Ever try to wash a Cat's belly, it's not fun. I was able to do it today. A friend gave me some good commercial grade degreaser to spray on plus a little wire brush action cleaned up pretty good.
Got all the studs that hold the pivot shaft and draw bar on installed. I chased all the threads with tap and die and everything cleaned up pretty good. 
As for the people hours,  I started keeping track of time and money at first but it got scary real fast so I couldn't even guess on that.

  

Keep up the good work. Well done getting at the tedious work of cleaning your cat's belly 😁 I would have a hard time putting her to proper work too with all the love she's recieved!

they really are love jobs to redo one of these old girls.
ours has a belly plate and it was absolutely encrusted in oil and dirt one day i might remove it and give her a proper birthday. i just hit it with the gerni i was covered in crud at the end.

here's a tip if you can get a hot wash pressure cleaner with detergent injection or a applicator go for it the best thing for cleaning oily dirty machines the grime just melts off a proper steam cleaner works well too
especially if you use a alkaline degreaser it leaves the surface ready for paint prep

Thanks for the suggestions, I don't have access to a proper steam cleaner, although I have used them at work before. They sure do a good job on grease and oil with the cleaner. If I ever tackle a full restoration again everything will be cleaned and sandblasted first.

A method I have used here before is oven cleaner or a lye solution soaked on. Wear protective gear of course. Belly pans are nice bling bling on a tractor until one has to clean the accumulation of crud. Hot water is really nice if you can rig up your washer. Heard of some tapping into the household hot water heater for a source...

juiceman wrote:

A method I have used here before is oven cleaner or a lye solution soaked on. Wear protective gear of course. Belly pans are nice bling bling on a tractor until one has to clean the accumulation of crud. Hot water is really nice if you can rig up your washer.
 

most water based degreasers are caustic soda (lye) based so either sodium or potassium hydroxide so is most oven cleaners. the others use triethanolamine or linalool a citrus extract. the one i use is called "shock treatment" made by applied chemicals part of there chemtech range.

on a dozer a belly pan is a must to protect the sump etc from rock and logs. you dont want on if working a fire though its better for those coals and embers to be able to fall away and not burn your machine.

i used a hot wash gerni a few times even though it was lower pressure the benefits of the heat it was chalk and cheese how better it worked. the only problem the hot water units cost another thousand bucks over a cold unit. interesting idea to feed the cold unit with heated water possible as long as you don't exceed the max inlet temp for the unit.

Got some more paint removal and cleaning done. The timing cover on my tractor was cracked and I salvaged one from a parts tractor. Since I had to take it back off to put in a new gasket I cleaned the gears, sump and cover. I also took off the sump cover on the left side of the oil pan. It was pretty clean in there, no sludge just black oil.
I got some more covers on and ready for paint.
I got the timing cover gasket from Olsens gaskets and some more coming from Florin tractor. The crank seal should be at the local auto parts store Monday. Real close to paint on the engine and transmission





   

Gaskets came in from Florin tractor, check out the old school packaging on the hour meter gasket.
Still trying to track down a crank seal, the cross reference number I had was wrong .
I have dimensions and a different number so hopefully i'll get one soon.

d2gary wrote:

Gaskets came in from Florin tractor, check out the old school packaging on the hour meter gasket.
Still trying to track down a crank seal, the cross reference number I had was wrong .
I have dimensions and a different number so hopefully i'll get one soon. [attachment=62521]20210316_114312.jpg[/attachment
That gasket is actually for the fuel tower drain plug housing

 

I took the fuel tower/injection pump assembly off to clean and paint the block and pump. I'm glad I did there's a lot of stuff back there . I decided not to go into the pump or governor at this time because everything was good before. It's not a big job to do later but adds more time now and I'm ready to move forward.
Today is paint day, so engine and transmission will be yellow by tonight.