I hate reading a thread like this and then the OP never comes back to tell what happened. I don't wanta be that guy after you folks have helped me so much, so here is what I hope is the final chapter to this story of mechanical incompetence.
I got up this morning and decided that I would always wonder about the radiator if I didn't fix it the way its supposed to be. So I took Carey's advice above:
>>>It's just a threaded stud tacked in. If you can't find a stud the correct size cut the head off the bolt you have and use Loctite. <<<<
I don't have any Loctite at home, so I decided to go a step further and try to make it exactly like the diagram shown earlier in this thread that comes from the Hoye site. I sawed off the heads of the bolts I bought yesterday and essentially made them into stud bolts. Then I went by a friend's welding shop and got him to tack them into place with an arc welder. That made it work the same as original equipment. I could easily get 2 nuts on them below, and in fact was paranoid enough that I used a nylon lock nut for the 2nd one. Some of my hose connections might fail, but this radiator ain't gonna fall off the tractor.
I got it all put back together and worked it on the driveway for about an hour and everything works like new. Clemson, thanks for that info, but I had figured out it was a new radiator after I got it out. I suspect it must be an aftermarket since it didn't come with stud bolts, but its for sure new. I suspect that's the reason Fredricks put it together like they did, with 2 bolts coming from the underside. They had to have originally been tighter than I thought they were. I found that even after I turned the bottom hose clamp around properly, the radiator had to be tightened down a lot to get the fan blades to clear that hose. The shock absorbers had to be compressed quite a bit in order to get clearance, so they must have run those bolts in until they were either right against or nearly against the radiator in order for it to work. Maybe its not as big of an issue as I thought, but I feel much better about the tractor knowing its set up according to the original plan.
And I did get to try out that drain since I had put coolant in it yesterday. I let it drain into a clean bucket, then used one of my wife's tea pitchers to pour the coolant back in when I was finished. Obviously, she isn't at home.
I replaced the line from the drain to the radiator with one a little more flexible, and changed to the type of clamp that is tightened with a screw. If I don't ever get around to cutting on the bracket, I can drain the coolant when I do an oil change and take the line loose at the drain. That way I won't ever have to put any pressure on the radiator barb that caused all of this. Since I only need to change the oil once a year, I could just change oil and coolant at the same time and leave the bracket as is.
I figure I have about 10 hours of work in this oil change. I'm thinking of setting up my own Express Jiffy Oil Change business and making a lot of money.
Thanks again to all for the help!
I got up this morning and decided that I would always wonder about the radiator if I didn't fix it the way its supposed to be. So I took Carey's advice above:
>>>It's just a threaded stud tacked in. If you can't find a stud the correct size cut the head off the bolt you have and use Loctite. <<<<
I don't have any Loctite at home, so I decided to go a step further and try to make it exactly like the diagram shown earlier in this thread that comes from the Hoye site. I sawed off the heads of the bolts I bought yesterday and essentially made them into stud bolts. Then I went by a friend's welding shop and got him to tack them into place with an arc welder. That made it work the same as original equipment. I could easily get 2 nuts on them below, and in fact was paranoid enough that I used a nylon lock nut for the 2nd one. Some of my hose connections might fail, but this radiator ain't gonna fall off the tractor.
I got it all put back together and worked it on the driveway for about an hour and everything works like new. Clemson, thanks for that info, but I had figured out it was a new radiator after I got it out. I suspect it must be an aftermarket since it didn't come with stud bolts, but its for sure new. I suspect that's the reason Fredricks put it together like they did, with 2 bolts coming from the underside. They had to have originally been tighter than I thought they were. I found that even after I turned the bottom hose clamp around properly, the radiator had to be tightened down a lot to get the fan blades to clear that hose. The shock absorbers had to be compressed quite a bit in order to get clearance, so they must have run those bolts in until they were either right against or nearly against the radiator in order for it to work. Maybe its not as big of an issue as I thought, but I feel much better about the tractor knowing its set up according to the original plan.
And I did get to try out that drain since I had put coolant in it yesterday. I let it drain into a clean bucket, then used one of my wife's tea pitchers to pour the coolant back in when I was finished. Obviously, she isn't at home.
I replaced the line from the drain to the radiator with one a little more flexible, and changed to the type of clamp that is tightened with a screw. If I don't ever get around to cutting on the bracket, I can drain the coolant when I do an oil change and take the line loose at the drain. That way I won't ever have to put any pressure on the radiator barb that caused all of this. Since I only need to change the oil once a year, I could just change oil and coolant at the same time and leave the bracket as is.I figure I have about 10 hours of work in this oil change. I'm thinking of setting up my own Express Jiffy Oil Change business and making a lot of money.
Thanks again to all for the help!
