1960 Suburban Yard Clean UP

[eibbed 63]

Gentlemen,

A very nice older man about twenty miles from me received notice from his local Police Department to clean up his back yard. He lives in the city limits. So he posted his Suburban for sale on Craig's List yesterday afternoon. I saw the post and the rest is history.

It was buried deep in weeds and surrounded by about anything and everything you could imagine. Took us forever to get it out, but it was worth it.

It has been sitting for quite some time so I am pretty sure I will have to do some work on the engine before it will start. It has a Kohler K91 T SR# 443415 and Spec. # 31388A which I believe is the original motor. I did push the clutch in and with a little force shift into all four gears so I'm hoping the tranny is ok. It is missing the belt guard and I don't think the drive pulley is original.

I still haven't determined if it is a 400 or 550. The hood has a knockout covering the hole for the split key, but the tool box doesn't have the two small holes in the upper left hand corner for the solenoid. I can't read the SR # on the plate screwed to the hood. I'm going to try to get it off after the PB Blaster has had a chance to work. That should give me a better look at it.

Since I have a mental block when it comes to Photobucket. I have asked Sparky to post my pictures for me. Thank you Sparky!

Dave

-----------------------------

1960 ??? Suburban

1961 551 Suburban

1962 702

1964 604

1971 Workhorse 800 Pending Pickup

Two WH Snow Plows

One 2 wheel WH yard cart

One WH aerator

Two 32" mower decks

One Cultivator

One Plow

One pull behind Spreader

[CasualObserver 3,406]

Dave that is the right spec for the 400, the 550 would have had a Lauson 5.5 on it. You have a 400. As for the drive pulley not being original... I'm anxious to see the pics. Is the pulley larger? It could the speed reduction pulley that was used with the WT-30 tiller... did you ask the old guy if he had any other old attachments that went to it? May just have a tiller laying in those weeds too! Nice find either way! :omg:

[eibbed 63]

Thanks Jason.

I assumed it was a 1960 with the lever controls in the hood but I was stumped on the model.

I don't think the pictures I asked Mike, to post include a good one of the pulley. It's pouring down rain right now but I will for sure get a good picture of it tomorrow. I am also very curious about it.

Yes, I took extra money and asked him if there were any implements to be had. To my suprise he didn't have a one.

However, just as I was getting ready to leave, he showed me a 1968 500 Special that he had parked in the back of the garage that he had bought new. It has an 8 HP or 10 HP recoil Briggs on it. He said that he told the dealer he didn't want to mess with batteries and would prefer the recoil. Does this sound like it could be right to you? Anyway he said he would take $175.00 for it and a 32" deck that needs bearings. I'll probably go get it in a month or so. He's holding it for me.

Dave

Update! It stopped raining so I took a picture of the pulley and emailed it to Mike.

[TJ 171]

Nice find. :omg:

[bell 11]

NICE! :omg:

[CasualObserver 3,406]

Nice pictures. I'd try that choke/throttle plate in an electrolysis tank before I'd take any abrasives to it if you want to have any chance of getting the serial number. They were very lightly stamped. I'd attack it as gently as possible. If electrolysis isn't possible, then rust penetrant and #0000 steel wool. The biggest key is to be patient with it. Maybe even scanning it at really high resolution (like 1200 dpi), that made mine much more readable when I did mine.

As for the pulley, I don't think that's the reducer pulley. That looks like a fractional HP pulley or at least a small HP pulley for something like an old Briggs kick start engine. I had one just like that on a Model Y. It also looks like the pulley size is making the belt rub the toolbox, or that could just be a photo illusion. Other than that, it looks like a nice salvageable tractor Dave, have fun with it. PB Blaster and Kroil will be your new best friends! (Do you suppose you could just build a electrolysis tank big enough to just dunk the whole tractor? Get together with bell and do all three!! ) By the way... those look like replacement foot pegs... the originals should have been diamond plate steel rectangles. Those are nice though, I like them. It also looks like someone didn't like the rear discharge and decided to do their own "left-discharge?"

[linen beige 14]

I agree with Jason on using electrolysis to clean the control lever cover plate if you want to salvage the serial number. I don't think I'd use steel wool. It's too hard to control the depth of cut.

If not going the electolysis route I would either lay the plate on a hard, flat surface and rub it down with a very fine sandpaper on a hardwood block or rub the face of the plate (fastened to a hardwood block to stop flexing) on a fine oilstone.

Rubbing it down on an oilstone should leave a bit of darker colored oil down in the serial number stamping that would make it easier to read as the surface polishes up.

One of our members was reproducing these cover plates a while back and his products are beautiful. You may want to do just enough to your original plate to recover the serial number and transfer it to one of the new plates.

That pulley is not part of the gear reduction set up for the WT-30 tiller. That set up added a large and small pulley on a common shaft below the engine. It used two drive belts and required a different belt cover.

[eibbed 63]

Gentlemen,'

Thanks for the compliments and helpful information. I think I'll try the electrolisis. I first learned about it a few weeks ago when reading how to clean a gas tank. It sounds pretty neat and should be relatively easy to do. I guess I'll put it in a bowl and apply the same principles as I would cleaning a tank.

I have yet to acquire an Owners and Operators Manual for the 400 and therefore have no idea what pulley I need to look for to replace the existing one. Does anyone know?

This is a great site, thanks to its members. I would be pretty much on my own if it wern't for you guys. Trust me, that would be pretty much a disaster.

I've got to go purchase some more PB Blaster tonight. For some reason I keep running out of it.

Dave

[linen beige 14]

You can purchase the eight page owner's manual from Toro's site. It should cost around 2$. The parts diagrams for this model are not very clear. You can see them better if you just open up the online drawings in Toro's site.

You need pulley part #1611. It is still available. Parts tree has them for.......gulp, $97.27!

It would probably be much easier to just look for another tranny for parts. The model 5003/5010 transmissions from '58-'61 all used the same pulley. It may have been used on other models as well?

When it comes time to pull the steering wheel off you'll find that roll pin to be frustrating. They are usually rusted in place pretty well. Since the roll pins are hardened drill bits just break off against them. The easiest way to deal with them is to heat the wheel hub cherry red and let it slowly cool. That takes out the temper of the pin and it will likely drive out with a punch. If it won't drive out you can drill it out.

The electrolysis will come in handy for a few other parts of this one that may otherwise be hard to do without damaging parts. Try it on the shift lever. The shifter knob is probably stuck tight right now, but after being in the tank for a while it will spin right off. The engine control levers will also clean right up without damaging the knobs. I haven't tried it on a lift handle yet, but it may make it easier to remove the rubber grips without tearing them up. About the only part of this one that can't be safely dunked is the engine ID plate. The electrolysis will take the printing right off the tag.

[CasualObserver 3,406]

Dave... check your AOL... I sent you the manual... probably a better copy than you'd get for you $2 at Toro too. Don't forget to put a Wanted ad for that pulley... lots of parts guys here... someone is bound to come up with one for you.

[eibbed 63]

Jason,

Thanks a lot for the manual. That was very generous of you. It is a really nice copy.

When linen beige, Jim, said "it might be easier to look for another tranny for parts," a light bulb went on in my head. So I went out this morning to look under my parts tarp in the back yard and found a tranny I had saved off of a , of all things, 1960 Suburban. And yes, the $100.00 pulley was still attached. What luck! Needless to say that made my day.

I'll be sure to keep you posted on my progress.

Thanks again to all of you.

Dave

[linen beige 14]

And yes, the $100.00 pulley was still attached. What luck! Needless to say that made my day.

:omg:

[eibbed 63]

Good news!

I got the plate off today and put it in my 5 gallon electrolysis for about five hours. Took it out and washed it off in soap and hotwater. My tractor's serial number is 37875.

The electrolysis works great. I have already used it on the front rims while I was waiting for the PB Blaster to loosen the two screws holding the plate. Next i'm going to make a 55 gallon electrolysis for the larger pieces.

Dave

[CasualObserver 3,406]

That's great news Dave! Please take and post some pics of your tractor as you're working on it. I, for one, would like to see it.

If you're interested in a reproduction dash plate now that you know the serial number, look at the pinned topics in the for sale section. There's a member here who makes them. A pic of mine is in that thread.

[Rod(NASNUT) 1]

Dave... check your AOL... I sent you the manual... probably a better copy than you'd get for you $2 at Toro too. Don't forget to put a Wanted ad for that pulley... lots of parts guys here... someone is bound to come up with one for you.

Jason Could you send me a copy of that manual? Dave that is a nice 400 here is a pic of mine.

[clintonnut 126]

Looks like a clinton aluminum block on that suburban.

I will have another clinton B-1290 that is restored for sale at the show.

We are restoring a 550 with a frozen shifter. Will give updates very soon with pics. We are putting a clinton electra start into it.

Charlie

[eibbed 63]

Thanks Jason and Rod. I will be glad to post pictures of my progress now that I have learned to use Photobucket.

Jason those tags are beautiful. Even though they cost $10.00 more than I paid for the whole tractor, once I get closer to completing restoration, I will definitely purchase one.

I had to throw away the front tires and rims that came on the tractor. They were shot. Fortunately I had a set of rims off of another Suburban and a set of tires I purched on EBay. Actually they are the tires that fireman told us about a few months ago.

I painted one side of the front rims Rustoleum Gloss Almond today and they look real good. Once that side drys, I will paint the other side and post pictures.

Take care,

Dave

[eibbed 63]

Gentlemen,

Well the paint dried and I took this picture.

It is slowly coming together. As you can see, I have replaced the seat. The other one had part of it missing. I also put different tires that I recently purchased on the back to see how they would look. I've still got the ags if I don't like these.

I recently purchased a used 12 volt power source and obtained a 55 gallon barrel to expand my electrolysis to bigger pieces. I'm not sure what I'll work on first.

Thanks again for all your help and kind comments!

Dave

[can whlvr 991]

looks like a fun project,and please keep us updated on the tank :omg: