Bush Hog V4-6 Restoration (A Work In Progress)

I bought this tractor from member "Dryrun" back on Nov 13th, 2010. Missing the entire engine, head & tail lights, pto parts, one rear fender (which I have a spare), and the variable sheave drive has been welded tight! I gave $100, which is high I know, but this is the first V4-6 I have seen, so she came home with me. I put a TEC 8hp on it just to drive the thing, but now, 2 years later, it's time to start the restoration process. Here is how she sat at Dryrun's place in English, Indiana.



The strange part is that I also bought a John Deere 110 from him & had no real desire for it. Turned out that I could use the variable sheave off it, and the trans is identical to the Bush Hog trans except for the axles. The Bush Hog is keyed, while the JD is spline. So the JD was a perfect parts donor.

Yesterday, Nov 1st 2012, I started breaking her down, and today she lies in a pile of parts.



GTT member Steve (caseguy) brought me a TEC HH60 engine for it, Alan (MH81) sent a ring gear flywheel, and Bill (gttinkerer) sent me carb & related parts. I didn't even hint for these things, they just sent out of the good of their hearts. Thanks guys!





The engine mount base has been hacked badly over the years, so I'll just weld a plate over the top of this mess rather than cutting it all out to replace.



Plate is welded in.



I bought a blown HH60 off ebay tonight to get all the little parts I need to complete the HH6 engine that Steve brought me, along with the carbs Bill sent, and the flywheel Alan sent. I needed a carb adapter plate, governor control arm, engine shroud for electric starter, and a charge stator. Since buying this parts engine, I won't be using the tank mount I built, but may use it on something else. This engine was missing it's starter, but I already have one, so no issue there.
At this point, even with the parts donations, I have about $225 invested counting fuel to go pick the tractor up. I figure I'll keep up with my expenses here so I will document costs as I go.



The rear half of the frame is cooking in my E-tank. Will pull tomorrow & clean, then flip to finish the other end.



Got the chassis out of the E-tank & cleaned up pretty good. Dried it off fast with air to help prevent flash rusting as I don't want to primer it yet, due to needing some welding first. Once all the welding is finished, then I'll hit it lightly with my pot blaster prior to laying on some body filler to fill pits & other imperfections, then work the filler down & primer the whole frame.
Today I just had a little time after farm work to work on the front of the chassis. In the 1st pic you can see how a previous owner had carved off the one side of the front chassis plate. I cut a cardboard template so I could plasma cut a piece to weld in to match the sides. It came out pretty good. That's it for me today. Need to get some rest time.





Ordered a gallon of "Hot Red" PPG acrylic enamel. Cost $87 delivered. V4-6 will use about 1/3 gallon, so around $30.


Also ordered stainless bolts, nuts & washers. Ordered a big bunch, but the V4-6's share was about $30. Rep pic:



Now the projects cost is around $285. I never figure to ever recoup my costs, especially since I'll never sell any Bush Hog tractor!

JB welded over a crack in the block. Should hold just fine. Then rough ground recesses for starter mounts (will file smooth later), then drilled/tapped.




Ordered a new governor assembly and gaskets. Total has now went to $304.

Carb is now built from 2 carbs Bill sent and ready for service.



Drug out the old pot blaster today to clean up the frame for finish work. Needed to get her good & clean so I can lay on a thin layer of body filler to smooth out the pitting. Hadn't used this blaster in quite a few years due to it always plugging from moisture. NO problems with it at all today!






Body filler applied. Once cured at least overnight, I'll block sand this down.




Got the chassis filler sanded, then primed. I've gotten several other parts under primer too, and engine ready for paint. The engine now runs great!





Fenders are under primer as well, just no pics yet.

Today (12/12/12) I only got to split the transaxle. I need to check both axle seals, but out of acetylene, and I will have to heat the right hub to get it off so I can remove the axle tube to get at the seal. The left hub came right off, but the outside flange was already busted up. I have a replacement used hub off a Wheel Horse coming in the mail as a replacement.
The input shaft roller bearing was worn sloppy, but I had another transaxle with a good bearing. Need to go pick up a new input shaft seal. It was totally shot from grass that wrapped around the shaft & ate all the rubber off the seal.
The reverse idler's gear teeth were worn way back in this one, so I'm using the one out of a JD 110 transaxle.
I need to get this transaxle repaired so I can get it back together, cleaned up & ready for paint. Once I get this done, I will be ready to shoot paint on what I will have ready....hopefully next week before Christmas.



Here's more parts that I got under primer yesterday.



Transaxle is almost finished, just needing the one axle tube & hub installed, and new seals on input shaft & brake shaft. More parts under primer & hood is now in E-tank.





Some of the red parts are painted now!




The rest of the parts that are to be red are ready to paint, hoping to paint tomorrow (1/05/13). On wellhouse top getting ready to wet sand, then in shop awaiting tomorrow's paint day.





More parts under red paint! 1/6/13





1/8/13 Got all the white parts painted today.






June 23rd, 2013 Been a long time since doing anything to this project, but today I got the rims all blasted and/or sanded smooth as I wanted them. Planned to prime & paint another day, but I saw light at the day's tunnel end, so got them primered, then shot some yellow paint. Wheels appear to vary in shade, but it's just the light angles. They are all the lighter/brighter shade.





4th of July, 2013
Well, today I finally began assembly of this V4-6. I had to clean my old shop up, as it's been a disaster since moving all my tools down to the farm shop. For now the old shop will serve as a place for assembling projects. I won't dare place nice painted stuff down in the farm shop. It would be a guaranteed mistake if I did. They need their very own spot where nobody else will be working on anything.
All I got assembled today was the transaxle to the frame, but ya gotta start somewhere/sometime, or it never gets finished.



I use taps in a cordless drill to chase paint from all the threads before installing any bolts. Sure makes it faster to do, and cleaning the threads sure makes the bolts glide in easy. I'm using all stainless steel hardware.



July 7th, 2013

Got some assembly completed. The wheels & tires on the rear were temporary, but after getting them on, I like the looks of those tires. So when I get time, these rims will get fresh paint & go right back on.

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