John Deere 40 Grille repair

[cjet69]

My cousin bought a John Deere 40 several months back. He said it is hard steering so he decided to look into it. When he removed the front weight, he found the grille had been hammered pretty bad. He was going to try to pound it out on his own but thought maybe I would do a better job with my background in the autobody trade. I removed the grille screen and started working on it.

 

[cjet69]

For better access I removed the lower reinforcement panel and grille screen divider plate on one side of the lower grille panel. That made it easier to straighten them also. I have it roughed in now and will start the final shaping process.

 

[4getgto]

I think your cousin did right......

By letting you take care of it...

 

[cjet69]

Had a little spare time today and got the grille screen plate and bottom plate welded back in along with the many cracks along the edges. Still need to weld the lower panel to the side panel where it had torn the spot welds out and a couple of the welds on the other side. I'll finish welding those spots tomorrow and then I want to do a trial fit on the tractor before proceeding.

 

[cjet69]

Finished welding on the side panels. I'll trial fit the grille this weekend.

 

[cjet69]

My cousin stopped by today with another little addition to the grille project. He was wondering if I could paint the hood so the sheet metal will match. It looks pretty straight so I don't think it will be too much trouble. Looks like a good one to run through the electrolysis tank. I may have to drain and refill the tank before I run it. I'll get pics tomorrow.

I did the trial fit of the grille, and it looks good to go.

 

[4getgto]

You know that grill and hood will sooooo good ,
you got to know what's nexts....

 

[cjet69]

you got to know what's nexts....

Luckily, he has some other things to address before that happens.

 

[cjet69]

Here are some pics of the hood and I have it cooking in the E-tank with a fresh batch of water and sodium carbonate.

 

[Lily'sDad]

How's it steer now?

 

[cjet69]

How's it steer now?

I didn't ask. He did say he replaced several zerks and can now get grease into the spindles. I don't know if he has checked the steering gear yet either.

 

[cjet69]

Ran the hood overnight in the E-tank. It loosened some of the green paint but didn't touch the yellow. Gave it a quick wire wheel to remove decals and the yellow which was kinda gooey. Ran it a second time this afternoon and it cleaned up pretty good. Just flipped it over to get the other end and will let it go overnight at this point. Tomorrow I will run the grille in the E-tank.

 

[cjet69]

Pulled the hood out of the E-tank and pressure washed it. Then to keep it from flash rusting I wiped it down with some diluted Ospho which will hold it until I can do a final cleaning. The grille will be in the E-tank overnight.

 

[cjet69]

Pressure washed the grille and treated it with Ospho. Not all of the green paint came off on the inside, but a few places need a little sandblasting so I will hit that also.

 

[cjet69]

Finally getting back to this project. Finished up the metal work and gave the hood and grille a light sand blast. Treated it with Ospho so it will be ready to epoxy prime tomorrow.

 

[cjet69]

Finally got around to the body work on these parts. Just finished sanding the filler outside and felt a few drops coming down so I got the parts back inside and just need to clean up the filler on the edges. Should get them primed this weekend.

 

[cjet69]

I'm repairing a John Deere D grille for the president of our JD club. His tractor had a hit and run at the show this year and he asked if I could fix it for him. I said it could take quite a while and he was fine with that. I finished the metal work on it today and I t shouldn't take long to get it caught up with the 40 parts so I can spray them all at the same time.

 

[cjet69]

Sprayed a coat of epoxy primer over the body work. Next step is the high build primer.

 

[cjet69]

Got the John Deere D grille caught up now. Just shot epoxy primer on it and when its dry enough I will shoot the high build primer on all 3 parts.

 

[cjet69]

Sprayed the high build primer. Should start sanding tomorrow.