166 replies to this topic

[jpswift1]

Those bolts aren't Massey Ferguson made bolts. There was a discussion a year or so ago about that. And Olecowhand set us straight on this subject. I forget who he said, but it's a fastner company. Maybe he can chime in and refresh our memory.

 

Thanks for that info.  It seems as though you learn something new every time you log on here!

[Dugmf12]

Thanks for keeping us posted.  When we see the overspray/sloppy jobs that people do there machines, it sure does take away from what it could be, that's for sure.  I guess we all have our priorities but a few extra minutes and attention to detail can make a HUGE difference when it comes to painting.  Different value systems I guess.  Keep up the good work, as you are doing a great job making it look like it should.  Someday you will find yourself sitting in your yard or shop or garage and just looking at it and smile.  It makes it all worthwhile.  

[jpswift1]

Thanks for keeping us posted.  When we see the overspray/sloppy jobs that people do there machines, it sure does take away from what it could be, that's for sure.  I guess we all have our priorities but a few extra minutes and attention to detail can make a HUGE difference when it comes to painting.  Different value systems I guess.  Keep up the good work, as you are doing a great job making it look like it should.  Someday you will find yourself sitting in your yard or shop or garage and just looking at it and smile.  It makes it all worthwhile.  

 

That's a really great way of putting it.  Different value systems, you hit the nail right on the head.  It's important to take pride in what you have and do a good job.  People in cities and small towns and everywhere in between used to really appreciate what they had and took good care of it.  Even if these people didn't have a lot of money, they were still clean, they kept their places up nicely, they had a sense of independence, they didn't live on credit and have to try to out-do the neighbors, and they had something known as pride.  Now a days, those values are out the window, but I won't open that can of worms.  I'm way too young to be that cynical, but I guess I'm "old-school" in that sense.

 

Anyway, I got a little side tracked, but I still am doing something Massey Ferguson related.  I just disassembled and got my MF641 dump cart that my friend gave me about ten years ago (I finally got to it!).  It's all set and ready to go to the sandblaster and to get a fresh coat of some heavy industrial primer.  It's a big, heavy, very well built cart that will look great behind my 1855 I think.  Here's a pic of it from an old brochure that I found on the site.

 

[jpswift1]

Here's my MF dump cart, all disassembled ready to be cleaned and stripped.

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[adolphsson09]

Wow not alot to those carts should be easy work!!

[jpswift1]

Wow not alot to those carts should be easy work!!

 

Yes, they don't seem too common and I like quick and easy jobs like this.  I love how well built this is, but I didn't like the bushings and the smaller 6" wheels that it came with, so I'm getting some John Deere front 8" wheels with 1" bearings (like from an earlier, non-metric 300 series model) and mounting my 4 ply Carlisle 18x7.50-8 Turf Savers on them.  I wouldn't doubt that this cart would hold 1,000+ lbs set up like that.  It's a really tough unit.

[jpswift1]

Back to the tractor.  I picked up stainless nuts, bolts, and washers and started polishing them (by hand).  Here's a few of them that will be used on the frame rails and body panels.  I think I may be going a little overboard with this, but I do want it to look nice.  I think those little details on a restoration make it go from "good" to "great".

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[TheFarm2004]

OK, I made some more progress on the 1855 today.  I got the running boards and rear fender pan and seat slider tracks removed and picked up some paint for it.  The rust and years of crappy spray bomb paint made a few of the bolts hard to remove, but none of them broke..............yet (luckily).  I thought it was pretty interesting, this is a Snapper 1855, but most of the bolts I removed had "MF" written in the head of them.  Maybe they were leftovers from when they were branded as Massey Ferguson tractors or something?  They were certainly some good high quality, USA made ones, because I put some torque on them and like I previously stated, none of them snapped or broke off.  The screws, nuts, and bolts that are seen on the outer frame rail and side panels will be replaced with stainless steel ones (which I'll polish up a little too) for some "bright" effect, but tasteful.  I like adding a few polished stainless steel or aluminum pieces to my projects, but just subtly.  I think they'll really pop against the gloss black on the frame rails that I'll be doing.  Here's the 1855 wearing a little less sheet metal.  I also unscrewed the hydraulic filter to inspect the oil.  It was light brown with a hint of some very fine metallic particles.  This leads me to believe it hasn't been changed in quite a while and it may be why it isn't achieving top speed as well (thanks for your helpful suggestions on this issue, everyone!).  Next up is to get the side panels off and get the bodywork cleaned up, get the few small dents and dings filled, and have them sandblasted to get the many coats of splattered and sprayed on incorrect paint and the rust and imperfections off the metal.

 

Every time I clean this tractor up and undo all of the townie cob job corner cutting I feel so much better.  Looking at the horrible spray bomb paint, things like that bent up steering wheel, the over-spray on the plastic, and careless half-ass fixes on such a beautiful machine sickens me.  I'm bringing her back to her former glory though......she'll be looking good again soon, slowly but surely. 

Thank You! That is the picture of the hydraulic lines I needed. Now just need some time to work on my project.

 

Those bolts aren't Massey Ferguson made bolts. There was a discussion a year or so ago about that. And Olecowhand set us straight on this subject. I forget who he said, but it's a fastner company. Maybe he can chime in and refresh our memory.

I seem to remember a thread that "MF" on the bolts, stood for "Midwest Fastener" some place in Ohio.

[JBRamsey]

 I seem to remember a thread that "MF" on the bolts, stood for "Midwest Fastener" some place in Ohio.[/quote]

There is a company called Midwest Fastener. We used them as a supplier years ago. I don't know if they are still in business or not.

I like polished stainless hardware, too, but remember they are mostly Grade 2 or less.

[jpswift1]

I found the Midwest Fastener Company website.  Thanks for helping to solve that mystery everyone!

 

The stainless hardware is just for small pieces that bolt onto the frame.....it won't have a big load on any of the fasteners.  I took all the sheet metal pieces to my sandblaster's shop today and my MF641 cart, all disassembled.  Later next week it should all be sandblasted and primed and ready for a fresh coat of red paint.

[jpswift1]

Not a huge update on the project, but I did pick up the pair of 8"x5" front John Deere wheels with bearings and a 1" bore for the MF641 cart.  I'll be sanding and priming these and then spraying them using the Rustoleum "Wheel Silver" color that I did my 1855 wheels with. These are a MUCH better option than the bushing type 6" wheels that were on this cart originally, plus the combination of having wheels with bearings and the 4 ply Carlisle 18x7.50-8 Turf Saver tires (each with a 805 lb load rating) should allow me to carry even more weight than the original 900 lb capacity that MF rated the cart for.

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Edited by jpswift1, April 24, 2016 - 11:25 PM.

[jpswift1]

My rear wheels had some pretty heavy pitting and even after they were sandblasted, it still was showing up after I painted them silver.  They're perfectly fine, but the cosmetic flaws won't cut it for a nice restoration.  The wheel weights hide most of it, but it's still somewhat visible around the outside edges.  I ended up finding some 6 lug 12x10 Bolens wheels from an HT series in really great shape for $50.  I'll spray them silver and they'll make the stance 1" wider on each side (2" wider total) because the offset is 5/5 compared to the more positive 4/6 offset of the stock MF/Snapper wheels.  I don't know why the MF/Snapper wheels were offset like this, but I think the slightly wider stance will look pretty good and not change anything on the tractor much as far as driving goes.  Here's a picture of the Bolens offset compared to the MF/Snapper offset.  If you look closely you can see the face of the MF/Snapper wheels is an inch farther toward the outside of the wheel.

 

 

I'm also all set on my rear wheel weights situation.  I'm going to use the 63 lb bagel looking weights on the inside of the wheel and then the Bolens 53 lb weights with the 52 lb John deere dual notch weights stacked on top of those.  With the mounting hardware, this combination will give me about 170 lbs per side, 340 lbs total on the rear......I think that should be sufficient.

[KennyP]

How much room do you have from the stock wheels out to the deck wheels? You may be pretty tight there with the new offset!

[jpswift1]

How much room do you have from the stock wheels out to the deck wheels? You may be pretty tight there with the new offset!

 

Good point, but I never mounted my deck and I don't really plan on ever using it (it's being put up for sale).  I'm just going to be using the 3 point for a plow, 4 shank ripper, and landscape rake and also the front blade for grading and snow removal.

[KennyP]

Should be okay then!