As promised, an update on progress (or lack of it) on my old reliable right hand tractor, the Super 90 Massey. After sitting in the workshop all winter, finally got the head re-machined down to a supposedly perfect level fit with the block last week. Surprisingly enough Agco (now owns Massey) was able to supply most of the gaskets to put the engine back together. With the exception of water pump gaskets so I got out the old carving tools and gasket paper and made a reasonable facsimile that should hopefully serve the purpose when I bolt it back together.
With a little help from my brother (the real mechanic) and nephew, we got the head lowered into place and torqued down. There was a time I would have just done it myself but the recovery time for an injured back makes me think before I try these things nowadays.
A few digital pics have helped refresh my memory while trying to figure out the jigsaw puzzle of parts, fuel and hydraulic lines, etc. Daytime temperatures a little above freezing certainly make it better working conditions.
This fifty year old tractor is one of the more complicated I have worked on. Massey and Perkins liked to pack a lot of parts into a small space. In so many cases you need to remove part #A, B and C to get at part D. Its a good thing I don't pay myself by the hour or this would be quite an expensive repair job. I shot some time lapse photos of the job yesterday with the Gopro but it would not make very interesting viewing as a lot of time lapses and not much change is seen in the project. Heres one.
Sometimes I get a little sidetracked on other jobs such as this windshield wiper circuit board on the Blazer. Funny how I never remember it had a problem until it rains or the windshield needs washing. Suddenly I am reminded I need to fix that problem. A new wiper , multi function switch listed at over $600 . A new wiper motor assembly, about $132. So do I just throw in new parts in hopes one of them will be the fix? The internet came to my rescue after a little searching and apparently this is not an uncommon problem on 90s GM wiper systems. There are even
instructional videos on youtube to walk me through the disassembly and repair. A few minutes with the soldering iron and I think (hope) I have it fixed .
Ralph, I really hate putting something back together after it has been apart for more than a year. It seems like there is always something missing.
ReplyDeleteI spent a couple hours trying to rout hydraulic lines on the 1355 Moline. I looked at every photo of a 1355 I could find. Then I had to take it apart again because the steering lines were leaking.
Then I get distracted by another problem and it sits for a couple more months.