L175 Sheet metal work ************

[handyman]

AQuaforce you have got to be proud of that tractor. It really looks great like your boat also. Now since finished you can enjoy it. I mowed yesturday and every time I went under cherry tree stopped and ate a handfull. Thanks for pictures.handy

 

[aquaforce]

AQuaforce you have got to be proud of that tractor. It really looks great like your boat also. Now since finished you can enjoy it. I mowed yesturday and every time I went under cherry tree stopped and ate a handfull. Thanks for pictures.handy

Thanks handy.


If I could enjoy mine as much as you are yours that would be great. Maybe I could grab a handfull of blueberries when I drive by my bushes. The bushes are loaded but not ripe yet.

 

[aquaforce]

Sweeeeet! I love the Barrett Jackson under chassis cam shots. Fantastic job. found myself looking at every picture three times!!

Thanks Vic


I keep showing them to guys at work and can't help just looking at them several times myself.


I think my tractor's sexy! LOL

 

[oldtown]

great looking tractor. what size tires are on the front. mine has
6.5 -13, which is not listed as the spec.

 

[aquaforce]

great looking tractor. what size tires are on the front. mine has
6.5 -13, which is not listed as the spec.

Thanks
My front tires are 20X8.00-10

The rears are 13.6-16

 

[Green Mountain Slim]

Great job aquaforce. I just can't help thinking that it would look better with a black stack coming up from the exhaust manifold. I see that it had a downpipe when you got it. Is that what it was sold with new?

You have to admire a job like that no matter what you think of the older styles. You're going to have a great time with that beauty.

 

[aquaforce]

Great job aquaforce.

Thanks slim

It had a black straight up pipe on it when I got it but it originally had the "gargen style" exhaust. I grew up with straight stacks and I like them but when I would start this thing up it would spew black sooty rain on me sometimes. Little did I know at the time that was a sign of the cracked head, so I turned the pipe down to avoid messes. That kind of helped to catch the problem before it got much worse too because when water came out of the exhaust trying to start it later it became brutaly clear there was a problem.

The black rain was a problem because I park the tractor right beside my boat in the shed and the black mess would get on the boat............can't have that. You can barely see the tractor sitting to the right of the boat in this pic at that time.

I have looked at the tractor a few times thinking how it would look with a stack on it. I like the fact that I could simply switch over to that style by just removing three nuts and swap. It would look good that way too.

 

[KV60]

I'm new to this site and while browsing around found this restoration thread. This thing is beautiful. I have an L225 and the two tractors are almost identical. This will probably make me do what I've been meaning to do for years, get started doing the same thing.

Thanks for the photo log.

 

[daniel.ray77]

Hey KV60, would your tractor be an L225DT by chance?

 

[KV60]

No, sorry. I've got the 2wd version.

 

[aquaforce]

I'm new to this site and while browsing around found this restoration thread. This thing is beautiful. I have an L225 and the two tractors are almost identical. This will probably make me do what I've been meaning to do for years, get started doing the same thing.

Thanks for the photo log.

Welcome to the forum.

Hope the pics help.
I was looking at an L225 but it sold already. My thoughts were to get more PTO horsepower but maybe mine will do what I want.

Post some pics of yours when you work on it.

 

[WinnieCouple]

WOW... she looks GREAT.
I hope some day my old 245DT will look even HALF that good.
I've got a few dents in the front of my hood and the top has been caved in a bit... I'll need to weld some cracks on my fenders, but looking at yours gives me hope, makes me happy to know that it has potential.

GREAT JOB.

 

[aquaforce]

WOW... she looks GREAT.
I hope some day my old 245DT will look even HALF that good.
I've got a few dents in the front of my hood and the top has been caved in a bit... I'll need to weld some cracks on my fenders, but looking at yours gives me hope, makes me happy to know that it has potential.

GREAT JOB.

Since mine was a rollover there were many cracks in the fenders too. They welded pretty well though.

That Kubota orange paint just makes you feel good all over when it is shiny.

 

[WinnieCouple]

Since mine was a rollover there were many cracks in the fenders too. They welded pretty well though.

That Kubota orange paint just makes you feel good all over when it is shiny.

I've got a little HF flux wire welder, I think if I take my time with it, welding up the fender cracks should be easy.... starting on a low setting and work my way up till I get a good weld.
I want to wait till we get our house and my shop built first, I'm sure she'll get some "wear"... then be able to take my time and do it right.

 

[aquaforce]

I want to wait till we get our house and my shop built first, I'm sure she'll get some "wear"... then be able to take my time and do it right.

Gotta love a shop. It was a great convenience to just close the door and work or walk away and leave everything where it was. I could always come back to it when I was ready.

Good luck and keep us posted with pics when you work on it.

 

[WinnieCouple]

Gotta love a shop. It was a great convenience to just close the door and work or walk away and leave everything where it was. I could always come back to it when I was ready.

Good luck and keep us posted with pics when you work on it.

Exactly... working on it "under a tree"... NO FUN. (but kind of relaxing).
I have a lot on my list to do, just to get her back to work.
Building a full front frame, new gears in the front diff, get my tach working, drain hyd and replace screen/filter... just for starters.

I'll post some pics of the workouts she does building our place and shop.
Nice to have a place (OTT) to share things with folks that can see how your doing.

Some day, she'll be all shined up... pulling a finish mower around the place in her old age.... just puttering along. GOOD TIMES.
Thanks ALL.

 

[aquaforce]

A boat cover got loose in the wind and whipped the tractor.
Now I have some small nicks in the paint to fix.

I know I know it is only a tractor but I wanted to keep it the way I finished it. I guess it is time for a building instead of a temp cover for the boat and tractors.

 

[Russell King]

Thanks for bumping all these posts.

I am curious about the exhaust tip you installed. Do you have any information on the design - dimensions, links to information?

I have a L185 and it does kick up a lot of dust from the exhaust.

The tip you addeed looks like it was cut from a small shovel or trowel!

 

[aquaforce]

Thanks for bumping all these posts.

I am curious about the exhaust tip you installed. Do you have any information on the design - dimensions, links to information?

I have a L185 and it does kick up a lot of dust from the exhaust.

The tip you addeed looks like it was cut from a small shovel or trowel!

This design can be seen under a semi tractor that has exhaust under the chassis instead of stacks going up. The concept is also practiced in passenger pickups/trucks that have diesel with the exhaust filter, aka, DPF- diesel particulate filter. When the diesel system goes into the cleaning mode for the particulate filter, aka re-gen, a fire is fueled in the exhaust to heat the dpf and burn out the particulate build up. This process, eats up the fuel that is in the tank and why my truck is pre dpf- ok off the soap box, results in high discharge temps so the tip is made to diffuse the hot air charge and mix it with ambient air to cool the heated exhaust discharge.
Are you still with me?????
Ok I said all that to say this. I noticed on muffler systems that were underneath semi trucks that this temperature diffusing also created a very effective diffraction in the flow so that there was not a distinct flow that could be felt by hand. The turbulents were all around the tip but not discharged in a singular direction to cause a pulse or push in the exhaust. Of course this is to lower the exhaust temps during re-gen but I liked the idea of diffracting the flow to avoid kick-up on my tractor. I didn't want the pipe straight back to blow on people or equipment and down would only give kick-up so this seemed to be the perfect solution. So far I am very pleased with the results. The diffracted turbulents are multi-directional to the point that there seems to bardly be an exhaust force felt by hand.

So that is were the pattern comes from and I copied it as well as I could using the normal exhaust pipe from the muffler.
First I supported the pipe so I would not crush the bottom flat as I drove the crease in the top. I used a wide blunt chisel to drive the top of the pipe down till it touched the bottom. This part shaped the "V" for the rest of the process. Then I made a cut from the bottom of the pipe up toward the top at a short distance behind where the "V" stopped at the top of the pipe, and stopped the cut where the top of the pipe would continue down the "V". This distance can be varied more also if there needs to be more control against flow. Next I started to cut away the bottom of the "V" area to form the opening and the dove tail for the effect. The longer the tail is past each side of the "V" the harder air is pulled in a back spin from the back side of the "V" as the exhaust draws out. A straight edge can be used to shape the "V" tail to the same size as the pipe opening so the exhaust will hit the edge and roll around the tail in a "station wagon" or "windshield" effect.

If I haven't thouroughly confused you I hope this helps. If I have confused you I can take some more pics and draw a diagram to help.

 

[Russell King]

I think I understand. Basically you just formed it from the tail piece that was there. Some dimensions might help - It looks like you cut about 4 to 5 inches off the bottom. One thing I can't figure out though is how/why there is an upward flair at the beginning of this piece. It may just be from the driving down of the rear with the chisel??

I'll try it on a piece of thin walled conduit first to see how it works.