1945 Lindeman restoration-2

[Ray]

Time to take the greasy parts to the carwash and clean them off.
The tracks are setting on the floor in front of the crawler so they have to be loaded first.
I loaded them one at a time on the forklift and took them out to the trailer.




Here's the second track being loaded.
I just slid them off the forks and let them drop down onto the trailer.




The tracks are laid out so they can be washed.
They had to be kept back far enough to leave room for the crawler in front of them.
I pulled the end up and chained it to the trailer ramps so I can easily wash the whole track.




The crawler was then picked up in the front with the forklift and carefully brought outside so I can get the forklift in behind it.




Here she is just ready to slip onto the trailer.




Set the crawler down on the trailer and backed the forklift out from under it.




Then I loaded up the rest of the parts that need to be power washed.




All cleaned up and ready to go back home.






Links to other post

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[jtrichard]

Nice 59? towing that trailer also did someone have a sale on green paint? lol

[Willyr]

Nice 59? towing that trailer also did someone have a sale on green paint? lol

Aww he missed painting the house and the vehicles across the yard in green. So far that is.

(nothing wrong with being green)

[Ray]

I had made up a pair of tie down brackets out of a piece of flat steel with a "U" bolt welded to it.
These bolted on the ends of the front crossbar for mounting the tracks.




They worked just fine but the chain hook would rub the paint off of the side of the "V" bracket for the front roller adjuster.
So I decided to put these tie down brackets in the press and bend them out a little for more clearance for the chain hook.
It looked like they were bending OK and then they snapped in two.




Rather than just re-weld these tie downs I decided to make new ones that would look better and have more clearance.
Started with a piece of 1/4 inch thick angle iron.




Drilled a hole in it for the mounting bolt.




Bolted the bracket to the end of the crossbar and heated up the corners so I could hammer them over to form them around the crossbar.
One corner is finished here.




Once both corners were re-shaped, I drilled a hole in the bottom of the angle for the tie down hook and trimmed the back edge off at an angle.
Here is the finished bracket.






Here is how it looks mounted on the end of the crossbar.




The bent over corner on the front of the bracket had to be trimmed back to allow clearance for the "V" bracket on the roller adjuster.
You can see where the paint has been rubbed off the side of the "V" bracket.




This is the tie down bracket on the other side.
The corners of the bracket being formed over the crossbar keep the bracket from twisting and the tie down hole now has plenty of clearance.

[whiteclipse16]

Wish I had your time, creativity, and material that you have Ray.
The parts you make all look very clean and original.

[Ray]

I was asked if this tie down could stretch out over time.
After giving it some thought I agreed that with it being 1/4 inch thick and the area around the hole being 3/8 wide, it could very well stretch out.
So I decided to re-enforce the area around the hole.

Both tie down brackets are removed and the primer sand blasted off them.
I welded a big lock washer to the bottom of the bracket to make it thicker.




A piece of 3/8 inch diameter rod is welded to one side of the bracket and then heated up and bent around to the other side where it is again welded to the bracket.




The top surface of the bracket is brazed to fill in the gap between the flat bracket edge and the round rod.




Here is the "strengthened" tie down bracket re-mounted on the crawler.
The bracket is now 1/2 inch thick and a minimum of 5/8 inch wide around the hole and I don't think it will stretch out now.

[Ray]

Besides making new tie down brackets, I have been working on getting the "yellow" parts ready for painting.
Paint stripper was used to get much of the old paint off and that took it down to the original finish.




From there I used 150 grit sandpaper to smooth the sprocket castings down and finished them with Rustoleum red oxide primer.






The front rollers fit into the sandblast cabinet so I was able to strip them down farther.




These were also sanded down and primed.




Starting to do the painting.






The painting is all finished.






The lettering on the top of the radiator was painted along with the grille.
These letters will be individually taped off for painting the green.




All the time I had used this crawler for working around the property, I had never painted the lettering on the side of the track roller covers.
When I quit using this as a working crawler and started showing it, I then painted that lettering so it is still in good condition.
I sanded the area with a fine Scotch pad and painted it with a clear polyurethane.
This "rectangle" area of the lettering will then be masked off when I paint these covers green.




When I got married back in 1967, I worked in a paint and body shop.
The enamel we used back then had to set over night before we could unmask it and the vehicle had to set 3 or 4 days before we let the owner have it back.

These new acrylic enamels with the hardener additive are dry to the touch in an hour and are sure a lot easier to spray.

[Ray]

Getting some of the "green" parts ready for painting.
I had originally painted this with DuPont acrylic enamel with the hardener and the paint on the main part of the crawler is still pretty solid with only a few areas that need to be sanded down where the paint is chipped or scratched.
The transmission shifter cover is easy to remove so I took it off and used a paint stripper on it.




I had to apply and remove the stripper three times before it finely got most of the paint off.




Some of the smaller parts are either sand blasted or I used the stripper on them.
Here are a few of the parts ready to paint.
The radiator still needs to have the "John Deere" letters masked off but I won't do that until just before I start painting.




After sanding on the main part of the crawler, the bare spots were primed for painting.
Today I finished masking up anything I didn't want to paint.
Two areas between the spokes were left open so I can spray down thru the holes to reach the the areas around the axles.

[hydrogeo]

Very cool thread, please keep posting.

I really want to paint my 40c, but have zero experience painting. What do you use to degrease the big stuff before you paint, and do you prime over the old paint on parts you don't strip?

[Ray]

I use "Purple Power" degreaser on everything first and either take the parts to a car wash or use straight hot water from the hose here at the garage.
Be careful not to use this degreaser on any painted surface that you are not going to re-finish because it will dull the paint.

After everything has dried good, I wipe it all down with a cheep Menards enamel reducer until all the oil and grease is removed.


If the original paint is just faded and not weather checked, you don't have to remove it.
Just sand it down smooth. I use 150 grit on castings and 250 grit on sheet metal.
Only bare metal has to be primed but it certainly doesn't hurt priming the whole thing.
A lot depends on just what condition the old paint is in.

A paint job on a "working crawler" doesn't have to be as involved as what I'm doing on this crawler.
This crawler is now just taken to tractor shows so I'm putting a lot more effort into the prepping than I would for a crawler that was going to be used in the dirt every day.

[Ray]

The main part of the crawler and some of the parts were painted today
I unmasked the "John Deere" lettering on the radiator but the rest of the masking won't be removed until after the paint has dried for at least a day.

[JD440ICD2006]

Ray,

Really enjoying the pics and dialog.
That is going to be a knock out crawler when finished.

[Ray]

With it unmasked and some of the parts re-assembled, it is starting to look like a crawler again.

[Ray]

Starting the time consuming job of prepping and painting all the little parts that fit on the crawler.
I do a few at a time and spread them out so I can get in and around them to make sure everything gets painted.
The crawler is completely covered during this time to make sure no over-spray gets on it.

[Ray]

I really like these new acrylic enamel paints, parts that were painted yesterday can be bolted on today.
The battery and dash box is mounted in place along with the throttle and choke controls



Some of the hydraulic lines are fastened on also.




The starter is put on and wired up so it works.
The guard for the ring gear is bolted on.




Up front, the air cleaner is mounted and the air tube is bolted to the carburetor.




The last thing I did today was to mount the grille guard back on the front of the radiator.