450 Rebuild / Restoration

I thought I would share some of my restoration photos. I am new to this forum. Thought others out there may appreciate. More to come...





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1958 Farmall 450.
It had some issues...
ran but lacked power. TA was out. LH Brake would stick.

After a little digging...
-Engine block was cracked around main support
-Head was cracked (typical)
-LH bull pinion bearing was split on outer race
-LH bull gear had missing tooth
-4th gear had chipped and cracked teeth
-Exhaust manifold threads for pipe were worn off, leaked around exhaust pipe
-Power steering was intermittent
-It appears the rear case was cracked from a failed bearing, the repair looks adequate however
-Cam bearings were scored
-Pitted main bearings
-Typical leaks everywhere for a tractor this age
 
TA Back Together. Rebuilt this on a 95 degree day. Assembly grease did not work too well to hold all the needles in place... :D

Using one of the frame rails as a support for the TA....
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This is where the bull gear started to wear thru the rear case. The case had been repaired previously with a steel plate and 1/4" IH bolts tapped into the case. I know the repair has to be adequate, not sure where someone might find 30 or so IH bolts to put in there. So the repair must have been a dealer repair a while back
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Removed transmission gears to replace cracked & chipped teeth. 1st gear on input shaft and 4th/5th gear on output shaft.
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Use caution when buying aftermarket parts. I had some issues with and aftermarket m/450 manifold. The seller was kind enough to take the parts back. The propane manifold fit much better. My rule of thumb is: If the part still functions, every effort should be made to reuse the factory original parts. The bolts in this manifold came thru at an angle, making a tight seal impossible. The original manifold had studs.

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Putting engine block back together. Got a good used block out of a super M and had it checked for cracks. Put the 4-1/8 bore kit in. New cam. Crank ground and balanced. 0.20 under bearings. New seals
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I got a good used C264 block from a donor tractor. Cleaned it and checked for cracks and found none. I got the C281 overbore kit for it and started assembly. I put the block back onto the tractor but had to put the head on separate due to the block being too heavy for my engine stand. I had the crank ground and balanced to 0.020 under. Installed new undersized bearings, pistons, rings, cam bearings, cam, seals. I think its impressive that a felt seal is used for the main seal. I make sure to soak that with oil prior to assembly. Installed a new clutch and put engine back onto tractor. It started right up! I ran it for a bit and re-torqued the head, and reset valve clearance. Put it to the test on the hills and it pulls all the hills in SE Iowa without breaking a sweat. Tried it out on the 24T and made some small squares. Found some oil seeping from the rear of the clutch. Turns out the TA input seal was leaking. I had to split the tractor again. The seal I put in was pretty poor quality. The spring was not applying any pressure to the shaft. Use caution when buying parts from an online source. Ran to napa with the number needed for a SKF seal and got a new one installed. Took care of that leak.
 
Thanks for sharing! I enjoy seeing other people's restoration projects and what sorts of issues are uncovered during the tear down. Looks like you are doing top quality work to put the tractor back in excellent condition.
 

The front end would wobble a little while going down the road. I installed new bushings and seals in the front bolster. I also had the top end of the bolster built back up. I had the machine shop put 2 passes of weld onto the upper part of the bolster shaft, the 2nd pass would temper the first pass, this should relieve any internal stresses from the weld that may have been imparted onto the shaft. Then the shaft was machined back smooth. Building this up also will allow the seal to do its job, so now gear lube can be used in the upper bolster / sector gear box. I also installed a new thrust bearing at the base of the bolster and new wheel bearings.

I also purchased a new worm and sector gear for the steering. I was impressed by the quality of these parts at first glance. Only time will tell how they perform.
 
Did some work to the brakes too. The brakes were maxed out on their take up, so I put new discs in and found the pins were pretty well worn down. New pins from the dealer were $35 / pc. New expanders from aftermarket are $190. But given my track record with aftermarket parts I thought I may try and give these some more life. I purchased new balls from McMaster since the old ones were pitted. I did buy some new springs from the dealer. For the pins, I ended up buying some bushings that were made from 1045 steel. I counter sunk the bushing into the expander and put a 5/16" fine thread bolt thru the bushing and a low profile nut. This took care of a majority of the slop in the brakes for a fraction of what I would have paid for dealer parts. Time will tell how adequate the fix is. I was a little concerned with the online parts as it looked like the expander links were made from brass? The links in the production expanders were hardened steel, probably to prevent yielding.
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Some cleaning, feathering, sanding, wire wheeling. I feathered out all the chipped areas of paint on the cast iron. I will paint the sheet metal later, that will have the paint removed, and quality body work done. I'm not going to spend $500 on a gallon of IH red. I indent to put this this back to work. I think the best part of restoring an old machine is being able to use it when you are done! IH red from the dealer will suffice, with hardener of course.

After all the cleaning on the frame, I think I totaled about 20 hrs of work just cleaning and sanding. I did not want to sand blast as the sand can get into places you don't want it. I wiped the whole tractor down with alcohol prior to primer and tack cloth.

"Quality paint job come from prep, not the paint". That's what I told myself while cleaning it up.

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I reworked the clutch pedal and linkage. I had the pedal drilled out in 2 places and added bushings to tighten things up. A lot of people will add an extension to the top cover to remedy the problem. I was able to cut the extension off after pressing the bushings into the pedal.

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My son helping me clean up after replacing the intake manifold gaskets in the minivan. He'd rather work on the tractor too.
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Bought an M for some parts, $900. It wanst running well, had tonfiddle with the choke to keep running. Turns out the choke lever was rotating independent of the choke shaft / valve. I pulled the carb and pulled the choke lever out. I welded the choke lever shaft to the choke lever with a couple tacks. It runs like a top now. I will have a hard time tearing this one down. Lots of power! Great tires!


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What a great job it appears you have done. It is great satisfaction doing a job like that and doing it correctly. Very nice diary of pictures to go with it. Thanks a lot for showing it to us. Bob
 
(quoted from post at 21:11:27 07/19/16) Thanks Dennis! Best of luck wi th the SMTA. Post some pics if you care to!

Kappelsause, you are much further along than I am. Here are some pics of mine. Hadn't run for 20+ years but now starts, runs, moves and stops. A long ways to go though.
Dennis
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Good morning,
Yes I had the head maged and valves done, turned out ok.
I did have a stuck piston, spun rod bearing and a cracked crank.
So far I haven't had some of the problems you have had.
Charge on, we are anxious to see your finished product. You are doing a great job.
Dennis
 

Finished up the steering today. I made a bearing press on the scroll saw out of some plywood to get the bushing all the way into the front bolster. I rebuild the torque motor. I also installed the welded up bolster pivot shaft. Now the gearbox will hold gear oil as it was intended.
 
(quoted from post at 10:27:26 07/16/16) I thought I would share some of my restoration photos. I am new to this forum. Thought others out there may appreciate. More to come...


I'm new to this and have never been on any sort of forum before. So please forgive me if I've gone about this the wrong way. I Just bought an old 450 diesel and found out sleeves and pistons are not available. Does anyone know of a source for these parts? Thank you in advance...


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