CA Project Pics

First power-up of the PCB was successful (nothing blew up).  I do have a few issues to address.  1) The bezel is covering part of the display (thought I was careful, but apparently not careful enough).  2) The scaling for the battery voltage sensor is off.  I had set it for a particular prototype resistor value and that resistor disappeared into a black hole.  New resistor is a slightly different value (they have a fairly wide tolerance) plus I added a new zener clamp circuit to prevent the input from going over 3.3V (which should give a measurement range up to 16.5V power input)...slow progress in between yard work, pool work, etc.

Here is a full view.  This coating is much tougher than the paint.  I had used a very tough/hard paint, but I was worried it wouldn't hold up well.  I think this will hold very well and has a good feel to it.

I spent days reworking the hood.  It was severely damaged in a logging accident plus several hail events.  I spent quite a lot of effort my prior trip but just wasn't getting the results I wanted, especially on the sides where the decals go.  That was going to look awful.  So I bought some body work tools and began pounding the heck out of it.  Then I started bondo-ing the worst areas.  I would have had to skim the entire surface to get it right.  What a mess (not to mention the numerous rips and tears I welded).  A sane person would have probably got new tin.

More bondo.  Not clearly visible are the severe rust pits all over.  Like the seat, some of the rust pits LOOK like they're deeper than the metal is thick :(

After 5000 coats of primer and days of sanding, I'd had enough (red deep fill primer).  Good as it's gonna get.

Not really clear but the paint looks MUCH better this time.  I had several issues previously:

1) Compressor was spitting out huge amount of water.  To resolve, I purchased a 4 stage air dryer (which makes 5 stages given the one at the compressor).  This made a massive difference for both painting and sand blasting.  After i got the sand blaster cleaned out of all the hard chunks/flakes of sand, it was greatly improved in performance.

2) Massive bugs and tree residue (in May), plus a lot of rain adding to the compressor moisture issues.

3) I was following the directions on the Tallman's paint can previously.  This time, I used the advice of "random internet guy" and mixed hardener and naphtha thinner in a 4-1-1 ratio.  This massively improved the paint drying time, hardness, and gloss.

As expected, I need to make two tiny mods.  

1) The sensor housing itself (plumbing T) was cut to the correct dimensions.  But this will require me to mount the sensor on the opposite (rear) side and change the entry point of the cable (no big deal).

2) The display housing needs about 1 inch more clearance to deconflict with the throttle and starter control rods (expected).  (also need thinner rubber clamp mounts since the steering column diameter is larger than I remembered).

My first completed task was to re-bend the throttle control rod to get the full range of motion for throttle control.  After about 6 attempts I got it to within 1 notch.  To get the remaining notch, I shortened the metal insert in the governor spring.  I took 1/32 inch off each end which allowed me to reach the first idle detent.  This should not have been necessary, but I was unable to get the linkage bent exactly right and shortening this insert was the most obvious "fix".

I then switched to run wiring and install the prototype tach and sensor.  It has not been wired yet but I routed the wiring along side the battery cable and exited the bottom hole at the front of the tool box.

The sensor is installed at the bottom inspection hole on the bottom of the bell housing.  I still need to coat the outer flywheel with flat paint and a suitable reflective marker, perhaps at the "fire" mark.  Completing the tach install isn't on the high priority list at the moment.  Given my earlier problems with the DMM going haywire due to the ignition noise, I'm a little concerned whether the tach will be sensitive to that noise.  I've not provided a filter on the power supply input (not too hard to add i suppose).

Front view.  I think it will be adequately out of the way of the controls, but can be moved further back if needed.

Next I moved to hydraulic pump testing.  First I replaced the badly fraying 72 year old hoses with new 5000psi hoses.  I began testing the pump behavior and found it to be quite noisy and there was no attempt to pump at all.  After investigating, I discovered that one of the plungers was stuck depressed.  

I began by disassembling all of the external parts (hold valve and control mechanism, and pin that holds the rollers for the plungers) and soaking the piston in penetrant and every now and again I'd walk by and tap it.  After a day or so, the piston suddenly popped up (to my great relief).  I then began a full disassembly and cleaning (mostly varnish, very little rust).  I replaced all of the check balls most of which were severely corroded on the spring side (the springs were not though) but showed irregular shape on the seat side.  The seats themselves all seemed ok as far as I could see.  I also discovered that the main control valve spring had been broken and someone had intertwined two springs together (which risked gouging the bore but did not seem to have).  Not knowing the characteristics of the original spring, I couldn't tell if they simply intertwined the broken half with the original spring.  The intertwined spring was about 2/3 the length of the main spring.  The mechanism of actuation of this plunger and spring isn't clear to me.  The main (broken) spring was way longer than the plunger tip would require and provided considerable force that made it a little challenging to compress to get the clip off, so I'm not sure whether function was compromised or not.

End result is that the pump was still not functional after my cleaning and reassembly.  It was much quieter operating (near silent) due to the stuck piston being freed.  I made another 3 attempts at cleaning and reassembly, carefully following the inadequate documentation I had (a WD schematic which was said to be similar enough to a CA).  Given it was taking a considerable amount of my limited trip time, I elected to take it to the former AGCO dealer to work on.  He has not reported finding any issues yet, after a week.  There was some question as to whether there should be a check valve on the inlet as some images on the web seem to show.  I was unable to research at the time due to poor cell and internet access, but later determined that beginning with CA17441 and up, a check valve was added to the inlet.  So mine never had one (CA13092).  CA17441 is in the same year as mine (1952).  I can only guess that there was some sort of issue with priming or holding prime that was addressed.

Installed new hydraulic hoses.  I may have some sharp bending issues to address.  Unfortunately, it seems impossible to install a 45 or 90 fitting on the cylinder itself due to insufficient clearance.  I may be able to use swivel adapters I guess.

Dad had presented me with a broken off screw and nut but I didn't know initially what it went to.  It turned out to go to the hold valve plate.  So I was able to weld it and clean it up.  A problem arose however when I tried to separate the two plates.  They were firmly rusted together, both the bearing and the plates themselves.  During my (I though careful) attempts to separate them, the press fit plate separated from the bearing.  After researching, hopefully I got the orientation correct.  It should be obvious if not once I'm able to get the pump working.  I reinstalled as a press-fit item (it liked the assumed correct orientation and resisted rotation about that position), so I used a punch to pinch it back together coupled with some loctite metal-metal bonding glue.  I also replaced the detent ball which was in bad shape.

Not sure why so fuzzy.  I guess I was too close.

The Cross Mfg 3-point kit comes in an ugly red color so I cleaned up and repainted the drawbar and the kit.  Since it was raining virtually the entire 2nd week, I had to do everything indoors.  I hope I didn't get any orange paint on that red tractor right behind this location :).  Getting the kit ready to install was not a small task.  In order to fit it to the pin-hitch CA, I had to create a new bail system to free the old bail from the lift arms (mostly designed and built two years ago).  That required cutting the new bail to length and drilling what seemed like hundreds of holes.  Unfortunately, my newly acquired chop saw flopped massively on the 1 inch thick steel.  I had to finish it up with an angle grinder with cutting blade.  I think it was due to the specific blades i bought which indicated for stainless.  I think the grain was just too fine.  I have new blades for next time.  

Earlier I had questioned the lift arm lower height requirements which I feared I might not make with this design.  However, I developed some "floating" attachment accessories which get me from 10.5 inches down to 7.5 inches which I think should be enough.  The reason for the relatively high lower limit of 10.5 inches is because I left the original bail attached to the drawbar and it interferes somewhat (also, I installed 13.6 tires).  This was so that i can "rapidly" reconfigure back to the pin-hitch configuration.  It also provides some sway stabilization.  However, if I need to go lower than 10.5 inches or 7.5 inches with the "floating" attachments, I can always remove the old bail.  That will allow the lift arms to go to the ground.  The only physical mod to the drawbar was to increase one hole size from 9/16 to 5/8 and to drill one new 5/8 inch hole near the front for the 3-point arm mount.  I also added two inches of rise to the Cross lift arm mount via two long plates beneath it.  This helped better clear the old bail with the lift arms.  I haven't weighed it yet, but I'm guessing the new 3-point mods add about 300lbs of weight.  The new bail itself is just about my limit of being able to pick up and align in place to the tractor.  Most of the weight will be within a foot of the axle.  I also bought some new sway stabilizers from TSC that consist of a turnbuckle and a heavy duty chain.  I modified the eye-bolt very slightly to better fit the axle pins that the rock shaft/fender rail stabilizers attach to (ground the inside where the bolt is angled and made the eye-bolt very slightly thinner to allow the clip to attach more freely as the eye-bolt rotates with tension on the chain).

Regards,

 Chris and Cheryl

Thanks, I'm not really happy with the new bail design, but there's precious few good mounting points other than a giant clamp around the axle.  It I decide this isn't good enough, I may go that route.  For 1954 and on, I was told that AC modified the casting to accommodate the drawbar center mount for the snap coupler.  I've not been able to find a good pic of that change.  It would be interesting.  My bail requires the rear wheels to be spun out a few inches from the inner most position.  Not really a big deal for me.  It does make it so that I can add a ROPS without cutting holes in the floor plate (just outside the fenders).

I could probably bolt to the rockshaft/fender bolt at the back just outside the fender.  That might be good enough.  I'd have to think about the forces involved, but then again, that's where the rockshaft ultimately took the forces of the pinned drawbar anyway.  That fender rail seems a little bit flimsy for that purpose, but don't recall ever hearing of a problem.  But that approach would have the same problem I have now because I left the old bail attached to the drawbar.  As is right now, I have the option to remove the old bail to allow the lift arms to drop to the ground if needed.