Another Restoration Project

[MossRoad]

I don't want to get into the discussion of the morals of outside cats in this thread. I will say that I've read on several occasions that the average life of a house cat is about 13 years, while the average life of an outdoor cat is about 3, and leave it at that.

 

[aircommuter]

Here is the latest excuse for delayed progress. Road work, vehicle maintenance, helping neighbors stuck in the mud, rain, burning tree limbs collected last year.
Ok I am cutting some steel to make the three ripper teeth. I am using cutting edge stock to make them. I have a loader/scraper box tractor that I restoed a few years ago shown on this site. I wanted to work on the loader bucket and remove a 3/4” thick large cutting edge and a curved cutting edge from the bucket. That derelict setup made it so the tractor was trying to push a 1.5” surface into whatever one was scooping. It’s only a 10,000 pound tractor. So I am using a portion of the 3/4” material for the extended cutting portion of the tooth and some 1/2” material from another cutting edge I had for the sides. I welded a new cutting edge on the little loader bucket and while I am there I am making a tooth attachment for it. Got rained out again yesterday.

 

[EddieWalker]

Nice to see that you're still at it!!!

 

[aircommuter]

Small update, been busy cutting downed trees from the snow.
I had some egg shaped holes on the clam cylinders and lower mounts. I used an adjustable hand reamer to make them round then I am going to make some oversized pins.
I have my lathe apart replacing the old style electrical system with a VFD. I had to change the motor for one with better insulation to handle the VFD and a braking resistor. The motor had a different mounting so I had to make a mount adapter.

 

[ScipioUSA]

I hope to someday have maybe a tenth of this much skill and ability.... Fantastic work.

 

[aircommuter]

Thank you. A few more things to do but many other things are getting in the way. Then I plan to make a video.

 

[EddieWalker]

Now that you are getting close to finishing this project, do you have another one planned?

 

[aircommuter]

Not yet. But I do plan to do some work on a previous restoration that wasn’t finished.
This is the order of the plan.
1. Clean the shop, organize too.
2. Rebuild the engine on my 445A Ford loader/scraper. Replace one of the two hydraulic pumps and replace seals in the three point hitch.
3. Make the rest of the interior doors for my house ( making two right now)
4. Decide on which two other vehicles for restoration sitting around here.
A few of the 445A and a heavy duty scraper box attachment. A couple of doors in process using 10 applications on each side of hand rubbed oil I get from the UK.

 

[aircommuter]

Finally getting back to the Massey. I decided to resume by starting with the ripper teeth. I don’t like to do heavy welding and grinding outside once it dries out.
I am making each one separately directly from the shank because someone has used the ripper with two teeth missing. While they may interchange I will never wear them out around my little place. They are fairly thick with the bottom being .75” and the sides and the top being .5”. Since the material is cutting edge stock it isn’t easy to grind. I weld them with my Ln-25 pro feeder. I have a few more things to finish on my lathe VFD programming and reversing switch then I can make the clam cylinder pins.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm struggling with the idea that you will use this to do work around your place and get it dirty, or even worse, break something. Seems like it needs to be put on display and remain perfect for all eternity!!!

 

[aircommuter]

Break something OMG. Check out my old thread with my other crawler loader used 30 years in my business.
Title: my wife painted my tractor with a brush now what. Case tractor sold in 2016.

 

[Sportsman762]

The quality of your work is top notch. I really enjoy the detail you put into your projects and never settling for less than perfection. Your ability to re utilize stuff and making it look like factory is awesome. Keep the pictures and updates coming.

 

[aircommuter]

To answer an older question, what is the next project?

 

[aircommuter]

Well, I finished the VFD conversion on my lathe. So that allowed me to make the lower pins for the clam cylinders. I had reamed the worn cylinder base holes and the ears on the bucket as well. The pins are now ready made from 4160. Oversize to match the reaming and I drilled them and grooved them for grease fittings. Now to make the other stainless tube that supplies the clam cylinders.

 

[EddieWalker]

Loves seeing all your detailed photos of you work. To me, it's almost like science fiction seeing what you can create!!!!

 

[aircommuter]

Well working on the Massey has been on the back burner. Thinning trees and burning while the season permits is a front burner item. I did install the clam cylinders and hoses. Not much but more soon. I did make a poor video of it running. No one to operate the camera but me so it’s not great quality but at least it sounds good.

 

[arrow]

Well working on the Massey has been on the back burner. Thinning trees and burning while the season permits is a front burner item. I did install the clam cylinders and hoses. Not much but more soon. I did make a poor video of it running. No one to operate the camera but me so it’s not great quality but at least it sounds good.

I never knew Massey ever made a crawler.
As usual, your work is as if you’ve caressed every part of the rebuild to have gently but decisively brought back the original glory of the machine.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[EddieWalker]

Looks like a brand new machine. Way too nice to get dirty!!!!

 

[aircommuter]

The poor Massey is awaiting my attention. Been doing stone work while the weather permits. While this isn’t a Massey it’s worth a couple laughs. This was my first restoration without many pictures since it was before the digital age. This was 1977. The original stabilizers didn’t fold up rather they came up part way then you had to manually telescope them in. So I made the ones you see including the cylinders. This was a four stick machine and I made linkage and levers to convert it. I also made the linkage and levers to make the loader one stick. Waukesha powered. The pins and bushings were so loose I cut out sections of the boom so I could put them in the lathe for repair then welded them back in.

 

[EddieWalker]

It scares me to see a backhoe without ROPS. Do you still have it?