Bob's 414-8

Thanks Nappy.  

Today was a busy day and doing some weed eating and mowing. The fuel pump is on, the inside of the input shaft pulley looked a little rough so it was resurfaced, brake band is blasted, brake pulley is painted, new rear keys are in and everything covered in white lithium grease and ready to go back together tomorrow.  Bob decided to go with a stud kit so I had no choice but to paint the only thing left red to do back there, the inside of the hubs.  They looked good but with all the new back there it just had to be done before I left today, according to me anyway...  

 

Tractor is looking good.  The rear end fluid looked a little milky so it was serviced, hubs and all pulleys are on with stud kit, new locks and jam nuts.  It's looking really nice back there, much like a restored one. 

PTO clutch plate is on, inner bearing is greased, and the head is on with a new gasket and plug.  It's running again now so Monday it will get run for 30 minutes, then the head re-torqued and oil changed.  

 

I tried to save the old choke cable but it didn't work out so it got a new one.  After that the engine was run in for 30 mins then the oil drained while it was hot, it was pretty nasty as you can see in the pic.  After the engine cooled back down the top shield came back off and the head was re-torqued.  It's amazing how head bolts loosen up after being run in.  Most peeps have problems because they skip this step...  

I started digging into the circuit board after that because it was dead,  I did a lot of testing and to my surprise the oil sensor is good, as are most of the safety switches.  There are 2 bulbs out and a lot of wiring and connection issues on the board and in the tractor.  I have a setup to test the bulbs on the test bench when taken off, there's a pic below.  I stock the bulbs and the rest of the issues won't be hard, just time consuming.  I think I can make it all work again and save the circuit board, we'll see.  

 

I dug into all the wiring + connection problems for the circuit board starting first thing this morning.   I really wanted to see if I could get all of the lights working.  I'm happy so say they all work exactly as they should, even the low oil light.  They do come in real handy sometimes.  

Next up was replacing the 4 front wheel bearings with sealed precision bearings and shimming the front wheels.  It got new front dust caps and no more need to grease the front wheels is always a nice bonus.  The front end red got touched up while everything was apart, everything else is greased and good to go.  The motor is all put back together, hood is on, PTO is back together + set up, and a new drive belt is on the engine pulley. 

A few other things are underway but the pics are still on the camera and it's getting late once again, time sure flies...  

 

I got into checking the rest of the wiring last night and the pos battery cable was getting eaten up because of the wrong battery being on it.  The wrong battery on this tractor with the terminals on the back and the slope of the hood is a big accident waiting to happen.  The made in China battery cable wasn't doing so good either, of course...  A new pos cable was made, the ground was replaced with one of our fancy braided copper cables and moved to the other side so the battery could be turned around.  We can all sleep better now.   

The steps got blasted and painted before I left last night.  The square rubber bumpers were gone as well and you can see where the rear fender was hitting the step.  We have those in stock so they will be put on after the paint dries and new step treads put on them.  

This one is almost a wrap for this go around.  We've got more things in mind for this one later but he needs it to mow with now.  

Bob is set to possibly pick it up next Monday.  All that's left is putting the step treads on once the paint cures a little more, and mounting the rear fender + seat.  I'm also looking into a different type of custom battery hold down where the rods don't fall out like they do sometimes and disappear like these have.  Parts for that little project should be here tomorrow.  

 

I finished up a new battery mount for Bob's 414 that I will be using from now on.  It takes 2 square D hooks, and a nice 40" strap, simple but effective.  One D ring mounts to the original ground bolt, the other side had a 5/16" hole drilled for it.  The strap has 3 rows of teeth and grabs really well.

Now it's like the rest of the tractor as far as no tools needed as far as the mount goes anyway.  No more rusty parts near battery terminals or vent holes, or chasing rods that fall out and get lost either.  

 

I had forgotten that only Wheel Horse belts fit these so I have some on the way.  The WH belts are a true 82" and most other belts that say they are 82" are only 81-1/2", the extra 1/2"  makes a big difference on the 87 up tractors.  All that's left is getting the correct belt on it and putting the parts back on needed to do a belt and it will be done.

The step treads are done so I took pics of those, not like most peeps haven't seen how I do them a thousand times before...  

 

Sorry no update last night, right when I was getting ready to do it the phone started ringing and was on it until well after bedtime last night.  I still need a vacation...  

The belts came in yesterday and they fit perfect.  I love seeing the Made in USA on things.  I got it all back together and ran it around the property for awhile wide open and the carb started acting up.  I tried adjusting it again but nothing would work for very long.  Brought it back in the shop and fuel was running out of the carb.   

Back up it went on the forklift to take the bowl off and get a look inside.  Sure enough there was some rust in the bowl and running around at high rpm sucked some of it up where it didn't belong.  After cleaning it all out it's back to normal.  

 

Bob brought his 414 back for round 2 today since mowing season is over.  It's been about 4 months since the last post so we'll pick up where we left off in here tomorrow.  Work will start on it tomorrow and should be finished up in a few weeks.  Something good to do while the Air Horse is on hold until Andres comes up from Dallas.