1945 Lindeman restoration

[Ray]

The loader was built by: Mid-Western Industries Inc of Racine, Wisconsin and is model #F-32 Serial #1456.
It was built for: Massey-Harris-Ferguson Inc.

Lindeman never built a crawler with a front end loader.
I built the crawler up to use for driveway maintenance and doing landscaping around the property and I adapted the loader to it while I was rebuilding the crawler


The hydraulic hoses for the cylinders are removed.



I drew up a diagram of where the hoses went and numbered them so I know which hose goes where and which end goes on the valve port and which end goes on the cylinder port.




Then the cylinders were removed and the loader arms are unbolted from the upright supports.




The front loader assembly is then lifted up and the crawler is backed out from underneath it.






The loader arms are set down on a pair of jack stands so it can later be sanded down for re-painting.



Here are some of the parts that have been taken off so far.




The crawler is now ready to be put up on stands so the tracks and the rest of the loader upright supports can be removed.








The crawler is setting up on jack stands and I took off the two track pads over the master link in the track chain.
After 30 years of use, it takes an air wrench and a torch to heat up the nuts to get the track pad bolts off.




The master link is then rotated forward so it is supported on the front roller and the pin is hammered out of the link.
The two sides of the link are held together with two "C" clamps while the pin was removed.




The track is then rolled off the rear sprocket and laid out on the floor.




I didn't take any photos of this when I first put it together 34 years ago because it was just a beat up old crawler that I was putting together so I would have something to move dirt.

Now that I'm taking it apart again, I can show you how the loader was engineered to fit.
Lindeman mounted the front support bar in a rubber sleeve that is held in place by a big clamp with four bolts ( shown in this photo ).




I got an extra pair of those mounting blocks and rubber sleeve from a tractor junk yard down in Ohio.
The front of the clamps and the rubber sleeves were cut in half.
One half of a clamp and rubber sleeve was used to make the front mount for the upright loader support.

This front mount is also made so it slides into the bottom of the support so there is some room for flexing forward or backward.

The other half of the clamp and sleeve was used to make the rear mount for the upright support.




There is a 3/4 inch diameter bracing bar that mounts to the top of the upright support and fastens to the rear of the crawler.
This bar is also mounted in a rubber pad.




When I modified the upright supports to fit the crawler, I made them in three separate pieces that bolt together so that one side could be removed at a time.
This way if I only need to work on one side the whole loader assembly wouldn't have to be removed.




However in this case, both steering clutches need replacing so the whole loader is coming off anyway but the separate pieces does make it easier to remove it from the crawler.
The crawler is now striped down far enough that the bull gear covers can be unbolted and removed.

[Ray]

The retaining clamp for the rear track sprockets had been welded on the shaft when I got this crawler so the sprockets can't be removed by them selves.
The sprocket and final drive housing is being supported by the lift cart during removable.




The final drive is separated from the crawler.




The separator plate and pinion gear are still on the crawler.




Removing the separator plate also takes the brake drum off the clutch pack.




This is the clutch drive hub with the clutch pack removed.




The different parts of the clutch packs are sorted out so I can decide what parts need to be ordered for replacement.
I have 8 clutch plates with riveted friction disc and 2 with bonded friction disc.

[whiteclipse16]

Ray,
Great thread you started. The pics and detail are awesome, esp. because I haven't saw this much about a Lindeman. It's cool to see how much different things are compared to the newer 420-1010 crawlers.
Keep the pics coming and good luck.

[Steven Walters]

what does the spring do? By your right foot.

[Ray]

what does the spring do? By your right foot.

That spring engages the drive clutch drum on the engine.

When I first got this crawler running, I felt it was kind of awkward trying to operate the steering clutch and the hand clutch on the engine at the same time so I decided to put a foot operated clutch on it.

Here is a closer view of the rear of the crawler.
There is a foot pedal on the left side that operates a jack shaft that is mounted to the underside of the rear cover plate.
The pedal arm had to be formed so it would move up and down in-between the backing plate and the curved bar that runs across the back for the draw bar.




The pedal is angled over so it is close to the left foot pad.




A rod is attached to the right side of the jack shaft and comes up in front of the backing plate.
This attaches to a lever on another jack shaft that is mounted on top of the backing plate.




The drive clutch rod is operated off the left side of this upper jack shaft.
There is a lever on the back of this upper jack shaft with an arm that goes down to an "over center" cam that is bolted to the backing plate and the big spring is mounted to this cam.




When the foot pedal is pushed down, the drive clutch rod is pushed forward to open the clutch and engage the clutch drum brake.
The cam on the backing plate is rotated so the mounting bracket for the big spring is brought up over center.
This takes the spring pressure off the clutch pedal so my foot doesn't get tired while I'm holding the pedal down.




When I release the clutch pedal, the cam rotates off the center point and the big spring pulls on the linkage so the drive clutch is snapped into place to drive the crawler.
The smaller spring mounted to the upper jack shaft lever is just enough tension to pull the cam off center so the bigger spring can pull it down.




I realize this is sort of a complicated looking linkage but I had to design a system that would fit within the limited space that was available on the back of the crawler.
The linkage works very well and once it was all adjusted, I haven't had to change it in the 30+ years that I've been working the crawler.

[Steven Walters]

That is sweet! Nice job and good thinkin! Love all the zerk fittings! Im a grease nut i grease everything.

[440 iron popper]

Good Post!! It is the first time I see a lindeman being restored with all these detailed pictures. Interesting. Keep the pics coming.

[Ray]

I have new steering clutch disc ordered so while I'm waiting for them, I decided to make a small modification to the battery box.
I should have taken some photos of the box before I took it off the crawler but I didn't think about it in time.
The box is mounted on top of the transmission where the hydraulic pump normally sat.
This is the best photo that I have of it.




With the box removed, you can see the hole in the top of the transmission where the gear for the hydraulic pump extended down to mesh with a gear in the transmission.
The battery box is also the cover to seal off this hole.

The transmission has a round hole that goes up all the way thru the transmission.
I formed a steel tube to mount over that hole and angle up to bolt onto the side of the battery box and ran my wires up thru it.




Here is the side of the battery box where that tube bolts on.
There use to be a light mounted on the side just to the left of where the tube bolts on,
I moved it forward a little and blocked off the old hole with a small square piece of metal.




This light is to light up the oil and water gauges that are mounted under the gas tank.
With the light in the old position, the wires ran over the top of the battery and I would have to remove the light anytime I wanted to take the battery out.
You can see the pocket where the battery sets in the center of the box and the light wires are now in front of it so it will no longer have to be removed to switch the battery.
There are still wires that run over the battery but they have disconnect terminals on them and can be easily moved out of the way.




Along with the battery, this box holds the starter and headlight switches, the amp gauge and the starter solenoid.
There is a fuse mounted on the front panel ( in between the amp gauge and the the headlight switch ) that is accessible from the outside so I do not have to remove the top cover to change a fuse.
On the right side of the box is a stainless steel terminal that is hooked to the positive post on the battery.
This way I can hook up a battery charger or use the crawler to jump another tractor with out having to pull the top cover off.




You can see part of the top cover just to the right of the box in the last photo.
It is designed with counter sunk mounting bolts so it looks sort of like the top cover on the original hydraulic pump.
I have full time hydraulic on this with a pump mounted behind the magneto.

[Ray]

This crawler has a mag ignition so there isn't any electrical current draw when it is running and the ammeter doesn't read any charge unless the battery is low or I turn on the headlights.
I decided to remove the ammeter and put in a volt meter instead.




This reads the battery voltage when the key is on and I hooked up the gauge light to work with the headlights.
You can also see a light shining on the bench to the left of the battery box.




The light shining on the bench is from this light mounted on the side to illuminate the oil and water gauges on the crawler.