Rescuing 5 DCs The headless one

RonSa

Member

A minor correction is in order. In the last post, about the DC in the worst condition, I stated it was rescued in 2002. It was rescued in 2003. The first 4 DCs were all rescued during a period of time between January and April of 2003. Call it binge buying!!! LOL

Refurbishing would start in earnest after the collection of all four. My equipment storage barn was getting crowded. The four “sorry looking” DCs made my 1170 look like a doctor in a hospice.

This headless DC was the first of 5 DCs, I rescued. The first part of January 2003 had been “October weather”. We loaded it on the agreed-to date of Jan 11th . The overnight temperature had suddenly dropped way down to 9 degrees. Otherwise, an OK day to manually pull the DC aboard with my makeshift come-along.



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The replacement head was one of these two high compression heads found in the pile of parts shown in the previous post.



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I juggled all 4 DCs when fixing their mechanical problems. Parts had to go outside for rebuild, or had to be obtained, etc. etc. There was always something to do on one of the other DCs.

Pastor John commented in his reply “It is amazing how much restoration you can do on those DC’s” Here is some insight regarding HOW I made “bad look good”. The simple answer is--- spend money!! LOL I hired the sandblasting and priming. $450 each tractor!!

After each DC got stripped of most of its bolt-on parts and ready for sandblasting, each naked tractor took its turn getting towed 5 miles to a farmer who did professional sandblasting and painting during his slack times.

Sorry no pictures were taken about the following. My 1170 has a Cat2 quick-hitch with a typical hook for the upper connection of the 3 point hitch.

For those DCs with a gooseneck, I just backed the hook up to the round portion of the gooseneck casting and hitched the two together with a single wrap of a log chain. With the DC’s front tires lifted a few inches off ground, the trips were made using large turns around corners.

I put the removed tractor parts on a double pallet for convenience and loaded them onto my hay rack. The hay rack was hooked to the DC’s drawbar. The naked tractor, and every part on the hay rack, got sandblasted and primed.


I left each naked DC, and the wagon load of parts, there for the duration of time the busy farmer needed. After towing back home, any minor scratches, caused on the gooseneck’s round portion, were easy to cover up.

Back home, I used many aerosol cans of original Case paint. The cans were more expensive but very convenient to use for the necessary starting, stopping, and juggling between tractors. For example after bolts were tightened, zapping their hex heads with paint was easy. The picture below shows the early stage of being reassembled. The radiator assembly rode to and fro on the hay rack.




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The once headless DC started, ran, and drove like a charm. A little smoke from the oiled cylinders quickly went away.




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Nice post Ron, enjoyed seeing/hearing those old ones go to work, I am now 75 yrs and our family farm the 39 DC was the big tractor on the farm, we changed it to the 5505 head and a set of the popups you had pictured in your previous batch of pictures, 4 1/16 M&W, (head and piston combination not recommended by M&W BTW). Added a modern ignition system instead of the mag, Shaved the top of the block to get the pistons up higher and shaved head a bunch, got a pretty nice working cam and use 116 fuel, it represents Case quite well on the track. It is good to me able to maintain it as you gotta be on top of your game here in NE Pa. We compete against people from MD. VA. DE. NJ, NY, and at different pulls even from the Midwest. O
First pull of the year people were anxious to get on the track, we had 6 trailer loads from the Baltimore area. We have been told by outsiders if you can compete here you can anywhere.
again , enjoy your stuff, keep sharing!
 

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Ron nice post!

I have to admit I cringed when I saw you lift that head!

Especially after my recent hernia surgery!

Here is a picture of my overhead come along setup hitched to a roof beam. My neighbor Marvin helping!

Those old DC’s can be rescued anywhere!
 
Great pictures! Just curious, when were these videos taken? I really like the DC with the single front wheel. Do you have a wide front DC too?
 
Love the plowing video, hard to beat an old DC and glad you saved the ones you did. I love the 51 DC I have and they aren't real popular in my area. I do see quite a few smaller ones here, mostly VAC and SC of the letter series.
 
Ron,

You certainly put a lot of time, effort, and dollars into saving those DC's. Thanks for posting these photos. Don
 
If you are able to view the IRLs, the camera operator commented during plowing the end rows that it was Oct 4, 2004.

The other videos, that I extracted all the still pictures from, were made in the 2002 to 2004 time frame. The next post will be about the AWF (Adjustable Wide Front) tractor that I refurbished in 2005. My first post, about 2 weeks ago had a standard wide front. Thanks for asking.
 
Pastor John

Good to be able to put a face with your name. I always enjoy your posts.

That picture of me lifting the head was back in 2003 or 4 when I did not have any health issues. This did not create a health problem. Those would start changing about 5 years at age 75.

You were innovative with getting the head installed. Nice 5505 high compression head. God Bless.
 

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