WH 520-H Refresh & Rebuild

[Jake Kuhn 1,547]

Wow! That is one nice looking tractor there duke! Its getting very close! Jake

[312Hydro 473]

It certainly is a clean machine. Very nice attention to details and I like those front tires. :handgestures-thumbupright:

[Ken B 3,116]

That is the nicest and most complete 520 restoration I've seen yet.

[can whlvr 991]

well done duke,as usual,but you know your not gonna get any snow when you will be soo ready for it :ychain:

[Wheelbearing 49]

Hey Duke this is a really nice machine. Can't wait for the blower and cab on.

One thing to check with the remote oil filter. See if your steering gear hits the oil lines in this spot.

[shorts 182]

duke;

it's looking real good, i like the oil filter mod aand the cab upgrades as well as the rest of the rebuild.

the inside hydrostatic trans cases were painted to lock down any casting sand particles that might possibly come out of the castings during normal operation heat/cool cycles that would cause damage to the internal parts of the hydraulic pump and motor pistons and slippers.

shorts

[HorseFixer 2,012]

:text-thankyouyellow: Guys

Was busy the past few days on wiring and finishing up the remote oil system. As I had mentioned I wanted an oil pressure gauge installed and this required that the oil sender be grounded as it was going to be installed on a rubber oil line. I did this by using a couple stainless steel washers and used an wire eyelet over the sending unit nipple and tightening the sending unit against the 3/8 X 1/8 bushing. the eyelet had a wire attached that would go to ground as required. Once the oil sending unit was ready I installed it in the supply line to the oil filter and its location was in front of the fan steering gear (yes wheelbearing in prior pic oil lines would have rubbed but they were not in perm location) .

All oil lines were then fastened down using rubber clamps with a 1/4 stainless steel bolt and hardware to the frame. I then mounted the oil pressure gauge on the humped plastic dash on the 520 with wires leading out under the dash.

Now onto the Electrical I installed a new + Plus side battery cable to the battery to the starter and a new - negative cable to engine ground. All terminals soldered or crimped had dielectric grease applied. Since the fuse block on these tractors are junk I installed two new ones. The old one has one ignition circuit that turns on when the key is on and the other is hooked to the battery. I installed one 6 circuit fuse block on the Battery Circuit and a 4 Circuit on the ignition side. I ended up using 3 of the battery circuits leaving 3 left, and used 2 of the ignition side ones leaving 2 of them. I then installed in tandem a second 10ga wire on the starter lug back to that fuse box incoming power lead being I was needing additional power for the cab abd blower accessories. The engine tractor Molex plug are again junk from what I gather this is caused by so much heat on the right side of the tractor being so close to the muffler. well in my modification I had to redesign the exhaust because of it being close to the cab. As a bonus this also will take care of the New Molex plug I installed from getting hot brittle and melting again. I found the exact replacement at my local electronic store for $ 4.50 Tyco Electronic RoHs Part # 628-9. It is a very tedious job probably took me 2 hrs of tinning the wires, crimping and soldering all those terminal connections but it was well worth the effort as I was having intermittent glitches and now that are all solved.

Side Note: I noticed the engine side of the wireing harness on the molex plug like the copper wires were dark like they were burnt. but on the tractor side in the molex plug the wires were copper colored.. If anyone has a suggestion for this I would like to hear it.

While I was under the dash I loosened and cleaned all the gauge connections and retightened and applied dielectric grease with a hypo or small brush and wiped off the excess. The headlight switch was also acting flakey but a shot of electrical contact cleaner and rocking the rocker switch back and forth had it working properly in no time. After checking everything electrical I think I will disconnect and by pass the Seat Switch as even with a new switch and adjusted it is temperamental. Since I had a clean gas tank but had used ethanol fuel I had purchased some AMSOIL Quick Shot and filled up my six gal can with a double load that they recommend for the first tank then go back to the standard dosage of 8 ounces per 12 gals of fuel.

Hear are some pics. At the end is a video of the tractor running and the new oil pressure gauge.

Cheers ~Duke

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Well did some work today on the 520 I needed to work on the Battery Area. I was thinking of glueing down som rubber and decided to cut a piece of floor board material and glue down. I also used a piece of delrin bar stock for the strap that would hold the battery down. Delrin is a very tough composite material that can actually be machined. I used two long 1/4 20 SS threaded rods to secure the battery. The postive cable is very long and is going to connect to a 200 amp digital Xscorpian amp gauge in the Snow cab. I springs under the seat needed some attention so I cleaned off all the loose plastic rubber on them buffed them with a wire wheel and then used some plastic dip and recoated them with three coats and let them harden overnight. Under the springs on the Seat Pan is a clear plastic that is glued in place to keep the springs from marring the finish. I glued down some thin rubber for this purpose. In the engine compartment there was the rear heat shield that needed some attention because of the change in the exhaust. After giving it a haircut it was painted and installed. I moved on and installed two new front wheel bearing covers. I then took it for a spin and later took some pictures. I would say as far as the tractor goes it is completed I did find a glitch due to a cobble job wire on a PTO switch that I will fix soon but did a temp fix on it for now. So how she look? Its been about a year since she has seen daylight.

~Duke

[Forest Road 594]

Well done!!!

[bowtiebutler956 649]

You do fantastic work, and I love the stack!!

Matt :flags-texas:

[Stigian 1,234]

Great work Duke

It's good to see someone spending more on a Wh than me :D :ychain:

[Jake Kuhn 1,547]

It sure looks fantastic duke! ~Jake

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Thanks Mates...

Now It's Time To Install The Cold Weather Gear!!

Well last night I installed the Cab on the Ole girl. Tonight I pulled the white top off that came with the cab lets go back to last year if you recall this machine is getting the full monty and I had purchased a Hard Windshield. Well the new windshield comes in black and I think having a black trimmed windshield and a white top wouldn't give me the look I wanted so I purchased some Krylon plastic paint called FUSION that works realy well I guess and is pretty easy to use. (And Yes it is after trying it) I used satin and after it dried in an hour it looked very close to the windshield trim. After I got everything together I took it for a spin lemme tell you this 520 steers really well and has a very tight turning radius compared to my C-120. This thing is going to be a big improvement I can tell allready. After I took a spin I mounted the aluminum light bar Wheelen 37 Flash Pattern Strobe. How ya like the black -VS- the white on the cab. Oh when MJ was filming me she say's it looks like Herman Munsters Car. Here's some pics.

~Duke

Click Thumbnail Below

[Ken B 3,116]

Like anything you do Duke, she looks awesome and can easily pass as a brand new tractor. I'm sorry, but I hope you get BOMBED with snow so we can get a good video of that sucker in action.

[dclarke 4,011]

Fantastic job Duke! Wish that was in my garage.

[Jake Kuhn 1,547]

Sure looks great duke! :bow-blue:

[massey 111]

Looks super, great attention to details Duke. :handgestures-thumbupright:

[AMC RULES 36,945]

With the sun on that new black roof, and the heat from the engine that you plumb into the cab...you'll hafta be careful you don't burst into flames in there Duke...I bet that thing is gonna be like a rolling sauna on wheels now.

Don't be posting picts of yourself in your skivvies chuckin' snow this year. :ychain:

I was wondering if you used an adhesive to adhere your new rubber mats to the footrests?

I was thinking about trying some 3M double sided automotive trim tape myself.

Hard to believe you could improve on the original snow chucker, but you've definitely raised the bar with the new one.

Really nice work, and some great ideas you've shared with us here.

[HorseFixer 2,012]

:text-thankyouyellow: AlI I am truely humbled by the work I see on here that all you guys do! Stig, Massey, Buckrancher, Jake, Martin, Bob, Denny, Scott just to name a few. There are so many of you its hard to count. We all push each other to excellence and yeah we all have a lil competitive nature and when ya get a Kuddo along the way I dont know about you but it makes me wanna try that much harder. Does a chucker need LED lights NO, Strobes NO, Stereo NO, Oil Press Gauge NO, Cab NO, but it sure the hell is fun playin with this stuff! I think its all you guys fault you all pushed me to it! Thanks for driving me to this madness are we having fun yet?

~Duke

[Lars 526]

Hey Duke..

you have sure did an exelent job on your 520 il looks awasome .. and ill bet it is way better now then it was new .... i would love to have that one here in my workshop in . keep up the good work .

[ol550 829]

Well Duke, It looks one heck of a lot different than a year ago when we pushed it in your trailer.

Amazing what a good wash and buff will do. Why not drag it down to Scott's so we can

all ride it around? Mike

[bowtieguy 334]

Mike...did ya send all the mouse nests to Duke or did you save some for me!!...as old as the posts is, he should have a BIG OLE HERD of them little devils by now.

Did I forget to mention....Nice WH, huh?

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Thanks Franky.

I worked on the WS Wiper Today. The deal wwith buys and orginal cab company wiper is they want to shank ya close to 2 Bills No way was I going to pay that so I ordered a setup and made it to fit my purpose. It comes with a really long shaft to long to work properly so it needed a spacer made this one 1" thick and tall and wide enough to support thye motor so its not hanging on its shaft. Also the Motor Plate has a hub around the shaft and screws and this would interfear with a flush mounting. So what I did was look around and found some Nylon block and cut them down to 1" thick. The Width was 2 1/2" and length was 5". I then took it to the cab and figured where the shaft hole was to be drilled and after that task was done I drilled the hole and put the shaft through. I seen there was a hub around the shaft and motor screws so I recessed a larger shaft hole and then took a dab of black silicone and touched the screws. I inserted the shaft back through the nylon block and the screws touched the block and left the screw position from the black silicone spot. I then took it to the drill press and drilled a Recess area for the screw heads. After cleaning deburring the block I tapped 1/4 20 holes through the block that will attatch the block to the cab and the motor to the block. Here are some pics of the motor and last thumbnail is a movie in action. What Ya Think?

Cheers ~Duke

Click Thumbnail Below

[AMC RULES 36,945]

Lookin' really good.

Now all you need is handful of servos and maybe a seven channel radio...

then you could operate that ol' chucker from your Lazy Boy Duke.

[MalMac 1,328]

Duke you are doing a marvelous job. If there is one thing that will be for certain, with all the time and trouble you have gone through. It's for certain we probably won't get any snow this year. Glad the cab top came out ok. I love it when we don't have to spend the extra $$$.