[Flatland Fox]

And this is a problem I would like to solve. When I dismantled the Cropmaster I realized that the radiator had no shroud behind it. It is true that some early tractors never had it but I always had some thoughts about it. Then, I remembered that the Tractor museum had a Cropmaster 25D in the collection. So there I went, I opened the side panel and there it was...

It had a shroud.
As you can see it also had the original two blade fan. Mine has a four blade fan. I think that the previous owner had tried to improve the cooling changing the fan, and then it did not fit the shroud and away it went. Trying to find a solution I went marauding the museum´s junkyard and there I found a Nuffield radiator with the shroud still attached. It was in very good shape. Permission was granted to pick it. I did not take the radiator altogether because the Cropmaster radiator has a weird tank on it. It remains to be seen whether the shroud will fit the radiator frame and the fan.
In the meantime I was able to find an original shroud in a british junkyard, but I am very reluctant to order it because after Brexit any order from Britain is intercepted, incredibly delayed and heavily taxed. Ask me how I know. It is sad but, with the current final prices of british spares, this Cropmaster might well be the last british tractor I restore.

 

[Flatland Fox]

The shroud does not fit the fan....
In the meantime I have been fixing the radiator support.

And I have finally closed both front wheel hubs after one month looking for the proper screws which are not the same in both hubs as one of them is a replacement.
I also installed the fan and fixed one of the side sheet straps of the radiator using Nural cold weld. Fantastic stuff. I have spread paint remover on the head tank of the radiator. Tomorrow I will remove the remnants of paint.
I have also primed the four counterweight cast iron bars which will be fixed after painting the nose underside of the tractor. They are rather heavy, one of them slipped of my hands and bruised my ankle. Twelve hours later it still hurts a lot.

 

[Flatland Fox]

The regulator is already on its tray.

 

[Flatland Fox]

The tank and the dash painted with a two pack urethane paint. Fantastic paint!
The shine is incredible..
I made two paint runs on the tank side. I will wait until next weekend to sand and retouch them.

I also painted the fore part of the chassis, the steering bar and the counterweights. I will assemble everything next weekend.

 

[Jim in NC]

Yes it has a great shine. Very nice progress!

 

[BigDaveinKY]

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to more.

 

[Louie 1947]

Beautiful pictures and plenty of them.

 

[Louie 1947]

I went through the pictures again as I have never seen one of these tractors. Tractor is in beautiful condition for its age and the block is looking real good also.

 

[Flatland Fox]

Thank you for your comments, friends. Unfortunately, I can only work some few hours on weekends. This saturday I will show the fenders and a footplate to the local ironsmith because they have some holes that have to be repaired with some skillful welding. Probably this tractor had some sort of cab attached to those holes. I intend to polish the paint runs and retouch the tank. Once it is ready, the fuel system will be finished.
Then I will start working the radiator.

 

[Flatland Fox]

This weekend I reluctantly wasted the whole saturday trying to finish a greenhouse for my wife. On sunday, I painted the counterweights, the front end and I gave a new coat to the tank. Then the air hose moved the chair where the tank was drying and it went down to the floor. After much cursing I repainted the bumps and painted it again. Once it was more or less dry, I wanted to put it on its cradle. I told my wife to help me and soon the tank had her fingerprints on it. You know, one of those days. Fortunately the urethane paint is fantastic and all scratches were easily corrected. Well, here is the fuel tank in its place. I have reused the old brass fuel fittings but I discarded the brass pipes because they had been cut. I substituted modern fuel lines. I also fitted new rubber pads. I also painted the radiator support and the oil filter housing as fell as some other small items. I expect to assemble them in the next ¨shift¨.

 

[Flatland Fox]

By the way, the radiator had no leak, but in a certain spot there is a dab of... concrete... that I am not going to remove for the time being...

 

[Jim in NC]

We'd never known about the concrete if you had not told us. Nice work!

 

[Flatland Fox]

Today I installed the counterweights. Risky business. It took me a long while to figure out how to assemble the whole thing. I fixed everything with new bolts because the originals were heavily corroded.
I also repaired the radiator support and the radiator bracket. They only need a coat of paint. I also installed the water hoses and pipes.
Here is the radiator support:

And here is the bracket with the radiator installed to check that everything has been measured properly when I repaired the bases that will be fixed to the support.

 

[Flatland Fox]

By the way. This is the hose connecting the oil bath air filter and the air inlet.

The problem is that the air filter has an outlet with a diameter of 58 mm and the inlet has only 50 mm. So I decided to buy two pieces of hose of the respective diameters and I inserted one into the other. They are a very tight fit. So the black hose will fit the inlet and the blue one will fit the air filter and both will fit one into the other. The only thing I don ´t like is the blue color.

 

[Flatland Fox]

This is the radiator. It has a brass overheadtank. I am toying with the idea of polishing it instead of painting it with heat resistant paint. Tomorrow I will clean it.

 

[BigDaveinKY]

Keep looking for another hose that's black. you may run across one.
I would definitely use some contact cement or silicone sealant between the hoses to ensure an airtight seal.

 

[Flatland Fox]

Yes, I will find a black hose. I also intended to use the silicone which is sometimes used as a gasket substitute, even though the fit is extremely tight. But I am happy with the solution.

 

[Louie 1947]

Looking real good.

 

[Flatland Fox]

Not much done today because a friend of mine wanted my opinion about a cracked engine block of a Farmall A. Now he is looking for a new one....
Well, I cleaned the radiator. It is amazing the amount of dirt that came out of it. I used hot water and one of those green stuffs that my wife uses to clean the dishes.

 

[Flatland Fox]

Then I fixed the steering rod and broke one of the ball end joints...