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RUSTY ACRES RANCH
5 February 2004 These are the before photos of my latest
restoration, It is a Silver King, serial #3050.
End of the day, 5 Feb 2004
Engine is stuck, but there is no rust in the cylinders, one brake
lever is stuck
6 Feb 2004. Engine is coming apart on the table. Valves
are out of engine, no problems, but they were tough to remove.
Transmission looks good
15 Feb 2004. The Silver King is pretty much apart and
on the shelf. Cleanup in preparation for rebulding is now in progress.
The lower photo show the transmission case which I was cleaning
up and checking out today.
21Feb, Final drive parts cleaned up and ready for assembly
25 Feb, Transmission cleaned up, differential case
attached, final drives going together
26 Feb More work on the final drives, pto also attached.
27 Feb - In the meantime, Matt has been putting the
engine together, here it is on the bench upside down and ready
for the oil pan.
27 Feb - my other helper, Brandon, cleaning partson
the wire wheel
27 Feb- Matt getting the oil pan ready to install
27 Feb - An hour later, quitting time for the day and
we have the engine attached to the transmission/final drive assembly,
plus the head installed
6 March 04, Primed the wheels, tractor, and many other
loose parts. Note that I've decided to use the heavy cast iron
wheels made by the Santa Ana Iron Works, Santa Ana, California.
These were originally on SK #1656.
25 October 2004. After several months of no work on
it, I've put a few more parts together over the past month and
today I shot the first coat of silver paint. Now on to more assembly
and hopefully an engine that will run!
9 Dec 2004- In the last few weeks, I put many more
parts on the tractor, including the axle and front wheels. It
received a second coat of silver paint and the wheels were painted
red. I also tried starting it. I got a few puffs out of it, but
would not run. I also had a problem of oil leaking between the
flywheel housing and the bottom engine support frame. I removed
the axle and the engine bottom to discover that the gasket between
the two had slipped up during assembly (Matt!!!), allowing oil
to seep out (circled area in photo above). In addition, the outer
edges of the manifold did not seem to be sealing tight against
the block. I think this may be why the engine would not run. After
removing the manifold, I put a straight edge across the mounting
surface, and sure enough, it is warped. The manifold is now at
the machine shop, where it will be surfaced straight. These two
setbacks have delayed the project, but I hope to be back on track
soon and hope to hear it run!
16 Dec 2004. The oil pan gaskets were replaced and
the oil leak problem is solved.The wheels were installed and another
coat of red paint applied.
13 Jan 05- Since last time, the tires were installed
and I belted it up to another tractor to turn the engine over
and get it broken in somewhat. I hooked up a gas tank to see how
well it would run. It fired up, ran rough, and wouldnt keep it
running. It didnt run it too long wince the radiator was not connected
and there was no coolant. Next I connected the radiator and shell
and new hoses. The next step will be to belt it up again and see
if it will run better. I think the problem may be in the carburetor
or in the throttle linkage.
30 January 2005- I tried a different carburetor and
some new plugs. It would fire while belted up but not run on its
own. It was putting out black smoke from the exhaust, but adjusting
the carb did not help and some of the plugs were running much
cooler than others, even though all the plugs were firing when
they were removed from the engine. The culprit turned out to be
valves very badly out of adjustment. I thought Matt adjusted them,
I guess he thought I did. Anyway, after adjusting them properly,
the engine fired right up and ran smoothly. We tried hand cranking
it, but it had a bad habit of wanting to backfire with your hand
still on the crank. The solution was to pull the magneto timing
gear out, rotate it by one tooth and reinsert it. It now starts
easily with the hand crank. I adjusted the throttle linkage and
some other items. Engine seems to be fine. The next problem is
in the clutch. It won't release all the way and I need the redjust
the arm on the yoke. I'm still trying to remove the arm. I'm also
worried that the new clutch springs may be too strong. Once the
problem is solved, I'm ready for a clean up, another paint job,
and final assembly.
3 March 2005- Done!! Well almost, I still need to find
the correct gas and radiator caps and a gear shift knob. But it
runs well and starts easily. Since the last series of photos,
we moved the clutch rod arm on the clutch yoke to increase the
amount of release, shot another coat of silver, and completed
the final assembly. Some of you have asked about the paint I used-
it is Western Automotive Finish W591 Hi-Glo Star-Glo Silver Metallic
and W571 Hi-Glo Swift Red. I used Western Automotive Reducer and
an acrylic hardener with it.