MM BF restoration-more progress

[flusher]

It's been a while, but I finally got back to this project after spending the better parts of two months building a Japanese pergola.

The parts have been sprayed with grey primer and now its time for the fun part--spraying the Prairie Gold outer coats.



I'll be spraying PG for another week or so. Then do the brakes and then start reassembly--rear end first.

 

[flusher]

It's been a while, but I finally got back to this project after spending the better parts of two months building a Japanese pergola.

The parts have been sprayed with grey primer and now its time for the fun part--spraying the Prairie Gold outer coats.



I'll be spraying PG for another week or so. Then do the brakes and then start reassembly--rear end first.

Progress at last--finished painting the Prairie Gold parts--lotsa big parts and little parts.



Now onto reassembly.
First job--rebuild the U-joints on the propeller shaft (aka drive shaft) between the engine/clutch and the tranny/rear end assembly. The shaft is about 25" long and has rather small size U-joints on each end. The U-joint on the engine end is working OK, but I'll rebuild it anyway. The joint on the tranny end is siezed around one rotation axis so it needs to be rebuilt regardless.



I'm using that U-joint tool from Harbor Freight--works OK.



I pressed out one of the cups. Problem with these small U-joints is that the cup only presses out about 0.2" so it's hard to grip the end of the cup in a vice or with Vice grips to pull the cup out of the yoke. Still scratching my head over this glitch. Want to get the cups removed without possibly messing up the yokes by beating on them with the BFH.

 

[flusher]

Progress at last--finished painting the Prairie Gold parts--lotsa big parts and little parts.

[

Now onto reassembly.
First job--rebuild the U-joints on the propeller shaft (aka drive shaft) between the engine/clutch and the tranny/rear end assembly. The shaft is about 25" long and has rather small size U-joints on each end. The U-joint on the engine end is working OK, but I'll rebuild it anyway. The joint on the tranny end is siezed around one rotation axis so it needs to be rebuilt regardless.

View attachment 180730

I'm using that U-joint tool from Harbor Freight--works OK.

View attachment 180731

I pressed out one of the cups. Problem with these small U-joints is that the cup only presses out about 0.2" so it's hard to grip the end of the cup in a vice or with Vice grips to pull the cup out of the yoke. Still scratching my head over this glitch. Want to get the cups removed without possibly messing up the yokes by beating on them with the BFH.

View attachment 180732

I messed around Saturday with the U-joints. No luck pressing the cups out. I'll get the 4-1/2" angle grinder fired up with a cutoff blade and slice up the spider. The cups should press out then.

 

[flusher]

Got the U-joints disassembled without cutting the journals (aka cross, spider). Had to use a little bit of hammering to get the job done. Trying to press out the caps with that HF c-clamp style tool didn't work. It pushes one cap out and the other cap into the yoke. Problem was that I couldn't get a grip on the exposed cap to yank it out.

So I set the U-joint assembly in a vise as shown here. Then I carefully hammered on the yoke and drove out the top cap in the photo. Flipped the assembly and repeated for the other cap.



That method pushed the caps out far enough to get to the seal rings which I managed to pry apart with a screwdriver and a long nose pliers. The journal dropped out then with no problem.



This small 1951-style U-joint is pretty rude and crude--no needle bearings, just the caps acting as bushings. The journal is drilled out so you can pack some grease there, but I don't think its a good way to get lubricant to the moving parts.



The auto parts guy was able to find a matching U-joint rebuild kit--should be at his place today.

Next- seal the inside of the 12-gal fuel tank that has lotsa rust and a few holes. I used a piece of copper foil and JB Weld to seal the largest hole (about 1/4" diameter).



Not the best looking patch job, but it's on the bottom of the tank where nobody will see it. I need to clean out the inside better. Plan to dump a couple pounds of steel nuts into the tank and then shake it up. Don't know if my paint shaker can handle the tank. May have to use the old fashioned method--attach the tank to the rear wheel of my Mahindra 5525 and drive around awhile to get the nuts to knock off the rest of the rust. Then I'll seal the tank. Don't know which sealing product I'll end up using. Need to do some homework here.

 

[boxygen]

Hey Flusher,
Looking real good. As far as your tank goes POR15 has fuel tank repair products/kits. I have not used their fuel tank products but I have used their paint and other body work products and they are excellent. Their stuff is not cheap, but its well worth it when your goal is to do the best repair possible. I've painted three truck frames with their paint, the rockerpanels of my truck, the angle iron and hooks that I welded to the bucket of my tractor and other misc. items. 90% of the paint is still on the tractor bucket even after I've moved about 100 yards of sand and crushed stone! I couldnt believe it held up so well. Wear rubber gloves when using their products or you will be wearing in on your hands for a week! :thumbsup: Check out their website POR15.com. Their body filler is excellent too, much better than what you would buy at any auto parts store.

 

[flusher]

Thanks for the info. POR15 is one of the candidates I've checked out. As you say, it's pricy, but probably worth it.

 

[flusher]

Was able to make a little more progress on reassembly. Got the right rear bull-gear-type axle reinstalled today. It's heavy and bulky.

Cut paper gaskets 1/32" thick to seal the axle-to-differential housing joint. Permatex gasket sealer (the tacky kind).



There's a large banjo fitting that's sandwiched between the axle and differential housings. It carries the right main rail that forms the main part of the forward tractor structure.



A couple of hoists and some chain lengths make the job fairly easy.



But it still took me the better part of 2 hours to get the axle fitted into the differential and get the bolts retightened.

 

[whodat526]

cant wait to see it all back together

 

[irvingj]

Looking real nice, Flusher! :thumbsup:

I'll admit I had to do a bit of research to see that MM stands for Minneapolis Moline.... Saw my first one of those at a tractor exhibition/rural fair in MO last summer; there were actually a pair of them there. Looked like they were very well made, nice heavy steel used. The two I saw were quite a bit larger than yours, but I don't remember what models they were....

I'll also be waiting for the finished pics!

Curious: did your replacement u-joints come with needles in them?

 

[tomnky]

Flusher The BF is going to look great.

I have been lurking on this one as My Dad actually owned one in the early 60's, He had a mowing machine and a set of plows for it as well. He sold all of it in 1962 for a whopping $750.00 and it was in great shape ! Good Luck on her, I am extremely envious.