Some progress on the 500

There's a pretty straight little tractor under all that extra sheet metal. I got most of the dents banged out of the hood and grill the last few days. I took the orchard fenders off of it today and got down to the originals underneath. They need some cracks welded up,but they're not near as bad as the ones were on my gasser. The cross box that the seat sits on and that holds the batteries needs some serious attention,but I think I can fix it and won't have to have a whole new one made like I did on the last one.

I don't know if they had tried to weld some kind of home made bumper to the front axle or what. There was a big gob of weld on each side. Looked like there had been some big round rod welded to it. I got that all cut away and ground down smooth. Same deal on the platforms. They had welded angle iron braces to both sides to steady the fenders. I got that mess all cleaned up. I'll get some new steel and make all new brackets for them so everything bolts on,that way I can just take the bolts of and lift them off to get to the fenders.

The right side orchard fender was in nice shape,but the skirt is missing from the left one and the rest of it's bent up some. The fender underneath it is bent in one spot too,so they must have hooked something with it. So far,it looks like it's gonna be a lot less work than the last one was.

Very nice.
Firestone on the left, and Armstrong on the right? Seems like that happens a lot.

looks good to me!

Ya,three Armstrongs and a Firestone in fact. The orchard fenders will cover up the mismatch though.

Wow; did they just bolt "orchard fenders" over the regular ones. Personally, I like the look of it with the shell fenders, but I understand the significance of the Orchard fenders. Hope the "man cave" that you are working in is heated.
Loren

Ya,they were just bolted over them. They're red on the inside once I got'em off. The Love component orchard tractors were built right near where I found this one,so I have a hunch there might be a connection. I believe they were put on there fairly early in this tractors life,given that the patina of the paint and rust on the top of the orchard fenders and the hood are the same.

Randy
I have never seen a set of orchard fenders bolted over the originals and I've seen a bunch of orchard metal here in Florida. If that tractor was here in Florida the front of those fenders would look like someone beat them with a sledge hammer from all the low branches in the citrus groves here. I've straighten a few sets of them for people over the years and I never want to do anouther set as long as I live. That's as nice a set as I have ever seen. What's odd about your tractor is the vertical exhaust and air cleaner. The ones down here had everything run down low to keep them from hanging on branches.

Ya,most of them around here do too. I looked on the official parts website and there was an underbelly exhaust system available for them. OliverJim says he has a couple of the rubber plugs that go over the hole in the hood. I want to get one from him and take the tractor to the local muffler shop and have a pipe bent to run the exhaust underneath. The parts site shows those hood plugs too,but I'll bet that shy of getting one from Jim,there would be about zero possibility of ever finding one.

I just stuck that muffler that I had laying around here,down in to the manifold. I can see where somebody has brazed a pipe to the manifold and it's missing now. I wonder if somebody did have an underbelly exhaust on it at one time,but just didn't have the hole in the hood plugged off.

Randy I would love to have that tractor sitting in my shop so I could rebuild it. I have always loved the oddball and the orphans. That one will be one of a kind when you get done with it. I'm in the process of selling most all of our tractors but I'll surely find one more in the years to come that I just want be able to walk away from and it will end up in my little shop being torn down and put back together.

Ya,I've got a thing for these little foreign Olivers for some odd reason. I said I'd never take on another 500 after all the trouble I had getting the last one finished up,but those fenders sold this one,I had to have it. I'm just glad it's nowhere near as rough as the last one.