S-373D Refurb

[duwem]

The madness has started.

This is my 422 hour tractor I bought that had sat outside for 10 years.

Everything mechanical works fine, but it does not look nice.

Just changed the engine and trans oil, and have a set of bar tires for front and rear on the way, so its time to start cleaning the tractor up and painting it.

Sandblasted the rear rims, took 2 hours and 2 bags of sand, but they are nice and clean. Will do the fronts next, then its on to the white sheet metal. Not sure how far I will go initially, the blue will be a lot of work with all the parts needing cleaned prior to paint.

 

[oliver28472]

I replaced the fronts on one of mine a few years ago and had to paint the inside. They had been repainted on the outside but the inside was pretty rusty when the tires came off.

 

[duwem]

I'm going to have the tire shop pull the tires off and then I will look at the insides and see if they need cleanup.

Trying to figure out if I should prime the rims, then have the tires mounted, have them mounted bare metal then prime ane paint, or just prime and paint them and hope they dont scratch them up when they put the tires on.

Thoughs?

 

[284 International]

I would suggest doing all the prep work and painting you can before taking them into the tire shop. That would let you get the inside of the rim primed and painted for corrosion protection, and avoid worries of overspray or masking the tire. Then, if the tire place does chip anything, you can simply touch up with a small brush.

If I ever do one of my tractors nicely, I think I'm going to experiment with the Harbor Freight powder coating kit for additional durability and longevity. There are many different colors of powder available online, and I think it would be a nice material to use for things like wheels, lift arms, transmission covers, and other relatively small pieces that see some amount of wear but are easily visible.

 

[duwem]

Got the bar tires today. Rears are Firestone R1's, fronts are some off brand but are practically new.

Going to take the rims in tomorrow to get the turfs taken off so I can continue to clean them for the bar tires.

Also stripped the hood with a disk in the angle grinder. I will still sandblast it, but this will make that go quicker.

 

[duwem]

Back two rims are now in primer ready for tires, finished blasting one front and got it primed. Hopefully I will get the other done this week so I can get the tires mounted next week and shoot the rims with IH white.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

My limited experience with painting rims suggests it would be best to paint them before mounting the tires. I've seen a lot of tires get oversprayed when people try to paint the rims with them mounted. I don't know of a good way to mask them off. I have used duct tape but as you go around the rim, the inside of the tape diameter is less than the outside so you get "buckling" on the inside and paint gets onto the gaps. It isn't terrible, but touchup of the tire shop I think would be easier than masking. My 2 cents...

 

[duwem]

I sandblased and primed the rims, and then got the tires mounted. Not much paint damage, but there was a little. Now I need to mask and finish coat, will be a PITA but will be nice with some time masking.

If I had known they were going to use plastic spoons to mount them up front I would have just painted them the final coat from the get go and just touched up the nicks.

Will post some pictures once I have them in color and mounted on the tractor.

 

[Freakingstang]

Good progress! Have you sourced any of the decals? I am going to tear mine apart in the winter after I get my grading done this spring/summer

 

[duwem]

You can get the hood decals one ebay for like $30 a side. Have not seen the Beaver ones (you do see "Bull" ones on there).

I would guess Valley Power offers decals, but have not inquired yet.

 

[duwem]

Wheels are done, tires mounted. Hood supports painted. Working on sandblasting the hood. Will bolt up the wheels after the paint has a week to cure.

 

[oliver28472]

If you haven't had the radiator rodded out you might as well do that while it is easy to get to. Don't let them paint it. I had one of mine done, cost about eighty bucks I think. Then I made radiator screens for both. I had some quarter inch plywood cut down to 12" by 14.75, used a hole saw in the corners and cut in between with my sawzall. The plywood frame was an inch all the way around. Wrapped acreen around it and stapled it to the plywood. It was a little tight. 14 and 5/8 would be a little better for width. Should be the same measurements for yours.

 

[duwem]

Tractor saw its first light in a while. Just got the radiator side panels on today which let me run it again.

Hood is blasted and in primer now. Have some dents to pound out then its just the dash and fenders left for white!

 

[skylarkguy]

Looking good! but that bit of green clashed a bit

 

[oliver28472]

You might want to put a petcock in the plug behind the oil filter before you paint. This will allow you to drain coolant out of the block when you change the coolant.

 

[duwem]

Hood done. Just the dash and fenders left for white!

 

[Freakingstang]

Looking good! What kind/color of paint did you end up using for the white and blue?

 

[duwem]

Ford Blue
Case IH White

Doing it again I would have gone with a more "white" than the creamy IH.

But, I had already done the wheels with IH white (as someone on here recommended) and didnt want to redo them. I actually like it, but now the headlight part doesnt match as well.

 

[duwem]

Done for now. All the white was sandblasted primed and painted. Check out page 1 for the before pictures. Its no show tractor, but a dramatic improvement from what I drug out of the weeds last fall.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

Done for now. All the white was sandblasted primed and painted. Check out page 1 for the before pictures. Its no show tractor, but a dramatic improvement from what I drug out of the weeds last fall.

Nice job - slap some stickers on and it's as good as new :thumbsup: