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Bush Hog D4-10 Garden Tractor Restoration

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
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The restoration of this Bush Hog D4-10 garden tractor started in January of 2009, and I finished in September of 2011.
She is broken all down but that's as far as I've gotten. I have today begun some sandblasting & priming of the parts that will be painted white.

Here is tractor the night I brought her home.

I will take some primed parts pics later today.

Here is my stand full of the disassembled D4-10 parts.

The "D" in D4-10 designates "direct drive". It uses an automotive style clutch in bell housing like a few other makes use.

The transaxle was full of crud, so took it completely down also, every gear/bearing came out for inspection & cleaning. I also found an unpleasant surprise. Take a look at that twisted axle shaft! Luckily I have a parts tractor & both axles were perfect in it. The tractor brake sticks out from front of transaxle & shoes are in great shape. A drum slips over.

Just a little progress, but progress none the less. All the "to be white" parts blasted & under primer.

Use rattle can primer anymore. Works just as good as bulk spray, unless filling imperfections. I use spot puTty for that anyway. Almost hit 60F here today! I did heat the shop a few degrees. I have a hanging propane shop furnace.

Been wanting to get more done on this tractor, but just not enough time to get into the sheet metal work right now. So today I decided to tear into the engine & get it rebuilt. Easier to walk away at any point when doing engine work....unlike the bodywork. The engine didn't smoke much at all, but being I'm restoring her, I want to go through everything top to bottom. Turns out the engine is in great shape, but she's getting a NOS piston & ring set just the same. Bore has no ring groove at all, and not nare a scratch or blemish. The insides looked like brand new. The rod looks to have been replaced also. Not taken the valves out yet, but they look good & shiny, but they get lapped in regardless. Someone had been into this engine not long before I got it. The crank's timing gear has been banged on the edges of the teeth, but shouldn't be an issue as she ran fine with no strange noises. It doesn't have a magneto, but I may put one in it out of a 7hp Wisconsin I have. They seem to fire better off a mag as the Delco starter/generator drags power from the auto style coil that this tractor started life with. Some D4-10's came with magneto....others 12V coil.

Went to the shop for a few more minutes & finished gutting the block. Looks like what smoke there was came from worn valve guides. Can't feel any wear in the valves, thinking they've been replaced. Gotta see if I can round up some new guides, or just knurl & ream them.

Took a few pics of the innards of the engine. I have a NOS piston & rings to go into it. Hard to find parts, but if you keep a close watch on ebay & other places, you can snag them. Patience is the key.

I've got the block in the sandblast cabinet. Not had time to finish blasting it clean. After blasting I will wash it, then dry & prime. After that I will give it new paint, hone cylinder, lap valves, wash it again, then begin re-assembly.

I'm off duty this morning, so hit the shop early before it gets too hot. Finished sandblasting engine parts, then washed all the parts & dried. Hit them with primer.

Then after primer cured in the hot sun....mixed the paint & got that part finished. Now this coming week I can concentrate on assembling the engine.

The paint I got off ebay for $54 a gallon delivered, Omni acrylic enamel "Viper Red" and as close a match as I can get, especially for the money. Ain't RED perty!

Well, turns out the engine I am rebuilding is also a TR-10D identical to Brian's. I sold one engine off a Bush Hog and it was definitely a TRA and I never looked at the engine ID plate...just took it off & put it away. After painting my engine today I got the plate out, & low & behold it's a TR-10D. I know Bush Hog was good for using whatever available at the time, as this same model tractor could come with the Wisconsin or a HH100 Tecumseh. Now I know they also used TRA &TR engines.

Wish I'd have kept the other engine now. Just found out that the TR-10D is just 8 1/4hp. The TRA-10D is 10.1hp. I knew the extra 1/4" stroke of the TRA just had to make more power. Spec sheet:
MEDIUM TUBE FRAME SPECIFICATIONS

I should have it finished this week. Gotta go through the carb also. This engine had 12 auto style coil ignition, but I took the magneto off the S7D to put into this one. Same parts, mine just didn't have the mag coil assembly riveted onto the bearing plate. If the mag ever goes, it will be simple to convert to 12V coil.

Got all the innards back in & engine back plate on. Then I hit a snag. I've found the mag/bearing plate is not the same between the S7D and the TR-10D....the one for the S7D is deeper, so bottomed on the crank. So I picked up the original plate & it was in 2 pieces. Was cracked & I hadn't seen it when I slipped it off. So if I feel up to it, I'll try TIG welding the plate back together. It'll still bolt up to the S7D block so I can bolt it down to get a good flush fit. After welding, I have to mount the mag over to the welded bearing plate. Been unbearably hot today, so worked on the engine some, & will get cows with newborn calves in late tonight when the temps drop a bit.

Got the plate welded, but had trouble with the TIG. One of the switches is problematic. By the time I got it working right, I made a nasty looking weld, but smoothed it some going over it. Tomorrow I'm gonna build it up a bit more around the coil tower & call it done. Then I can complete the engine assembly tomorrow evening. After that, clean the carb up & I'll be finished with it. Need to rig me up a soda blaster to polish the carb. I have sodium bicarb in 50lb sacks for the cows, so endless supply here. I'll post more pics tomorrow night. Had to quit on it to mow the yard, once the sun started down & cooled off some.

It's awful hot out and I've been in it long enough, but I went to the shop for a little while & got the bearing carrier plate finished welding and got the mag mounted to it. The weld isn't pretty, but it's strong. I need more weld time with that TIG, and a new switch.

Installed plate & got the clearance right on .002" using one (calls for between .001 & .004") .0075 and one .0025 shim gaskets. I used my dial gauge because I have one, but with these tapered bearings, the rule of thumb for clearance is: If you can feel play, but not see movement...good to go. If you can feel AND see the actual crank movement, then you have too much end to end shaft clearance.

Put in the new points & condenser & I have a HOT sparky!

I love having a blast cabinet. Everything comes out so clean of crud. I lightly blasted the flywheel & it looks like new. If you wonder about the paper towel pieces in the holes. Around here mud-daubers will fill the holes with mud when you turn your back! lol

While there, I checked valve clearances. Intake needed a shade ground off the valve stem to get it to the .006" clearance, but the exhaust valve was spot-on.
That may be it for me in the shop tonight. Been a long hot day...well, 2 weeks. Think I'll take the rest of the evening off.

Not that I felt like it after my day with my eye injury, but I can't sit too long. Went to the shop for a few minutes & lapped the valves. Went out again & installed the valves & springs.
This is my valve spring compressor. Doesn't fit perfect, but does decent enough.

I figure most of you guys use the grease trick, but I'll post it anyway. Grease inside & outside each keeper. Use grease to stick it to a screwdriver & slip onto valve stem. The grease holds it to stem & you just drag the screwdriver away.

Valves & springs all in. Made double sure I had the exhaust rotator on the exhaust side. When not feeling your best, you gotta watch yourself close. I have the cover on & all buttoned up, so now I just need to install the head & all shields. Probably tomorrow night. Then on to the Zenith carb.
.

Got the engine all buttoned up now, so tonight it's carb clean/repair time.

Here's the completed engine.

I have the carb apart & soaking in gallon of carb cleaner. Carb is in amazingly good shape. Shafts are snug, float good, and little crud inside. I was going to rig up a soda blaster, but I think I can just use my blast cabinet & hit the carb very lightly. I have a bad carb body I can test first to be sure. The carb body gasket is hard as a rock, but I have that thickness gasket material, so I'll just cut a new one since I don't need any other parts. I might get her fired this weekend, and if I do, I will definitely post video!

Cut a new carb center gasket from sheet material & have carb mounted on engine.

Well, being I'm feeling better, I HAD to hear her running today. Still need to tweak on the carb & set points with a timing light to dial her in, but she runs! Sad part is that it'll be several months before she runs on the tractor chassis.
Click the pic for short video.

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a3...MOV04847.mp4?action=view&current=MOV04847.mp4

More progress! Got the frame all ready for paint prep work. Decided just to use spot putty for the rough rust patches left after the electrolysis. Putty should work just fine on this small pitting. By end of the day, I should have all wet-sanded down & ready for final coat of primer. I will wait several days to paint as I'd like to get more items ready that will get the red paint. I'd rather paint more at a time so I'll have to clean the paint gun less times.

Got all the putty sanded smooth & one side re-primed before a thunderstorm hit, but happy for the rain! I might be able to prime the other side later today yet. After I get it all primed, I'll not do the final sand until day to be painted.

Finally got back to a little work on the D4-10. Today I got the front axle & spindle assembly under primer, as well as the steering tie rod & drag link. The rear rims had good paint, but did a light sandblast on them & going to wet sand them smoother before painting, which will paint another day. Got the front wheels that go to this tractor off the other D4-10 and taking the tires off to sandblast the rims. Might get that done before the heat sends me in the house to the AC. It's my 1st day off in 2 weeks, so not gonna sweat all day! By this time I had hoped to have a rolling chassis under paint, but was not to be.

Still at it, but not for long....heating up out there. Even with a fan right on me, it's hot. Need to come in, cool off, then do some decal work. I got the front rims sandblasted & under primer. Blasting was kinda slow, due to waiting on my compressor to catch up, so I ran my extra hoses down to the farm shop's compressor & blasted till finished. With the 2 compressors coupled, I can blast till the cows come home...or I get tired.
Waiting to hear from Gene on some new rib tires for the front. Maybe, & I do mean maybe, I can get this thing as a painted rolling chassis in a couple weeks or so.

Here are the rims, tie rods, & axle assembly. Should get under paint by the end of the week.

Worked down the primer with water & a Scotchbrite pad in prep for new coat of yellow paint. The rear rims aren't the original, but had pretty slick white paint on them, so much easier to prep than the pitted originals & identical anyway. Fronts are OE. I have the front hubs prepped also, as the rims & hubs are the only yellow on the tractor. WILL get these painted Saturday. Also, UPS delivered my new front tires for this tractor today. Came from [email protected], our GTt sponsor. Great tires & service. I cut PVC pipe to stretch out the tires, to make for easier airing up after installation as I will be tubeless. Can't wait to see some paint going on the D4-10!

The paint went on great, BUT, after curing some, it's still way darker than what New Holland Yellow is supposed to be. VERY disappointed with the shade. I might go pick up some more paint in the morning & re-shoot them. This is the most in-depth restore I've ever done, so I hate to have it the wrong shade. It's so far off is what bothers me. I went by our new silage chopper for the shade of yellow, but it looks nothing like our chopper's yellow. Yet, when I now look up the NH yellow on the internet, I find my rims DO match. Not sure what gives, unless NH uses 2 different shades. Guess I'll sleep on it & decide what to do. Not trying to be so darn picky, but after the super look of the factory restore, I want mine to at least resemble it. What do you guys think?

This yellow

Or this yellow?

OK, I changed the color!

Got the correct paint! The auto paint shop, "Gipes Autocolor", has the "color capture" camera, so I took a piece of my vinyl that I make the Bush Hog decals with & had them exact match it, and it looks great! Will be repainting the rims after lunch, and pics will be forthcoming. Good thing I use hardener yesterday, so I can recoat right away. Without the hardener, the 1st coat would likely lift.
This higher quality acrylic enamel is cheaper than the tractor dealer's straight enamel! Dealer is $25/qt, and this PPG acrylic was only $22/qt!

One side & centers painted, and looking GREAT! I'll sleep good tonight! The flash changed the look some, but to the eye, the decal vinyl & the rims are a dead even match!

Quite the difference from this, the wrong shade:

Rims are Painted!
Just finished the last coat a few minutes ago. Looks like a good-nuff paint job. Some flaws as always, but makes me happy, and my wife says that's all that matters is that I'm happy! Had to fight a bunch of bugs/waspers before I could spray. Covered the rims & did a light fog of bug killer, let that settle, then sprayed the paint. After these rims cure a few days, I'll mount the new tires on all 4. I bought new rear tires like 2yrs ago, thinking I would get to that point way back then. Better late than never.
Now that all the yellow components are painted, it's on to the chassis. LOTS to be painted red, so will have to be done in smaller lots. All the chassis components need to be wet-sanded, then will be ready for paint. Not gonna happen in the next few days...gotta get back to chopping last of corn silage this coming week.

Getting the rims painted injected some energy into the project (well, me! lol), so I have the chassis components all prepped & on stands, ready to paint red. If nothing happens to detour me, then they will get red paint tomorrow after I finish morning milking. Also brought the differential in for a new coat. I previously painted it MF Red, but the true factory color is more of a true pure red, so going to use "Viper Red" as it's much closer to the factory paint color. Bush Hog Corporation used a "Tomato Red", but that's not too close to an OE match, but they wanted plenty of "flash", so they went a bit brighter. I want to stay as close to OE as possible.

I'd have to say it is as close to JD Yellow as is humanly possible. But having them match to my vinyl was the most important, but I believe I could have bought JD Yellow & had a dead ringer! I love the acrylic enamel much better than any tractor dealer's straight enamel. Cures to touch in no time, leaving less time for bugs to get in the paint. Out here on a dairy, bugs are a big problem when painting. Acrylics also hold their shine so much better, plus I always use a "wet look" hardener.

Got the chassis components all shiny red before noon. Got the cows milked, then picked up a load of bedding sawdust, took the truck back to the sawmill, then shot home to shoot some paint. Came out pretty good. I could have got the frame a bit slicker with "feather-fill", but the front part that really shows looks real nice. Have all painted that will allow me to put the chassis on wheels, once the rims cure enough to safely put the new tires on, which I'll likely wait about a week to do. I almost forgot to paint the front axle pin bolt, but remembered just before I cleaned my gun. If I decide to paint all the mounting bolts, I'll do that by hand with small brush after assembling. The pics make it appear to have a heavy "orange-peel", but it really is pretty smooth.

I know...one day in the sun isn't gonna cure the paint, but I get yancy & jump right in. I just had to mount the tires today. All went great. Treated them gingerly & just has a couple tiny spots to touch up, and on the back side. I put the side that will face outward on the tractor "down" on the changer, & mounted them from the back side of rim. Laid an old bed sheet on the changer before putting rim down. Not a single spec marred on the show side.

I am very pleased! Now time to get my "Caswell Copy Chrome" plating kit out & nickel plate the lug bolts!

I like installing one front hub & wheel/tire having a complete rolling chassis put together.

Today I got the clutch bell housing & driveshaft painted, plus injected grease into the bearings. Tomorrow my plan is to get the clutch all mounted to engine & mounted into the chassis. Hadn't worked on this one in the last couple or so weeks due to work & playing with the newest JB & repairing the 3pt bush hog gearbox, but I'm back to it now. I may get some other red components painted tomorrow as well.

The paint on this looks rough, but the bell housing is sand cast, so nature of the beast. The paint has a good shine just the same.

The weak link is the sliding cluster gear in the transmission. One of my D4-10's, but not this one I'm restoring, had a stripped 1st gear. The cluster has 3 gears made as one. Center is 2nd gear, with gears on either of 2nd being reverse & low. Gear can be flipped either way, as low & reverse are identical, and shift fork can work on either side of 2nd gear. To repair the stripped cluster, I turned down the stripped side, then found a motorcycle transmission gear that would mesh with the mating gear. Then I turned the inside of the motorcycle gear till I got a press fit onto the cluster. Once on, I welded the new gear to the cluster. I flipped the gear to make the new welded on gear to do reverse duties, so that the good gear now does low gear duties as it should be much stronger. I've since acquired a 3rd D4-10 for parts & it has a good cluster gear, but I'll use my home-brew gear as long as it will last. I only take the "rusty" tractor to show as contestant in "Ugliest GT" anyway.

Engine & clutch mounted! It's looking good, but SO much more to go! Doing every single piece is daunting, but worth it in the end.

Cut off early at 3:00 shelling corn as we have to switch bins and we'll get into that tomorrow. So I got some prep work almost finished for the parts that will be painted white. Just the one part on the left that needs some spot putty block sanded, the seat support/toolbox. These will all be painted bright white Saturday, if not before.
Just edited to add: I just realized I need to prine & prep the steering column too, as it will be white also. Hard to keep up with all the parts when completely broken down.

Ate supper at 5. After I finished, I checked GTt posts, then went out & shot some red on pedals, linkages, and the cast iron steering sector unit. If the sharp eyes wonder why the sheet over the door, it's because the sun shines in & I can't see a darned thing when trying to use my sandblast cabinet. I'm not doing anything top secret, just blocking the sun.

Yesterday, when going into the milk parlor to repair a fan's electrical connection, while stepping down into the milker's "pit" on the concrete steps, my feet just slid right out from under me. Landed on my tail & elbow. Elbow swollen, and my back is jammed up a bit. Back was hurting from previous day's work already, so I really needed to hurt it more. Anyway, I got up after a few seconds of reflection & fixed the fan & been kinda slow since.

So today we kinda took a break from corn & I got a little shop time. Stiff, but did do some tinkering on the project.
Got all the shift, steering, rear PTO, & clutch linkages, plus the clutch & brake pedals in. Next step is to paint all the white parts, as the dash panel has to mount before slipping in the steering column. I would be able to do the dash panel later, but the steering wheel is still on the column & I do not want to attempt removing it. I tried removing the steering wheel from my parts tractor's column & the bakelite steering wheel's center exploded, so not risking this one.

I could have painted the white today, but just don't feel up to it. Maybe tomorrow...definitely by Saturday afternoon.

Got the white parts painted just now. Will be putting the dash on this weekend as well as the steering column & maybe the seat pan/toolbox as well. Once it started coming together, it gives me momentum to keep it going. Much yet to do, but seeing progress is so much fun!

I love acrylic enamel for a few reasons, one of which is being able to handle the parts soon after painting. After lunch I put fresh sawdust bedding in 96 cow stalls, then set the fresh painted parts in place. Now she's really taking shape!

Got a little more accomplished today, but smaller, tedious things. Got the dash all snugged up & everything installed into it. The original wiring, surprisingly, is in great condition except to re-tape things up. Got a new throttle cable (from bhts) installed along with original choke cable assembly. The OE throttle cable is identical to some Bolens locking style assemblies, so ordered new from him.

The hole someone burned through the column will be covered once I repair, paint, & install the bracket that secures the column.

This is really the 1st ever I've restored. Never have I taken one apart piece by piece & refurbished it ground up. I had once said I'd use this tractor, but I've decided it will live the easy life. Too much time & trouble invested to muck her up. And too late...done dinged a place or 2 already, but a steady hand & tiny paint brush & you can't see the spots. No scratches yet though...but I'll slip up before she's done I'm sure. Bless those within ear-shot when/if I do!

Between milkings & fixing my cattle fly spray system, I brushed & scraped some more parts fresh from the electrolysis tank. Got all these parts brushed & under primer today. I have another load in the tank now (front PTO linkages, and hood). After this load, all I have left to do is the seat base, fuel tank, & the Delco starter/gen, besides the mower deck, which I'll do much later more than likely. Of course I'll sandblast the tank & generator & wrap the pulley shaft to keep grit out of it. The fuel tank is like new inside, so I don't wanna tank the tank.
The fender & grille frame in pic will be getting some spot putty to smooth the pitted areas.

Did just a little to the D4-10 yesterday. Someone had welded through on the steering column tube, but I left the hole & painted the column, thinking the column bracket would cover it. It doesn't cover it. So I wire welded the hole up & ground the weld smooth. Now I will have to glaze the spot & repaint the tube. Might do some more on the tractor today.....jury is still out.

More Bush Hog news....guy has a V4-6 Bush Hog tractor just 2hrs or less away. Says it's rough. Waiting for pics. If it's mostly there I'll bring her home if I can make a deal & enlarge my herd! The V4-6 is a 6hp with variable speed sheave pulley coupled to a 4speed transaxle. Looks quite similar to the D4-10.
The show was October 2nd, so too late for it this year. It was at Hodgenville, Ky.

Getting ready to shoot some paint, but all spraying will be indoors despite the war weather out....windy today! Have a lot of parts ready to shoot, but not sure how much I'll get finished today.
Have them drying outside after a wash. Wish me luck. I always love & hate paint day. So much can go right OR wrong!

Most went pretty well...till the danged fly got into the side of the hood freshly shot, then worked his way down the side, kicking & screaming! Had to let it dry some, then wet-sand that area down & re-shoot it.
I have had trouble getting the proper shine out of this paint I got off ebay. From here on out I'll only buy my paint locally, regardless of price. I've never had problems with my local paint shop paints. Some problems aside, I am happy with the paint job. Still have a few pieces to paint red, but it'll have to be another day as they haven't even been shot with primer yet.

Decided to bolt on some sheet metal & stuff. She's beginning to look like a tractor again!

I couldn't help myself....had to put the driveshaft cover decals on!

I spent several $'s to put new stainless steel hardware where they show on the bodywork. I polished them on my buffer before using. No worrying about bolts rusting there! If I could afford, I'd put SS bolts throughout, but man are they pricey!

Drug out my electroplating kit out yesterday that I bought 7 years ago & never got around to using. Did my first garden tractor part today. I will have an article up in a few days about the entire process. In the meantime, here is my implement lift lock arm off my D4-10. I forgot to take a before pic, but this parts tractor has one that looks about the same as the one I plated, but minus the rubber grip & has been painted. Turned out great! Be looking for the article soon.

Plated another D4-10 part today. Before & after pics.

More D4-10 parts plated today.

I also have the implement lift arm assembly mounted. Will update with tractor pic tomorrow.

Yesterday I had to make a run for barn repair materials, so I went to my metal yard to get some general steel supplies. The D4-10 uses "expanded steel" for the front grill. So I got some general steel for the farm use, then a cutoff of some expanded steel. Got the expanded out today to cut a piece to form my grill. MAN was this stuff tough as heck to bend! Then it hit me.......got a magnet, and NOT magnetic....they gave me a piece of STAINLESS expanded flat! WooHoo! Now with all my stainless bolts, I will also have a stainless grill! I'll get some pics later.

OK, time for a small update. Here's pics of the plated parts all mounted up.

And here is my stainless grill. I had an old water fountain, so I took a thin 4" grinder slice wheel & cut off the corner edge to make the bottom mount plate, then riveted it to the grill screen. I had to drill 2 small holes in the bottom of the bottom plate, then spotweld 2 stainless pins (piece of 308 stainless welding rod) into these holes. The pins fit into holes in the frame of the tractor to secure the bottom of the grill in place. Turned out pretty good, especially considering I got stainless expanded for the price of mild steel. I have enough left for 8 or 10 more grills! Once I get the NOS Bush Hog emblem (Bush Hog Corporation sent this to me) in the grill, then it will "pop"!

I plated several parts last night. Two 3/4" sleeve hitch bolts/nuts, their four 3/4" flat washers, switch key & the switch mount washers, the 3 PTO engagement plates, and the headlight bulb reflectors. All plated well, except maybe the headlight reflectors. I "think" they plated ok, but hard to tell. If they plated, I can leave leave them in the open & they should not rust. After polishing it's hard to tell one way or another, as they would still polish even if the nickel didn't transfer.
I forgot all about plating the key end of the key switch, plus the brass headlight switch knob I turned. Will do them sometime this week.

Been out in the shop for a while today. Would like to have gotten more accomplished, but I think George jinxed me talking about his bad headache.....now I have one. Not a migraine, but enough to take the juice out of me. I did get several small parts media blasted & primed (headlight shells, PTO clutch & engagement bracket,tool box tray, starter generator & it's brackets, etc) . The original starter/generator quit on me a few years back, so dug it out today & took it apart. Brushes gone & bearings tight. I had another of the same era, but longer body. It had good brushes & great bearings, so swapped what I needed. Wanted to have the original starter back on the tractor.
I also got the sleeve hitch installed on the tractor. Won't be long & I'll have all the rest of the remaining parts ready for paint. Before Spring, she'll be finished. Then onto the mower deck & the 32" Bush Hog tiller. The tiller has the brackets to be used on the JB tractor, but I may make brackets for it to fit onto the D4-10. It's the same tiller for both tractors, just different mounting brackets. Maybe I'll take it to the shows with the snow blower on the front, mowing deck under the belly, and the tiller on the back!

Unless there's an odd part I forgot about, all parts are painted. Now just to cure & do final assembly! I think I'll make my show yet!
Here are the parts I shot today, and the HVLP gun I use. The price is still on it that I paid at a Peddlar's Mall. Even came with case & spare parts & care kit! It does a great job too!

Got my headlights all mounted & new wiring inside/to them today. These are OEM headlights with separate glass lens....not sealed beam.

Getting some shop time with the D4-10 this morning. I built a grill from stainless mesh steel & was thinking of leaving it SS finish, but not gonna. Just doesn't stand out like the OE white, and wouldn't appear restored. So sandblasted it to remove the super smooth finish so as to hold primer & paint better. Got the air cleaner cover blasted & primered, paint that later. May get the grill painted today as well.
This restore is finally winding down. Mostly little things to do now..... applying the hood decals, finishing the grill & air filter, new battery ground cable, tail light installation, & little bits like that. I do need to cut the new seat & backrest bases so I can drop it off at an upholster shop asap.

D4-10 shop time today! New battery & ground cable, some more stainless hardware, tail light repaired & installed (all lights working). Also have the grill primed, air cleaner cover painted, PTO clutch installed, and more. Might go out in a bit to get more done. My feet hurt & need a break! lol

I had still forgotten some "to be red" parts, so I got the muffler guard, fuel cap, and engine dipstick handle shot with red. I also got the grill shot with white, and with a tiny brush, did touch-ups where bolts chipped the paint. I have a little red paint left, and if I can bend far enough, now that I've eaten supper, I will hand paint the lug nuts & bolts. Painting them before installing just results in badly chipped paint, so I do it after tightening. Except for these lug nuts, ALL the tractor is under new paint!

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I've gotta get/make a retaining clip for that tail light wire. Bugs me in the pic!

This evening, my D4-10's grill gets my prized gift from the Bush Hog Corporation installed.....a NOS never used Bush Hog emblem! They sent me a ton of great stuff when I made the decals for their restorations.

Almost finished with this project, and strange as it seems, it's kinda sad to see it finished. Been a long run with it, and it's been fun. Just have to get my seat from the upholsterer, and make a steering wheel cap decal. You may notice I changed the tail light. The one I had on it went to that fender, but I had another original tail light like some D4-10's used & I like it better, so I swapped them out.

When I get it totally finished, I'll use my higher megapixel camera for "beauty shots"! LOL This camera is lower resolution, so makes for fast uploads. I've had this Sony Mavica for years & it still works like new, even original battery still.

Gotta pick the seat up from upholsterer this week. Show is Saturday, so need to call him & be sure it'll be finished in time. Busy week, and I have a dairy board meeting in Louisville Friday, then that night milking chores. Gonna be hectic, plus I have the trailer loaded with treated wood I have to unload. Can't wait to get the seat & backrest on & "Final Pics"!

After over 2 1/2 years, she is finally completed. Took her to my local tractor show & came home with "Best of Show" trophy! I love this tractor, and my hard work paid off! I'll keep this tractor till someone buries me!


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