The next victim

[Lavoy]

Here is a before pic of the transmission. Not pictured are most of the reverser parts, and some of the trans parts. The pile of boxes and bags is not even all the new parts required for assembly, there are several bearings, seals, and gaskets that will be here next week. There are also about half a dozen bearings that are here, but not pictured.



All the gears in this transmission looked nice, but unfortunately, the case itself was bad. One of the front studs had rusted so badly, that there were no threads in one hole in the front of the case. It seems like a shame to have to replace it, but there are only 4 bolts that hold the trans to the center section, and this was one of them.
The reverser parts looked nice as well, but before the crawler was disassembled, it was impossible to move the crawler with the reverser in "reverse". For an unknown reason (so far), it would simply lock up, and try to kill the engine.
The entire transmission and reverser will be assembled, and then I test the transmission for function by spinning it over with an outside power source. Once this is done, the center section can be installed.
More pics later.
Lavoy

[BKahler]

All the gears in this transmission looked nice, but unfortunately, the case itself was bad. One of the front studs had rusted so badly, that there were no threads in one hole in the front of the case. It seems like a shame to have to replace it, but there are only 4 bolts that hold the trans to the center section, and this was one of them.

Lavoy,

I had a similar situation with the big monstrous nose piece on my backhoe. One of the four 5/8" threaded holes was stripped. I took it to a machine shop and they used something simlar to a helicoil only stronger and better. Can't remember the name off the top of my head but I can find out if you're interested. Those four bolts hold the entire front end of the tractor together, front suspension bolts to it as does the forward part of the front end loader. So far its holding together nicely.

Brad

[Lavoy]

Brad,
Keensert is one of the brands of threaded insert like you are talking about, but there are others. Unfortunately in this case, the bad hole was a blind hole very close to the outside edge of the case so there was not enough meat there to do anything like that. If it had been on the other corner, it would have been no problem, as that corner's hole goes all the way through into the case.
The case in the pic is a different used case that I cleaned up and will be installing instead of the damaged one.
Lavoy

[Lavoy]

Here is a pic of the engine, and one of the head before reassembly.




The block pic is kind of dark, sorry.
The block has been bored .045, crank turned .010/.010, and new pistons and bearings installed. The rods have been cut and resized, with new wrist pin bushings installed.
New cam bushings are installed, the cam has been reground to correct centerline, and lifters resurfaced.
The head has been cooked and magnafluxed, planed and surfaced, with new guides, valves, springs, keepers, and hard seats installed.
The engine is for the most part better than it left the factory. I will post another pic as it goes together.
Lavoy

[BLS]

Lavoy,

It sure is great to see you bring these crawlers back to better than factory condition.

I am interested in what you charge (average cost) to completely restore a 420c 5 roller. I do not have a space out of the weather to teadown a tractor, and I'm not sure I would attempt it if I did.

Thank you.

Brian

[Lavoy]

Brian,
It will vary with what the crawler is, but as a general rule, the labor cost runs $6000, that is a flat fee, and you know it up front. For a bare crawler, no attachments or options, it would be somewhat less.
Parts cost will vary with the condition of the machine, and how you want your specific crawler done, but can equal the cost of labor or more depending on how good or bad the crawler was to start with.
Realistically, if you were to compare a complete restoration on your own to having me do it, you are looking at the cost of labor becuase you would be putting the parts in anyway.
I can also do partial as well, I have a 430 in the shop as well that I am only doing the drivetrain on, the owner wishes to complete the cosmetic portion and finish work himself.
Lavoy

[Lavoy]

Here are some pics of the partially assembled engine. This engine is bored .045, crank turned .010/.010, cam reground, lifters refaced, new valves, guides, springs, keepers, hard valve seats, head and block planed, new cam bushings, bearings, pistons, wrist pin bushings, rods cut and resized.


After painting behind where the water pump goes, it will get a new water pump installed, and later the flywheel which has been turned, and a new clutch.
Lavoy

[wwattson]

That's gonna be one good lookin' crawler when you're done with it Lavoy.

I've been thinking about the transmission case with rusted out bolt hole. I've been doing some repairs using an extremely high strength silver braze (85,000 PSI) that is able to wick itself all the way along the length of close tolerance parts. I was wondering what you'd thing of the idea of doing a repair on a hole like that using either a threaded insert (need to remove more material for the oversize thread) or an internally threaded sleeve (less material removed but you need to get the brazing perfect).

The thing is that the steel of the case is probably on the order of 60,000 PSI so the silver brazing should exceed the strength of the surrounding steel. I don't know that I would necessarily try it for the first time on a customer's crawler, but it might be an option for a case that is otherwise good that has a little steel to work with in the area of the failure.

[Lavoy]

Bill,
There was just not enough meat surrounding this one to try anything. If it had not been a very critical bolt, I might have tried something, but it just was not worth the risk in this case.
Lavoy

[Lavoy]

Here are some more photos of the progress.



The corssbars and sideframes in my crawler jig.

The rebuilt engine

Rebuilt final drives


Should have more photos next week when the engne and finals are attached.
Hope you guys like the pics.
Lavoy