Budget Restoration / Modernization of a 1953 JD 40

[Millsonwheels]

Well Ive been searching for a project or fun tractor for quite some time now and I found this model at a local consignment auction. It is a 1953 John Deere 40 s (standard). As I am still a college student on a budget I will show my current expenditures on this project and will hopefully in the end have a good looking and usable machine.

Here goes:
Well the whole day of the auction this tractor could be seen running very smoothly with no fuss of any kind so I assumed it was a solid machine. But after purchasing it, Its 6 volt system could not be bothered to get it going again, but after alittle rewiring it climbed on the trailer under its own power.

Purchase price : $1,700
Tax: $85

Running Total: $1,750

Anyway Here are some pictures when I first got it home and unloaded.

 

[Millsonwheels]

Well ill do my best to get you caught up on my progress:

Since I can only work on it from my time away form school on the weekends (1-2) days a week, It is most of what i look forward to on the weekends.

Well my first task was getting rid of the current 6 volt system. The components of this is a solid state ignition to replace the points system from dennys carb shop, Napa echolin 3.0-3.25 ohm 12volt coil, and some new wiring, rotor button, plugs, plug wires, dist cap, battery, etc.

Overall the engine conversion to twelve volt was a breeze I would say the whole thing didn't take more than an hour and a half. But what really gave me trouble was the charging system, I really wanted to do away with the generator system as it was broken, 6 volt, and the bearings squalled like a cat being hit with a hammer. So I picked up a brand new Delco 10SI one wire alternator from one of my buddies for the low price of $20 at first I thought this would work fine as it had the right sized pulley for the low rpm engine, but after spending considerable time fabbing a mount I could not find a placement where it looked good, didnt stick out to far, and that i was happy with.

So after much pondering I decided to have the generator sent of to be fixed and converted to 12 volt, this meant more cost more wires but I does have to correct look and it worked for 53 years so I'm going this route.

Here is the total so far:
Previous total: $1785
+ $67 for factory service manual (well worth it)
+ $119 for Solid state ignition kit
+ $27 for napa IC14 coil

Here are some of the pictures from this weekends progress
+ $32 for tune up parts

Running Total of: $2030

 

[beenthere]

Great project.
Wish you well. Rims look to be in good shape, as well as pretty new tires.

4 speed tranny?

Double clutch?

 

[Millsonwheels]

Great project.
Wish you well. Rims look to be in good shape, as well as pretty new tires.

4 speed tranny?

Double clutch?

Well I believe the rims to be in good shape even though they are not correct I am going to keep them, the tires on the other hand are the real disappointment, They are very dry rotted and one has two exposed knots on it where I can touch the tube. So I am currently looking for tires, any suggestions will be appreciated.:thumbsup:

It does have a 4 speed and no 2 stage clutch (I wish it did)

-Mills

 

[Millsonwheels]

In Continuation, I have been running the tractor in short bursts with a charging system and I am very satisfied with it. Actually they extra kick of 12 volt makes the engine spin faster than the low rpm 2 cylinder idles, so it actually slows down when it starts. Also I must say that whoever worked on this tractor last didn't know what they were doing because for the life of me a cant find the other two cylinders but I feel very confidant that this engine is in good shape because it never turns over more than twice before it starts. Also the old two cylinder is growing on me now and I am getting used to all of its qwuirks.

Getting back to the work. First thing I did when I got back home was to take off the aging front wheels and tires and swap them out for some solid, foam filled tires that were originally off of a man-lift that my dad got a while back. I defiantly dont have to worry about these going flat now, but they are heavy (150+ pounds a piece). After closer inspection we found that the crank pulley was rottating about 10 degrees on the crank, I was very worried that the hole in the crank was "wollered" out so I had to find out for sure. Immediatly I wanted to get it in the shop to find out but there was no vacencies in our shop, so I decided to go about this like my grandparents and greatgrandparents would have, restore this baby in a dirt floor machinery shed with no electricity or nothing. This is definatley a inconvieniance but its something differant.

The first thing i did was take all of the front tin of to see what I was working with but this really didnt help much. so then I cut about 20 peices of 4x4's to use as cribbing to rest the tractor on. After jacking it up and putting it on its new "foundation" I proceded to take the radiator and then finaly the front end off. After this the fan was still in the way and boy did it give up a fight coming off.

I drove the old grove pin that holds the pulley on out and much to my delight that was my only culprit, so I put the new one on and it was cured! but this victory was short lived as a had ran out of daylight in my shed and my weekend was done.

Last weeks total: $2030
+ 5 pack of groove pins, $4
+ oil filter, $8
Running total: $2042
Here are some pictures of the progress

 

[Millsonwheels]

Now getting caught up to this past weekend:
Well I decided to pick up where I had left off last weekend but while i was at it I decided to replace as many leaks as I could find well I had the front of the motor practically setting in my lap. First things first I had ordered the gaskets and o rings for the leaking hydraulic pump and my first 2 hours saturday morning were spent rebuilding it to new and stripping it for paint then I tried my best to degrease the front of the motor. and on a side note I collected all of the grease clumps and threw them in a cardboard box and so far am up to pretty close to 25 pounds :laughing: I them had to take on step back and drive out the groove pin I put in Last weekend to replace the oil seal and retainer gasket. After a short talk verifying I had the correct seal (new rubber vs. old double rawhide seal) these part flew together and I felt pretty good about having all the leaks cured. But when I came back from a quick lunch I found a nice black streak of oil coming from the governer housing, so I hadnt ordered enough parts after all.

Since this little hang up stopped me from putting the front of the tractor back together I decided to concentrate to rest of the days efforts on the front axle. Apparently in the past someone adjusted the front end all the way out which was to much stress on this already flimsy front end and it sheared the tube right off at the axle stubs. Evidently the previous owner had a welder but was not the best at using it, Though these gorilla welds (big strong and ugly)and various pieces of what seems to be horse drawn equipment have worked this far I can do much better.

At this point I snatched up the front end with our pay-loader and took it to the real shop I then spent the rest of the day grinding off the old mess and wire wheeling the front end. My plan for strengthening the front end is to bevel and reweld at the original break point and then add a length of heavy angle iron to the bottom and weld it good them paint it in the finish color.
I believe that this will be suitably strong and a repair that only a die hard collector or enthusiast will notice.

Previous weeks total: $2042
+ Seals gaskets, paint, etc. $69
Running total: $2111

Im hoping in the next weeks progress will pick up and be more noticeable. But here are the newest pictures.

 

[77transam]

Looks great MW! :thumbsup: You're obviously putting a lot of effort and time into this and it will definitely show in the final results. 25 lbs. of gunk?!? Wow! :laughing:

Keep the pics coming and thanks for the cost breakdowns! (It adds up quick doesn't it? :confused2

 

[flusher]

Now getting caught up to this past weekend:
Well I decided to pick up where I had left off last weekend but while i was at it I decided to replace as many leaks as I could find well I had the front of the motor practically setting in my lap. First things first I had ordered the gaskets and o rings for the leaking hydraulic pump and my first 2 hours saturday morning were spent rebuilding it to new and stripping it for paint then I tried my best to degrease the front of the motor. and on a side note I collected all of the grease clumps and threw them in a cardboard box and so far am up to pretty close to 25 pounds :laughing: I them had to take on step back and drive out the groove pin I put in Last weekend to replace the oil seal and retainer gasket. After a short talk verifying I had the correct seal (new rubber vs. old double rawhide seal) these part flew together and I felt pretty good about having all the leaks cured. But when I came back from a quick lunch I found a nice black streak of oil coming from the governer housing, so I hadnt ordered enough parts after all.

Since this little hang up stopped me from putting the front of the tractor back together I decided to concentrate to rest of the days efforts on the front axle. Apparently in the past someone adjusted the front end all the way out which was to much stress on this already flimsy front end and it sheared the tube right off at the axle stubs. Evidently the previous owner had a welder but was not the best at using it, Though these gorilla welds (big strong and ugly)and various pieces of what seems to be horse drawn equipment have worked this far I can do much better.

At this point I snatched up the front end with our pay-loader and took it to the real shop I then spent the rest of the day grinding off the old mess and wire wheeling the front end. My plan for strengthening the front end is to bevel and reweld at the original break point and then add a length of heavy angle iron to the bottom and weld it good them paint it in the finish color.
I believe that this will be suitably strong and a repair that only a die hard collector or enthusiast will notice.

Previous weeks total: $2042
+ Seals gaskets, paint, etc. $69
Running total: $2111

Im hoping in the next weeks progress will pick up and be more noticeable. But here are the newest pictures.

Hey, that's one nice looking 40. I'm looking for one of those myself to restore. Right now I'm restoring a 1951 Minneapolis Moline BF that I picked up for $1300 non-running.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...62478-mid-mount-milimeter-bf-restoration.html

Had to send the 4-cyl Hercules engine (27 hp, gas) to the machine shop for a complete rebuild ($800 parts, $800 labor). So you're way ahead of me costwise on your restoration. Just started reassembling the rear end. Hope to have it running in a few months.

 

[flusher]

BTW: just noticed the MF12 baler in your shop. It looks a lot like my MF124 baler. A good machine.

 

[mjncad]

That's quite a project you've undertaken. Please keep us posted.