[BigDaveinKY]

Nice Job!!
You're doing good detail work. The tractor's gonna look nice.

 

[Modeere318]

Good work on this old tractor.

 

[James Howell]

"got both of the assemblies to rotate about an inch"

Take a look at the diagram below.

Note the housing (Key 38) and the area that is inside the transmission case.

Take a look at the photo below.

Saturate this area on the housing with the “50/50 acetone - ATF mix and let it sit.”

You might consider tapping the lip in front of this area with a small hammer while applying the penetrate.

One method of removing the housing is to use a small 2x4 block of wood with a small hammer to tap it out of the transmission case.

Hope this helps.

 

[64Tbird]

Update time! The tractor is starting to go back together, something I'd thought I'd never see! In the past few days I've reassembled the rear axle, put the differential back in the case and reunited them. Yesterday I put the axle cover back on and now I'm beginning to work on the PTO and the transmission. I am hoping to get my engine block back soon as well, it was so worn that it needed to be bored .045 over to get everything round again.

I've also restored some other parts in my free time, most notably the steering wheel and the toolbox. The steering wheel was in decent shape, however like just about any other tractor of this vintage the rubber was in terrible shape. I painted the wheel then brushed several coats of Plasti-Dip over the old rubber. As for the toolbox, it was something my great grandpa added to the tractor at some point. The "toolbox" was actually an old case for a Burndy Hypress hydraulic crimping tool, my great grandpa took the case and some scrap steel and made his own toolbox mounted to the tractor. I decided to do a special paint job for it and got a custom stencil made with the name of our family's ranch and the year it was established, I'm definitely very happy with how it came out!

As for the future, I'm going to continue rebuilding the transmission, PTO and Powr-Trol until I get my block back. I am also going to experiment with a very critical repair on one of my rear wheels. The cast rim is broken in the center, so where all the holes were for it to mount to the hub are just gone. I initially was going to replace the rim (and still may do), however I haven't found any suitable replacements nearby here in northern Nevada and shipping is extremely expensive for one of these. It got me thinking about just repairing it. I have a 1/2 inch steel center ready for the rim and bought myself a stick welder. I am going to weld it with some Ni-55 rod, being extremely careful while doing so as to not crack the casting. I'm going to practice on my busted pedestal first as I've already got a replacement for that.

More to come!

 

[R.J.]

Everything's looking looking great. Thanks for the update

 

[BigDaveinKY]

Thanks for the update. Keep up the good work.
Makes me look forward to seeing the finished product.

 

[Jim in NC]

Keep up the good work! You are off to a great start.

 

[64Tbird]

Wow, its been almost 1 year since an update! Well, looks like in my last post from a year ago I had just mated the main case and rear axle together. Let's just say a lot has changed since then. The most exciting update, the tractor runs now and drives wonderfully! It was certainly a long process over the last year carefully putting everything back together and making sure all the adjustments were good. I am still in the process of restoring the grilles and working on the electrical system, so hopefully by July 1st everything should be done (gonna shoot for sooner because now I want to start restoring a 1963 Thunderbird I bought last year). Anyways, here some photos and videos of the tractor running, thanks for reading!

Videos:
Video 1
Video 2

 

[BigDaveinKY]

Thanks for the update and congrats on a great looking and sounding restoration.

 

[Jim in NC]

You have done a great job. Keep us updated as you work on the Thunderbird.

 

[R.J.]

Looks awesome. Great job on the restoration.