Couple of 1864 Questions...

[TractorLarry]

Ok, over the last month I've gotten just about everything done on this tractor:

Re-animated - Check.
New Battery - Check.
Rebuilt Carb - Check.
Air Filter Change - Check.
Fuel Filter change - Check.
Oil/Filter change - Check.
Plugs changed - Check.
Hydro Fluid/Filter change - Check.
New belts - Check.
New Gators - Check.
All greased up - Check.

Anything else anyone can think of given it's previous 7 year hybernation?

I've got one more issue I want to address before putting it away for the winter...

The steering wheel is off-center by a good 1/4 turn. I've verified the tractor has never been broken (only has 135 hours on it), run into anything, etc... Nothing in the steering has ever been taken apart or adjusted. As best we can tell, it came from the factory like this.

Is this unusual? When shipped to dealers, are the steering wheels installed or does the dealer do this during prep? Possibly they just did a sloppy job of it?

I'd like to center it up. I assume I'd just remove the wheel cap/nut and rotate it to the correct position on the spline. I've heard this can be a bear to get off so suggestions would be welcome.

A couple of other things...

When I had the deck out and replaced the belts, I noticed the idler pully has a grease fitting on the arm where it attaches to the deck, but there is no fitting for the pully itself. Is this a sealed assy, and it's just assumed it will wear out and have to be replaced eventually?

On the back of the tractor there is an adjustment for "height". I assume this is the deck height lower limit. When the deck hits this limit, does the guage on the right side of the tractor continue to go downwards? I ask because when the deck stops, there appears (sounds like) there is still some travel left in the hydraulics. After it stops lowering, there is a period of time before you hear the bypass valve kick in.

If I wanted the deck to be lower by 1/2" or so, is this what I would adjust?

Tires - When one buys replacement tires, do you normally buy entire wheel/tire assemblies, or just tires and take them somewhere to be mounted? These tires are 12 years old now. The rears look great. The fronts either don't come with much tread, or they are worn pretty good. There is still tread, but not a lot of it. Is time a factor on these tires (like cars), and is 12 years too long for them?

Finally, there is a 25-hour service item to adjust some bolts that butt up against the front axle beam assy. You losen the nuts, back it out against the axle, then tighten the nuts.

I don't see any problem doing this adjustment, but I'm curious what exactly this is for and what exactly these bolts do.

Thanks

-Larry

 

[MrJimi]

Larry, the steering wheel is real easy, take off the decorative center cap, take the nut off, line your wheels straight and replace the steering wheel centered and you will be a happy camper, its only a splined shaft and if it won't come off, pull on the left side then the right and wiggle it off and put a spot of grease on the spline for next time
And most rubber seals will rot after awhile, expect leaks
Jim

 

[TractorLarry]

That's what I thought, and the grease idea had occured to me as well

Thanks!

-Larry

Larry, the steering wheel is real easy, take off the decorative center cap, take the nut off, line your wheels straight and replace the steering wheel centered and you will be a happy camper, its only a splined shaft and if it won't come off, pull on the left side then the right and wiggle it off and put a spot of grease on the spline for next time
Jim

 

[MrJimi]

I recently bought a Troybilt Bronco and that wheel was crooked and thats all I did. I like the easy stuff
Jim

 

[TractorLarry]

Yeah, I'll take just about anything but pulling that deck

-Larry

I recently bought a Troybilt Bronco and that wheel was crooked and thats all I did. I like the easy stuff
Jim

 

[art]

Yeah, I'll take just about anything but pulling that deck

-Larry

That deck is easy to pull when done right! About 60 seconds max with just a little more to reinstall.

 

[TractorLarry]

On my tractor, that deck will not come out without jacking up the front so the out-riggers can clear the front tires.

I tried every way possible.

It also has problems clearing the lift bolts under the frame.

To be honest, the 2 min it takes to jack up the front end makes it easy.

Putting it back in is harder when you're alone, trying to get all 4 points lined up.

-Larry

That deck is easy to pull when done right! About 60 seconds max with just a little more to reinstall.