Post by RaisedByWolves on Sept 29, 2011 18:36:27 GMT -5
Or, how to build your dream tractor for cheap. 
I first ran into this tractor about 2.5yrs ago when an acquaintance offered it to me out of his private stock. He bought it in non running condition and asked me to fix it for him.
Turned out that the ONAN engine did their usual trick and shed all the teeth off of the cam gear. I went through the motions of finding all the used replacement parts to get it running for him until I noticed that the port cylinder had been run hot and had about .020 clearance and needed bored out and a new piston.
The owner of the tractor pulled the eject handle at this point as the costs were likely to eat up any profits he might see in selling it, so I bought it as scrap for $250 from him.
Knowing what I wanted to do (Snow removal and yard work) I put the deck up on Ebay and got $300 clams for it.
Im up $50 at this point but still need a motor.
About 6-8 months later while on a totally unrelated errand I spied a TORO grounds master 120 that sat neglected with only 600hrs on the clock. The owner of the shop told me it needed a complete wiring harness as mice Et all the wiring, but that I could have it for $100.............So I bought it.
Turned out the motor (Kohler ch20) ran like a top, so I removed it from the Toro and sold off the toro frame and deck for $200.
Im up $150 at this point and have a like new engine.
I had to make an adapter for the drive shaft to make up 3" of difference between the flywheels of the Onan and the Kohler and change the mounting holes, but the engine fits in there like it was meant to.
Here you can see the engine with a Lil TLC given to it and also the shaft adapter.
I now had a running 318 and cash in pocket.
Next up came some body work.
This tractor was rough when I got it. It had a cab mounted at one time and also some type of auxiliary lights mounted to the fenders so there was lots to patch up. First I took the flame wrench to it and filled in all the holes and patched up the cracks so it was structurally sound.
Then I began to block sand it using two different colors of primer.
I repeated this process with the rest of the sheet metal and wound up with something looking like this.
But dang, I just blew $50 on paint!
Oh well, it looks nice now and Im still up by $100. Not too bad I guess.
I still haven't touched the hood yet. Its not in too bad a shape as it is, but a minor setback kept me from doing anything with it, but Im not at that point in the story yet.
Being kind of frugal with this project I decided I would get a better return on my investment by reusing the new tires I had put on my old snow machine, the New Holland S-14. I had bought these tires the year before as I shredded a tire when I got stuck and the chains slipped, tore the sidewall on a perfectly cracked and dry rotted 35yr old tire.
Heres the rear view of the new machine and the one to be replaced.
Right around the beginning of December, just as I was getting ready to mount the snow blower I developed a problem with the trans and the tractor would not move. At this point I had to shelve any work on this tractor as I had to ready my 140 to take the 318's place doing snow duty.
The tires and chains then went onto the 140, along with the blower, and I also did some engine tweaks to get some more power out of the K301 that came in my 140. Even with the mods I was only getting about 14HP in an application that required about 18HP so snow clearing was a bit of a chore that year.
Not being happy at all with this turn of events I decided to actually spend some money on this machine and build the tractor I really needed. So off to Ebay I went and found a two speed trans with a locking differential to swap in place of the problematic power delivery system I currently had.
Details of this can be found here.
www.jd318techforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=modification&action=display&thread=2&page=1
Alright, with the cost of the 430 rear ($400) and the shift rods ($70) and the seals ($50) and some ancillary items I have about $500 into this tractor as of now.
Id say thats a pretty good return on investment considering a good running 318 would run about $1500-2000 in this area. Factor in that I have a better motor than what this tractor came with that has low hours and an additional 2hp........
And Im happy as a clam.
This just goes to show what you can do with a little time, some good scrounging skills and a healthy dose of patience.
I first ran into this tractor about 2.5yrs ago when an acquaintance offered it to me out of his private stock. He bought it in non running condition and asked me to fix it for him.
Turned out that the ONAN engine did their usual trick and shed all the teeth off of the cam gear. I went through the motions of finding all the used replacement parts to get it running for him until I noticed that the port cylinder had been run hot and had about .020 clearance and needed bored out and a new piston.
The owner of the tractor pulled the eject handle at this point as the costs were likely to eat up any profits he might see in selling it, so I bought it as scrap for $250 from him.
Knowing what I wanted to do (Snow removal and yard work) I put the deck up on Ebay and got $300 clams for it.
Im up $50 at this point but still need a motor.
About 6-8 months later while on a totally unrelated errand I spied a TORO grounds master 120 that sat neglected with only 600hrs on the clock. The owner of the shop told me it needed a complete wiring harness as mice Et all the wiring, but that I could have it for $100.............So I bought it.
Turned out the motor (Kohler ch20) ran like a top, so I removed it from the Toro and sold off the toro frame and deck for $200.
Im up $150 at this point and have a like new engine.
I had to make an adapter for the drive shaft to make up 3" of difference between the flywheels of the Onan and the Kohler and change the mounting holes, but the engine fits in there like it was meant to.
Here you can see the engine with a Lil TLC given to it and also the shaft adapter.
I now had a running 318 and cash in pocket.
Next up came some body work.
This tractor was rough when I got it. It had a cab mounted at one time and also some type of auxiliary lights mounted to the fenders so there was lots to patch up. First I took the flame wrench to it and filled in all the holes and patched up the cracks so it was structurally sound.
Then I began to block sand it using two different colors of primer.
I repeated this process with the rest of the sheet metal and wound up with something looking like this.
But dang, I just blew $50 on paint!
Oh well, it looks nice now and Im still up by $100. Not too bad I guess.
I still haven't touched the hood yet. Its not in too bad a shape as it is, but a minor setback kept me from doing anything with it, but Im not at that point in the story yet.
Being kind of frugal with this project I decided I would get a better return on my investment by reusing the new tires I had put on my old snow machine, the New Holland S-14. I had bought these tires the year before as I shredded a tire when I got stuck and the chains slipped, tore the sidewall on a perfectly cracked and dry rotted 35yr old tire.
Heres the rear view of the new machine and the one to be replaced.
Right around the beginning of December, just as I was getting ready to mount the snow blower I developed a problem with the trans and the tractor would not move. At this point I had to shelve any work on this tractor as I had to ready my 140 to take the 318's place doing snow duty.
The tires and chains then went onto the 140, along with the blower, and I also did some engine tweaks to get some more power out of the K301 that came in my 140. Even with the mods I was only getting about 14HP in an application that required about 18HP so snow clearing was a bit of a chore that year.
Not being happy at all with this turn of events I decided to actually spend some money on this machine and build the tractor I really needed. So off to Ebay I went and found a two speed trans with a locking differential to swap in place of the problematic power delivery system I currently had.
Details of this can be found here.
www.jd318techforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=modification&action=display&thread=2&page=1
Alright, with the cost of the 430 rear ($400) and the shift rods ($70) and the seals ($50) and some ancillary items I have about $500 into this tractor as of now.
Id say thats a pretty good return on investment considering a good running 318 would run about $1500-2000 in this area. Factor in that I have a better motor than what this tractor came with that has low hours and an additional 2hp........
And Im happy as a clam.
This just goes to show what you can do with a little time, some good scrounging skills and a healthy dose of patience.
