Build The Clustertruck Rides Again - Refurbishing a 1975 Chevota

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Wow,

Thanks for all the info @handcannon - I was being pseudo sarcastic about bringing the cub back from the dead. I know my grandfather has a sickle attachment, but I agree, it's less than ideal for this yard. I may very well restore it at some point, just for fun - but I won't actually be using it as a lawnmower! I mowed some pastures for my grandfather back when I was about 14 - which is also pretty close to when the tractor was decommissioned. I'm 29 now...so it has probably been sitting for 15 years at this point. I remember it being a complete bear to shift gears and navigate the sickle attachment along fence lines and such. It also only mowed the fields down to about 3-4 inches high, anything lower it would bottom out anytime you hit a rut. I believe it's an early-mid 50's model, but that's just a guess.

Honestly, it's too much tractor for the property, and probably not the right tool for the job. I did some quick math yesterday - I'll really only probably be mowing about 2.5 of the 3.8 acres. The front/side yards come to about an acre, total, and the fenced in area out back is about 0.6 acres, and I'll probably mow another 1/2 acre or so beyond the fence. The back acre-and-change are pretty rutted, with some drainage channels and the like - my guess is it would not be smooth sailing. Most of the neighbors seems to let a lot of the land out back go wild. Next time I'm up at my grandparents farm, I'll try to remember to snap some photos of the cub. It's been in the barn the whole time, so it's probably in pretty decent shape still.

It may not be my future lawnmower, but it would absolutely be a fun resto project! It's definitely nostalgic, spent many summers as a very young kid riding around on it with my grandfather. Last time I was up there, he was up on an extension ladder, touching up some paint on the barn (at 88 years old). That man is unstoppable!
 
Jdc1 said:
I am not familiar with what model cub you have but around here you can get slightly used 3pt pto finish mowers in 60" wide for about $800
Click to expand...

Cub is the model. I believe it is the smallest tractor that Farmall made, until they changed to calling a garden tractor the Cub Cadet, which I think happened in the 60's. For those not familiar with them, they are a quad wheel tractor with the motor/driveline offset to the left side. This makes them ideal for cultivating small crops as the operator sets to the right of the transmission and is able to look straight down on the cultivators.

I have never seen a Cub with a 3 point rear hitch, just a drawbar. I don't think they were ever available on a Cub. That does makes them kind of unhandy to use with newer implements. If you are handy with fabbing things you might be able to take 3 point parts from a different tractor and mod them to work on a Cub, but it might be more work than it is worth.

Rick, your experience with operating the Cub with the sickle mower is dead on with my experience, and I most likely used it way more than you did. I used that Cub a lot growing up.

With your experience working on your 40 you would have no problems restoring that Cub as simple as they are. I've seen restored Cubs at the local, and state fairs, and have always been drawn to them like a magnet for some reason. Oh nostalgia!!

Don
 
You could look around and find a 520-C Wheel Horse/Toro w/50" deck - they mow extremely fast for a garden tractor and are built like a Land Cruiser - simple and way stout . Think 2wd tank with a hydrostat ...I have several older models and mow/plow/snow blow with them all the time . Prices can range from dead cheap to holy-cow for a restored Horse , their market is a bit odd . Not as much available for parts as the Deere's and Cubs out there but sometimes a bit cheaper and the Horse's are a lot simpler and for the most part heavier built . Stick to later big power models like a 416 and up so it has full pressure lube , there are a couple of Onan engines to avoid that are extremely expensive to repair or rebuild - the first gen KT17 Kohler is that way too . Best ones are the 20hp Onan as long as it hasn't been abused and re-power is doable with modern Briggs engines easily . Nice thing about heavy garden tractors is their utility tool likeness , they can do many jobs easily with the right attachment and Wheel Horse had over 35 different ones available including 3 different types of sickle bars . The odd thing about them is implements even from the early 60's can be fitted to late-model tractors with the right brackets - their backward compatibility is what killed their market unlike Deere and Cub . My '67 model 1277 uses a 1984 deck , '70 snow blower and a '90 10" single bottom plow for the garden , front blade is '76 and will push snow or dirt over the top of it .

The old Cub would be way cool , but even with the best finish belly mower it's not going to do a very nice job . There are self-powered pull behind models that would work on the drawbar , that is an option and their finish quality is quite good for what they are . I'd suggest hanging onto the Cub since they are limited in number and restore it if nothing else down the road , use it to push snow or something once in awhile for exercise for fun . Either way , get something that is at least a reasonable heavy duty or commercial with that acreage , a cheap mower won't last longer than a few years otherwise .

Sarge
 
Ok, back to FJ40 tech...

The battle of the bezel continues - Even hammering on the vessel couldn't get those screws loose. The hinge bolts have even started to work themselves loose from all the hammering. At least I know those aren't seized...At this point, they're pretty mangled - I'm probably going to need to drill them out :bang:

In the meantime, I yanked the guts out of the turn signals, and added a ground cable:

IMG_3154.webp


I drilled a small hole in the housing, and used a small screw and star washer to mount the cable. Hopefully this will help make up for the poor through-mount ground that seems to be an issue on these trucks. I'm also clean up the body grounds...

I also pulled the driver's side turn signal - which has been cracked at the stalk since I bought it, and hit it with some JB Weld. I have replacement turn signals, but I'm hoping I can keep soldiering forward with these, and save the good ones for down the road when the truck is WORTHY of some shiny new turn signals.

IMG_3156.webp


Of course, the nut on the passenger side turn signal is seized, so I can't get that housing off the fender to clean up the grounds. I've gutted it, but the whole signal spins with the nut. Apparently the little plastic tabs that hold it in place are long gone. I'll try with the impact gun tomorrow and see if that will torque the nut loose without obliterating the housing. I'm not particularly optimistic, but as I said, I have spares...:meh:

Lastly, I mounted up the new horns.

New Horns.webp


Just some cheap "Blazer" brand horns from Amazon, but they should do the trick. A little higher pitched than I'd like, but I prefer the dual tone over the single Ford horn mounted by the battery :hillbilly:

Other than that, I started taping up the pieces of the harness I finished mangling. If I can ever get the damn front clip off, I'll be able to finish up the headlights, wire the turn signals back in, and MAYBE, at long last, be done with this project.

I'll be back at it tomorrow.
 
As anticipated, the impact gun was a bad choice:

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Looks like I'll be going to those new turn signals, this one is getting dremeled off...
 
I can say that this is the first project that rust truly slowed me down. I finally got the bezel and turn signal off, but there were casualties:

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@Weber Sarge - your housewarming present is that only reason that one screw came out whole - thanks!

It took about 3 hours today, but in the end I only had to re-tap one hole, and the bezel is finally off!

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I've also been cleaning up and laying out all the wiring I've been doing - taping everything back together, etc. it doesn't LOOK particularly clean, but it's much better than it was...

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Now that the bezel is off, I can move forward, once again, with the IPF harness and headlight install - Add replacing my turn signals to the list as well...
 
You'll find the "gift" works around that new home as well , just be careful around Phillips screws as they can break instead of cam out like they are designed due to those bits . With JIS fasteners , it's important to make certain those cross heads are cleaned so the bit can properly engage and bite .
Glad it helped - continue onward....
Sarge
 
New turn signals, complete with additional grounding wires, are in, and they seem to be working...

I always thought the side marker flashed too, but maybe that was a figment of bad grounding, or my imagination. The new signals are wired just like the old ones...

 
Nice work!
I had some bad grounds too that caused the side marker to flash (alternating with the turn signal on that side), after rewiring, I tried to figure out why they didn't do it anymore :doh:
It's funny what a bad ground can create.
 
At long last, things are starting to come around. The IPF headlights are in!

image.webp


I'd love to tell you all how bright they are, how it's night and day difference, but being the genious that I am, I left the keys in the ignition on "accessory" yesterday, and arrived to a stone dead battery today...:doh:

So, the clustertruck is going to need a jump before I can see if everything is wired correctly.

Speaking of wiring, it's funny that this project started as an effort to "clean up" the wiring...well, it's cleaner, it's safer, but there are a whole lot more of them now!

image.webp
 
I've definitely been considering an accessory block, and a grounding block. Funny thing is they're really not "accessories" outside of the headlight harness (which is about 1/2 the wires you're seeing). It's really all charging/voltage system.

BLUE F/L: +BAT to Alternator
Red/White: IPF Harness POS wire
YELLOW F/L: Main harness power
GRAY F/L: Voltage Sensing line to Alternator
BIG RED: Starter

That doesn't mean I couldn't run them off of an accessory block, but I'm just really surprised at how many extra charging wires I ended up with! I guess I really only added 2, but with the Mil-Spec terminals they're all separated instead of stacked, so it's way more apparent.

You should see the bolt I'm using for virtually all the primary grounds- about a half inch of stacked ring terminals...

BAT-Body ground
Front (headlight) harness ground
Main harness ground
P/S Turn signal Ground

At least if I ever have another ground problem, I'll know where to look!

All the red spaghetti in the background are the wires off the IPF harness relays, the little green oval with 2 wires coming out of it is the fuse for the IPF harness.

The taped jumpers run from the original horn relay connection to the second horn relay connection (thanks @Coolerman!). I had previously just been running spade-terminal jumpers, installed by a fellow Delaware mudder when I first bought the truck to get through inspection, but they'd already started to corrode. This is the same philosophy, just a little cleaner execution. The Horn Relay is a Beck Arnley unit out of an 80's Mazda. The plug configuration is the same, but it's internally wired differently, so I had to run jumpers from the original plug to adjust the position of the terminals, used the new plug to tie them all together and keep the water off of them. With the previous, loose, spade terminals, every now and then if I hit a bump to hard one would shake loose and dead-short the horn, then the horn would sound until I hit another dump and vibrated them away...not safe or polite! I thought about just rearranging the plugs in the original relay terminal, but it's already badly damaged and I didn't want to risk trying to get the terminals out. This way isn't particularly pretty, but it gets the job done!

Looking forward to getting the battery charged again, and seeing if all this work paid off - I have a portable jumper box somewhere, but I'm in the middle of moving, so I'm not sure which house it's in. Could be at my parents', in my current house, or already moved to the new one.
 
@Weber Sarge - I also meant to ask you - I think I remembered seeing a post where you built some metal replacements to those nylon headlight adjuster bushings. Mine survived the headlight surgery but they're looking pretty ragged. Now I can't seem to find the post. I probably won't do it this time but it's a good project down the road. if that WAS you, could you post up the link?
 
shmukster said:
If you need a replacment bezel I have some extras would be glad to donate one to the cause. Gary
Click to expand...

Thanks Gary! I think this one is salvageable. Really aside from a couple of gouges from the dremel ricocheting, it's mostly just paint damage. It's supposed to be white anyway :meh:

Depending on how far I end up taking this thing, someday I may be totally aggravated by the dents, and then I may take you up on the offer, but for now, it'll work!

However, if you happen to trip over some hard-top sides for a decent price at some point, let me know!
 
Yes , I broke the oem nylon inserts and made some out of solid 316 stainless to repair the buckets -
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/headlight-upgrade-to-ipf-h4-style-with-hid.557903/
I machined the inserts on the lathe , not hard to make at all . Biggest trick was making new screws w/washer head out of stainless so they wouldn't rust right away like most newer hardware . Worked out great , 2 years later no issues .
Sarge
 
Weber Sarge said:
Yes , I broke the oem nylon inserts and made some out of solid 316 stainless to repair the buckets -
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/headlight-upgrade-to-ipf-h4-style-with-hid.557903/
I machined the inserts on the lathe , not hard to make at all . Biggest trick was making new screws w/washer head out of stainless so they wouldn't rust right away like most newer hardware . Worked out great , 2 years later no issues .
Sarge
Click to expand...

That's the ticket! Thanks. I don't have a lathe but I know people who have lathes I can borrow - good to have this here for posterity. The beams aren't aimed yet so I may very well break one before this project is over.
 
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