Hello, need some advise. The day started out great but went down hill quickly�Converted a 1963 D17 III Gas to 12V negative ground and added a 10SI alternator. The electronic ignition should be here Tuesday. This went very smooth and fit excellent, wired and ready to go. I knew things were going to well... Here is where the day went South� Decided to change all fluids. Started with the hydraulics, which I had never changed since purchasing it in 2002, (filter was scratched with the year 2000). First thing is a long piece of Permatex stuck in the filter? Crap! Someone�s been making repairs�. Then I noticed lots of metal in the filter� Large chips, look like they would be lying below a metal lathe�. Day is ruined�. I pulled the drain plug, more metal on the magnet�. Moved on to the clutch/gear box drain plug and found additional metal, but not as much here� (hydralic fluid had always dripped from below.) All total the metal may equal 1/2 a quarter (coin) if you chipped it up. Metal was very thin and flat. Largest pieces were slightly smaller than a pencil in diameter�. Pulled both lower pans and cleaned nothing obvious with a visual inspection� Tractor runs and operates great! Three Pt, PTO, clutch/tranny, engine, everything is quiet and fully operational� I know trouble lies ahead, this can�t be good. I�m not in a position to tear it down and do a rebuild... Dollars are not in the cards at the time. I prep and plant less than 10 acres in various food plots for my hunting habit� Plowing, disking planting and dig a couple hundred holes year with the post hole digger for trees� May be plow the drive if it snows enough. (Tractor came from a small apple orchard which they used it to spray with.) So is there something notorious in the 17s that I should know about? Any likely candidates? Love the tractor it, but this is a major kick in the pants� What do you think? Jody
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