Adoom

Project thread Discuss

Discussion thread Started doing some work on this after getting it yesterday. I think it's not been out in the rain for years. It's dry as a bone, but I've found many holes that water will come in because of perished or missing rubber. Little sign of rust. Found that the LARGE battery was doing double duty as an engine steady against the alternator. Replaced the old alternator belt with a shorter one so it didn't hit the battery. The fuel pump is one of those with a glass bowl on top. The rubber seal for the glass bowl is split and leaking. Where can I get one??? Removed the brake master cylinder. It's a dual circuit one. I don't know if these are meant to come apart... Circlip #1 was in 3 pieces. Then a tight fitting nylon washer, I had to drill holes in it to remove it Then a rubber seal, also had to mangle to remove. Then a kind of springy washer. Then another Circlip, way deep in there. The circlip pliers didn't quite reach but I got it out with some wangling. It was filthy, full of gunge. The cylinder doesn't appear pitted. It almost seems sleeved in brass?? Taking it to MP Autoparts tomorrow to see if they can get a kit. I'll probably replace the rear wheel cylinders and rebuild the calipers too. And I found the fan switch! It was the knob I thought was the choke.

Did it get hot enough? I used the oxy acetelene when I did mine.

I'm here, I'm here! Did someone say my name?

Pics? From your description, it sounds like the problem is with the 'new' gearbox. Can you shine a light and look down between the seal and output shaft? Or poke a pokey thing down there to feel for an obstruction?

Four months later.... Progress?

Yeh au, White paint, for the win. It looks basically done! Race against the STARVIA!?!

Supercheap had a sale on Saturday, so I got 5L of Penrite 85W140 LSD oil. I drained out the old stuff. Filled it up with penrite. Then ran it in 5th while on axle stands. Then drained that oil out. It was all foamy, like mixed with water. Then filled it again, ran it in 5th, drained it. It not as foamy. Then filled it again and decided that was enough. While running it on the axle stands I could see that the gearbox output shaft seal was leaking and spraying the underside of the car with oil. Yay. Burnt gear oil smells great. So I'll need a new seal. I'm sure I've done this before.... I hope its not a problem with a bearing or something that's causing the seal to fail prematurely.

What LSD oil are you using? I need to change mine, but don't recall what I was using. Was Castrol something AFAIK...

Aaahahahhhahahahahahaahahhahahahahahahhaaaaaahhahhahahahaaaahhahaha hahaahha ha

Mine shuts off nicely, if I believe the hour meter, it's done about 710 hours.

I made a bonnet, to try cut down some noise, or at least reflect it towards the ground. I made it from rimu. LOL. The awesome finish is from the flap disc on the grinder. And on concrete, it cuts down almost, possibly, absolutely NO noise at all. WINNING!

Best I can do. This is where it stopped the second time. The engine starting "hunting" and then stopped. I pulled the pipe off the pump and cranked the engine, pump seems to work... I pulled the fuel pump apart and the diaphragms looked okay... So I put it back together and it would run kind of okay, but I had to have the choke out all the way. And the engine was "hunting". It would just die if I put the choke in. I suspect some dirt in the fuel line/carb. I did replace some fuel hose, but just blew out the inline mesh filter with compressed air instead of replacing it. I'll get a new filter.

I checked that the deck was level this morning. The blades are about 50mm off the ground at the lowest setting. I buzzed the grass strip down the drive. It looked okay, so I did the verge too. The rear steer is a bit loose. I have to overcorrect the front wheels to pull the rear wheels straight, then straighten the front wheels again. So doing a tight turn is a bit involved. The rear steering is actuated with a pushrod that has a lever and yoke that runs in a smiley mouth. The yoke looks like it's worn so much that it's a loose fit in the ....mouth and the steering has to be turned loads to move the pushrod. Will take it over to the new section tomorrow and mow my lawn.

My system is: Cut it out. Weld in patches. Paint repair and any remaining traces of rust with POR15 following the documented prep steps. Overcoat with any other paint if the repair is exposed to sunlight, because POR15 changes colour when exposed to UV light.

Or dogs?

I found a manual. The cut height should be between 1.5" (40mm) and 4" (100mm). "The average lawn should be cut to 2.5" during the cool season and to over 3" during hot months". You could lose and elephant in that length of grass!!!? I've also got the tyre pressure way too high, should be only 12psi.

No test mow today. Couldn't find anywhere open that had the right oil filter. I got the oil though. The minimum cut height looks like it's about 50-60mm. Does that sound right? Or is that just my custom made deck?

So I worked on the deck today. I think I found the reason why it ate belts. The deck is not standard. There is a HUGE bolt that the clutch swing arm pivots on and it has two nuts locked together, they were on the top and getting in the way of the belt, I flipped the bolt around so the nuts are underneath after checking there was ample clearance from the blade. I also had to weld a handle on the bolt holding one of the blades on cause it was rounded. I sharpened the best one and put the other new one on. Then one of the deck hanging brackets broke. I didn't have any suitable steel to make a new one, so I just welded it. But it's all together! I tried engaging the blades. It sounds like it wants to take off! It was a bit late, so I'll do a test mow tomorrow if it's not raining. Oh yeh, I also drained the old black oil out, so I'll need to get some more oil when the shops open.

I had planned on working on the mower deck today... I got some R-clips to replace the split pins in the clevis pins that hold the deck on. I also got some replacement fuel hose and replaced the old perished hose. Then, for some reason I decided to remove the steering linkage from the left kingpin. I assumed there was a plastic bush that was worn down to nothing.... But it turned out, it was a metal bush. It was super loose because the two halves of the front crossmember had separated making the hole far too big. I couldn't clamp it closed while it was on the mower. So I took it off to put it in the vice. Then welded the shit out of it. The steering is better now. The top of the kingpin no longer rocks back and forth when you try turn.

95% sure it is not hydrostatic. It looks, on the outside, like all the geared gearboxes I have seen on youtube.

Nah. One large pulley on the gearbox input. All the gears live in the gearbox. I can't think of why it would not be engaged right away, unless there are a bunch of gear teeth missing?

Had a test ride just up the drive before it got dark. Initially there was no drive.... no matter the gear. Slipping belt???? So I lifted it back up, belt seemed fairly tight. I loosened the belt and tried turning the gearbox input pulley with it in gear. Pulley turns and wheels don't......!?!?!? How does this gearbox work?? I put it back down and tried again. Now it works. It starts with a jerk then slowwwwww. Is that normal?

My belts arrived today. I had time to install the drive belt tonight. Greased some of the dry rusty pivot joint bits and the steering. Adjusted the brake/clutch pushrod. Brakes seem to work with a little bit of pushing in the garage. I should have time tomorrow night for a test drive and a proper brake test.

So I got that replacement bearing. I knocked the old bearing out of its ring thing... it was in a ring thing. Noticed that the ring was "shimmed" with spots of braze.... Hmmmm. Oh well, knocked the ring onto the new bearing. Started putting the adjuster thing back together and thought "how can this work....? There is nothing to stop the bearing from spinning on this bush." Hmmm, the bush is a bit cracked... those aren't cracks! That's grain! It's made from WOOD?! And the bolt is a coachbolt. Sigh. I think I will make a new bush that can actually clamp the bearing center.