Thats great that you got it back, and in such good shape! I am definitely next! The paint took me awhile to find the right color, but it is actually light ford grey. I bought the Valspar brand of ford grey that they sold at Tractor Supply, but they stopped carrying Valspar. They seem to have a a bunch on clearance in the back of the stores. They have a new brand called Majic. I talked to them about it, and they said that it is an exact match, but I did buy a few cans of the Valspar so I can touch up the paint when I need it just in case, but after looking at the paint in the store, I think that it will work the same. If not, you can buy the Valspar here in a pack of 6 cans for $37.80. ^ cans will be more than enough. I started by sanding the old paint job with a hand held electric sander, and fine grit paper. I then removed the old label with a heat gun, and took the hood, fenders, and all of the white panels off. It is actually very easy to do. I then painted all of the panels with the spray cans, using several light coats, so I would not get paint that ran. When I was done, and got the finish I was happy with, I used a clear gloss enamel coat, after it had dried very well in the sun. I bought the Rust-Oleum truck bed coating for the foot rests that I bought at Walmart, and I used gloss black for the rest of the tractor. I bought the decals from Sams Bolens, and I also replaced the warning lights that I ordered from him. I had to replace my alternator, and I put a new Yanmar 15.5 in 36 spline steering wheel on, because I was not happy with the replacement one that I got that is made by Sparex. It just felt cheap to me, but it would have worked. I also used lots of blue painters masking tape. This is a photo of my actual tractor from the site I found it on before I restored it, and then after:
And this was the final result after the weights, ROPS, paint, new seat, warning lights, alternator, decals, a new battery, a spotlight, and new hood latch springs and a few other small details. It really was not that expensive overall.
Dave - personal references can certainly save countless headaches. In this case it did not only that, but rescued my machine from an uncertain future. Jim explained the same issue that you relate with regards to the spline gear. Happy he took the extra measures for me. This machine is now ready for another 20+ years. I'm looking forward to getting her into the same shape that Mitch has with his machine. Oh and by the way Mitch, can you tell me what you used for white paint on the sheet metal and how you prepped the surface?
