol.

Is there any where a guide that shows the differences in all the models, maybe even just a pictorial history type of thing? Some one told me I should "Make it into an RJ"? Huh? What....can I even do that?

I have manuals for my tractor, but they do not list the tires...what tires should I use on it?

Thanks for the info!

[sorekiwi 761]

I dont have anything against custom tractors or custom touches on tractors, but I think you need to consider how rare the tractor you are about to modify is, and let that guide you in how much you are going to modify it.

The condition of the tractor also should have a lot to do with it as well, in my opinion it would be a crime to chop up a nice original Suburban, but on the other hand if the thing is beat to hell to start with, then you are probably going to give it a new lease on life that it would not have had before.

Of course its your tractor and you do what you want with it. I'm sure there are people that disapprove of what I did to my Lawn Ranger as well!!

Take a look through the photo galleries, they are arranged in chronological order so it really is a pictorial history of Wheel Horse models.

[Rooster 191]

... I think you need to consider how rare the tractor you are about to modify is...... in my opinion it would be a crime to chop up a nice original Suburban,

Thanks for the reply...Is a 401 really a rare tractor? I have seen quite a few for sale and around so I did not think it to be rare? If that is the case, then it would be worth the time and expense to do it correct.

That is one of the reasons I asked the questions, I would be the guy that ends up with that "They only made six of those" tractor and haul a bunch of irreplaceable parts to scrap without knowing it, lol!

As for "chopping up" , I would not make very large changes, to most casual observers would not look any different. But to the purist it there would be alot of "Wrong"...Like the bigger engine, wider tires, etc lol.

[COMMANDO6 20]

In my opinion, if it's 20+ years old and the company that produced it no longer exists, and there is a collectors market for it, it's rare and special. I really think you should keep it original if it's in decent shape. But if it's missing something major like an engine, a transmission, or both, it would be fine to modify it a little.

At times, I find that I'm disgusted with some of the major modifications some people on here make to antiques.

I would like to see pictures of what you're starting with, though.

[Rooster 191]

I bought it off of here, Appears to be a 401 hood and stand on a 400 Chassis.

So in a way , it is already a hodge podge beginning.

No Engine, tranny seems good.

It will be dissassembled down to every bolt and gone through.

Just some of the things I was considering were Wider tires,Maybe 23 X 10.50?

A little more engine, and a efficient exhaust system......those pipe fitting exhausts, I don't see how they make any power at all?

A tachometer, hour meter, etc...

There wont be any sheetmetal hacking or major modifications. I still want it to look like an old tractor.