After 5 years of waiting, I finally decided to restore a tractor, which is a 100 built in 1964. I've tried to do my very best on this by taking everything down to bare metal and using decent paint and stuff like that. What follows is an excerpt from a thread I started on the Only Cub Cadets forum about my restoration process.
Here's the "before picture...this tractor used to be a parts tractor, so I'm bringing one back. That'll offset one tractor parted for ebay...
6-10-2009: My order from McMaster-Carr came in less than 24 hours after I placed it. Can't beat that... I now have a bunch of new parts for the 100...tie rod ends (the heim joints are for the 782D and loader 124), SS acorn nut for the steering wheel, ball bearing balls for 6 steering columns, very-close-to-correct wire loom for the wiring harness, and neoprene to make some new gaskets for the rearend.
6-10-2009: Didn't get much else done tonight...the "old" frame, pedastal, and front axle are out of the way now...I'm slowly cleaning small parts...My parents got me this stuff called "Evapo-Rust" that works really well for removing rust from parts. You basically put enough in a plastic container to cover whatever part you want to clean, leave it overnight, and then scrub/wire wheel it lightly the next day. It takes the rust right off, and it's real safe...you can stick your hands in it with no worries. I finally got the brake puck out of the rear...the little ball is stuck bad in it. I ground a flat spot on it and tried to spin it with a punch, to no avail, so I had my dad weld a 5/8" nut onto the puck so I could connect a slide hammer and pull it out. 2 pulls and it's out. I broke the nut off and I still have to grind the weld remnants off. I removed what was left of the brake pad itself from the puck, and I drilled a 3/16" hole through the puck to try to knock the ball out with a punch. No luck so far...it's soaking in Evapo-Rust. Hopefully tomorrow I can get that ball out, get a new ball, weld up the hole I drilled, and put it back together enough so I can wheel the rear out to the water hose to degrease it. I'll soon be ordering decals and buying paint and primer so I can start getting serious...
6-11-2009: The ball is out! A few hits with a large hammer and a punch took it out by way of the small hole I drilled through the back. After the hole is welded back up, I'll put on a new O-ring and reinstall it so I can wheel the rear out to the hose to degrease it. These 3 things work wonders for cleaning stuff...
6-14-2009: Made some progress on the 100 this weekend. The box of clean and almost clean parts is getting more full every day. More parts are awaiting another round of paint stripper. I spent a lot of time fixing about a dozen extra holes drilled into the hood by a PO, as well as wear notches from the round things on the pedastal that hold the hood shut. While not perfect, this is a huge improvement over the jagged notch that was there... I also spent about an hour with a hammer and anvil beating out wavy spots and dents in the hood. It's not perfect, but pretty straight. I'm still hoping to get this done by RPRU. I'll be ordering decals and buying paint from a local place in the next week. The engine needs to come the rest of the way apart so I can decide what all I need to order yet...I've got rings and a governor and gasket set, but I need a rod, dipstick, and probably some other odds and ends. I'm gonna have to pick up a can of body filler too...there's a lot of pits in the steering column.
6-16-2009: I made slight progress on the 100 today. I trued up some pressure plates and removed 95% of the paint from the dash tower. I found the spot welds holding the mangled battery box on, which I'll drill out tomorrow to see if I need to fix it or make a new one. I also painted the steering worm shaft between the worm and the splines to keep it from getting any more pitted than it already is. That part wasn't painted originally.
6-17-2009: I spent most of the day making tools. I made a electrolytic derusting tank. Right now the flywheel shroud is in it. I use an old mower blade as the sacrificial metal. When the electrode is clean, it'll pull 3.5 amps on a 3 amp charger. I guess I need a bigger battery charger.
7-1-2009: I've slowly been cleaning stuff up for the 100. I placed 2 orders for engine parts today, and I need to get decals on the way ASAP. I drove up into the cheddar curtain today to pick up another K241 that'll be donating its oil pan and some sheetmetal to this tractor. I have a few large things to clean/sandblast, and I'm going into town to buy paint and take in the starter/generator to have the terminal replaced and the coils removed so I can paint the housing. So hopefully we'll have some PRIMER/PAINT pictures in the next couple of days...!...
7-4-2009: Finally got about 1/3 of the 100 primed tonight... I'm pretty impressed with this PPG Shop Line stuff so far.
7-5-2009: Got some YELLOW sprayed today...I now have blisters on my fingers from the paint gun, and my hands have a yellow tinge. Yellow covers like crap. I'm gonna have to get another pint. I'm still really liking this PPG Shop Line paint. It looks really good to me. I have most of the engine to prime and paint yet, and all of the white, but it's getting there. Hopefully It'll be done by RPRU.
7-8-2009: I've finally got the remainder of the yellow parts primed, which I hope to paint either tomorrow or Friday. I made a new driveshaft out of 4140 Chromoly steel...should last awhile The 1st picture is my driveshaft hole drilling guide, made from an old driveshaft coupler and a scrap piece of angle iron. It works perfectly! As you can see, I've been painting too much. I can't wait to stop so these can heal...
7-9-2009: Yellow is done...I now have 7 blisters, but at least no more got torn off like last night...
7-12-2009: I finally started bolting the 100 back together. I gotta plate a kajillion things yet and paint the white. I've finally got enough filler in the seat so it shouldn't look too bad...Then I just have to fill/sand the hood, sandblast the wheels, paint all the white stuff, put the motor together, touch up yellow, put the decals on, break in the motor, and I'm done.
7-14-2009: More 100 progress. I plated some more bolts, including the IH battery hold down bolts and the U-bolt for the spring assist. I'm getting down to a small pile of weird-shaped things to plate. I'll probably spend most of the weekend trying to figure out how to plate those. I also assembled the clutch. The paint got pretty dinged up, but no one is going to see it, at least. My clutch spring compressor works great for this.
7-15-2009: I painted the footrests with some BBQ grille black, and they look kinda brown in the sun. I don't know if I'll shoot some other black over the top, or what. We'll see. I primed all of the white stuff, and a couple yellow things I forgot to paint. I hope I didn't forget anything else.
7-17-2009: After last night's white paint disaster, I've got the white stuff painted. The hood looks the best. There's bugs and crap in the wheels, which I might try to sand out. The motor is a short block at the moment...I gotta clean the head when it stops raining. I made a list of things I have to do yet, and it's a lot.
7-19-2009: Got the tires mounted. I wish I could afford new ones. Oh well... Engine is about ready to put into tractor after I touch up the yellow on the tractor. Got the lug bolts plated... Somewhere in this mess is a half-finished wiring harness. I also got the plow and brinly adapter sandblasted.
7-21-2009: I got the yellow touched up on the 100... Final assembly tomorrow...I'm still plating bolts so I can reassemble the S/G and put the motor in. The wiring harness is 90% done. The PTO clutch is assembled. I'll probably prime the plow tomorrow morning and shoot the black tomorrow night.
7-23-2009: At 11 PM tonight, I bolted a battery in, turned the key, bumped the starter, and it took right off. Ran it for about a minute. I need to adjust the governor and carb, as it's too rich and wants to run away. Might not make it to Red Power until Friday. I captured the first start on video.
7-23-2009: It's finished!
I sadly no longer own this tractor...I didn't want to see it sitting around, so I sold it to someone else that will enjoy it.