JD Model 70 resurrection

[OldSchoolGirl]

beenthere - Yes, picture on the far right.. originally on the left when I tried to download them the first time. I kinda knew it was the manifold, sort of, but I hate to say the wrong words. Doesn't appear to leak yet, but there's not much left of that curved section; it's all rotted beneath. Not sure I can do that work myself, but I'll look at the part on ebay. AND I'll practice with the hand-clutch. Wheelies aren't my thing

Mace Canute - I'd like to see that blade as well. I used a blade on an NAA and it was handy.

Thanks for your continued advice and support!! We really appreciate it!!


T&L

 

[mdross1]

That manifold looks to be in tough shape sure would not be scratching around that spot you just might break through hard to tell from a picture.
Just finished restoring our 70 with all new clutch parts, which by the way is a stout one. No doubt you pulled the front wheels slamming the clutch. The momentum of near 700lbs of flywheel, crankshaft, belt pulley has to go somewhere. Sure is some open country out there not like living near a mountain range.

 

[flusher]

I have a gas 70 with an 8' blade on it. Works great for pushing snow with a very fast reverse gear on them! A friend built a custom carriage for the dozer from the blade back that would be strong enough to last under a 5020! He definitely believed in the old adage "Leave no doubt, build it stout!" Of all the tractors I own I like the looks of the 70 best. Here's a web pic of one; mine isn't as pretty..yet!

Great looking 70.

 

[OldSchoolGirl]

That manifold looks to be in tough shape sure would not be scratching around that spot you just might break through hard to tell from a picture.
Just finished restoring our 70 with all new clutch parts, which by the way is a stout one. No doubt you pulled the front wheels slamming the clutch. The momentum of near 700lbs of flywheel, crankshaft, belt pulley has to go somewhere. Sure is some open country out there not like living near a mountain range.

mdross1 - I agree, it's not to be messed with too much - pieces flake and fall off in my hand. We'll probably deal with that next spring or summer. For now we pulled the battery and the 70 is sitting outside for the winter in the equipment yard where we dragged all the other farm implements from various points on the ranch. But assuming it does break through...what are the manifestations/ramifications of that happening?

You're right...very, very open country. And right now, the main priority is keeping the livestock fed during the -20 and blizzards already - blizzards in November, really??

Looked at your restoration thread - really nice to see old equipment getting the respect it deserves. Hope to get to that stage someday, but for now, this poor old 70 is in strict survival mode. We are just tickled to get it running without a lot of $$ spent...


T&L

 

[mdross1]

Certainly understand about keeping the livestock fed no matter what. Winter has shown up early for a lot of us. If that manifold breaks through you have no other choice but replace it either with used (from salvage yards) or new from quite a few sources expect to pay new around $250.00 or there abouts. They are quite easy to change provided the old hardware is not so bad you cannot get a wrench or socket on them. PS, use only 6 point tools and do no be afraid to lightly hammer the tools onto the bolts especially the exhaust manifold. You may even have to resort to heat to not break the bolts.

Our 70 was an outside tractor as well and in very tough shape stuck engine and all. These machines were built to last more than one lifetime a little TLC will go along way. Wish you the best.

MDR

 

[OldSchoolGirl]

Greetings from Thelma and Louise -

Winter was relatively light in terms of snow at Thelma's place, thankfully, as Thelma has enough to do keeping the place going, getting rid of excess "stuff", figuring out what's next, and keeping the livestock fed. Louise spent the winter elsewhere, doing elsewhere things, but we girls are back together this week, working livestock, pondering tractors, etc...

Louise is posting a big-n-little picture here, because while the 70 is the primary focus of this thread and the tractor we need to (fix and) use, Thelma has a couple of others she has to deal with, and one is an older 8760 and the assorted implements used with it. My BIL used it to farm (wheat), but since she's leasing the farming land now, selling the big boy will have to be dealt with. Ugh. More things we don't much about - selling tractors. Louise drove it last fall a little bit to get familiar with it (because, let's face it, it's awesome!), and Thelma got comfortable enough with it that she was prepared to use the dozer blade this winter to plow if necessary, which it wasn't.

Thelma signed up for a welding class, and since Louise was here she went too. Had a great instructor and he pretty much turned us loose in the welding booths to practice. Hope to use the knowledge from this class fixing things like livestock panels, fences, nothing too major or life-supporting. We'll fire up the 70 in April and hopefully pick up where we left off last fall - chugging along.

T&L

 

[Xfaxman]

Good to hear from you . :thumbsup:

Talk about moving some snow!

 

[duke7595]

I just happened upon your posts this evening, to say the least I'm very impressed with your tenacity, you are a can do type of person. I really like the 70 and hope
you manage to get it finished this Spring/ summer please let us know how you are coming along.
P.S. You have more energy than most 20 year old's, strictly old school all the way.

 

[mdross1]

Good to hear from you again we have had a winter to brag about still have 4' of snow on the ground. Our 70 needs the nose tin taken back off to work on the power steering it acted up last fall. Since then have studied up on it's weaknesses and have the parts to repair it. Really looking forward to seeing how it does compared to our 60,which is a great tractor.
Good luck with yours it should be an easy fix and now your a welder another very handy talent to have.
MDR

 

[OldSchoolGirl]

Wow, time flies... Just got back on the Model 70 - it started right up for a friend of Thelma's earlier this month, but then the clutch plates on the PTO for the rotary cutter disintegrated, so she ordered new ones and of course when they came in it was just us here...but we figured out how to replace those this morning, and we were off to the races. I was all Eddie Albert at the start, but was definitely Eva Gabor a half hour later when I don't know how to put the darn thing in reverse and ended up mowing about a mile of driveway until I could find a place to turn around. Go ahead and giggle, that's why I put this on here. Is there some magical thing I have to do to get it in reverse?

Also...got the "ease" on the clutch thing DOWN! "Snap" it forward is a relative term, I've discovered. My idea of snap and the JD clutch snap are different MUCH more fun when all four wheels stay on the ground.

T&L