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the hoods actually is quite good rust wise, but some one has cut a hole out in order to fit some sort of hand winch, my theory was someone used it for tree work, , have toyed with the idea of keeping the winch as its part of the history of this 604 and whatever it did though its working life......

I've been wanting to make one of these for a long time so today in and amongst painting I knocked one up out of scrap wood to work out the sizing of the actual one. Here are some photos. This is the wooden frame that I made A load of angle iron was dug out that I acquired some time ago. Thanks to my dad for the welding. Here is how far we got, still lots to do but it's getting there

A simple link, hinged at one end, which can act like a safety stop on a vehicle lift. If it's not locked out by the cable, it is pushed open as the hitch passes, then locks the hitch when it drops back. To release, you raise the hitch, to clear the latch, then pull the cable. An advantage is, if the lift fails, You grab the plough, lift it till it engages the latch, then trundle back to the beer tent.

I like the latch idea. Or maybe a spring loaded pin. I've got some choke cables.

Think of the headaches the poor land rover design engineers suffer trying to place engine core plugs in the optimum location in the pursuit of, minimum outlay and maximum future income looking at the problem from another angle, mount a 'slam' type latch, along the lines of a gate catch, to lock the hitch. Then use a 'pull and twist' 'choke' cable to release the latch or hold it in the open position.

Finally started on this project again, I have now made the base of the box and hope to get the rest of the metal cut by the end of the week. I am really pleased with how the wood looks with a coat of oil.

The tie rods are different on the earlier models as the front axle is different to the later models. I have had many parts shipped over from US , although the parts can be quite cheap the shipping cost are a bit painful , but worth it in the end .

That is an extremely rare model here in UK, congrats on finding it, if you keep an eye open on US eBay quite often panels come up for sale. Most of the panels are interchangeable between models , I notice that the tool box has rotten through and also the hood dash has quite some rust , great if you can repair the hood . I agree this would look awesome if kept original patina . I have a 1961 suburban that is in a similar condition but I intend to keep original patina. If you pop over to Redsquare you should be able to download a copy of the Kohler manual for and a manual for the 604 . looking forward to this one come together.

Put things together over the weekend. I made a clevis to attach ram to slot hitch. Then to see what depth I'd get with the plough down, I put the tractor on 6" blocks and attached the plough. This showed I'd get about 7" of depth. More than enough. To test the lift, I used the simple method of using two of the wires from actuator and touching them on the battery terminals. Pleased to say it lifted the plough with ease and gave enough ground clearance. Though a problem has shown up. The actuator works on a screw system. Motor turns and the ram screws out. When the plough is raised, its weight causes the ram to slowly turn the motor and the plough slowly lowers. So I am now looking at a method of locking the plough in the raised position. This I think can be done using the lift lever with a cable attached to the hitch. It could also be a method of controlling plough depth. I may get time tomorrow afternoon to see what I can do and my next update will contain photo's.

Started on another mod. Thanks to Doug, (ranger). I now have an electronic actuator and all the gubbins. The little bush I made, to take out some of the play in the slightly worn and oval eye. I also got the brackets welded on to mount it as below. Sorry about the poor quality of the photo. I've made a couple of plates to help stiffen things up as well. Everything has now had two coats of primer.