International 444, 1968. Progress Thread, Getting Going

[FlyFishn]

I use an ATV winch with various rigging - shackles, snatch blocks, straps, etc. It has done a ton of work over the years. I got a superwinch with synthetic line, 4500lb rated winch. No frayed steel cable to shred hands with.

We do need an engine hoist at some point. I have a 6.7L powerstroke diesel that is waiting for an engine rebuild in the barn... another long-term project. Right now the tractor, among other things, is taking priority.

 

[FlyFishn]

So a quick update -

I am combining a couple ideas on the transmission top positioning. I wrenched my back messing with it Sunday trying to armstrong it in to place. With all the on/off and then breaking the sealant at the end it was a lot of work - and I'm paying for it.

With the thought of close cribbing then knocking the slider gears in to place combined with the issue of getting the assembly in to place in the first place - I decided to rig the hoist to the rafters to get a line down over the transmission to hold the assembly and position it.

Since clearance is an issue - I used solid steel wire, sort of like coat hanger wire on a spool, or thick bailing wire. It is about 1/16" diameter. I made 2 slings to suspend the front and back.

The bad part is now the steering wheel has to come off. That is the target for today. Then hopefully I can work on the test fitting of the forks. Thursday the goal is to get a new gasket made and the transmission sealed up.

 

[DJ54]

Sounds like you need something like pictured below on a smaller scale. We used to set a lot of concrete pipes and used a lifter designed like this built by our mechanic/welder. I made one on a smaller scale to install 145 lb. wheel weights on my Farmall 130 & 140 yet clear the wheel & tire, but I have the advantage of an overhead beam with several chain hoists on trolleys. Whereas you'd have to roll the tractor a bit to position things.

That steering wheel should have a fine spline. I pulled the one off the 240U I have several years ago to replace it from when Dad accidently dropped a tree on it many years ago and bent it pretty bad. It finally broke 20 some years later. I soaked it pretty well with my 50/50 mix of Acetone and ATF for a few hours. Sat in the seat and gave it a big yank. Dang near hit myself in the nose with it when it came off a whole lot easier than expected. Won't hurt a thing to put a little never-seize on the splines when you put it back on, never know when it may have to come off again.

 

[FlyFishn]

I have some ideas on putting in a 4 post mobile gantry crane in the shop at some point. We use them at work every day and they make the work we do possible, and what we can do without they make a lot easier (and save our backs).

That said, this is how I have the trans cover rigged at the moment. The steel wire is thin enough I can get close clearance in the housings upon "landing". The doubled over line on the snatch block isn't for the load, its to reduce the line speed. I'd be half tempted to put another block up top and triple the ratio to make it slower. But at 1/2 it works OK. It is just a very tedious movement and every "click" of the winch makes a difference up or down. It is among the most fine positioning requirements I've ever tried to do like this.

I think I have the gears/shifter in a position where I can repeat the fork/slider gear alignment. The trick I have come up with is to have the range shifter in the middle between the ranges. Then when I get the other slider gears (the rear 2 namely) knocked in position - lower the cover down the rest of the way then use the range shifter to nudge the cover fore/aft to align the bolt holes.

I will clean the rest of the casting faces and make the new gasket tonight and give it a shot again. If everything fits well I'll move on to the sealing.

After this picture was taken I shortened up the rear steel wire to level out the fitment more than what you see.

 

[DJ54]

Some long bolts of appropriate size make great guides to get it in the proper position. I have more than several sizes of Gr. 2 bolts for this purpose. They don't have to be hard just using them for guide pins and won't break the bank.

 

[FlyFishn]

I had to modify my rigging technique on the cover. The wire slings were in the way of the sealant and gasket - I didn't want to mess any of that up during the process. So I used a pair of vice grips to rig off of the shifter. Not pretty, but it worked great.

I sealed the casting + gasket side first, tightened the cover on to press the gasket and sealant, then removed the cover and added the sealant to the top of the gasket. Of course, when I was at that stage I misaligned the gears. It took 3 tries of getting the cover off, resetting the gears, etc but I got it.

The transmission is all set to go now. Time to move on to the lift housing and the rest of the hydraulics.

 

[DJ54]

Atta' boy...

 

[FlyFishn]

I got the lift housing back in place. So that wraps up all the "hard" work on this end of the work - dealing with the transmission issues (resolved now). The next end of the work, once everything is back together with the hydraulics etc, is the engine. I'm hoping to get to that next week in to next weekend. We'll see how things go.

 

[FlyFishn]

This week's progress so far - the remote valve and lines are back together.

I am working on the suction filter and line now. The new filter is a single unit with the suction tube. The way the filter housing seals is with an O-ring. There is no screw pressure, just an O-ring slipped in to the port in the lift housing. I can't get the new filter housing to go in place.

I got my calipers out and the O-ring groove in the old housing is 1.689" and the new one is 1.735". That is a .046" increase.

So the question is what to do about it. If I had access to a lathe I would be tempted to chuck up the filter/housing (cant separate without destroying) and turn down the seal groove.

Since that isn't an option - what ideas do any of you have?

I don't think you can simply go to a parts place like NAPA or O'Rileys for another O-ring that is a hair smaller because unless they have a vehicle make, model, year and/or part number the people there are useless. You cant search parts like this by dimensions.

 

[dieselscout80]

Lube it up then take a chunk of say 1.5” pvc and use it and a hammer to tap it into place.