I can never seem to get a before picture. Here is the crawler after I had removed the hood, left side track, sprocket, and rollers.
This tractor had been poorly "restored" at some time. The engine was rebuilt at the same time and they did a good job, but the rest of the tractor was a different story. Grease and rust had been painted over. Some places had a 1/2 inch of grease with a coat of paint on top. The tracks were about shot. The left side was extremely tight and the right side was so loose it almost came off when I drove it to the shop. The transmission didn't make any bad sounds the short distance I drove it, but I would later find some big problems when I opened it.
Here are the left side rollers being disassembled. They were all stuck and the oiling system was plugged with dried oil. I had to use an impact wrench along with heat from an acetylene torch to get this assembly apart.
Here are the left side track parts and rollers after disassembly. In this picture all of the rollers had been driven off their shafts, and then the shafts were freed from the bearings.
After realizing how involved this project was going to be we moved the crawler into the shop.
This picture shows how worn most of the track pads were. The shaft was supposed to have a pin that would prevent the shaft from turning in the hole, but for some reason a lot of them were missing. The bushing that the shaft turns in most likely froze to the shaft and sheared off pin causing the hole to wear.
While removing the engine I found this casting date on the block.
3-17-28
The engine was removed and set to the side.
After much work and several tanks of oxygen and acetylene, I had cut most of the frozen and worn pins and bushings from the track.
This is the shaft for the left front wheel. Someone had shortened the left side track by one pad in an attempt to tighten the track. This caused the track to be extremely tight. This with the combination of no grease caused a lot of wear.
Here is what I saw when I pulled the top off of the gear box. It didn't look too bad at first.
I later found that the transmission would need a lot of work. The whole inside was caked with mud, sand and grit. Every bearing had to be replaced along with shifting forks. Here are some of the better gears that were in there. The teeth on the oil slinger gear (right) were so worn away it would not mesh anymore.
The right side bull gear had a crescent shaped crack. It did not extend into the gear so it was welded.
The splined shaft for this gear, also the rear axle, had very worn splines. They were welded up and cut back down.
Here is the differential after installation of new brass bushings and two NOS brake drum bushings from Zimmerman Oliver-Cletrac.
Here is what was left of the right fender. At some point the rear portion was torn off.
After straightening the edge to attach the new piece.
The new rear section being formed.
The new piece being fitted to the old.
Here is the fender after I welded the new piece on.
Here is the frame bolted back on to the transmission case.
The left side track frame and rollers assembled back onto the frame.
The engine after painting, a carb rebuild, and some minor clutch work.
The empty transmission case.
The rebuilt differential being lowered into the transmission.
The pin in the bottom picture was covered in some kind of rust preventative that washed off with mineral spirits.
In this picture the transmission is assembled with new gears, bearings, bushings, and shifting forks.
The tracks were in such bad condition that a set of complete used tracks were also acquired from Zimmerman-Oliver Cletrac.
Here is the right side track being painted.
