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The original question does not define what is meant by "tractor". Some are made to be road legal and some are not; some even have suspension to allow higher transport speeds. Tractors are driving down the road past my rural house all the time. My tractor is road legal and I have insurance...

I took this picture of a rig from Germany in my village in southern Portugal. That's a fairly long way. And he's not unique; I met another German who pulled a gypsy wagon at 4mph all the way through Europe too, on an antique "Hanomag" tractor without a cabin. He was totally cooked when I met him.

I have a similar pair of forks; I made a frame that will fit on the 3-point or the FEL. It's extremely handy. Today I used it to lift one end of a 20' container while I dragged it 400 yards to another plot. I can't count the number of jobs I've done with this over the last 10 years. Those forks...

I bored my FEL for new pins without a line boring machine; I invented a method to use a wood router with a guide bearing. https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/threads/fel-rebuild.384984/ Some parts I cut off and made replacements to weld on. I also increased the system hydraulic pressure on my...

I'm sure the job is done by now; but because others may search and find the thread, I'll add my experience. I converted several old steel barges into homes, and had the same dilemma. At first, I put the insulation across the top and left air gaps. The result was a lot of condensation; a LOT...

Thanks; I don't know how many hours and Euros I've put into the old beast, but it's done a lot of work for me in return. It's only economically viable because I can do the repairs at home myself. Even at Portuguese wages, if I had to pay every time it broke, I'd be broke too! It's it pretty...

All reassembled; while checking the hydraulics, I found a leaky hose. This tractor has 10 hydraulic hoses that are all the same (after my modifications), so I have a few spares in stock. And ready to work; I have some tractoring work pending by now.

The rear engine seal finally turned up, so work could continue. There's a pretty bad groove worn into the crankshaft journal, so I set the new seal on the outer edge of the housing, about 3mm out from the seat, so the new seal rides on undamaged metal. I made an alignment tool for this tractor...

I imagine that at the factory, they hired a contortionist from the Chinese circus to install those springs. Paid per job most likely. Engine seal didn't get to the shop yet, maybe tomorrow; anyway, there is plenty to do. I should check the valve clearance and retorque the heads. Not in that...

the inner Oring is 5mm and the cover needs to be pressed against it with some force before the big circlip can go back. So I made the press bar from 30x30 stock I found in the workshop. I made a test fit first, then pressed it in with the extra Oring. The local bearing shop didn't have a big...

I got the new throwout bearing and some seals, but I'm still waiting for the rear main engine seal. When I unpacked the new bearing, I found the grease cover is smaller than the old one, so the spacer/ grease plate doesn't fit inside it. That was Friday; if I return it I won't get a new one...

Low tech idea for the steering; add a knob to the steering wheel, like some forklifts have. That might give you a bit of extra leverage and make it more comfortable, and if it doesn't you didn't spend much on the experiment.

Good point; I'm a gnarled up old machine too.

Yes, I'm thinking 2 or 3mm; I'll see what the shop has in stock. I have to wait a day or two until he gets the seals. Luckily, there is a bearing + seal shop within driving distance, about 30km north in Odemira. The larger towns to the south don't have one anymore unless I go all the way to...

There are 2 gearbox shaft seals, one on top of the other, both the same size. The parts book lists one of them as "special seal". A part number search brings up regular seals of that size. Anyway, I ordered 2 new (normal) ones. There is also a seal between the inner (drive) and outer (PTO)...

I agree, those older round ones look much better than the 80's square hood like I have. My wife says I need to fix the "face", it looks all beat up! It's a tractor I tell her... it happens. We've had 60mm of rain so far. Not much but a lot better than nothing.

Good solid massive mechanical stuff; maybe not so supple, but it's pretty much indestructible. A bigger wheel should help, as long as there's room for it. Americans might not appreciate the very high cost of used parts in Portugal; I'm continuously amused and disappointed at the prices demanded...

After reading about how you had a leak at your transmission shaft, I looked through my parts diagram again and found there is a seal in there (listed on another page), probably in the neck tube. I'll take it apart tomorrow.

This is a terrible thread; it cost me most of the day. I should have been working on my tractor, and instead I was reading 19 pages, gooning out on pictures and video... I thought my tractor had been badly treated (never greased, repair attempts that caused damage, etc.), but whoever...

Tractor shop says he'll have the main throwout bearing tomorrow; I didn't aske the price but he's usually reasonable and Auto-doc has them for around 40. The big bearing for the PTO clutch is repacked and reassembled. I had to cut a pipe to press it apart, but it goes back together very easily...

Thanks, Pedro; I looked at the parts diagram, there is no seal or oring to be seen on the outer or inner gearbox shafts. What keeps the oil from coming though is a mystery to me, but the oil level is below the shaft so I guess magic is sufficient. I lightly pressurized the gearbox with air to...

Unloading a 1.3 ton milling machine from the delivery truck. Pushed the limit of my machine; I had to shim the PRV to get extra pressure for this.

With my forks on the 3-point hitch, I lifted the end of my workshop container and dragged it 200 meters and across a public road to a new location.

This is a 1985 SAME (now SDF) 85HP Mercury 85. I had a lot of of leaking from the starter motor (???!!), it was from the bell housing, flying around in there. I assumed it had to be the rear main engine seal, but it turns out to be gear oil leaking through an end cap. There's an Oring in there...

I'll give that a look, thanks for the tip.

With the priority flow valve installed, no-work pressure tops at 20 bar; still quite a lot of wasted energy, but much better than before. The next thing I did was swap out the many different flexible tubes that had built up over many years, to a common fitting. I put in steel tube wherever...

After I added the system pressure gauge on my instrument panel, I saw that pressure would go really high when RPM was up. It rose in a linear pattern, clearly a flow restriction. I did some testing to find out where the problem was; disconnecting the lines and running the oil into a bucket...

The hydraulic pump feeds a long steel tube that runs to the rear valve block; I rerouted it to run to a 3 lever valve block near the steering wheel for the front end loader and hedgecutter (and whatever comes later). First, I made a tubing bender that mounts on my workbench for the heavy...

Engine reassembly is stopped while I wait for the last little gasket. So here is some of the hydraulic system upgrades I made, which could be of general interest. I did these over some years, but I'll start at the front end. The European version of the Mercury 85 shipped with a 14cc pump, the...

It was still running smoothly with a blown head gasket on number 2; I don't know how that's even possible. The tin is looking pretty bad, OH insists I fix that.

A few pictures of the top end rebuild I'm working on right now. While bringing the tractor into the garage, I saw that the left wheel had a loose bearing; bolts had come loose. I had to take it all apart to clean and repack the steering bearings (taper roller bearings), and I put in proper...

Long time since I posted here... I've done some work on the old tractor, rerouted and upgraded the hydraulic system, and at the moment reassembling the top of the motor. It had a blown head gasket and the smoke was getting pretty bad. I'm only waiting for the exhaust flange gasket and I can...

thanks for the recommendation, we'll give it a try. We just watched "Squid game". It was ok, but nowhere near meriting the massive hype. We started with English dub but switched to original language and English subtitles, which is better. The dubbing misses the intonation, which is important.

As long as the old pallet wood is free of toxic chemicals.

they shouldn't cost that much, but I don't know about Iseki.

Fun to read the end report of the story and know you had a good result. I had a 1965 Impala...that was around 1990. I wonder where it is now?

I did the same thing; went from 2 single bars to 2 crossed bars, doubling the blades. My deck is bigger though. 1/2 ton and 9-1/2' wide. I figured the only reason not to was if there wasn't enough torque available to do the extra work. The deck maker says 20hp, and my tractor has 85Hp, so...

They held without complaining. I've only used it that way a few times, but I don't expect any trouble. The main difficulty is that my FEL doesn't have enough tilt to dump the concrete. I solve that by lifting a little, then tilting the forks back, then the mixer drum forward so I have more...

Lots of things... My back doesn't like heavy lifting, but my tractor doesn't mind in the least. To pour concrete, I just lift the whole mixer and take to to where I need it. I added some plates that clamp the mixer to the forks. 4wd 4 ton mobile scaffold;

They seem to be a domestic Portuguese transport company. So no, I haven't tried them. For this sort of thing I'll use cheapo grips from an area DIY store, ebay Spain, or Amazon.

I know where to get them; they won't be Irwin ones. I had a big collection of genuine made in USA Irwin vice grips... Had... Oh well. I'll buy some discount store ones for this. Posting things into here from outside the EU doesn't work well. Things get stuck in customs for a long time, and...

We don't have Harbor Freight in Portugal, but thanks anyway.

I pressed the rivets. I made 2 hardened anvils for my press. It's a 20 ton press but I think 10 would do it. This is for my home made hedge cutter, it has cutting blades above and below to work with a scissor action. 48 blades, 96 rivets. I think the press works better than a hammer, but...

Me too, I want one too! Those hydraulic couplings are a bit diabolical, you need vise-grip hands. Or vice-grips.

I had a similar engine; a mitsubishi 3 cyl 900cc, 22HP I didn't have much luck using mine as a generator though, it would slow down too much under load. The governor wasn't nearly precise enough. I could only use about 2kw of AC power. That was an alternator from a 5kw Honda generator, capacitor...

Last HD crash I had, it would work sometimes and crash after some random time. I pulled it out of my laptop and put in in an external drive case to attempt data recovery. I found it would work in a certain position, on one edge, without crashing. All data was recovered. I didn't bother trying to...

Yes, it goes on the SAME. Several times, I've pulled 100 meter tubes through the ground, 2' under. It doesn't like curves much though. As a ripper I've used in on roots and rotten stumps. Sometimes it does stop the tractor, all 4 wheels still turning. when it sticks, the draft control wants...

I made a ripper / pipe laying implement. It wasn't strong enough, so I made it stranger. Then stronger again, adding 5/16 plate to each side so now it's 1" thick and heavily reinforced. It has to be strong enough to stop the tractor with all drive wheels turning. I have 4 tons, 4wd, and it...

I put them in my brush pile, which gets burned when permitted by the fire department (rainy season). Some come out with a lot of dirt attached, which inhibits burning. I hang it in my pallet forks and shake when dry. Or sometimes, carry it back to the house and blast the dirt off with a pressure...

Absolutely; asbestos, mercury, and uranium are completely natural too. Back on topic for a moment. It's easy to eliminate the blackberries if you also want to kill everything around them. Plow it, spray it, mow it. But if you want to keep the trees or shrubs that they're strangling, then it's...

"Organic" farming allows store bought chemicals, you just have to use "organic" certified ones. Like neem pesticide, made by stripping a slow growing tropical tree of its leaves, instead of nicotinoid made completely artificially, which will therefore kill bees. Neem kills bees too, but it...

I bought one and welded it on. It was quite expensive, a couple of hundred bucks for a 5' length. When I took a close look I realized the bucket needed some new plate...

lived in 200 square feet with wife + dog for years; it was ok, and financially advantageous (ie, CHEAP). After 7 years, we took all the dough we'd saved and bought a big place.

We watch a lot of TV. I assume everyone's heard of the big popular stuff, but here's a few TV series that you might have missed; I don't know why this didn't get more traction. It's a regular US production, well written and produced. Rectify ( Rectify (TV Series 2013–2016) - IMDb ) This Greek...

Actually, the FEL arms should be strong enough that the tractor can't bend them. On dirt at least. If they'll bend before the tires start spinning, they won't last long anyway. My trench bucket has a nasty leverage ratio acting against the tilt cylinder, and it is vulnerable. That's a design...

I had that happen once, not with the trench bucket though. It is something to keep in mind during use. But I can tell you, digging forward with my machine is much more worrisome, the bucket tends to dig in hard and everything gets a bit flexy. Reverse works better.

I like wirenuts; when they're on properly, they're rock solid. The wire spring holds the conductors together with good tension and large connection area. I don't think I've ever seen one fail. I've installed hundreds of them. When doing larger jobs, I used a battery drill and a nut driver to...

I had to pull out hundreds of small invasive acacias, 1-2" mostly. I made a hook from scrap steel attached to the 3-point, it protruded behind the tractor a few feet horizontally. I just ripped them out of the ground. When I was done I scrapped it again, which was dumb because 10 years later I...

It's made to be reversible. It's better working backwards, as the angle on the fel arms will lift when it digs in too hard. My tractor has a reverser, so all 12 gear ratios are available forward + backward. Without that, it might get aggravating. And I should say, my land is very sandy and easy...

I can't answer your question, but here's a video of my home made trenching bucket in use, just for a laugh.

I mounted a pressure gauge on the instrument board of my tractor, I find it very useful. I also had trouble with the system getting weaker as it got hot, that's why I installed the gauge. I soon realized the the back pressure was far too high when I was using the hydraulics to power my hedge...

I only have a few chains; most are 100 year old, they were used to control the rudder in an old ship I bought. Anyway, I made steel pegs and drilled a solid concrete section of my shed wall, they pounded them in. CHEEEEP!

Thanks; there's nothing new in there to patent, but it's a fun idea. This machine is only able to cut up to about 1", and then only if it's still green. The concept could be beefed up, but will always have an upper limit. On the plus side, it makes a very neat cut compared to the shedding that...

Thanks; it did work on the first run, but it took a few revisions to get it to where I'm reasonably happy with it.

I have little cash and less space! Maybe someday both will improve.

My loader cylinders are like that, but the lock ring came off for me without the gland assembly spinning. The snap ring is thick wire and stubborn, and really difficult to get out between the rod and bore. Patience and perseverance, it will happen.

Those blades can be sharpened, most can anyway. Some seem to have alternating square and round tooth tips and they say they can't be sharpened. There are no sharpening shops near me, so a couple of times I took my dull blades and bits with me when I had to go to Amsterdam for work, and had...

Thanks; It's all for fun, if it works then that's a nice bonus.

We're used to changing the batteries when the light gets dim; LEDs keep on working as the voltage drops; and that when batteries tend to leak. I had it happen too.

I don't have as much lift as you do; but it's all in one.

This is the new video of the cutter with the latest upgrades; I touched on changes I made to the hydraulic system, that started when I added a pressure gauge to the dashboard and saw how high the working pressure was before. Every hydraulic machine should have one, they're not expensive at...

I skipped over this invention; a solenoid lock pin for the tube rotation collar. I needed to add this because of changes to the hydraulic system. The valve block has 2 better circuits, that are closed when not in use and have better flow. One of them was used for the tube rotation, and would...

A couple of breakages; The linkage that swings the main tube right to left slid half off it's pivot and twisted until it popped off. That's 20X60mm bar, but I had to make a cut in it to clear an obstruction. After straightening it, I added a retainer to the end of the 30mm pivot rod so...

Moving along with the new blade theme; here are the parts ready to assemble. as well as the tooth bars, there's a buffer strip between them, a top and bottom plate too. these 5 plates all bolt loosely together before fitting into the welded up channel frame I made years ago for the grass cutter...

Now the next epic; creating new opposing toothbars. It took a long time to find the straight smooth strip. A shop 150 miles away said they'd have to order it, no delivery I had to come pick it up. Luckily a friend lives near there, and he brought it for me when he was coming this way. As I had...

I needed to replace the cogwheel, sprocket, inner splined tubes, brake and bevel gear. The sprocket was stripped, and kept slipping. I found this little 12v winch on ebay for 50 euros. It came in one piece but didn't stay that way for long. I powered it up and found I need more reduction; these...

Some roots come out; that's why I like doing it that way. I don't think it's dangerous; as far as logging goes, this is about as safe as it gets, other than paying someone else to do it. There are invasive non-native bushes that grow everywhere here, so I take my mower into the woods once or...

boring the new crank end; Then cutting away most of it to make clearance for the rod bearing holder Parts ready for pressing. you can see why the end had to be made from 1 piece. The pulley has a bearing set into it, the post to hold the bearing is set into the crankcase end plate...

Jumping ahead to 2019, when I did a bit refit. Bigger belt, smaller ratio to slow it down. bigger capacity hydraulic pump on the tractor to slow the engine down, and a totally new blade pack with opposed scissor action blades. The rod bearings were shot; probably overstressed due to incorrect...

Even more now with the new blade pack; I would have made them differently if I'd have had a mill. so have you posted your machine builds here? I didn't see them.

Next breakdown; my home made spline tube is looking a bit twisted. Taking it apart; After re-welding the splines onto the tube a bit harder and with more welds, it had bubbles inside that had to be cut. So I made this gross but very long boring tool. The cutter is a drill shank...

some pictures of it assembled; Except the big cylinder is taken out in this one, I don't remember why. The hydraulic supply. The wheel has to come off to get at it. The wheel is heavy. cutter head with motor + all; The valve block ready for action. electric control box mounts on...

After using the machine a few times, the first breakage; this shaft broke where the tapered lock pin went through. There was another problem, the blade wouldn't stay in position. I decided to make a brake for it, that would be simply overpowered by the hydraulics to move. New shaft and hub...

This was a bad idea; the rod turned out to be slightly hard, and killed a good saw blade when I could have just used a grinder and then cleaned up the cut on the lathe. This part is fun; cutting a new thread on the shortened hydraulic rod. Satisfying. The big cylinder acts through a linkage...

Some heavier parts; the pivot for the whole machine to swing from right to left. The rings are from the scrapyard, cutouts from holes in something bigger than me. Creating the cogwheel box at the other end of the main tube. Cogwheel is rotated 120 degreesish by this setup. meanwhile...

I actually bought the sprocket new... The gears are from a junk car gearbox, and I made the cogwheel from plate and rod. This whole mechanism is bonkers, and I can't even remember the rationale behind it. Make a ring, cut it in half. Make the cuts true... Bolt it together and make it round...

Sure, but I didn't bother to video the ones I cut with a (yawn) chainsaw.

shiny bits made from scrap; the collar on the right rotates on the end of the main tube, the thin thing on the left is the retaining ring. They fit here; And are rotated 180 degrees by this cylinder and linkage; another angle; The main pipe was rusty inside so I made this to clean it...

I showed the vid on a couple of posts here already, here are the build pictures of the machine. I got sort of obsessed with it and went at it pretty hard, I think it took 3 months. My tooling was stretched to the limit, and as I was on a tight budget I used some parts becuase they were there...

tractor + wood; I made a video.

is your thermostat set in a good place? Maybe the wall it's on gets heat from the sun, or just has a lot of residual heat in it. The air gets cold, you get cold, but the wall and thermostat gets cold later. I've had this problem a couple of times.

Thanks guys; I found that I can do these things if I just get in there and try. Sometimes there is some learning curve, like when I overheated one of those burrs and the braze holding it together melted. Mostly you have to imagine the things that could go wrong, and then work out how to do the...

The part number chase might result in the correct part, or might not. Seals, bearings, U-joints are sold by size, and much cheaper and faster from a bearing stockist. But of course, you need to know the size. Inside, outside, and thickness. Sometimes they can be read from the outside before...

Thanks Pedro; I'd rather be outside with the milling machine today but for other reasons I need to be on watch in the house.

Some have diabolical little lock pins hidden under layers of old paint.

And another update, because I'm housebound today. I replaced the hydraulic valve block. I bought this block from flowfit in the UK before Brexit cut us off. Good material for good prices. The old one leaked internally, and was a 2 bank. I wanted to rationalize the plumbing, because the way the...

The FEL came mounted on the tractor, and basically doesn't fit over the large front tires. Or between them. When the front axle is angled, steering was severely limited. First I bought a length of serious strip, 15 X 120 mm. It only comes in 6 meter lengths, but I'll use the rest some day...

This is what happens when you use your old FEL frame to pound in fence posts. My tractor gets abused, then cherished with love, new plate, and welding. The only strip I had that was wide enough is 10mm thick; so I'm all set for pounding in more fence posts should the need arise. I made a...

A few updates on my FEL repairs in the last few years; First, I replaced the main cylinder seals and pistons. The seals weren't looking good. The bores were already honed slightly oversize, and by the time I finished getting all the scores out, they were even bigger. New style seals come...

I'll have to make a thread about it... The number of hours I put into the machine rival hand cutting the hedge (well, maybe with a hand held power hedgecutter), but I'd rather spend an hour in my workshop than a half hour landscaping.

I made a fel mounted hedge cutter, using sickle bar blades. They're not strong enough, but work ok. Mine will reach 10' high, extend 10' out to either side, and can cut horizontal / vertical right left forwards and backwards. It was a lot of work to make, but fun. I recently made new blade...

I met a guy in Portugal who came all the way from Germany on a 1950's Hanomag tractor, towing a large gypsy wagon that was made to be pulled by horses. The tractor had no cabin. I don't know if he was already nuts when he left Germany, or the sun did it to him on the way. He said it took 3...

I have personally seen 2 UFO's. And I still don't believe they exist!

It was ok; I didn't need much make-specific parts, just the clutch plates mainly. My local tractor shop got everything for me at a decent price. Brake cylinder kits were expensive though. It seems most parts are still available. I'm told I can get cylinders + pistons. bearings and seals are...

As stated above, I did find a manual. Yes, I still have the Same; I changed the clutches, rear axle seals, installed 3point shaft bushings [had to bore the gear case!] changed the front axle bushing, rebuilt the steering cylinder [new end joints] and other things. I think I had to consult the...

You're not supposed to make your own, as the engineering has to be right or you die. Having said that, I made my own; to overcome my inability to computer engineer and crash test the result, I just made it massively strong. 3 -1/2" square tube 1/4" thick wall, it pivots on 1-1/4" pins and...

I thought a picture of the SAME Mercury would be in order; the loader is from a 1965 MF35, I made the rops and the hedge cutter in my home workshop. And some other stuff not pictured.

I live in Portugal and have a 1985 SAME Mercury 85 special 4wd. I doubt anyone on this forum has one; but if someone does, add a post here and I'll get a notification. As far as I know there is no English language manuals for this model, however I've done quite a bit of work on mine and have...

Thanks guys; The FEL was made for an MF35. Amazingly, the chrome on the cylinders is intact, and the rods do appear to be original; although they are double acting, and I don't think that was common at the time. I replaced the seals some years ago, internal leakage causes the arms to drop now so...

I wanted to rebuild my FEL for a long time; it痴 more than 50 years old and all the pivot holes are egg shaped, the pins worn out, and generally it was a shake rattle and roll situation. When the top mount cracked, it seemed time to get into it. I don稚 know if any of this will be useful to...

I found a picture of the thing I made to mount on the 3-point; as you can see, simplicity itself. Pull, lift, drive. Drop and revers to release the waste. Fast! Cheap!

I go through blade faster than I can afford; so last time I just welded new edges on, cut from old used blades.

I have steel wheels I made from small propane tanks. BUT, as you can see on the top left of the attached photo, I still got a flat. Well, sort of a crumple.

Thanks, everyone. I was surprised at how well it works; but I do have really soft sandy ground. I went through a lot of small roots, 2 irrigation lines, some clay and gravel, but it was mostly sand. My tractor is 4 tons and 4wd, but the bucket has nowhere near the power of a backhoe; I don't...

I dug holes 8" diameter and 3' deep; that was a real chore. I made a tool to help. Guess I'll post that in the appropriate thread... I also had water in the holes the next day. I puled out the water with a shop vac and poured concrete it, then set the pole [5-6" pressure treated rough round]...

Just a simple thing, no moving parts. It's reservable, so can be used forward or backwards.

I don't need anything, but thanks for asking! I just finished rebuilding my MF 35-12 loader; I made all new mounting bushings, bored the ends of the cylinders and put in bronze bushings, and replaced the main pivot blocks. I invented a "backyard machinist" method for boring out the mount holes...