Buying Advice Bought a farm, looking for a tractor...and help choosing!

[curdy]

Kyle, I never got back to you about your question on the salt and what that did to it. IMO the fact that it sat out more probably did more that the salt. But, there's some rust through on the fenders, left foot platform, and under the battery. Things I can't let bother me for the price I paid and what I'm using it for. The rust on some of the controls and hydraulic fittings bothers me a bit more since those are more important.

Can anyone recommend the best way to clean this thing off? There are some oil and hydraulic leaks that I want to work on and make sure I can tell where they're coming from. I'm going to scrape off the heavy dirt and oil and then a friend suggested running the engine and cleaning it off with a power washer...being mindful of keeping the spray away from the air intake. Suggestions?

 

[Soundguy]

on all my oldies, I manually scrape the heavy stuff with a gasket scraper or screwdriver, then hit it with a petro degreser like engine bright.. let set, then power wash, then hit it with a soap degreaser like purple stuff / simple green and power wash again.. then let dry. then you can work on it without getting dirt everywhere.

incedentally I do this again right before painting to get it clean from working on it, so the primer and paint will stick

soundguy

 

[curdy]

on all my oldies, I manually scrape the heavy stuff with a gasket scraper or screwdriver, then hit it with a petro degreser like engine bright.. let set, then power wash, then hit it with a soap degreaser like purple stuff / simple green and power wash again.. then let dry. then you can work on it without getting dirt everywhere.

incedentally I do this again right before painting to get it clean from working on it, so the primer and paint will stick

soundguy

Seriously, I'll have to use a garden spade in some spots its so heavy...they're some seedlings going in there too :laughing:

BTW, so all that suggested a bigger frame tractor, I wanted to once again confirm this was a good idea. The few areas that were left in grass are now ready for making hay on (since we don't have enough animals to graze it down yet). I have a neighbor coming soon to make it, and lending me his 3 pt spear to move the bales. Not sure I could move bales that big with a small tractor. Not sure if we'll be making large bales ongoing in the future, but for now, it'll be nice to have the larger tractor for it.

 

[Soundguy]

sounds great!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Can anyone recommend the best way to clean this thing off? There are some oil and hydraulic leaks that I want to work on and make sure I can tell where they're coming from. I'm going to scrape off the heavy dirt and oil and then a friend suggested running the engine and cleaning it off with a power washer...being mindful of keeping the spray away from the air intake. Suggestions?

Ditto Soundguy. Get yourself a decent pressure washer. Purple power can ruin new paint so be careful.

 

[curdy]

I'll get some more pics posted as I get things cleaned up more. I did grab a new replacement seat at TSC today. My son is pretty excited to put that on.

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. eats paint like oven cleaner will.

soundguy

 

[Farmwithjunk]

on all my oldies, I manually scrape the heavy stuff with a gasket scraper or screwdriver, then hit it with a petro degreser like engine bright.. let set, then power wash, then hit it with a soap degreaser like purple stuff / simple green and power wash again.. then let dry. then you can work on it without getting dirt everywhere.

incedentally I do this again right before painting to get it clean from working on it, so the primer and paint will stick

soundguy

Anything with a point or an edge.....Another handy item is one of those "5-in-1" painters tools. Various width putty knives, I've even got an old hunting knife in my clean-up tool pile! I like an assortment of wire brushes. The small round ones for cleaning I.D. of copper pipe can be invaluable.

I like to keep plenty of spray "brake cleaner" and "carb cleaner" on hand.

Nothing like having a steam jenny....wish I did. I'll have to get by with a big gas pressure washer and a little electric machine.

It's nice to have a variety of air "blow guns".

My favorite cleaner is good ol' "Mr Clean". I put it on liberally with a spray bottle, then scrub/hose off. (Liberally? Does that mean I expect someone else to do it for me?)

The #1 most valuable "tool" for cleaning up a dirty tractor? As always, a determined OWNER. There's nothing tricky about it, just a bit of hard, dirty work.

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. takes plenty of 'elbow grease' to get off many years of dirt oil and grease.

no way around it.

the more time you put in to cleaning it.. the better the paint prep and paint will be.

I remember a 951 I got out of texas.. it had been use on road work and have tar and gravel ont he bottom of it.. ( chipseal ).. took forever to get that asphalt off..

soundguy

 

[Farmwithjunk]

yep.. takes plenty of 'elbow grease' to get off many years of dirt oil and grease.

no way around it.

the more time you put in to cleaning it.. the better the paint prep and paint will be.

I remember a 951 I got out of texas.. it had been use on road work and have tar and gravel ont he bottom of it.. ( chipseal ).. took forever to get that asphalt off..

soundguy

I've been wanting a nice Massey 165 for years now. I FINALLY bought one a couple weeks back. '67, gasser (Continental) w/MultiPower and VERY low hours. All it needs is tires, a seat, and some fresh paint. For the last 10 years, the previous owner has used it to pull wagons in and out of his cabinet shop. Those wagons were "drying racks" for laminate counter tops they made. The rear end and fenders have a nice thin coat of contact adhesive overspray..... This ain't gonna be all that much fun.

 

[Soundguy]

can you still get MEK in your area.. that should take it off..

soundguy

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I've been wanting a nice Massey 165 for years now. I FINALLY bought one a couple weeks back. '67, gasser (Continental) w/MultiPower and VERY low hours. All it needs is tires, a seat, and some fresh paint. For the last 10 years, the previous owner has used it to pull wagons in and out of his cabinet shop. Those wagons were "drying racks" for laminate counter tops they made. The rear end and fenders have a nice thin coat of contact adhesive overspray..... This ain't gonna be all that much fun.

MEK, maybe Acetone if you want something a little less harsh but still a VOC.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

can you still get MEK in your area.. that should take it off..

soundguy

I still have connections at a few vendors I did business with (while still in construction) One is a supplier who handles plastic laminates, cabinet hardware, ect... They're sending me a couple gallons of some sort of solvent (maybe MEK) sold exclusively to clean up contact adhesive....

Or the sand blaster.....

 

[Soundguy]

tough choice.. mek will do it.. but gotta be carefull.

Sb will do it.. but sheesh.. it gets everywhere..

soundguy

 

[curdy]

Spent a good bit of time yesterday taking some things a part and scraping all the thick stuff off. We filled almost 2 5 gallon buckets just from the operators platform and around the loader posts. We started to get in around the fuel tank, but ran out of time. Its really heavy in there. I found the source of what I believe to be the main fluid leak...a cracked cover plate. I'll be ordering a replacement tomorrow, and will replace the plate when I do the fluid change.

One one side of the radiator, the support piece has been broken away. How much of a concern should this be to fix?

I'd like to fix 2 other leaks while I have the fluid drained. One is coming from the loader control valve, and the other is one the bucket. The bucket leak may just need to have the fitting removed, cleaned and tightened down. It looks like its a bit out anyway. Opinions on the control valve? I'm thinking my best bet is to clean it off real well first because the leak could be coming from several spots. But if someone can tell from the pic, it would be nice to order the parts at the same time.

The last pic is of a line next to the brakes. I believe this line attaches to the clutch housing. It looks like its been dented a couple of times. Should this be of any concern for flow rate?

 

[Soundguy]

concern? none.. as long as you fix it to suppor the radiator to prevent vibration.. etc.

soundguy

 

[curdy]

concern? none.. as long as you fix it to suppor the radiator to prevent vibration.. etc.

soundguy

What do you recommend as a fix?

 

[Soundguy]

post a very detailed pic of the damage... my clarivoyance powers are on the blink right now
unless you are talking about the piece unsoldered from the tank.. in which case.. that's easy.. it's a re-solder job...


soudnguy

 

[curdy]

Ah solder...duh! Any particular kind I should use? I've never had to work on a radiator before...and really don't want to screw it up with the price tag on a new one of those!

 

[Soundguy]

stuff you might normally use at a shop is usually the high diameter acid core.. though for that repair the plumbers no-lead solder pack that comes with the paste flux like you see in the lil sweat solder packs at walmart and hardware stores will be fine.

sand or chemically remov ethe rust.. then sand and clean up.. get it bent so under no tension.. flux the bajeebers out of the 2 parts. tin that piece of steel first.. then lightly tin the rad.. keep as much heat away from the seam as toy can.

remove cap so no pressure builds up otherwise it will blow the joint out. I might even leave coolant up to the level of the seam.. flux it up again.. put heat to it and then as soon as it wets.. join and back the heat away, holding the part steady till it dulls over.

just like sweating a pipe...

as for flux.. can't ever have too much. if you think you ever have too much flux on a joint, add a lil mor ethen go for it. flux is your friend when soldering...


soundguy