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Hammerhead

Early production RJ35 question

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Hammerhead

My early production RJ35 has only one hole in the frame where the muffler pipe crosses the vertical frame peice. Most all RJ's I've seen have 2 holes there for a U shaped muffler clamp type of bolt. Is there a single hole version that just loops over it and only bolts on with one bolt? 026-4.jpg041-2.jpg043-1.jpgThanks in advance for your info on this matter....Hammerhead :popcorn:

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VinsRJ

Looks to me like the place where the second hole for the exhaust loop would be is missing? I don't know of a single mount style, may be Clay or Papke would know?

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buckrancher

I agree with Vince looks like they cut thru where the other hole should be

Brian

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wallfish

That's a first, not enough holes drilled into an old RJ

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rj35hunter

From what I have seen all rj35 models (except early gas tank stand models) have two holes drilled into the hood stand with the two hole pipe strap style clamp not the u-bolt style like used on rj58's & suburbans. Also the holes in a rj35 are one size smaller than in a rj58 or suburban, which have the larger holes. I've only seen two holes drilled into the hood stand on rj35 models that do not have the gas tank stand. When they have the gas tank stand the muffler comes straight off the engine instead of being piped to the front like most. I'll post some pics showing some of mine the way I got them & look to be original & untouched.....other than some missing the clamp & bolts, which you can see where a clamp used to be. I'll post them in order of production, starting with the 35's with gas tank stands & no holes, then 35's with no gas tank stand having the two holes. Last two is a 57 rj35 with a kohler instead of a clinton & last a rj58 showing the u-bolt. All of this is my opinion from my research. I posted several examples to show the pattern. Hope this helps!

Clay

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Hammerhead

Yes I guess I forgot to mention that the hack mark in the hood stand was about a half inch or more below where the bottom hole should have been, according to my 1958 style of U bolt clamp when placed up against the other hole. I took another pic of that, maybe that is better than the first pic. Thanks alot Clay for the awesome pics! You are the Man on this stuff! The problem with this early production RJ is it didn't come with an engine and the frame was cut in half and a couple 6 inch sections were added to make a dragster out of it. I added the RJ55, 56, or 57 Kohler engine (Model # K91-T, Serial # 390851, Spec.# 31307A). It does have the remnants of the gas tank stand, which I will have to fabricate the peices for that. See the pics of the stubs left on the hood stand and the frame. It also had the solid lift lever which is also gone, I will have to make one of those too. The hood is from an early 1955 RJ25 that I bought from Tim and Teresa of Mich. fame. It doesn't have the straps attached to it like the later one's, but you can see the impression of the gas tank from it being up against it for many years. So should I get a Clinton engine for this instead of the Kohler? I have heard that the Clintons came with the odd shaped (square-ish) gas tank. Notice too the lack of the brace on the rearend in the last pic, usually there is another peice of metal running on an angle to strengthen up the frame by the rearend housing.

013-6.jpg014-3.jpg016-4.jpg018-6.jpg

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55rj35jr

KEITH I'VE GOT A EXTRA GAS TANK FOR THE EARLY TANK FRAME STAND RJ IF YOU NEED ONE, CLAY KNOWS HIS STUFF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT GUY HELPING YOU...IN MY OPINION I'D GO WITH A CLINTON,THATS WHAT I HAVE ON MY 55 CABLE STEER.

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rj35hunter

KEITH I'VE GOT A EXTRA GAS TANK FOR THE EARLY TANK FRAME STAND RJ IF YOU NEED ONE, CLAY KNOWS HIS STUFF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT GUY HELPING YOU...IN MY OPINION I'D GO WITH A CLINTON,THATS WHAT I HAVE ON MY 55 CABLE STEER.

Thanks, 55rj35jr. I agree, the Clinton is more correct for the year of your tractor. I don't think they started using a Kohler until 57 & it would have been a K-90 instead of a K-91. At least I have not seen a Kohler on a RJ35 other than a 57 model. The engine on your 35 now is more than likely off a RJ58. The spec & serial # is very close to one of my original 58's. The correct Clinton engine should be a 1200 152 A series engine. Keith, the missing brace on the rear end is correct. That was not added until sometime in early 56. All of my 55's & a couple early 56's do not have it, but all of them after that do. I think it was added to take away some of the vibration in the variable speed pulley assembly. It took me a couple years of owning several RJ35's to even notice that! LOL Also, about your exhaust set up......I think someone added the hole you see in the hood stand now, because with yours being early with the gas tank stand it should be only a muffler on the engine & not piped to the front like the very first picture I posted earlier. There are so many variations & changes along the way from 55 to 57 that I don't think we will ever understand or figure out all of them. I just try to figure it out the best I can with what we have to work with, with the lack of facts & info.

Clay

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TT

For what it's worth, here's a picture of the Clinton gas tank:

RJthedayafter006.jpg

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Hammerhead

Ok thanks alot guys for helping out on this one. I do have another 1955 RJ35 with Kohler on it. It is pretty much an untouched original, there are some pics on this site and in my records here. I don't have the numbers from that engine available at this time, it is stashed under a ton of junk! I have some papers from WH from 1954 or 55 talking about, they had a problem with the Clinton engines and were demanding the situation to be corrected. Cool story, may have to dig them papers out for a look. Thanks TT for the pic, it shows alot of stuff I need to make! You are always ready with good pics, gotta love it! Hey 55rj35jr, I'd like to see pics of the tank and would buy it no problem! Thanks again! KJ

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stevebo

I was told by a very reliable source that all early 55's had clintons only and if I am not mistaken the entire year. It was not until very late 55 or early 56 the kohler was used. I could be wrong about the second half but the early production models were only clintons.

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Hammerhead

Yes I can believe it Stevebo, I'll have to track down a Clinton engine. I hope my other RJ35 is a later production '55, it has the black rear rims and the silver front rims and it did have the RJ58 style of steering wheel and not the cast iron one used by the older RJ's. That wheel doesn't fit on the shaft like it should, it doesn't go down so the top of the shaft is flush with the top of the steering wheel center peice. So there is a gap of about 3/8 of an inch. I don't know if any other 55's have that steering wheel and if so is there a gap like mine? Or should mine have the cast iron steering wheel?

But anywhoo, the hole in my early production RJ35's hood stand, will have to be welded up. It also looks like all of RJ35 Hunter's holes are drilled off to the left and not centered like my single hole. So I'll have to weld it up and grind it down.

The saga continues...KJ

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rj35hunter

Yes I can believe it Stevebo, I'll have to track down a Clinton engine. I hope my other RJ35 is a later production '55, it has the black rear rims and the silver front rims and it did have the RJ58 style of steering wheel and not the cast iron one used by the older RJ's. That wheel doesn't fit on the shaft like it should, it doesn't go down so the top of the shaft is flush with the top of the steering wheel center peice. So there is a gap of about 3/8 of an inch. I don't know if any other 55's have that steering wheel and if so is there a gap like mine? Or should mine have the cast iron steering wheel?

But anywhoo, the hole in my early production RJ35's hood stand, will have to be welded up. It also looks like all of RJ35 Hunter's holes are drilled off to the left and not centered like my single hole. So I'll have to weld it up and grind it down.

The saga continues...KJ

Keith, good eye on the offset of the hole for the exhaust. I had not noticed yet that they were originally offset..... :eusa-think: That would be a for sure sign the holes shouldn't be there. I saw your other RJ35 & that Kohler is a 4 HP that wasn't used until 58-60 with the oval 4HP decal location. I believe the RJ35's that had a Kohler were all K90 3.6 HP that had no decal like that, not K91 4 HP with the oval decal. On the steering wheel, that is a mystery too. I have an early 57 with the same issue......larger steering wheel with the end of the steering shaft below the rim of the steering wheel. What I have been told is that they were still using left over steering shafts from the earlier tractors that used the cast iron steering wheel & the hole for the roll pin was drilled in a higher spot or the shaft is a shorter length, which caused the issue of them not lining up. Either way it will not be flush together if you use a 57-up steering wheel on a 55-56/early 57 steering shaft. So my opinion is your tractor originally came with a cast iron wheel that was later swapped for the new/larger one, since your tractor is for sure not a 57. I have seen a couple other early 57's with the same issue too.

Keith your complete RJ35 with the deck we are talking about has stumped me for sometime whether its a 55 or 56. It has the larger 7" drive pulley like a 55, the extra brace on the drive pulley assembly like a 56, the front tires were the style BFG's you see on 56-58 & maybe someone painted the outside with silver paint sometime (would like to see what color the inside paint is). I would like to know which style rear hitch it had & the hole in the center of the frame right behing the engine where the lift cable would come out of.....what style it is, whether it's the large twisted style hole that had nothing to hold the cable or the smaller hole that used a flat metal clamp that bolted to the frame too right behind the hole for the cable to come through? If its the second style it will have two holes there, one larger than the other. With all that said, I think your complete RJ35 is a 1956 with some changes.....which is not bad, it looks great. Sorry to ramble on.....I just get into interesting info & facts on the early RJ's. :silence:

Clay

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Tim LaPree

Yes I guess I forgot to mention that the hack mark in the hood stand was about a half inch or more below where the bottom hole should have been, according to my 1958 style of U bolt clamp when placed up against the other hole. I took another pic of that, maybe that is better than the first pic. Thanks alot Clay for the awesome pics! You are the Man on this stuff! The problem with this early production RJ is it didn't come with an engine and the frame was cut in half and a couple 6 inch sections were added to make a dragster out of it. I added the RJ55, 56, or 57 Kohler engine (Model # K91-T, Serial # 390851, Spec.# 31307A). It does have the remnants of the gas tank stand, which I will have to fabricate the peices for that. See the pics of the stubs left on the hood stand and the frame. It also had the solid lift lever which is also gone, I will have to make one of those too. The hood is from an early 1955 RJ25 that I bought from Tim and Teresa of Mich. fame. It doesn't have the straps attached to it like the later one's, but you can see the impression of the gas tank from it being up against it for many years. So should I get a Clinton engine for this instead of the Kohler? I have heard that the Clintons came with the odd shaped (square-ish) gas tank. Notice too the lack of the brace on the rearend in the last pic, usually there is another peice of metal running on an angle to strengthen up the frame by the rearend housing.

013-6.jpg014-3.jpg016-4.jpg018-6.jpg

Keith, that hood was from an early RJ35. There were no tank straps because the tank sat on a hood stand. I believe the tank they used were quite common on the Wisconsin engines. The early ones also would have had a Clinton engine and the muffler was right on the engine. I believe some of the early ones with the Kohler K90 also had the muffler on the engine. I'm not sure if the K91 ever did.

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VinsRJ

The fuel tank that sat on the early tank stands were a Clinton tank.

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