A couple of tractors - a slow restoration thread!
Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:33 am
Seeing as this is "Members cars and Projects", here are my two tractors!
The first, a 1969 David Brown 780 has lived here for 8 years. Some around here went through the midlife crisis and buy a TVR or fast motor bike. I bought a "scrap" tractor!
I got it relatively cheap as it would hardly steer and the clutch seemed about to go (not cheap on tractors). However, some ball joints and new ball bearings in the (recurculating ball) steering box and adjusting the clutch properly sorted the immediate problems! Unexpected problems led to new pistons:
As an aside - David Browns pioneered the crossflow head (and the name!)
This summer's work was to remove the safety frame (again) and sort out some rust - it's illegal to weld a safety frame...
Once that was sorted (early last month), I set to on the "cladding" that I had asked a neighbour to make three years ago. There's a tale of four sprayguns here: my original and quite expensive gun doesn't like warmed enamel paint (I heat the paint rather than add thinners). After losing a vital bit, I bought a cheap Screwfix gun - which I was going to use for spares. However, I used it for about six years and it was great - until the handle cracked when I put new fittings on it! I robbed it for parts and used the original - with no success, so bought another cheap Screwfix gun. Srewfix have changed suppliers and, apart from the paint container being plastic, it is identical to the expensive gun (and just as useless for me!). They are great with cellulose though!
So I bought a Clarke "professional" HVLP gun - and run it at nearly 50psi to get the paint to flow!
I fitted the new cladding to one side three days ago and to the other yesterday.
The other tractor is a 1972 David Brown 995. Relatively speaking, a beast; but only when compared to the 780! I bought it four years ago thinking I had nearly finished the Fergy and the 780 would only take a year. The Fergy took until last winter and there's another year's work on the 780! The idea was to "add value" and be able to sell it at a profit in ten years or so. It seems to absorb money with little to show for it!
Believe it or not, it had already absorbed about £300 when the picture was taken!
Although not officially being restored until the 780 is finished, it has had various running repairs - including rebuilding the PAS to full power steering (I got much of the money back by selling the PAS ram etc on eBay!). The great thing is that it has had a newer engine fitted - from an "industrial" version that has had little use. It starts on the fourth compression even if left a month in winter (and it lives outside). That's better than my Mk 4 Golf diesel (that lives with the 780 in the garage)!
The worst feature was the cab roof - the back of the tractor looks as if it's been reversed into a wall (though the wheels stick out more than the cab). A local sparrow family took vacant posession between the two skins:
This summer's job was to buy a new outer skin (with money made from selling the Fergy) and, with advice from members of this forum, I painted the new skin with etch primer and stonechip paint. That worked well - thanks folks!
The new roof was fitted two days ago - the weather was quite warm up here! I noticed yesterday that the front of the roof has a different angle to the back (the back of the old one jut hung down, so it wasn't at all obvious). Of course, if there's a 50-50 chance of doing it wrong, 60% will do it wrong - and I am no exception! I'm not going to take it apart though!
The digger (also bought with Fegy blood money) was most useful when I needed a platform to work from. That's the project after the 995, but it needs a certain amount of work to make it fit the tractor properly - at the moment, it's too far back and I can hardly steer when the fore loader is lifted!
It's nearly the end of "Tractor Season" for me - when it gets cold, the model railway in my loft gets attention! There will be a little more tractor work before the season ends!
The first, a 1969 David Brown 780 has lived here for 8 years. Some around here went through the midlife crisis and buy a TVR or fast motor bike. I bought a "scrap" tractor!
I got it relatively cheap as it would hardly steer and the clutch seemed about to go (not cheap on tractors). However, some ball joints and new ball bearings in the (recurculating ball) steering box and adjusting the clutch properly sorted the immediate problems! Unexpected problems led to new pistons:
As an aside - David Browns pioneered the crossflow head (and the name!)
This summer's work was to remove the safety frame (again) and sort out some rust - it's illegal to weld a safety frame...
Once that was sorted (early last month), I set to on the "cladding" that I had asked a neighbour to make three years ago. There's a tale of four sprayguns here: my original and quite expensive gun doesn't like warmed enamel paint (I heat the paint rather than add thinners). After losing a vital bit, I bought a cheap Screwfix gun - which I was going to use for spares. However, I used it for about six years and it was great - until the handle cracked when I put new fittings on it! I robbed it for parts and used the original - with no success, so bought another cheap Screwfix gun. Srewfix have changed suppliers and, apart from the paint container being plastic, it is identical to the expensive gun (and just as useless for me!). They are great with cellulose though!
So I bought a Clarke "professional" HVLP gun - and run it at nearly 50psi to get the paint to flow!
I fitted the new cladding to one side three days ago and to the other yesterday.
The other tractor is a 1972 David Brown 995. Relatively speaking, a beast; but only when compared to the 780! I bought it four years ago thinking I had nearly finished the Fergy and the 780 would only take a year. The Fergy took until last winter and there's another year's work on the 780! The idea was to "add value" and be able to sell it at a profit in ten years or so. It seems to absorb money with little to show for it!
Believe it or not, it had already absorbed about £300 when the picture was taken!
Although not officially being restored until the 780 is finished, it has had various running repairs - including rebuilding the PAS to full power steering (I got much of the money back by selling the PAS ram etc on eBay!). The great thing is that it has had a newer engine fitted - from an "industrial" version that has had little use. It starts on the fourth compression even if left a month in winter (and it lives outside). That's better than my Mk 4 Golf diesel (that lives with the 780 in the garage)!
The worst feature was the cab roof - the back of the tractor looks as if it's been reversed into a wall (though the wheels stick out more than the cab). A local sparrow family took vacant posession between the two skins:
This summer's job was to buy a new outer skin (with money made from selling the Fergy) and, with advice from members of this forum, I painted the new skin with etch primer and stonechip paint. That worked well - thanks folks!
The new roof was fitted two days ago - the weather was quite warm up here! I noticed yesterday that the front of the roof has a different angle to the back (the back of the old one jut hung down, so it wasn't at all obvious). Of course, if there's a 50-50 chance of doing it wrong, 60% will do it wrong - and I am no exception! I'm not going to take it apart though!
The digger (also bought with Fegy blood money) was most useful when I needed a platform to work from. That's the project after the 995, but it needs a certain amount of work to make it fit the tractor properly - at the moment, it's too far back and I can hardly steer when the fore loader is lifted!
It's nearly the end of "Tractor Season" for me - when it gets cold, the model railway in my loft gets attention! There will be a little more tractor work before the season ends!