Dearborn 10-80 should I paint?, Ford 202 should I buy?

Hi, All,

I bought a dearborn 10-80 this weekend off of CL. It
was astoundingly complete, and wasn't too high -
it was less than any fo the 2-14s I have seen
around here that are anything better than dog
meat.

The only real problem is that hard use wore
through one of the cast iron bearing dust caps, so
that bearing has a ton of play and I assume needs
R+R. Theres a sheared bolt in the 3-point rig, so
I am going to want to diassemble a bit to get at
the head of the sheared bolt.

Since it will be mostly apart by then, and it
doesn't have even the slightest hint of ANYTHING
but pitted rust on it, is there any point to
thinking about painting it? Short of paying twice
what I paid for the plow to have it blasted and
primed, is there any surface prep that would be a
at all sensible? I only have a week or two to get
this back together and in the soil.

The guy selling the 10-80 also had a tired-looking
6-foot Ford 202 for $350. I don't know anything
about this disc other than I see posts about
bearing being impossible to find. I'd be pulling
it with a 601 or a Jubilee. Any comments or
suggestions welcome.

thanks

You will find that most Dearborn equipment was painted red. As for the Ford 202, I don't know what color they were.

As for the 10-80 all the paint in the world will not make it run better so I would spend my money on machine work to fix the bearing and skip the paint till someday.
The 202 was a good disc and $350 is not a bad price - IF as you say the bearings are good.
You can easily check them if you bring a 2x4 and a chunk of wood for a fulcrum and lift up each corner of the frame and watch for up and down play in the bearings as you lever it up and down.
They used either the cast iron or roller bearings on that model.
Bearings should still be available from Shoupparts.com and other sources but will cost a bit if you have to renew tham all.
Here is a 202 that I found on Google.

My Ford 202 disc is blue. I unbolted 2 bearing caps and dropped one gang to look at bearings, as I thought they felt sloppie and pressing against top caps. To my surprise they were "steel on steel, with round knob in center, for side pressure control". This is far better than our previous "dearborn disc, which had wood bearings". I put the gang back on as there apeared tobe more use yet (if greased every day, of use).
The only design problem, is dirt can get in bearings, especially in dead furrow, on plowed ground and mix with grease, therby reducing its life. This can be judged by looking "how thin the top cap is, against gang spool".
Since mine appeared to have quite a bit of life in the bearing wear, I plan on a type of dirt seal on each side of the bearing caps, to the edge of the spool flange (where spool touches disc blade). I have purchased 3/8 nylon rope (2 each side), which I plan on cuting to fit around spool, and melt the ends together. I then was going to use "Fiberglass" to fasten over the ropes and caps, to hold the rope from turning. I feel this would "reduce the area fo dirt, to enter bearing, and therby extend the grease life, and consequent bearing life. Just have to "find a round "TOOIT" yet.

Charles Krammin SW MI