1967Craftsman's

Hi Everyone, 
 
I got a lot of updates on the tractor which I will hopefully post soon, but I just wanted to let everyone know that today is the 1 year anniversary of when I bought it from the member of MyTractorForum. Thanks again to him for letting me buy it before he sold it to someone else, it means a lot. Here is what it looked like on his trailer below before I bought it and started tearing it apart as shown on page 1 of this post.......

 

 
 
 
 
Here is the tractor a year later below almost all torn apart and ready for sandblasting, and priming, and painting. I can't beleive it went from the above photos to the below photos in just a years time, and I can't believe that much progress has been made in that short of time looking back at it. Granted there is a lot more to do and take apart. I hope to and the plan is to have the tractor completely restored and back together late 2023 early 2024......

 

Hi folks,

I got somewhat of an update on the tractor, and there is story behind this one. I took the seat off the tractor a month ago to work on the voltage regulator and the battery box and just left it off to eventually sand it down, primer it, paint it, and have it reupholstered. I thought to myself a couple weeks ago when it was a very warm temperature and sunny day out that "today is gonna be that day", OR so I thought. I was taking the nuts and bolts out of the seat with a ratchet and socket to sand it down with my stepdads DA or dual action sander/polisher, and my stepdad says to "just grind them off it will be faster" so we did. When we grinded the nuts and bolts off the seat we noticed that the crack in the middle of the seat just so happens to be so to speak "bondoed" or patched with brass, I say it is bondoed or patched with brass because we took the grinder and put the wheel on and it did not create any sparks. See 1st photo below.

Anyway as a separate note if you look at my 2nd picture, when we grinded the nuts and bolts off the seat there was a non original plate that the nuts and bolts were holding onto. I say the plate is not original to the seat because I looked at the bottom of my 10 horsepower Craftsman seat and it is different like in the 3rd picture, and just to verify if it is like the 3rd picture I looked at my stepdads 10 horsepower Craftsman and it was the same thing. That said right now the plan of action is to......

1) Sandblast the whole seat from the tractor,

2) Have the local fabrication shop I had make my battery box pieces fix the seat and make the correct piece for the bottom,

3) primer, then paint the seat black,

4) then have it reupholstered in the same pattern as my 10 horsepower seat.


Wish me luck!
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
What the bottom of my seat SHOULD be, (photo courtesy of a seller on Ebay 2022)......
 

Thank you, i'm not perfect by any means and i'm trying my best. I just want to take my time and as much as I need on this tractor and do it right the first time. 

Coming along nicely. That's the way. Slow and steady. 

Hi folks,
 
A little update on the tractor since last time I primed the gas tank. The weather was great and in the 50's this past Friday so I painted the tank; I think it came out VERY good BUT the top in my opinion needs another coat of paint. Here are some after pictures.....
 

Since getting my gas tank back from my local radiator shop I sanded it all down with a used piece of 60 grit paper, then put 1 light coat of my primer in post 19 on, then sanded it with a new piece of 220 grit paper to try and get whatever rust pits that were there out, then I put another coat of the primer on, then repeated the process a 2nd and 3rd time then that was all I did. I put a total of 3 coats of primer on.....

I also got my gas tank back from my local radiator shop a couple days ago, and it only cost me $20.00 to have it done and soldered. The repairman who did it said it leaked 3 times, and there was a 3rd hole that needed to be done not just the original 2 like I thought. I asked my stepdad if we could shave the holes down a bit and he said he would leave it alone and not risk doing that and filing it too far and making another hole, so I'll just leave it alone like he suggests. Here is what the tank looks like now.....

Hi everyone,

I have a little update on the tractor. My stepdad and I went to the Lebanon Valley Indoor Tractor Expo in PA about 3 weeks ago now, and Lawn And Garden Tractor (L&GT) Magazine was there and I am a subscriber so I renewed my subscription. If you did not know the magazine is teamed up with Hapco tractor parts, so while at their booth renewing my subscription they had a show special on their parts so my stepdad bought me a new steering wheel as a birthday present. The reason he bought it for me was because I was deliberating about it for awhile (as I do with a lot of things) because to me it was the wrong one; it is the correct design but I didn't think it would go on smoothly because it requires a key way like my 10 horsepower has. My stepdad says "I don't think you're gonna find a better deal than that and we can make it work", and took out his wallet. It is a John Deere steering wheel yes, but I will bring it to a machine shop and have them make a key way to fit my steering column......
 
http://hapcoparts.com/steeringwheel.aspx

Hi everyone,

Not too much to report but I got very good news. I brought the tractors gas tank to my local radiator shop today to have them fix the holes for me, and I also brought the battery box to a local fabrication shop near me to have them make a piece of metal where the box is completely rotted out.

Making a little progress which I am happy about, more to come on these soon.....

Hi everyone,

I'm back with an update. I got my new NOS filter in the mail yesterday and it came in a very patriotic package.....





 

Hi folks,

I'm back with an update on the tractor, which I again got some good but bad news on. The bad news is I found another small hole in my gas tank after it was sandblasted, the good news is I got a brand new Autolite spark plug for the engine and I bought an NOS air filter.....

The bad below......

 
 
 
The good below, the new spark plug....

 
 
The new NOS filter below, I only got it for around $13.00 on Ebay.....

 
 
The old spark plug below.....

 

Comparing the old filter to the new NOS one. At this point some (or maybe all) folks would say ok you can throw the old filter out now since it looks disgusting and you got the new one, BUT that is not me. I will save it even when the NOS one is in..... 

So we've to wait till spring? Oh you teaser!

Well folks, 
 
I'm back with an update on the tractor. All the engine bolts are out of the engine, the belts are off and out of the way, and the engine is now ready to be taken off the frame. The engine will be taken off in the spring and after I get my other 10 horsepower Craftsman running though, I don't want too much apart at once from 2 different tractors and I don't want too many projects apart at one time. 
 
This is all for now, more to come soon......
 

Well folks, 
 
I got some good but bad news, my gas tank got sandblasted the other day and it has a small hole in it. It can easily be repaired but it was something that I didn't expect. I will try repairing it myself, if not bring it to someone if need be.....

I bought 2 cans of this for my engine at my local AutoZone the other day.....

This is all for now, stay tuned for more soon.....

Well folks, 
 
I'm back with an update on the tractor. All the engine bolts are out of the engine, the belts are off and out of the way, and the engine is now ready to be taken off the frame. The engine will be taken off in the spring and after I get my other 10 horsepower Craftsman running though, I don't want too much apart at once from 2 different tractors and I don't want too many projects apart at one time. 
 
This is all for now, more to come soon......
 

I've known holes like that be brazed. A fabrication shop may do it for you. BUT! And it's a big but, wash the tank out thoroughly with water then run compressed air through it for a while.
  JB weld could also be an option.

I also took the head off the engine, here is what it looks like when I first took it off along with what the oil looks like when I pulled the dipstick after I noticed there was no more transmission fluid in the spark plug hole . As you can see there is carbon on the head......

 
This is all for now, more to come soon.....

I also put some PB blaster in the spark plug hole to try and free up the engine since it won't turn over by hand, I put the PB in everyday for 2 weeks but at the end of the 2nd week of the engine still not turning and the PB evaporating I put some ATF and kerosene in the spark plug hole. That too evaporated and didn't work either by the next morning so I am gonna have to most likely rebuild the engine. I took the engine head bolts out when I put the ATF in the hole just for this reason of having to take the engine apart so I can try and save some time.
 
Before with the ATF in the spark plug hole......

 

After with the ATF not in the spark plug hole......

Just wanted to wish my M.O.M family a Happy Easter today, God Bless! 

Just wanted to wish my M.O.M family a Happy Easter today, God Bless! 

Hey Y'all,
 
I'm back with an update on my electric power unit. December 4th 2020, I painted the pulley to the starter generator and the deck stop lever (or whatever it is called).....
 
 


 
 
 

November 6th 2020,

I decided that while I have the engine off anyways, and not to mention I messed up and sprayed some yellow paint to my starter generator that I would paint that too. Plus and a 3rd reason is because it had some chipped paint spots. I decided instead of unbolting and taking the heavy generator off I would paint it right on the tractor, and that is what I did. On November 6th 2020, I taped off anything and everything so no black paint would get on the yellow like I originally did......

Before the tape.....

 
With all the tape and outside with a coat of paint on it already....... I really do appreciate everyone who is following these builds, it means a lot. Thanks!

You've both done very nice jobs of them.