SS 12 restoration

Got my gasket set, but they cancelled my oil seal order for some reason. I ended up getting them on Amazon along with an o ring I needed, a roll of high temperature wire, and some solder flags. Once the oil seals are in, I can partially assemble it for paint, I still need to order the Delco/Remy kit.

On a huge note, I picked up a deck and mule drive for $60. No holes in the deck, has normal bumps and bruises from use. All of the blades spin freely with no noticable wobble in any of them. The guy I bought them from regularly greases and turns the blades/pulleys on all of his spare parts, which I will incorporate into my own practices.

Though an upgrade, it's yet another restoration project with my first suburban.
 
Small update, been off sick for a while, so getting back into things...

I finished cleaning up the HH120, put new gaskets, oil seals, and o rings on, got it partially assembled, and primed. I'm gonna put at least one more coat of primer on before it gets finished up in IH white. Must've did a decent job of sealing it, it's been full of oil for two days without a leak. I'm sure I'll find something when I fire it up. I also run new high temperature wire behind the flywheel since it was spliced a few times.

Sadly, my deck is still in the bed of my truck (under cover), I just haven't gained the necessary strength and motivation to unload it yet, lol. I've been curious as to what width cut it is since the ID tag is missing, I'll have to measure a blade to see.

As usual with the holidays coming up, expendable income is a little shorter, so I haven't gotten around to ordering my Delco/Remy kit yet, but the internals have been cleaned and the casing primed.

This week I'd like to finish priming and painting the plow so I can get it back together, then start on the deck. Not sure how I want to go about doing the underside, I was thinking after I wire wheel it, do the rust reformer, and primer, I may use an epoxy paint and top coat it with Van Sickle EZ Slide graphite paint.
 
Well, I've been painting like a fool as usual.

I finally got a chance to tear my new deck down to restore it. During inspection, I didn't see any holes in it, but after tearing it down, I found 2 spots with pin holes, no big deal, just a bit of mig welding and JB weld to pretty it up.

He really took care of the spindle bearings, they spin freely and no play in them, so just a cleaning and a coat of paint. I looked the blades over, and they are in great shape, after I took them off, I wire wheeled them, sharpened them, balanced them, and put a coat of rust reformer on them.

I will replace the tensioner pulley and spring since it's apart, the spring is pretty weak feeling and the pulley has some play in it.

I tried my best with the transaxle bolts, I broke 3 out of 4, so it looks like I'll be breaking out the drill and helicoils. I guess if things went smoothly, there wouldn't be much fun in fixing them up, lol.

Here is a picture of the deck once I got the upper cover off...

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I thought about my snapped off transaxle bolts some more, I'll try something I've never done before...

Anytime I've tried easyouts in the past, they created more work when they broke off, so I won't use them. Since I have to drill them out anyway, I'm gonna try left handed drill bits in hope that the heat I produce drilling them out may break them free, and I can avoid a helicoil in that hole and keep the bolt size the same. I Know it's not likely, but if I get 1 out of 3, I'll be happy.

I ordered a cheap set off Amazon, and since I own a drill doctor bit sharpener, I should be able to keep up with them on the rare occasion I need them.
 
If you were closer, I have another case that the bolts came out easily.
 
I appreciate the thought, I know where a few are if I get in a bind.

I was looking at the transaxle a bit today, and I don't know how I missed it when I pulled the hubs, but it's missing an oil seal on the right axle. Figured while it's out, it's getting all four oil reals and the rubber shifter gasket replaced...I swear I'm building a new tractor out of cross referenced parts, lol.

I was able to cross the 3 different oil seals to Federal/Mogul and the shifter gasket to Husqvarna. I know the guys at the auto parts store, so for the first one, I played it off like I wanted a steering worm gear seal for a '57 Ford C550, then when their computer was kicking up the server banks at NASA, I broke down and gave them the actual part numbers. They keep offering me a job, told them to match my pay and benefits and we'll talk.

I was smart enough to check for play in the axle bushings, they feel tight. I read somewhere that there is enough room in there to beat another one in, in front of the old one, but I'm not sure about that.

This project has taught me a lot so far...

I have no idea how you guys did it before the internet, I have access to the world and still have issues finding what I need.

You have to be darn resourceful and a bit of a hoarder(guilty).

You have to know a variety of people to source things.

And the biggest thing I've learned is I'll think twice about looking at a bigger farm tractor to restore as my next project, lol.
 
Your doing a great job taking it slow & doing it right. It's normal for these projects to snowball. I've rebuilt three, two were suppose to be just clean & repair but ended up rebuilding them. You won't regret your efforts once you climb on board the first time knowing you've done it right. A couple of many things I learned take plenty of pics & notes. The notes where you got your parts & the part numbers always helps later on. I have a binder for every tractor that has it's manuals, pics & notes. Glad your feeling better & take your time. Good score on your deck too!
 
Thanks,

I do the binders too with owner's/parts/repair manuals and make changes to superceded part numbers as I find them.

I'm also a stickler for preventive maintenance (by trade), so I keep meticulous records of what I did and when I did it, most everything I own has an hour meter.

It also helps that I reload my own ammo, so record keeping is a must. On a side note, I installed stroke counters to all of my presses just for curiosity.
 
Speaking of snowballing projects, I bought a 1987, 17' smokercraft bass boat with matching 60 hp Johnson with the intention of a trailer up restoration. I did it, I think I got away pretty cheap, but if you want to double the price of anything, add marine to the name, lol.

All jokes aside, between all of the mechanical parts, decking, carpet, ECT., most of the money was spent a little at a time on stainless steel hardware. I saved my receipts and totaled it up, nuts, bolts, and screws were a bulk of the cost. If the engine hadn't been in darn good shape for the year, it easily could've been different.
 
I got around to ordering tires, I ended up going with Deestone D405 23/8.50-12 ag for the rears and Deestone D401-F-2 4.00-8 tri-rib for the front. Seems like the center rib is pretty high so I hope they'll get decent grip for turning in the snow. I also went ahead and picked up a new ignition switch since the one that was on it was pretty blue with corrosion.

I still need to get around to ordering a replacement steering wheel, a pan seat, and I saw a white/orange seat cover that would look pretty sharp.
 
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Major pieces of the deck are off and it's down to the shell. Yesterday I wire wheeled the shell and washed it. Today I wiped it down with acetone and did some pin hole patching with JB weld on both sides. That should be cured by tomorrow evening and I'll sand that down and give it a good coat of rust reformer.

Gonna change up the factory paint scheme a little, I'm going to do the shell and scissors in IH white and the pulley cover in Kubota orange instead of everything white.
 
JB weld is sanded down and a coat of rust reformer is on the shell. Tomorrow I should be able to prime it.

I ordered the top end gaskets/seals for the transaxle shifter, a new brake pedal cover, brake/clutch lining, and the thrust bearings and washers I need for the "poor man's power steering" today. Only thing that spooks me is the one seal may take up to two months to get here.
 
Tires, thrust bearings/washers, and one oil seal are in. Actually pretty excited about the tires, I don't think I'm going to try to mount them myself, probably just have the local shop do it. I have been buying RV antifreeze when I see it cheap and have 12 gallons which should cover me.

Deck has been primed and I got the first coat of paint on the top. Once the top is done, I'll put several coats of Van Sickle EZ Slide graphite paint on the bottom. Still have a lot of work to do on the rest of the deck parts.

I got the front section of the frame off, had quite a time trying to get the clutch pedal for out, the end was mushroomed pretty bad. I still need to cut the steering wheel off and drill out the broken transaxle bolts enough to drop it from the frame. I know I can drill them out and use a helical insert, but there are dozens of machine shops in town, and I may check around and see what they charge to do it.

Was poking around the store the other day and saw a bolt on D-ring rated for 11,000 lbs. I'm thinking of picking one up and mounting it to the hitch plate while it's off.

Been a while since I've put some progress pictures up, I'll try to snap a few and add them.
 
If the steering wheel is still in good shape, flip the frame over grind the welds off the bottom gear, remove it and the slide the shaft out the top. If the steering wheel is junk then good luck!

I was able to squeeze 6 gallons in each of my Deestone 12x10.50 ags, could get much more in short of somehow blowing it in with pressure.
 
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