In the Warm

Latest progress, Half axle fitted, wheel back on and pushed into the garage. Wheels off (due to limited room).







A tight fit but Tillies in the warm for Winter, note the new and shiny left hand side brake drum and backplate.




I can now start the engine rebuild, first job has been to remove the cylinder head (see below).

On first inspection everything looks fine. I will replace the head gasket and check a few other components such as the valves and timing chain.

Hopefully I can then start to reassemble her and start the repainting process.

On a recent trip to a local pub I noticed a poster for a Summer fete, including a show of classic cars and tractors. The Fete's in June. Its about a 7 mile journey across the Ridgeway so I now have a target to aim for and potentially Tillies first show!

Last Rear Axle (hopefully)

Christmas, New Year and 6inches of Snow, its all been and gone since my last update. In fairness its been a period of relative inactivity on the tractor front. To cut a long story short, I managed to well and truely bugger my half shaft. Having stripped the thread on my bearing removal tool, I lost the plot and tried to press the bearing off using a hydraulic press.

2000 PSI later I ended up with the bearing still in the same place and a distorted bearing carrier ! As a result the half shaft has been sent to the great big scrap metal yard in the sky.

Despite this disappointment, the refurb of the rear brake and hub have been successful (see below, note homemade gasket RHS of photo's). Back to the half shaft, second hand item sourced from Swindon for £30 complete with a brake drum, result ! Last Saturday, working in the remains of the snow, I therefore bit the bullet and refitted the replacement half shaft and refurbed brake to the tractor. This was a pretty straightforward task and enabled me to refit the back wheel (below - photo of half fitting).

With the wheel refitted I can now think about moving the tractor inside for my next task, the engine overall.