Years ago bought a scrapped Chinese tractor that had only been used for three years and then stood unused out for another eight and robbed of a few parts to keep another on the go. I bought it to repair and thought how bad could it be, it was really bad and still is as get a good day and think its ideal and does my things I want it for but just get things failing some is from its past neglect in standing out mainly its build quality, so had a gut full of electrical things fail and replaced with new Chinese but they fail or don't work as well so found just replace with old Lucas parts. Its lost oil pressure a few times once was away from home with no tools, luckily had some grips and unscrewed the relief valve and found a lump of plastic gasket stuck to the ball so quick fix then the sender unit failed and then the clock so this time just fitted a warning light with a pressure switch, cut back out of the clock and fitted a bulb unit in, only thing was welding the very thin tin gauge back on, so fix was much cheeper but fiddly but the old mig with the gas valve removed helps in stitching thin tin as more controllable in wire feed without it. Previous 58
Not Quite Farm Engineering or a Quick Bodge.
- Thread starter Pan mixer
- Start date
Some years ago got one of John Grahams Suffolk 60 toppers to keep volunteers at bay from a hectare of wood and to top nearly the same of wild flower meadow, It had little but very hard usage and left out side so the newness had worn off, bit of tin straightening and a replacement UJ joint and used it on a IH 343 for first year. I can say those toppers are good and substantial but as usual I thought could improve on quite a few things, firstly the sides are deep all the way round apart from small portion in the middle at the back, cutting a bit low and to drive backing on only slightly uneven ground the back corners would dig in, So thats how they got bent before I had it, and in only a 15 -20 inches bit of grass used to tend to leave annoying clumps off to the left side but not to bad if if first cut higher so done in two cuts, and in hard rough ground found it bounced quite allot.
The fixes, T1-2 the rod holding the flaps was bent and awkwardly held in with roll pins and rusted solid, bit of heat and drilled out larger hole so is a easy fit and now threaded with just a nut holding it in and has never come loose. T 3 looking at the frame its substantial but the box section was a bit rotted at its bottom and with the length had bent to sag in the middle, and looking at the large clearance from the blade to rear skirt and with it being straight down thought it was the problem that caused the bunching, plus where the small opening was at the back had cracked up each corner.
So cut the back part off and shortened it and now with a wider opening being angled and a 4''inch deep back and part way round, the opening is now most of the way across with rounded corners plus the tin, T 4 well 1/8 sheet with a 2''inch returned edge to strengthen should help.
Box stays were welded in at the front, then a jack used between top box and back to flatten the top deck down at the back and box stays welded in. T 5 the rear wheel box was shortened with an old ball bearing housing instead of a plain bearing with the caster wheel pivot shaft being threaded is now held tight and the box was welded back in with also a stay.
The side skirts were 7''inch deep so starting at the new larger opening of a 4''inch deep back cut forward up to the front skid so it then left it at 6''inch deep at the front. on its edge a bit of 1X1/4 flat was welded and angled up a bit this gave strength and if it did hit the ground would ride up rather than dig in.
T 6 is the blade arms and used to get grass a wood so impacted in would bulge open and would get badly out of balance very quickly sometimes so square bar was ground to fit tightly in and held in three places stops any buildup T 7-8
T9-10 there was no breather in the gearbox and had blown the bottom oil-seal out before I had it, and luckily I had the back bearing cover pop so added a breather.
After all the mods its now used on the little compact with a two speed PTO works at a fast engine idle with the mods cuts the lawn or low PTO engine flat out has cut up to 36 inch tall grass with a spattering of even taller brush wood a inch thick, but had to reduce width cut down to only 3 ft but with only one wheel in the standing crop works better. It was usable as it was, but that time spent has made a huge difference.
The fixes, T1-2 the rod holding the flaps was bent and awkwardly held in with roll pins and rusted solid, bit of heat and drilled out larger hole so is a easy fit and now threaded with just a nut holding it in and has never come loose. T 3 looking at the frame its substantial but the box section was a bit rotted at its bottom and with the length had bent to sag in the middle, and looking at the large clearance from the blade to rear skirt and with it being straight down thought it was the problem that caused the bunching, plus where the small opening was at the back had cracked up each corner.
So cut the back part off and shortened it and now with a wider opening being angled and a 4''inch deep back and part way round, the opening is now most of the way across with rounded corners plus the tin, T 4 well 1/8 sheet with a 2''inch returned edge to strengthen should help.
Box stays were welded in at the front, then a jack used between top box and back to flatten the top deck down at the back and box stays welded in. T 5 the rear wheel box was shortened with an old ball bearing housing instead of a plain bearing with the caster wheel pivot shaft being threaded is now held tight and the box was welded back in with also a stay.
The side skirts were 7''inch deep so starting at the new larger opening of a 4''inch deep back cut forward up to the front skid so it then left it at 6''inch deep at the front. on its edge a bit of 1X1/4 flat was welded and angled up a bit this gave strength and if it did hit the ground would ride up rather than dig in.
T 6 is the blade arms and used to get grass a wood so impacted in would bulge open and would get badly out of balance very quickly sometimes so square bar was ground to fit tightly in and held in three places stops any buildup T 7-8
T9-10 there was no breather in the gearbox and had blown the bottom oil-seal out before I had it, and luckily I had the back bearing cover pop so added a breather.
After all the mods its now used on the little compact with a two speed PTO works at a fast engine idle with the mods cuts the lawn or low PTO engine flat out has cut up to 36 inch tall grass with a spattering of even taller brush wood a inch thick, but had to reduce width cut down to only 3 ft but with only one wheel in the standing crop works better. It was usable as it was, but that time spent has made a huge difference.
