120 progress

4637 Views 16 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Phaon, May 7, 2012

Phaon

Discussion Starter · Sep 5, 2011

I don't own a compressor atm, so the paint job is slated for next summer. But right now I'm focusing on getting the mechanics buttoned up. Here's what I've done so far...

Drilled all the steering linkage pieces from 1/2” to 5/8” and put in 5/8” pins to take out slack. I may put 1/2” bushings in and put the correct 1/2” pins in when I repaint. Steering gear box still has a bit of slack, but system overall is tons better – went from almost 3/4 of a turn of slack down to maybe 1/6 of a turn.

Fuel system rebuilt. New line, filter, carb tore apart and cleaned.

Electrical system mostly rebuilt. Points, condenser, plug wire, spark plug replaced. Most wiring replaced, will completely rewire when I paint.

Rear end removed. Pulley's straightened, grease drained and replaced (omg, it came out the color of milk...).

Drive pulleys and belt replaced with new. Removed engine today and swapped front and rear PTO, as the rear PTO was a bit worn and was slipping. May rebuild the front PTO at some point, but I'm not too worried about it in a trailer queen.

Cleaned with every nasty, caustic degreaser I could get my hands on. 45 years of grass, dirt, grease, salt = bad news. Put everything back together making sure to line things up far straighter and tighter than they were.

It's like a different tractor now. Runs smooth as glass across the RPM range. Drive system is so tight that it'll bring the front tires off the ground when I let out the clutch in all four gears. A little noise from the tranny, especially in 2nd gear. I assume that's what PO used to mow and plow. I'm not overly worried - there's no slack in the tranny, shifting is firm, and it stays in all the gears.

Overall, much quieter and tighter. Still looks like poo, but works great. I may plow with it this winter...

Chris

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Hydriv

· #2 · Sep 6, 2011

Congratulations, Chris. We look forward to seeing a detailed photographic record of your full restoration of this 120 at some point.

If anything, your report demonstrates how easy it is to cure the annoying problems associated with 45 years of use and also......how little it costs. For the most part, the next phase will be mostly paint, decals and some minor items.

mjodrey

· #3 · Sep 6, 2011

:goodpost:

Maynard :canada:

Phaon

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 17, 2011

Just found a steering wheel on eBay for $75, and seat cushions for $99, both off a 155. Looks like no tears in the seat, or cracks in the steering wheel. I don't recall those being items offered by anyone on this site - does anyone know of a better deal out there? If not, part numbers match those parts on my 120, I'm going for them.

Chris

Phaon

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 7, 2011

Rewired the 120 this week. The tractor ran good before, but every wire had nasty overspray and was ancient and brittle. I pulled off the ig. switch, light switch, etc and cleaned them up. The voltage regulator was *nasty*. A rusted mess. It worked, but I couldn't even get the wires off, the terminals disintegrated under the screwdriver.

I bought this regulator -

Mower Graveyard Voltage Regulator

Aside from the starter/gen and light terminal being reversed (that just took some trial and error), it all worked perfectly. Not sure what source all of you have used in the past, but that worked well and seemed to be a reasonable price.

Chris

mjodrey

· #6 · Oct 8, 2011

Sounds like you have made a little progress. :thumbsup:

Maynard :canada:

Phaon

Discussion Starter · #7 · Nov 19, 2011

4

Made some progress on the 120, still working on mechanics/replacement parts.

I created a new throttle/choke set from mower graveyard and John Deere knobs. Not perfectly stock, but darned close...

Here was the mess I started with around the shifter...

Had my local high school shop students make up this on their plasma cutter...

Primered it up in anticipation of paint this coming summer...

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InTroubleAlltheTime

· #8 · Nov 20, 2011

Phaon said:
Just found a steering wheel on eBay for $75, and seat cushions for $99, both off a 155. Looks like no tears in the seat, or cracks in the steering wheel. I don't recall those being items offered by anyone on this site - does anyone know of a better deal out there? If not, part numbers match those parts on my 120, I'm going for them.

Chris

Chris: Sounds like great progress with a lot of satisfaction. Look forward to the finished product. Steve Guider, Horton 20 may have some stuff, it's worth a PM.
:222: :446: Best Regards, Rich

Phaon

Discussion Starter · #9 · Nov 20, 2011

Yeah, placing the order as soon as Xmas money comes in. Hood, fenders, steering wheel, and seat cushions. After that, it's just paint and it should show ready. :thumbup:

Chris

Bart

· #10 · Nov 20, 2011

Jim Daenzer sells excellent quality reproduction seats and cushions for less than used ones on ebay.

mjodrey

· #11 · Nov 22, 2011

You are coming along on it,looking good.

Maynard :canada:

Phaon

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jan 7, 2012

2

So here's the latest on the 120. Aside from waiting on my local high school to finish fabbing the front wheels, the mechanical resto is complete. Included are a couple pics complete with primered new hood, fenders, seat, etc. from our very own here at CCI. All high quality work, I must say - will probably outlast the originals. I won't be able to paint now in the cold weather, so I figured I may as well put the 120 to some light duty snow and grounds work this winter (we usually don't get more than 2 feet a year in Indiana). Hence the non-original rear tires/wheels - don't worry Hydriv, the originals are in the shed :lol:

Here's a vid of it in action. Driveway needed a bit of leveling, and it was more than up to it. Definitely not as easy to use as a hydraulic drive, but it works great nonetheless.

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InTroubleAlltheTime

· #13 · Jan 7, 2012

Chris: She sounds great. Love moving materials with a Case GT! :thumbsup:
:222: :446: Best Regards, Rich

mjodrey

· #14 · Jan 8, 2012

InTroubleAlltheTime said:
Chris: She sounds great Rich

DITTO!

Maynard :canada:

Phaon

Discussion Starter · #15 · Apr 1, 2012

3

Thanks to Case Junkie's 226 wheel project, I got the idea to look on eBay for Sears front wheels. Low and behold - found a set! Got them, not bad shape. Even the tires were savable after some cleaning and treating. Here's what my 120 came with on the front...

Here's the finished product...

The axle shafts on the Sears wheels are only 2 inches, instead of 4. So I pulled the bushing out of the trashed wheels and used them to extend the axle shaft 1" on each side. Won't be able to tell from stock once it's all painted up.

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Hydriv

· #16 · Apr 1, 2012

Well.... I'm glad you didn't get the shaft as a result of buying those Sears wheels. :lol:

Phaon

Discussion Starter · #17 · May 7, 2012

5

Ok, here's latest. Pulled off all the body panels I could, since I wanted to keep the tractor mobile in the colder weather in case I need to bring the 155 in to plow. That didn't happen

Got this much done on prep work... (note the old Dish in the corner)

As I continued tearing apart, I found this. You can see where I tried to clean up the edges of the tear in hopes of welding it back to the dash tower, but by the time I hit good metal, I realized it was too thin to ever handle a weld.

Remember the Dish above? Glad you were paying attention. The pole from the discontinued Dish service came in rather handy...

Now that mechanical repairs are complete, I'm ready to continue prep and primer work. Here is what the 120 currently looks like. I'm leaving the engine in one piece so I don't have too many parts floating around. I'll tackle that once all the red on the rolling frame is complete.

Before I prep the frame itself, I'll include some close up pics of some of the oddities I've found on the 120, suggesting that it was mostly hand assembled in the plant at some point.

Chris

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