Daughter and husband bought a little horse farm not far from Seattle- Got a great deal (previous owner owed $445,000, got foreclosed- they bought from the bank for $260,000).
Lots of stuff to mow, blackberries, etc. I had an IH 504 diesel with loader that had been sidelined for several years, due to running a stob through the radiator and bending up a bunch of stuff, and decided I'd get it back up and running, and make her a "permanent loan" of it.
Radiator repair took a year, but came back in good shape. Removed sheetmetal, straightened it. Straightened the support structure that had also been bent. Most of the cage nuts that held it together ended up shearing in the disassembly, so bought a bunch from McMaster Carr, and replaced them. Quite a bit of grinding to make them fit in some of the heavier superstructure.
Front tires were old bald truck tires, both flat- so bought new tri-ribs.
Very difficult to get lower radiator hose back on, due to loader frame in the way. Started putting the sheetmetal back on, of course nothing fit exactly right because of previous crumpling, so lots of massaging. Everything was behind the massive loader frame, so lots of fun getting the bolts in. Bent the grill surround back into shape, hammered out the grill as best I could and re-attached it with baling wire.
Was leaking fluid from rear axle, so jacked it up, took off rear (loaded) tire (that sucker was HEAVY!), replaced the seal. One of the loader hyd. hoses was leaking at the swivel, and the return hose looked really ugly, so got 2 hoses. Replaced the leaking one, but rounded the lands on the other trying to get it off, so just left it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It was leaking oil from underneath, figured out it was engine oil coming through a bad rear seal. "Just keep the oil level up, it'll be fine."
The big moment- hit the glow plugs, cranked it over, glow plugs again, crank again, and it started! Old gal ran OK, everything seemed to be alright.
Took it for test run, and worked the loader controls- when I tilted the bucket, another hyd hose blew. Got another one made up, put it on. Hadn't had the radiator cap on during all this, because a tab was bent. Cap looked pretty sad in general, so bought a new one, which didn't fit. So massaged the old one back into shape. Put it on, and after the thing warmed up and pressured up, it was leaking out the bottom hose.
At this point, I took a long hard look at the project. To fix bottom hose, it was a complete tear down. But more to the point, with all the adventures I'd had on this thing, how were daughter and husband going to cope with the continuing problems with a 50 year old tractor? He's fairly handy, but no tractor experience, and no shop.
So ended up taking her our 2005 JD 4010 (18 HP compact utility with loader and bush hog) for a few weeks loan, and the old IH is going the the consignment sale next month.
Its one thing to do the old tractor thing yourself, but quite another to inflict it on those who never asked for the problems it entails.
Lots of stuff to mow, blackberries, etc. I had an IH 504 diesel with loader that had been sidelined for several years, due to running a stob through the radiator and bending up a bunch of stuff, and decided I'd get it back up and running, and make her a "permanent loan" of it.
Radiator repair took a year, but came back in good shape. Removed sheetmetal, straightened it. Straightened the support structure that had also been bent. Most of the cage nuts that held it together ended up shearing in the disassembly, so bought a bunch from McMaster Carr, and replaced them. Quite a bit of grinding to make them fit in some of the heavier superstructure.
Front tires were old bald truck tires, both flat- so bought new tri-ribs.
Very difficult to get lower radiator hose back on, due to loader frame in the way. Started putting the sheetmetal back on, of course nothing fit exactly right because of previous crumpling, so lots of massaging. Everything was behind the massive loader frame, so lots of fun getting the bolts in. Bent the grill surround back into shape, hammered out the grill as best I could and re-attached it with baling wire.
Was leaking fluid from rear axle, so jacked it up, took off rear (loaded) tire (that sucker was HEAVY!), replaced the seal. One of the loader hyd. hoses was leaking at the swivel, and the return hose looked really ugly, so got 2 hoses. Replaced the leaking one, but rounded the lands on the other trying to get it off, so just left it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It was leaking oil from underneath, figured out it was engine oil coming through a bad rear seal. "Just keep the oil level up, it'll be fine."
The big moment- hit the glow plugs, cranked it over, glow plugs again, crank again, and it started! Old gal ran OK, everything seemed to be alright.
Took it for test run, and worked the loader controls- when I tilted the bucket, another hyd hose blew. Got another one made up, put it on. Hadn't had the radiator cap on during all this, because a tab was bent. Cap looked pretty sad in general, so bought a new one, which didn't fit. So massaged the old one back into shape. Put it on, and after the thing warmed up and pressured up, it was leaking out the bottom hose.
At this point, I took a long hard look at the project. To fix bottom hose, it was a complete tear down. But more to the point, with all the adventures I'd had on this thing, how were daughter and husband going to cope with the continuing problems with a 50 year old tractor? He's fairly handy, but no tractor experience, and no shop.
So ended up taking her our 2005 JD 4010 (18 HP compact utility with loader and bush hog) for a few weeks loan, and the old IH is going the the consignment sale next month.
Its one thing to do the old tractor thing yourself, but quite another to inflict it on those who never asked for the problems it entails.
