= Massey Ferguson=

1974 MF-8 Lawn Tractor...

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This is my latest project, a 1974 Massey Ferguson tractor.  I have always loved the styling of these tractors and the way they tried to keep the style of the big farm tractors into the lawn tractor lines.  This will receive a full restoration and a new motor when it is done.  This will be a test bed for one of those Harbor Freight "Greyhound" motors.  They do receive a pretty good reputation, and for under $300.00 for an 11hp motor with a key start and back up re-coil, it's pretty hard to pass up!  The one that is on the tractor now is pretty tired and missing a few parts like the air-cleaner and a proper gas tank so by the time I am done this new motor will really cost even less while pushing the motor up a full three horse power more than the tractor would come with.  


I plan to rebuild this over the winter of  2009-2010 so keep an eye out for updates!
Below are a few photos the day we got it home and my youngest son changing the seat out for a new one.
    

Here it is after a little cleaning and with the deck removed so I can do a little service on it.
The tires are really in amazing shape with heavy tread and little to no dry rot.
I plan to to load the rear tires with washer fluid to gain a little weight and traction once the rims are painted.


Here are the brakes that need to be re-built.  I will sandblast the hardware and powder-coat them before attaching the new pads.  
The pads were turned down from a car disk pad... sometimes it is so nice to have a lathe in the shop!
Once they are ready to go back on, I have to clean the brake disk and attach sandpaper to the disk to "set" the pads to the contour.
   
    Here is a little repair work that was done on the mower deck.  The front roller bracket was well worn and there was a huge amount of slop in the front roller.  I machined some new bushings from 12L14 steel and replace the pin with a larger 5/8" pin.
   

This is a before and after shot of the roller, on the left you can see just how severe the slop in the roller was.
   

Here is a shot of the finished roller and the modified deck bracket. I added a pin to retain the roller pin from spinning at the bracket.
       

Just a little repair work until its time to pull the deck
and sandblast it.  Many small cracks were welded while I had the
deck removed and a coat of primer applied for now.