[25] Slipperz's "Alice"

#Buildoff2025

Well here it is! Here is lowdown on my hope-full plan of the 2025 B/O!



Im looking to turn this guy into a snowplow rig! I think this would be handy for some snow removal jobs I have!
My plan is as follows
-Build Front Bumper
-Mount/wire in 2500lb Winch
-Modify 48 inch Craftsman dozer blade to fit Allis Chalmers mounts
-Mount any extra linkages
-Rear Chains and maybe weight box
There are some uncertainties to this project. Most notably traction and power.
This engine is fairly tired and was not a powerful tractor in the first place back in the 1960's. If this tractor does not appear to have enough power i guess 1 of 2 things with happen. New/rebuilt engine will be dropped in. Something with more HP and displacement if all goes well and budget allows, or unfortunately this tractor may not finish the 2025 B/O. But that thought there depresses me so lets just go believe if needed I will just Big Block swap it!
There is some other smaller repairs and stuff like that.
Let me know if I need to change anything!

Approved MR 31-Dec 2024

[adm]Welcome to the Build-Off!
[/adm]

Sorry for the delay!

Not a problemo! I will start work as soon as possible!

@Slipperz I love it im excided to see the build

I am really looking forward too! @ranch king pro 08 I am going to start planning in the next day or so and gathering some materials.

Well here is the first update! I got quite a bit done today. More than I thought I would be able to.
First I pulled the tractor and plow into my shop and stripped the unneeded things of the plow. Like this cable linkage to swivel the plow. I am planning on just Putting a lever on it and doing by hand anyways.


Got the plow lined up and took all my measurements needed on how much wider I needed to make the pin points and and raise it so i took and little chunk of angle and shorten it and welding some flat 1/4 in flat stock to it to make the pin point itself.



Now I need to do some planning. I think instead of using a winch I might put a electric actuator o nit instead as I think it would be much easier to wire in and install. Plus would save my winch for a different project. I am going to build the bumper next that the Actuator will mount to next as I figure out which one I need. Also Look at the blade on this plow! Hardly even scratched!

Man I love that tractor! I'm glad you're building it more as a utility rig and not hacking it into a offroader, there's not many of those floating around anymore!

Speaking from experience winches are barely any harder to wire than a linear actuator not that either are difficult, you'll want a DPDT (mom. ON/OFF/mom.ON) switch same as for a winch but the linear actuators seem to be slow and a bit of a pain that way, I had one for the blower on my tractor and swapped back to a manual handle. Another drawback is that they don't have any kind of float so keep that in mind, one good jolt can strip/bend/break them.

@Brianator Hmmm that is not something I thought about. I did already order the 3 way switch and a 330lb actuator for $22. A benefit I saw to the actuator was able to push done to clear ice. Luckily the concrete I push snow on is very level or only have on or two arear you have to watch for and are very pad anyways. So if It seem that I need to float I still have a 2500lb winch that I had gotten for free. What I though would be harder is mounting the black control box. Just trying to find a place it would fit lol. If needed I'll build the bumper for it and then winch but the winch was just going to be more fabrication as I would need a bumper and then someplace to hook to on the blade itself. Not much but more then just bolting the little eye-lets that come with the actuator kit. Thanks for that heads up though completely missed that.

Edit- I just thought that since this is a snow blade it has a spring in it so when the blade catches something it will flip the plow down so I should not have to worry about breaking things. I am sure over time it may stress parts but not straight snap them.

I did stuff!

While I was waiting on parts I took the deck off and installed some tire chains.
I ended up getting my parts today and it had snowed just enough that they informed that I could come and remove the snow this afternoon so I went to work getting the tractor ready to got to work! As I was in kind of a hurry to go to work I forgot to take some pictures of the process but I got some photos of it in action!
On her way to her first job!

THEN DISASTER!

Oh well. Since This happen at work I was basically paid to stress test it.
I was able to limp it thru to finish the job and it did a great job!

Well she defiantly took a beating.

So she needs rebuilt with thicker iron and some more gussets but then the plow should be functional. The chains did pop off so I need some tensioners for them but that should be good for that. After that the tractor itself has quite the list.

That's awesome how is the linear actuator working for you!? You definitely stress tested it but now you'll make it stronger than ever!

@Brianator It is really slow but took like 10 mins to install. I like that it holds pressure against the plow at all times. Chips ice and packed snow away super well. Before it bent it would lift the plow maybe 6ish inches off the ground. I need to finalize the wiring and switch location but that was also fairly easy once i figured out what way the pins on the switch went. It didn't come with a wiring diagram kind of winged it at first but had to go to YouTube academy after a while lol. I didn't get pics but the Actuator itself is a 12 inch VEVOR 330lb model. It was like 22 bucks and it works good. Also the tractor surprised me how well it would push it. Before I was borrowing a Artic Cat 650 4x4 ATV to do this pushing from a family member and it did this no problem but it also had trouble pushing snowbanks and being a big and heavy ATV was kind hard to maneuver but Alice would push the snow just as far WITHOUT running out of power or traction! Also much easers to maneuver. Gladly surprised! That pretty good for a tired 8hp Briggs with about 25-30 lbs of compression!

I did some rebuilding!
A comparison of the old one vs the piece of metal I am starting with.

This time I welded it to the plow instead of bolting it on this time.



Added a nice strong gusset too even!

After making everything smell like welding in the shop walked outside and these is what said outside looks like.
A lot of white stuff out there.

I ended up gaining a lot of lift with the new mount!

I'll keep ya posted!

That looks pretty beefy and you have enough snow to stress test it out again! Lol

Speaking of stress testin I went and did some! Also did some tuning on the idle and found my problem but I may have found another lying in the engine. It seems to have a tick/clanking noise. I would assume its not the engine but something else around it but not sure yet. Not that big of a deal at the moment for me.
To fix the idle I cleaned all the mouse house from the governor setup and messed with the carb throttle shaft as if you remember I had to mess with it when I first got this carb.


In this video is the noise in question and some plowing action!

Maybe valvetrain?  Maybe a loose baffel in the fan shroud?  Runs really smooth.

Yea I hope its not something too serious. Time will tell on that and if I can find the noise.

I could hear it and it's a very hollow sounding sound to me but maybe that's just the recording? Maybe carbon buildup? If it was me I would I would turn the motor over by hand until I know it's between TDC and BDC and then rock the pulley back and forth to see if I felt any play and heard a light clunk, while I was there I would push it in and out as well. My reasoning is that both a worn crank rod or piston pin hole and excessive endplay in the crankshaft could all give a hollow sound.

Hopefully it's nothing major I love the fact that engine has been running for over 60 years! Nothing made in the last 30 is bound to keep it togther that long.

Got the idle and throttle linkage fixed! I added a washer as shown in this video! Also I accidently took it in portrait mode thus its a YouTube short sorry lol
Also if you like donuts there are some more at the end!


Also @Brianator yea I will check that on that motor and yes it did sound kinda hollow like in person as it did on video. Yea she sure has been going for a long time so she has earner her right to be a little tired! Thanks!

I got the blade lift switch put in a little mount! (Found out the hard way that square holes are hard to cut lol)
Since the plow needs to be easily removable a big thing about this mount is it has a magnet! So very adjustable and easily removable, also the battery leads for the switch are alligator clips so with 2 pins and the alligator clips the actuator plus wiring will be fully removed from the tractor for safe storage!

I was finally able to get the right angle gearbox drain removed! It seems to have previously rounded off so that combined with it being stuck on there made that difficult lol! But I got it off and drained and its was nasty, with a smidge of metal it seems. Also it was pretty low on oil as well. I could not get the check plug out so I did some research to no avail to see how much oil should go in it but the main shaft of the gearbox I could see from the fill plug and it was nearly level with the check plug so I just filled it until it was stating to get covered with some good ole 80-90. Took about 1/2 quart incase any else needed to know.
You can see how tight of an area it can be if you are trying to get big tool in there with more leverage.



Now please enjoy a picture of an ugly tractor, a nice sunset, and a confused cow.

@Slipperz I recommend investing in some 8 point sockets for working on those tractors, I know they’ve helped me.

Oh yea I definitely should get some. I borrowed some to try but it I could not get on one the drain it was already destroyed too much. It will be quite some time till I need to be in there again tho so that's future me problem!

Hmm must be time for some new seals. No leaks under the axle. She must be out. I did some looking and it should be fairly easy unless the axle bushings are wore out. If they are I will need to split the case and that sounds scary but I will do it if needed.

@Slipperz the national seal part number is 473157. I made a driver with a exhaust flange and pipe to drive them in over the axle tube

Thanks! I did find the number but to double check do you know if both sides use the same seal? I am fairly sure they do but if you would know for sure that would be a great help!