chim
Elite Member
Last Fall I picked up a well-used Caroni TC910 for $600. It was ugly all over but had a good solid main deck. The baffles were in rough shape and needed to be replaced. The wheels and all the supports were still in good shape. There's no inside space that's safe to weld in at home and I thought I could get it finished before Winter set in so the project was done in the driveway. By the time all the bad metal was replaced with good metal, the season changed. Rather than haul it to the shop at work, the pieces were put on a pile till Spring.
On the front lower edge of the deck there was a thin-walled pipe that wrapped part way around the sides. It was broken in several places. I suppose this is for a rub strip and some added strength. For a replacement I used solid 5/8" round stock. This was the most challenging part of the restoration, and that was partly because I wanted to make it in one piece. The first "lazy S" bend was fairly difficult. Getting the other half of the bar bent so it fit was almost more than I could handle.
The factory anti-scalp bumper on the front center was replaced with a slice of Sch80 steel pipe.
The deck wasn't originally equipped with the extended grease zerks for the blade spindles. They were cheap and they'll make life nicer.
The baffle replacements are made from a heavy gauge black diamondplate. There was some scrap at the shop, so the sheet metal shop's participation in the project was to shear a few 4" wide slices and run them through the pinch roller to make them into circles (with the smooth side in). I was able to slice off segments and weld them onto the underside of the deck.
Only a handful of bearings needed to be replaced - one set for one idler sheave plus the bearings in all 4 wheels. One wheel in particular had a bad set and another was questionable.
As the weather warmed I started final cleanup for paint. First was a good cleaning of the underside and two coats of POR15. Then after 11 rainy Fridays, I did give up and took the pieces to the shop for painting there. Although I took my gun along, one of the guys really wanted to spray it. I caved. Paint was Allis Chalmers Orange XO Rust with XO Rust hardener, thinned with acetone for spraying.
Last Friday I brought the pieces home for reassembly. By late afternoon Saturday, it was ready for its maiden voyage. Had to be elsewhere, so it only saw about 45 minutes of use. It did a nice job, and the only hiccup was when I swung it and whacked the raised blacktop and bent one of the stems on a wheel fork. That's another story though. Straightened it Monday evening and did some more mowing, and Tuesday night mowed the part of the yard that was under water early Monday AM. Looking forward to having an hour or so of uninterrupted time instead of little segments that were available since late last week.
On the front lower edge of the deck there was a thin-walled pipe that wrapped part way around the sides. It was broken in several places. I suppose this is for a rub strip and some added strength. For a replacement I used solid 5/8" round stock. This was the most challenging part of the restoration, and that was partly because I wanted to make it in one piece. The first "lazy S" bend was fairly difficult. Getting the other half of the bar bent so it fit was almost more than I could handle.
The factory anti-scalp bumper on the front center was replaced with a slice of Sch80 steel pipe.
The deck wasn't originally equipped with the extended grease zerks for the blade spindles. They were cheap and they'll make life nicer.
The baffle replacements are made from a heavy gauge black diamondplate. There was some scrap at the shop, so the sheet metal shop's participation in the project was to shear a few 4" wide slices and run them through the pinch roller to make them into circles (with the smooth side in). I was able to slice off segments and weld them onto the underside of the deck.
Only a handful of bearings needed to be replaced - one set for one idler sheave plus the bearings in all 4 wheels. One wheel in particular had a bad set and another was questionable.
As the weather warmed I started final cleanup for paint. First was a good cleaning of the underside and two coats of POR15. Then after 11 rainy Fridays, I did give up and took the pieces to the shop for painting there. Although I took my gun along, one of the guys really wanted to spray it. I caved. Paint was Allis Chalmers Orange XO Rust with XO Rust hardener, thinned with acetone for spraying.
Last Friday I brought the pieces home for reassembly. By late afternoon Saturday, it was ready for its maiden voyage. Had to be elsewhere, so it only saw about 45 minutes of use. It did a nice job, and the only hiccup was when I swung it and whacked the raised blacktop and bent one of the stems on a wheel fork. That's another story though. Straightened it Monday evening and did some more mowing, and Tuesday night mowed the part of the yard that was under water early Monday AM. Looking forward to having an hour or so of uninterrupted time instead of little segments that were available since late last week.
