Voting for GTtalk Featured Tractor of the Month for the month of April has now officially started and will end the last day of March. This month's theme is before and after.
By the time I purchased it a few years ago it had seen a few "modifications" and arrived with no engine or hood. I originally purchased it as a parts tractor and it sat for a couple of years - every time I walked by it I kept hearing it softly whimper "please fix me".
Since the Bolens 1053 was only produced for one year I just didn't have the heart to see it sit in this condition so I decided it would be a challenge to see how respectable I could make it look - you can view the thread that I did on it while it was being worked on here.
Attached are pictures of the tractor when I got it and how it looks after being worked on. Hope this qualifies as an entry and that there are lots of other member entries.
I would like to nominate my 79 sears gt18. I found this tractor along the road, in the weeds. This is the tractor that started it all for me. It had a plow snow plow and deck. I got it for 75 dollars. The seller told me that the tranny was bad. I used a trans out of a newer gt 5000 , I had to change the input shaft to get it to clear the frame and the pulley. I also made the muffler by copying the original, I used a piece of chrome exhaust tube for a truck, and welded the baffels in the put the ends on. The bottom of the grille was also busted too. So I made the whole bottom half of the nose cone from the head lights down out of steel.
I have used this tractor a lot for everything, one thing that happened was a few weeks after I had it done: the trans went out....go figure. But I got another one from Tomlgt195 on here and it has been working good ever since. I enjoy plowing snow with it , and the garden . I have never tried the deck on it. I also found a lift handle that was missing the lower arms , and the two round rods that link the arms to the lever. I was able to fab them with blueprints provided by Kenny. I am up to 13 suburbans now, many bolens and a lot of other GTs also all because this one gave me the fever!!!!
I still have not figured out how to make the pics come out right !!!! sorry :boo_hoo:
I would like to enter my 1972 Massey Ferguson 14. I purchased the tractor in 2010 from a gentleman who used it to groom baseball fields. At this time the only old gt I had was a MF12, so the 14 was a nice step up for me.The 14 came with a mower deck and snowplow. I used it to cut grass and push snow for a few years, during that time I was able to find a set at wheel weights and a 3pt hitch. As time passed I tinkered with small repairs and finally decided to restore it. It was pretty mechanically sound and the sheet metal was in good shape. The nose can dash were decent as well. Most times the nose cones are smashed up or gone.
The tractor was tore down almost all the way to the frame, motor got new piston and rings. I fixed some leaks in the rearend and everything got a coat of factory Massey paint and cleared. I did the painting myself, I'm not a professional painter and it isn't perfect but I can take pride in saying that I did it myself. New tires were also put on it and a motified set if suitcase weights up front.
The tractor gets taken to some local tractor shows. It's grass cutting days are over but it still gets dirty in the garden! I have a Brinly plow and discs. I also have a custom made rear scraper blade for it.
One of my proudest moments was that this tractor made it in Legacy Quarterly magazine. It's a Massey Ferguson magazine. I was at a show and the editor asked about taking some photos of it and then mentioned he hasn't done an article on a garden tractor in a while. He asked me some questions about it and I emailed him some pictures of it around home. When I received the issue with my 14 in it and I was absolutely amazed. He had done up an 8 page article about it. Sure was an honor!
Good luck to all, this is my first time entering the contest. I know that in past polls I wish I could vote for more than one. There's always a lot of nice machines here.
I think I'll finally nominate one of my tractors. This is my 1960 Page garden tractor that I picked up at a local auction last May for 150.00. I didn't plan on going to the auction, but my son went to the auction preview and sent me pics of the Page. The auction was the next day and it was a cold and rainy day for an outdoor auction. People were fiddling with the shiftier on the Page and trying to get the engine to turn over, but everything was stuck. I knew it would need a complete tear down and many parts would need replacing. I was thinking about the parts that I already had and I could see the tractor restored in my mind before the bidding started. Luckily, most people looking at it thought the tractor was only good for scrap. This tractor was coming home with me.
After getting the tractor home, I began to assess things. The rear wheels were leaning in, so I knew at least the axle bushings were shot. Water sat in the transmission for years and ruined all of the ininternals.The differential had some water in it and pitted the ring gear and carrier bearings. Surprisingly, the engine turned over easily after removing a mouse nest from the blower housing. The Briggs model 23AFB block was very rusty and the cooling fins were rusted thin, so I only used the crankshaft from the engine in the replacement. The replacement engine that I used, was another Briggs 23AFB that was only 40 serial numbers away. I rebuilt the transmission with new bearings and good parts that I had on hand, and some I picked up from a friend after the auction. I found that the ring gear in the rear was the same as in a Jacques Mighty Mite tractor. I had a spare ring gear, so I bought new carrier bearings and took the time to set up the ring and pinion gear mesh by moving shims around. The rear end is actually a Dana model 11, the same rear as used in early Crosley cars.
With the drivetrain repairs figured out, the next major issue was the hood. I looked over pics of original hoods on other Page tractors like mine and talked with a few people about the measurements. I made a jig out of angle iron and pipe to bend the sheet metal and fabricate a new hood for the machine. The steering column shaft was bent, so I made a replacement from a piece of 3/4" round rod. I had to make and install new fender mounts on the frame, since the old ones were badly pitted. I also had to make a new front axle pivot tube, since the old one was very worn. Well, this is the first tractor that I've completely restored and finished and it was a great experience. Here is a link to a thread I posted here showing much of the restoration.
I will nominate my Simplicity 7016 with 48" mower deck and 36" tiller. I got this garden tractor from my great uncle, it was stored under a roof but some reason the garden tractor had terrible rust on it. As soon as I got it I pulled it apart, cleaned up everything and painted it. The engine needed rings (that's why it was parked), so I rebuilt the engine in it. It runs really nice and does a good job mowing and tilling. It is very useful for tilling the high tunnels since it is harder to navigate a larger tractor in them.
I used this Simplicity for all my mowing including mowing the ditches around my wheat field.
The Simplicity was parked in fall, I went out today, put a battery in it and it fired up like it was running yesterday.
I would like to nominate my Mclean 4-wheel tractor.
I purchased this tractor without even knowing what it was, I just knew that it interested me. I started doing my research after I got it home. Once I found out what it was I thought that I would be able to find all kinds of info out about it, WRONG. Mclean did not put a serial number on these tractors so pinning down the exact year is virtually impossible, all I can say is that they were made from the 50's to early 60's.
Do to the rarity of this tractor it turned out to be the most difficult restoration that I have ever done. With no available parts a lot of time was spent reproducing new ones. The transmission was by far the greatest challenge. The only parts that were not reproduced are the shift pawls.
The restoration on this tractor started in 1/17 and was completed in 5/17. My Mclean is now mostly a trailer queen, traveling to many local shows and some parading.
Congrats to Classic for pulling out a narrow victory with 16 votes. DMAX was 2nd with 15 and 29 Chev with 14. Thanks to all participants.
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