Tractor starter

[Al Smith]

It's not a chainsaw but a repair .I have two Ferguson TO -20 tractors with two extra starters I keep in good working order .I ordered an aftermarket unit this summer which must have been made in some third world country by children because the sons-a-bees don't know how to solder .I do .Damned windings came loose on the commutator .Not a big deal if you know how to solder with a torch .A little tedious ,turbo torch,acid flux and 50/50 solder .Got-er-done ,good to go .Took an hour .Good heavens I've lost track of how many starters I've repaired over the years on this old stuff .That's the price you pay owning antiques --on the other hand if it were easy anybody could do it .

 

[Dream]

Al, I know what you mean. There was an old starter that my granddad took off the AC model C. It laid in the dirt under the porch for years. I got it when I was working on my first C. Just thought I migjt scrounge some parts. Cleaned it all up. Sanded and lubed the drive, and it worked fine. Maybe he found it somewhere and was keeping for a spare. Never thought to ask him. Maybe it quit working and he just got another one. I'll never know. Its worth cleaning these up, especially when replacement OEM ones arent around any more.

 

[Al Smith]

I've actually had pretty good luck repairing old starters .The gear reduction starter on my old Oliver crawler had the field joint get loose and rather than resolder it I just by luck had another that was direct drive with the same field but of course it was reverse rotation .It was just a simple replacement of the brush holder to shift the field polarity .If I would have had to get a new replacement it was a tad over $200 .It's got very robust reduction and a huge drive gear so it really should last forever .These were designed for diesels but on a gas engine would not be nearly the load even with the higher compression pistons I have in it .

 

[Bilge Rat]

For soldering starters we used a truck battery and a carbon rod.
Buddy owned a starter/alternator shop for many years and had a vise set up just for this.

Saw a radiator fixed with the carbon out of a D cell battery, some wire and the truck battery. Took longer digging around in the tool box looking for solder than soldering up the radiator.
Old rednecks can fix most anything when they need to get home.

 

[Al Smith]

I've got stuff besides the turbo torch .For example an American Beauty 750 watt electric iron you can solder a radiator with .It takes about a half an hour to heat up and is heavy as lead .That thing will melt body lead in bar form .If I ever get the notion to repair that set of fields that is most likely what I'll use .Things are too tight to even use a torch even with asbestos cloth .Don't want to burn the shellac off the windings .

 

[Bilge Rat]

Induction welding for body panels works quick.
Eastwood has them and the carbon rods, just attach the lead to a DC welder.

 

[Al Smith]

Body work is one area I never claimed to be good at .I can install panels using pop rivets and even beat them out with a mallet out of sheet metal but the finish is not all that great .
I did however make all the trunk lines for my heating /ac duct work .26 sheets of 22 gauge galvanized .Curved ells with diverters ,tees etc .All hand seamed like in 1940,some with pop rivets and solder sealed .Worked great just took me the better part of one summer to do it . 12" duct work in a 26" crawl space .I was more limber then that I am now .

 

[Bilge Rat]

I still have a lockformer and a 4' pan break at my moms that i need to move, sell, relocate.
Have not used them in 20 yrs.
Did the trunk lines in my house too.

 

[Al Smith]

Actually I built an 8 foot break .Took me about 4 days .Probably tips the scales at over 400 pounds .The last I used it was probably 15 years ago to make a filter housing behind the kitchen surface burner unit .It does a good job tied into a van axiel fan removing the residue of kitchen fumes,smoke etc .I'm not a tin knocker by trade but I know how to read and follow directions .The geometry is not that much different than bending ridgid conduit except it's flat not round .The break is in my shop 22 miles away and the sheet metal .Most of the tools,power shears ,nibbler and about a zillion hand shears are in my shed at the house .It's not if but rather where when I need something .

 

[Bilge Rat]

I loose too much blood doing sheetmetal work.