General freshen up of 1967 Ford 4100

[mopardude318]

WOW. I just read this thread from start to finish. You have some awesome skills, great talent! Very nice work you've done here.

 

[Pete O]

I've had to put the tractor restoration aside for the past couple of months due to some more pressing jobs, this week I finally got back to doing some more stuff on the tractor so thought I'd resurrect this thread.
The instrument cluster was in a sad state

I found a clip on youtube
Instrument Panel Renovation - YouTube
where the guy reconditions the same cluster, got in touch with the very nice chap from Missouri and he sent me a copy of the photoshopped repaired fascia he has created. I did essentially the same process Jim shows in his video, plus repairing the broken needle. Before reassembling the cluster I tested the voltage stabiliser and it was shot, I replaced it with a DC to DC converter from eBay, by pure chance the eBay component mounted to the same holes on the cluster casting that the original bimetal stabiliser was screwed to.

I used a modern silicon sealant to seal the two halves of the casing rather than the strip of cellophane tape originally used. I also made up a sachet of silica gel by emptying a teabag and refilling it with silica cat litter, glued it into a void inside the cluster to absorb moisture out of the assembly and hopefully avoid condensation.

The cluster came up pretty well with the photoshopped fascia, repaired needle and fresh enamel on the surround.

 

[Dave M7040]

I've had to put the tractor restoration aside for the past couple of months due to some more pressing jobs, this week I finally got back to doing some more stuff on the tractor so thought I'd resurrect this thread.
The instrument cluster was in a sad state
View attachment 547709
I found a clip on youtube
Instrument Panel Renovation - YouTube
where the guy reconditions the same cluster, got in touch with the very nice chap from Missouri and he sent me a copy of the photoshopped repaired fascia he has created. I did essentially the same process Jim shows in his video, plus repairing the broken needle. Before reassembling the cluster I tested the voltage stabiliser and it was shot, I replaced it with a DC to DC converter from eBay, by pure chance the eBay component mounted to the same holes on the cluster casting that the original bimetal stabiliser was screwed to.
View attachment 547710
I used a modern silicon sealant to seal the two halves of the casing rather than the strip of cellophane tape originally used. I also made up a sachet of silica gel by emptying a teabag and refilling it with silica cat litter, glued it into a void inside the cluster to absorb moisture out of the assembly and hopefully avoid condensation.
View attachment 547714
The cluster came up pretty well with the photoshopped fascia, repaired needle and fresh enamel on the surround.
View attachment 547711

Great work.......

Do you plan on calibrating the tach?

For the next one you do, I have learned that home depot sells various sizes of silica gel packets cheap. A. friend was saving old ones from electronics purchased and used them in their luggage when traveling. They did not realize the silica absorbed so much moisture and then needed a regen by heating in a microwave to dry out any moisture.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DampRid-42-oz-Fragrance-Free-Moisture-Absorber-Refill-FG30K/100390413

When I look at a photo of an old tractor I had, I just gave upon the instrument panel, put a piece of plywood in the hole and installed the basic oil pressure and temp gauges. Looked really bad.
You will motivate a lot of owners there is a new life possible!
Dave M7040

 

[Pete O]

Thanks for the comments Dave. I couldn't think of anywhere close to me where they might sell silica gel sachets, I had about a gallon of the stuff sitting around from making sodium silicate for metal casting so the teabag solution semed reasonable. I was tempted to make an instrument panel with some generic gauges but when I saw Jim's video I changed my mind. Nice to keep it mostly original after doing so much work on it, and this task was quite a simple one compared with a lot of the hydraulic stuff. I'll compare the tacho against an analogue rev counter that I have, whether I decide to calibrate it might depend on how far out it is.

 

[TSO]

I just stumbled across this thread and have enjoyed the last hour of reading. Excellent work. I don't have 5% of your skills but would love to tackle something like this down the road. Looking forward to the finished product when it's all back together.

 

[3Lfarms]

Great work! I love to see these old work horses brought back. I keep wanting to acquire a John Deere model G like my dad had when I was a kid as a restoration project.

 

[Pete O]

I've got the tractor back in the shed to continue the 'freshen up' that has turned into almost a complete restoration. Fitted up the reconditioned instrument cluster, here it is insitu- I decided to zero the hour meter, given the fact that it had not been working for an unknown period, the numbers displayed were meaningless. At least now it will reflect a known starting point.


Made a start on stripping and painting the wheels, one rear wheel done so far. Wore out one wire cup wheel on the angle grinder cleaning this up.

That wheel centre casting is incredibly heavy, I had water ballast in the tyres but I suspect it may not be necessary with those wheel centres.



A bit of contrast was in order for the retainers


The end result is certainly an improvement. Who needs mag wheels.


I should get the other rear wheel done this week, then both the front rims.

 

[banjodunn]

G'day Pete looking the goods would prob recommend water in the tyres still it helps alot with traction and stability

Jon

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I've got the tractor back in the shed to continue the 'freshen up' that has turned into almost a complete restoration. Fitted up the reconditioned instrument cluster, here it is insitu- I decided to zero the hour meter, given the fact that it had not been working for an unknown period, the numbers displayed were meaningless. At least now it will reflect a known starting point.
View attachment 552786

Made a start on stripping and painting the wheels, one rear wheel done so far. Wore out one wire cup wheel on the angle grinder cleaning this up.
View attachment 552787 View attachment 552788
That wheel centre casting is incredibly heavy, I had water ballast in the tyres but I suspect it may not be necessary with those wheel centres.

View attachment 552789 View attachment 552790

A bit of contrast was in order for the retainers
View attachment 552791

The end result is certainly an improvement. Who needs mag wheels.
View attachment 552792

I should get the other rear wheel done this week, then both the front rims.

Pete your project results are looking awesome and I expect 50 years from now it may still have a lot of life left in it.

 

[Pete O]

G'day Pete looking the goods would prob recommend water in the tyres still it helps alot with traction and stability

Jon

Yes, on reflection, with the loader and my hilly property I don't want it less stable than it was, so water will go back in.