My old John Deere 730.

MercuryMac · Apr 4, 2023

The first picture is the finished fender. Then there's a shot of the original fender, which was treated with little respect. Then I started hammering on the other fender. [pic three and four].
I had finished the top half of the seat also, so I took it into town and mounted it on the bottom half which the guys had rebuilt, [new rocking bushings and new rubber torsion springs]. The cushions are now on.
I hope to bring the tractor home on Thursday to finish the fenders and hydraulics.

Bamamav · Apr 5, 2023

Looks like all it needs is a fresh coat of JD green.[cl

dutch · Apr 5, 2023

looking good from here, Mac!

MercuryMac · Apr 6, 2023

Thank you Guys.
Here are some improvements on that crumpled fender. It's called a rough smooth.
I was going to get the tractor home today, but a new gasoline shut-off valve didn't keep working so there's a delay. Oh well, I have other projects to do.

old28 · Apr 8, 2023

Nice repair to that old fender, way better than what you started with. [cl

MercuryMac · Apr 8, 2023

Thanks 28.
From here on the goin' get tough though. Taking a fender from rough smooth to smooth smooth is hard for me.

dutch · Apr 9, 2023

MercuryMac said:
Thanks 28.
From here on the goin' get tough though. Taking a fender from rough smooth to smooth smooth is hard for me.

Main thing to remember;

you want to shrink the high and stretch the low.
off-dolly = bang bang bang = shrink
on-dolly = ping ping ping = stretch
Just keep chasing them and it will smooth out.
Works best with a heavy spoon / slapper, as it will do both at the same time on a larger surface.

Old Iron · Apr 9, 2023

I'm with you Mac on any body work. I can do it I just don't like doing it.

MercuryMac · Apr 9, 2023

I don't mind it OI, but if I was better at it I would like it more.
Thanks Dutch. My slapper is too light for this heavy metal, but I did use it some. Maybe I should make a heavier slapper out of truck spring. I used the heat to soften the metal for straightening but also to shrink it. When I get back to it, I will get lots of dolly placement and hammering.

MercuryMac · Apr 13, 2023

The friends that were working on the tractor, phoned to say they were done all of what they were going to do, so I went today and got the tractor and cab home.
It starts so nice. The put-motor starts right up and still at an idle, it will start the big motor. I took it for a run up the county road after I unloaded it, and was really impressed.

05snopro440 · Apr 14, 2023

MercuryMac said:
The friends that were working on the tractor, phoned to say they were done all of what they were going to do, so I went today and got the tractor and cab home.
It starts so nice. The put-motor starts right up and still at an idle, it will start the big motor. I took it for a run up the county road after I unloaded it, and was really impressed.

Awesome!

MercuryMac · Apr 25, 2023

The 730 is now in my shop for the final fixing.

MercuryMac · Apr 28, 2023

I wanted to make the, single, open centre, hydraulics into a dual open centre system, so I made a plan and now have mounted a selector valve on the back axle.

Bamamav · Apr 29, 2023

There you go hot rodding it… [ddd
[ddd[ddd

MercuryMac · Apr 29, 2023

You should have expected that, Bama.
[picture one] Everyone wants to have a hinge in their hydraulic lever, right? Well, here's mine.
[picture two] shows my reasoning for the hinge. I now have one lever that controls up and down and the selector valve to change circuits.

MercuryMac · Apr 30, 2023

More little piddly inventions today. That half inch drive U-joint that I welded in the system to take care of the flexing of the up/down rod, was to 'flexible' so I had to stiffen it a wee bit but it still had to move two different directions somewhat. The lever can move in two different directions now, so the selector valve rod does some unique moves too. Anyhow, I didn't want the hydraulic lever going higgley-piggley, I wanted it to follow an 'H' pattern. I started out cutting a template out of cardboard for the 'H', then came up with plan B, a detent plunger running against the lever. The more I built this detent plunger, the more I didn't like it. Then I came up with a detent wheel running against the lever. That's what you see in picture one, [in one position] and pic two, [in the other position].

Old Iron · May 1, 2023

[P[P[P

MercuryMac · May 16, 2023

I've missed a few days, Guys, but I have some good excuses. I went to our annual pilgrimage Swap Meet with some friends, and while we were there our wives phoned to say 'there's a forest fire raging towards us'. There was a strong east wind [uncommon] that was pushing the fire west towards us. The wives cleared the yards of some important things and left. We were 750 km away, what could we do. We saw on the news that there were hundreds of wildfires in northern Alberta. We came home through some other blackened areas.
I found my wife camped in our daughter's yard and after a few days, I snuck home to work on the John Deere, [and pull more stuff out into the field away from the bush]. Anyhow I finished the crumpled up fender and mounted it, rebuilt and mounted the lights, plumbed the hydraulics partway, and went to load the tractor and plow onto the trailer. That dang Cummins in the one ton wouldn't start. So drove the 730 JD and plow to our Plowday field. That took three hours. The last three pictures are taken at the field.

dutch · May 16, 2023

fender looks great Mac. stay safe up there...

05snopro440 · May 16, 2023

MercuryMac said:
I've missed a few days, Guys, but I have some good excuses. I went to our annual pilgrimage Swap Meet with some friends, and while we were there our wives phoned to say 'there's a forest fire raging towards us'. There was a strong east wind [uncommon] that was pushing the fire west towards us. The wives cleared the yards of some important things and left. We were 750 km away, what could we do. We saw on the news that there were hundreds of wildfires in northern Alberta. We came home through some other blackened areas.
I found my wife camped in our daughter's yard and after a few days, I snuck home to work on the John Deere, [and pull more stuff out into the field away from the bush]. Anyhow I finished the crumpled up fender and mounted it, rebuilt and mounted the lights, plumbed the hydraulics partway, and went to load the tractor and plow onto the trailer. That dang Cummins in the one ton wouldn't start. So drove the 730 JD and plow to our Plowday field. That took three hours. The last three pictures are taken at the field.

Was that the Red Deer Swap Meet Mac? I went on the Friday this year. Bought a set of valve covers, that was it. Came home to find we were in the middle of two grass fires including road closures. We didn't have to evacuate as we were far enough away from both (~6-8 km) and the wind was going straight west as you said. We took some precautions but they weren't needed in the end thankfully.

Glad you're safe so far. I was wondering if you were.impacted, it's a scary situation in parts of the province.

My old John Deere 730.

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