Picked up a 1967 Power King today

[Ryan313]

I found this on letgo, and picked it up today. The guy said it’s been sitting for 45 years while texting, but when I was there he said 20 years, so I don’t think he knows. He told me that it was owned by an apartment complex.

The serial number checks out to be 1967. The gas tank is off of it, so I’m not sure what that is all about. The coil wire goes right to the battery, so that will need to be remedied; I will just replace all of the wires on it, which is not many. It has quite a few things welded to the frame here and there, so those will have to be cut off. The steering column is destroyed, but the box is good so I may be able to replace the sleeve and be ok, if not I have a couple spares. The front tires look like they have almost no time on them, they still have molding frillies on the tread; however, the rear tires are worn and cracked pretty bad. Also, one of the rear wheels is probably 8 inches wide. I have a set of truck tires on wheels that I will likely mount with some tire chains.

He also gave me a spare engine, bellhousing, and clutch. The engine is a Briggs, while the tractor has a k301. There is no starter on the tractor now, but the spare engine has one that I will put on.

I will monkey with it some over the weekend, but if it takes more than a few hours to get running I will put it off until I get some other projects done. I hope to work this tractor, so I don’t want to restore it, but a decent paint job would be nice.

 

[Texas Horses Hogs and Deeres]

That a good looking Economy Ryan. I bet you'll have it up and running in no time.

 

[MNGB]

Nice find looks pretty good better than my latest find, will be following your progress

 

[Lily'sDad]

You must have been living right. Nice!

 

[Cvans]

Your lucky, we never see stuff like that around here.

 

[olcowhand]

By the looks of the tires, no way it's been sitting 45 years. 20 might even be a stretch. But sure looks like a good tractor that shouldn't take too much to get operating.

 

[Ryan313]

Thanks guys! I didn’t get a chance to work on it yet; Friday morning I got a horrible phone call. My boss called me in a panic and said that the guy who lives next to where we keep it said it sank. Long story short, we got her up today around 3 o’clock after 35-40 hours of work in 2 1/2 days. For those who don’t know I work on the Hudson doing dock building and pile driving. I’m pretty beat but I hope to work on it a little tomorrow.

 

[Texas Horses Hogs and Deeres]

Was it a work barge that sank Ryan? Hope you all were able to salvage all your equipment.

@Ryan313

 

[Ryan313]

Was it a work barge that sank Ryan? Hope you all were able to salvage all your equipment.

@Ryan313

Yes, a crane barge. One pile floated away, but a dinner boat downriver found it and has it tied up for us. We lost some hardware and small stuff, but we have the barge, crane, power packs, and hammers. As long as we got that stuff, the rest didn’t matter much. I will have few days getting things running again though.

 

[olcowhand]

Oh craps, it's a wonder the crane didn't slide right off!

 

[Ryan313]

Oh craps, it's a wonder the crane didn't slide right off!

When we got there we tried to secure it the best we could. We had 6-8 come a Longs, tons of ratchet straps, chains, and cable with big turnbuckles holding it down.

 

[Lily'sDad]

How do you sink a barge?!!

 

[Ryan313]

How do you sink a barge?!!

Well in this case, a softball size hole! The barge is from 1947 and wasn’t properly cared for. It was never dry docked and painted so it’s pretty rusty.

 

[Ryan313]

So I tinkered with the ‘67 PK today. At first it had no spark, but after cleaning the coil terminals it started to give a pretty good spark, but not a super hot blue spark. The plug has a lot of rust on the top that I wire wheeled, and I’m sure the stator is probably corroded, if I correct those two things it will likely improve. I sprayed a shot of starting fluid, and it fired a few times on the first pull. After I saw the potential, I took the carb off and saw what is probably the worst varnish I have ever seen. I gave a little effort once it was off, but not much. I’ve had pretty good luck with the China clone carbs, as long as you put a decent bowl gasket in it. I ordered two, one for this, and one for the log splitter.

Since I am waiting for the carb, there isn’t much else I could do. I did get the gas tank mounted. I am hoping to get my lathe operational this week (posting about that tonight) and I will make some new shoulder bolts to remount the good. I also have to swap out the steering column with a spare. I don’t know what the story is with this tractor, but the starter pulley on the flywheel is missing, to remove the pulley, you have to pull the engine. The spare engine I got with the tractor has the pulley, so this summer when I paint the tractor I will put it in, until then it will be pull start.

 

[Ryan313]

The new carb came in yesterday, and I got it on, along with a new gas line. I used a T fitting on the tank, because I anticipate the petcock possible getting clogged with rust. The tank isn’t too bad, but if it ever gets clogged I can take the plug out, and poke it with a piece of wire to clear it out.

Once I got the carb on, it started up after a couple pulls! After a little carb tunning, it runs great!

 

[MNGB]

Its nice when things work out do you plan to install a starter / gen?

 

[Razorback]

The new carb came in yesterday, and I got it on, along with a new gas line. I used a T fitting on the tank, because I anticipate the petcock possible getting clogged with rust. The tank isn’t too bad, but if it ever gets clogged I can take the plug out, and poke it with a piece of wire to clear it out.

Once I got the carb on, it started up after a couple pulls! After a little carb tunning, it runs great!

Isn't that music to your ears? Same feeling I had when I got the new carb on my Cub Cadet 123..... ran like it was new!

 

[Ryan313]

Yes, I plan to take the starter generator off of the spare engine and bellhousing I got with the tractor. I have to pull the engine to instal the starter pulley, so I am not sure when I’ll do that. Since the generator is not there, it runs off of the battery for now.

After I got it running I switched the tires to a set of poor man turfs, which I am going to put a set of chains on that I have. Also, I took the steering box apart to swap the column with a spare and straighten out the shaft the best I could. There is still some wobble, but not much.

I also didn’t waste any time putting it to work!

 

[Ryan313]

I forgot to add, some of you may already know this trick, but this is how I make gaskets. It’s a simple process, where you lay your piece of gasket paper over the surface, and tap all around the edges with the round side of a ball pien hammer, the corners of the flat side work well for inside corners also. As for the holes, I find that a punch with a slightly convex end works very well. My dad taught me this when I was 6-7. Most kids get in trouble nailing their fathers nails into a board, I got in trouble using all of his gasket paper making washer gaskets! Haha!

 

[KennyP]

I forgot to add, some of you may already know this trick, but this is how I make gaskets. It’s a simple process, where you lay your piece of gasket paper over the surface, and tap all around the edges with the round side of a ball pien hammer, the corners of the flat side work well for inside corners also. As for the holes, I find that a punch with a slightly convex end works very well. My dad taught me this when I was 6-7. Most kids get in trouble nailing their fathers nails into a board, I got in trouble using all of his gasket paper making washer gaskets! Haha!

I have done that many times!