A Massey-Harris 33.

[soltz]

[clImprovise - Adapt - Overcome [cl
!!![P!!!

 

[kenny c]

I was wondering if you could cut them but I didn't get back to my lap top to post the question. Nice job![cl

 

[MercuryMac]

I wish I had thought of cutting them off a couple of days sooner, Kenny. The remaining questions are; can I find any more dowels, and how do I get the sawed off pieces out of the bellhousing? Well, I'm here to tell you, ---- it's a piece of cake. I walked out to my cold shed with a hammer, punch and trouble light, and whacked out a dowel from an old wide-block 318. Then, back in the shop, I shone the trouble light in the bellhousing and discovered why I couldn't drive the dowels further into the bellhousing. The hole is reduced in size and is threaded. I grabbed a three-eighths bolt, screwed it in the threads and pushed out the dowel, then went to the other side and screwed it out too.
I cleaned up and sandblasted the bellhousing and replaced one bushing for the clutch actuating cross shaft.
I tried to fit the new bellhousing in the tractor, and it is an inch too narrow to have the bolt holes line up. Rats.

 

[dutch]

oh, well... just imagine being up there in the northern alberta winter with nothing to do...
Just stay at it Mac. I wish I were a bit closer. I would be over to help you drink coffee and look what to do next. nice work

 

[kenny c]

It sucks that the bells don't match up. Is there a way to machine it to make it work? The threaded holes in the block may have been foresight on the part of the manufacturer and you could have pushed the dowels the other direction .

 

[Old Iron]

The old Hemis have the bolts in the flywheel to crank as you well know. I tapped the holes in the crank on my 392 so I could screw the bolts into the crank and not have to use bolts and nuts, easier on and off.

 

[MercuryMac]

I'm sure this one is the same as the Hemi, OI, and I might just tap the crankshaft flange holes, also.
Kenny, I think you are right about foresight, but in my particular set of circumstances it wouldn't work. When everything is together there is only an eighth of an inch of clearance between the front of the flywheel and the back of the bellhousing front plate. If you have taken the flywheel out of there first then you could screw bolts into the dowel hole threads and pushed the dowels forward or the bellhousing back. I couldn't get the flywheel off without first taking the pressure plate off and I couldn't get the pressure plate off until I could turn the motor over to get at the hidden bolts, up inside the bellhousing. Cutting the the dowels off was the smart thing to do, I wish I'd have thought of it, sooner.
Dutch, I wish you were closer too, only, I don't think it would work out, you finding me work, but I could find you some work.

 

[MercuryMac]

I got the bellhousing cleaned up, sandblasted, primed and painted. The alignment dowel holes in the little feet on the bell were set inwards too much and broken out, so I built up the little feet somewhat and ground them so I think the bellhousing will sit squarely in the middle of the belly frame and the output shaft will line up with the transmission input shaft. One end of the clutch activating cross-shaft was really worn out, so I welded it up and ground it down to fit and then put new bushings in the bellhousing for that shaft.
It was slow going trying to get the bearing off the clutch output shaft so I can get a new replacement tomorrow when I go to town. I should also get a new throw-out bearing.
I took the flywheel off, even though the bolts are weird, [no real head on them], and the nuts are between the crankshaft flange and the block. Did I mention that, that is not a nice place to have nuts, if the engine is seized, you can't turn the bolts, and the flywheel is still on there?

 

[MercuryMac]

A town day today and I learned more about red-tape, rig-a-marole. Our big bearing store has a sign out front that says 'the counter is closed to the public', 'phone this number'. I phoned the number and the girl said that I could take the old bearings around the back and place them in a drop box, and she'd look at them maybe tomorrow. My patience wore thin, mostly at her attitude, [she should have been working in a government office]. I went to an oldtime bearing and fabrication store and the guy behind the counter has been there thirty years. He found me workable bearings for the throw-out bearing and the clutch output shaft. AND, hanging on the wall was the stuff I needed to couple the clutch output to the transmission input shaft. Boy am I glad I got impatient with that first store. It seems that a bad attitude gives me a bad attitude.

 

[kenny c]

Ya I hear you on the bad attitude Negativity goes a long way. Way too far. Glad you found what you needed.

 

[dutch]

oh I hate it when that happens. The first shop most likely won`t survive a crisis though....

 

[Old Iron]

The second parts store you went to sounds like the place everybody needs to buy from to keep them in business.

 

[MercuryMac]

The second store was more of a fabrication place, with a big shop out back. They weld, lathe, roll, bend, and build anything out of metal. When I was in high school, I worked for the local guy who started this business, when he was building our museum. It's been going for about 60 years, and their attitude has always been 'let's get'erdone'. The stupid reasons that I went to the other store first are, they are big with every imaginable bearing in stock, and they are on the close corner of town to me.

 

[MercuryMac]

Another town day today, but some progress happened. I installed the new throw-out bearing and took the old output shaft bearing off, with a lot of grief. Here's the pics of the throw-out bearing and the output shaft bearing housing painted. Where the rag is rapped around the bottom is the pipe that the throw-out bearing slides on.
I stumbled onto a new water pump at a friends shop, so I grabbed it. I have to find a rebuild kit for my old pump to trade-in to him. That's not going quickly.
I started talking hydraulics with the guy who is working the motor over. In the early fifties there weren't many smallish tractors with hydraulics yet, but I want them on there. The shop guys found a pump and are making an adapter to mount it on the front of the crankshaft.

 

[old28]

Ya old motor shops with life long owners are far and few now a days.

I have been using the same shop for my drag race stuff for over 40 years, original owner passed a few years ago, his son took over the shop, last week he sold all the shop stuff and moved out of state. Miss them both.

 

[MercuryMac]

28, I don't think the 'good attitude' store is in the family anymore either, but some of the staff are still there and the attitude is still good.

On my days in town I have been asking everyone about Chrysler flathead water pump repair kits. The usual response has not been pretty. Today, I took the two worn-out water pumps that I have, apart. I had eventually remembered that I had picked up an integral bearing and shaft at a swap-meet some years ago, hoping that it would fit a flathead Ford pump. When I turned the price tag over I read '38-'48 Cadillac, so was not as optimistic of my purchase. Lo and behold, these bearings might be universal. It is the one on the right in the picture. I'll make it work. [[cl

 

[Old Iron]

Looks close enough to me [cl
[P[P[P

 

[MercuryMac]

The water pump overhaul is slowing down, due to reality setting in. I have a new bearing and I thought the seal was a carbon washer running against a steel circular surface. Well, there is also a rubber seal hidden in the impeller, and the first one I took out doesn't look good. I spent a way too much time making a latheing tool to shine up the seat that the carbon washer runs against.

I went on the hunt for another exhaust manifold today to replace the one I welded up somewhat. I had remembered a pair of combines sitting just over the fence from one of my quarters. One of them used to be mine, and I knew it didn't have a motor on it anymore, but the other one was probably a Massey-Harris with the right motor. I tracked down the new owner and got permission to look the combine over. Sure enough there is a good, uncracked exhaust manifold for the right sized motor, and it had a nicer exhaust pipe outlet. Bonus. The problem became obvious right from the first was that I couldn't wiggle under there and get the manifold off without pulling the wheel off and then pulling the engine out.

 

[old28]

Well I hope you can support the "Good Attitude Store" as this is some real hard times for a small business to stay above ground. Sounds like you are, thanks.

 

[Old Iron]

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